The Tennessee Bar Association will present its 2022 Public Service Awards during its Annual Convention next month in Nashville. The recipients were announced in March and featured in the the March/April issue of the Tennessee Bar Journal. Ann Pruitt, most recently the executive director for Tennessee Alliance for Legal Services, will receive the Ashley T. Wiltshire Public Service Attorney of the Year Award. Ashley Goins Alderson, an attorney in the Nashville office of Stites & Harbison, will receive the Harris Gilbert Pro Bono Attorney of the Year Award. Finally, Belmont University College of Law 3L Gabriella Cannone will receive the Law Student Volunteer of the Year Award. The three recipients will be honored at the Lawyers Luncheon on June 17.

Make your hotel reservations now for the 2022 TBA Annual Convention in Nashville. The special TBA rate at the Hilton Nashville Downtown Hotel expires May 31. This year's convention, June 15-18, is packed with compelling programming, networking opportunities, and dinner and music at the new Fifth & Broadway entertainment venue.

This year’s Bench Bar Program at the TBA Annual Convention focuses on how judges and lawyers can serve as leaders and drive success for the legal community. Panels include lawyers in government, judges as leaders and lawyers as civic leaders. Judge Rhynette Hurd from the Shelby County Circuit Court and Judge Neal McBrayer of the Tennessee Court of Appeals will moderate the first session that will also feature Tennessee Supreme Court Justice Jeffrey Bivins, 10th District Chancellor Jerri Bryant, and 20th District Criminal Court Judge Angelita Blackshear Dalton. A second panel will be moderated by TBA Vice President and Nashville attorney Ed Lanquist of Patterson Intellectual Property Law, and will feature former Nashville mayor and Frost Brown Todd lawyer Bill Purcell, Tennessee Department of Health attorney Kyonzte Hughes-Toombs, and Charles Swanson from the City of Knoxville Law Department. A third panel, moderated by TBA President Sherie Edwards of State Volunteer Mutual Insurance Company, will feature TBA Executive Director Joycelyn Stevenson and former TBA President and Chattanooga lawyer Marcy Eason of Miller & Martin PLLC.

Knoxville lawyer R. Culver Schmid will be presented with the prestigious Justice Joseph W. Henry Award for Outstanding Legal Writing on June 17 during the Tennessee Bar Association’s (TBA) annual convention in Nashville. The award was established nearly 40 years ago and is given each year to the lawyer “who writes the most outstanding article that is published in the ... Tennessee Bar Journal for the preceding year." Culver is managing shareholder in Baker Donelson’s Knoxville office, and a member of its Real Estate/Finance Group. Judges said his article, “Restoring Rights of Individuals Convicted of a Felony Crime: A Manual,” did “an excellent job laying out the statistics and statutes regarding lost voting rights in Tennessee, and then guiding the reader clearly and succinctly through the process of restoring those rights." Read the full release.

In addition to compelling CLE, social events and networking opportunities, the TBA's governing bodies will meet throughout the 2022 TBA Annual Convention. On June 15, the House of Delegates will meet from 2 to 5 p.m., while new Board of Governors members will attend an orientation session. On June 16, section and committee leaders will meet to recap their work over the past year and begin making plans for the 2022-2023 bar year. On June 17, the Young Lawyers Division will hold committee meetings and the division’s annual meeting, which is open to all YLD members. Finally, on June 18, the TBA Board of Governors and the Tennessee Legal Community Foundation Board of Trustees will meet, as will the YLD Executive Committee and full YLD Board. Check out the full convention schedule and make plans to be in Nashville June 15-18!

Assistant Public Defender and Appellate Director Brennan Wingerter will be honored next month with the Tennessee Bar Association’s Third Annual Claudia Jack Award. Named after the late Claudia Jack, a long-time champion of the poor and underprivileged, and a public defender in Maury County, the award is presented to an outstanding a public defender or court-appointed private practitioner who has served the legal community and her clients in an exemplary fashion. Wingerter is an honors graduate from the University of Tennessee College of Law who began her legal career by completing a multi-judicial clerkship in the Tennessee Supreme Court and serving as a professor of law at Lincoln Memorial University. She then became the inaugural director of the Appellate Division of the District Public Defenders Conference and built a statewide office from the ground up, leading the office in and out of the courtroom, and taking a lead role in statewide efforts to improve appellate advocacy on behalf of indigent clients. The Claudia Jack Award will be presented at the Tennessee Bar Association Annual Convention in Nashville on June 17 during the Lawyers’ Luncheon. Read the full press release.

Nashville attorney and former Tennessee Bar Association President John Tarpley will be honored next month with the prestigious William M. Leech Jr. Public Service Award. Named for former Attorney General William M. Leech and presented by the Fellows of the TBA Young Lawyers Division, the award is given to a Tennessee lawyer who has been of outstanding service to the profession, legal system and the community. Tarpley is a shareholder in the Nashville office of Lewis Thomason. In addition to his service to the TBA, he has held numerous leadership positions with local, state and national legal organizations, and has served as president of the board of directors of the Music City Chapter of the March of Dimes and as a member of the board of directors of First Steps. He is a 2016 graduate of Leadership Nashville. The Leech Award will be presented at the Tennessee Bar Association Annual Convention in Nashville on June 17 during the Lawyers’ Luncheon. Read the full press release.

Nashville attorney and former TBA President Jacqueline “Jackie" B. Dixon will be honored next month at the TBA Annual Convention with the Judge Pamela L. Reeves Tennessee Professionalism Award from the Tennessee Bar Association and the Tennessee American Inns of Court. The award is named in honor of the late Judge Reeves, who was also the first recipient of the award in 2020. Dixon was chosen for her years of leadership within the bar. During her career she has championed issues related to well-being in the legal profession and served in leadership positions with organizations that include the Tennessee Lawyers Assistance Program, American Bar Association, Tennessee Lawyers Association for Women, Lawyers Association for Women-Marion Griffin Chapter and the Harry Phillips American Inn of Court. Learn more about Dixon and the award.

Judge James G. Martin III will be honored next month with the Tennessee Bar Association’s (TBA) prestigious Justice Frank F. Drowota III Award. Given to a judge or judicial branch official of a federal, state or local court in Tennessee who has demonstrated extraordinary devotion and dedication to the improvement of the law, the legal system and the administration of justice, the award is the TBA’s highest award for service to the judiciary as exemplified by the career of former Supreme Court Justice Frank F. Drowota III – the award’s first recipient. This year's award will be presented June 17 during the TBA Convention in Nashville. Judge Martin practiced law in Middle Tennessee for more than 30 years before being appointed to the Tennessee Circuit Court, 21st Judicial District, Division II. Read more about his career and the award.

Join your colleagues for the 2022 TBA Annual Convention in Nashville, June 15-18, offering a total of nine hours (4.5 general and 4.5 dual) of continuing legal education. This year's in-person CLE lineup will bring together an esteemed group of panelists and speakers to cover a variety of timely, essential legal topics such as how judges and lawyers can serve as leaders in Tennessee, attorney well-being for lawyers in today's evolving legal field, a legislative update recapping the most recent news from the legislative session and a diversity panel with seasoned attorneys sharing different perspectives and experiences. Learn more about CLE and other programming, book a room and register.