Pre-registration for the 2022 TBA Convention will close Monday at noon CDT. After that point, attendees will have to register at the door. This year’s event is taking place in-person June 15-18 at the downtown Nashville Hilton. The week will offer nine hours of CLE, including Bench/Bar, Better Right Now and diversity programs. Opportunities to network with colleagues include the Opening Reception, Bench/Bar Luncheon, Joint Reception with the Tennessee Lawyers’ Association for Women (TLAW) and Tennessee Alliance for Black Lawyers (TABL), the Thursday night social event at Fifth & Broadway and the annual Lawyers Luncheon. Sign up now for the full registration package or purchase individual tickets.

Don’t miss your chance to have breakfast and network with fellow law school alumni during the TBA’s Annual Convention next week. The alumni breakfasts will take place on June 16 from 7:30 until 8:30 a.m. CDT at the Downtown Nashville Hilton. Nashville School of Law, Belmont University College of Law, University of Tennessee College of Law, University of Memphis Cecil C. Humphreys School of Law and Vanderbilt University Law School will each host alumni breakfasts. Lincoln Memorial University Duncan School of Law will host a virtual breakfast. Sign up for a breakfast when you register for Convention, or purchase individual tickets here.

The annual Lawyers Luncheon will take place next Friday at noon CDT at the Downtown Nashville Hilton as part of the 2022 TBA Convention. The event will include presentation of a number of awards, including the Justice Frank F. Drowota III Award, the Justice Joseph W. Henry Award for Outstanding Legal Writing, the Judge Pamela L. Reeves Tennessee Professionalism Award, the Claudia Jack Award, the Fourth Estate Award, the YLD Fellows William M. Leech Jr. Public Service Award, and President’s Awards for those who served with distinction this past year. The lunch also will include passing of the gavel from TBA President Sherie Edwards to President-elect Tasha Blakney and oath of office administered by Tennessee Supreme Court Chief Justice Roger Page. Don’t miss this opportunity to celebrate the good work of colleagues and hear about Blakney’s vision for the new bar year. Admission to the luncheon is included in the full 2022 Convention registration or individual tickets can now be purchased.

Individual tickets to a number of TBA’s 2022 Convention events are now available for purchase. Tickets for events taking place next Thursday include law school alumni breakfasts, the Bench Bar Luncheon and the joint evening social event with judges at Fifth and Broadway. Tickets for next Friday’s Lawyers Luncheon also are available. Full convention registration, which includes all of the events above plus nine hours of CLE credit, also remains available.

Following this year’s Bench Bar program, which focuses in part on judges as leaders, the Bench Bar Luncheon will feature a judge who has been a leader throughout her career: U.S. 6th Circuit Court of Appeals Judge Bernice Donald. In 1982, Donald was elected to the General Sessions Criminal Court, where she became the first African American woman to serve as a judge in the history of the State of Tennessee. When she was later appointed as a judge on the U.S. Bankruptcy Court for the Western District of Tennessee, she became the first African American woman in the history of the United States to serve as a bankruptcy judge. From there she went on to serve on the U.S. District Court for the Western District of Tennessee and the 6th Circuit Court of Appeals, becoming the first Black female judge on each of those courts. Don’t miss the opportunity to hear from Judge Donald, who is set to take senior status on the court as soon as her replacement is confirmed. Admission to next Thursday's luncheon is included in the full 2022 Convention registration or individual tickets can now be purchased.

In-person CLE programming at the TBA’s Annual Convention will include a 2022 Legislative Update with the TBA Government Affairs team. Worth 2.25 hours of general CLE, the session will provide a live recap of the legislation that is impacting lawyers from the most recent session of the Tennessee General Assembly. TBA Director of Public Policy and Government Affairs Berkley Schwarz and TBA lobbyist and Adams and Reese attorney Brad Lampley will talk to a panel of legislators that will include Rep. Bill Beck, D-Nashville; Rep. Johnny Garrett, R-Goodlettsville; House Majority Leader William Lamberth, R-Portland; and Senate Majority Leader Jack Johnson, R-Franklin. Read more on all in-person programming here.

Register now to join your colleagues at the 2022 TBA Annual Convention before the price increases on June 1. The in-person event is set for June 15-18 at the downtown Nashville Hilton, featuring key convention events such as the Better Right Now and Legislative Update CLE programs, Bench Bar CLE and Luncheon, Lawyers Luncheon and more. In person law school breakfasts are back for the first time since 2019 and the Thursday evening Bench/Bar social event will include dinner and a live band on the rooftop of Nashville's new Fifth & Broadway entertainment venue. The current event rate is $425 for TBA members, but will increase to $495 after June 1. Learn more and get registered here.

The education programming at this year’s TBA Convention includes a compelling panel on the “Power of Diverse Experiences in the Pursuit of Professional Success.” Panelists will share their own experiences to empower lawyers as employees and colleagues, and help partners, directors and hiring managers as they seek to improve diversity related outcomes at their respective organizations. The program, presented by the TBA’s Young Lawyers Division, will feature Memphis lawyer Mary Beard with HCA Healthcare; Amy Willoughby Bryant with the Office of Conservatorship Management; James Cobb with the Cobb Law Group; Casey Duhart with Acadia Healthcare Company; Wade Hinton, founder of the Hinton & Co.; Kaya Grace Porter with Littler Mendelson; and Trey Reliford with Polsinelli. Learn more about this program and other convention.

The Kingsport Times News will be recognized for its extensive coverage of the opioid crisis and its effects on the Appalachian Highlands when it receives the Fourth Estate Award during the Tennessee Bar Association’s (TBA) annual convention in Nashville. During a seven-month period, the Times News reporting team took readers on a journey into the local and regional proliferation of meth and fentanyl, providing an analytical, unbiased, multifaceted report that will help legislators, health care professionals, law enforcement, judges and addicts. The TBA's Fourth Estate Award was established to recognize and encourage journalists who promote public understanding of the rule of law and improvements in our system of justice through their vigorous exercise of their First Amendment rights. Read the full press release.

Make plans now to join this year’s Better Right Now CLE at the TBA’s Annual Convention. This year’s program, set for the morning of Friday, June 17, will focus on changing law firm culture. Sessions will include what legal employers are doing to increase well-being and what is important to millennial lawyers in the workplace. Panelists will include leaders from small to large law firms sharing their insights and takeaways from existing initiatives. The keynote address will be given by Memphis attorney Oscar Carr with the Experiential Healing Center. The program will wrap up with a session on the importance of sleep with Dr. Beth Malow, vice chair of academic affairs and division chief of sleep and neurology for Vanderbilt University Medical Center. Check out all convention CLE offerings here.