Chattanooga lawyer Russell Fowler will receive the prestigious Justice Joseph W. Henry Award for Outstanding Legal Writing on June 16 during the Tennessee Bar Association’s (TBA) Annual Convention in Knoxville. The award, which will be presented at the Lawyers Luncheon, was established nearly 40 years ago and is given each year to the lawyer who writes the most outstanding article published in the Tennessee Bar Journal for the preceding year.  Fowler is being recognized for his article "Tennessee Lawyers Impact America: A History of Advancing the Right to Vote" and companion piece "Dunn v. Blumstein: A Young Tennessee Lawyer Wins Expansion of the Right to Vote, which ran in the March/April 2022 issue of the Journal. Fowler is director of litigation and advocacy at Legal Aid of East Tennessee. He has written many pieces on law and legal history, and is a regular columnist for the Journal. Read the full release.

Chancellor John C. Rambo of Jonesborough 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. Chancellor of the First Judicial District, Rambo practiced law in Northeast Tennessee for 19 years before assuming the chancery court bench in 2013. Attorneys who have practiced in his court note that Rambo is dedicated to the highest standards of the rule of law and of the legal profession in Tennessee. His nominator, Mark W. McFall, says that “Chancellor Rambo possesses the ideal judicial temperament, patience with lawyers and litigants, and a true desire to mete out equity and justice in his rulings and opinions.”

The Tennessee Bar Association this year will again honor the good works of Tennessee journalists through the Fourth Estate Award: Honoring Courageous Reporting on Justice and the Law. This year's prize includes a $250 honorarium for the winner. The TBA strongly supports our freedom of expression under the First Amendment, as exercised by lawyers on behalf of their clients and by journalists on behalf of the public, and it particularly wants to recognize and encourage journalists who promote public understanding of the rule of law and our system of justice through vigorous exercise of their First Amendment rights. Prior winners include the WSMV News 4 I-Team, Steven Hale of the Nashville Scene, the Bristol Herald Courier, Marc Perrusquia’s work for the Daily Memphian and the Institute for Public Service Reporting, and the Kingsport Times News. The deadline for entry is April 10. Read more about this year's award process.

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.

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.

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.

The TBA announced today the selection of 34 attorneys from across the state for its 2022 Leadership Law (TBALL) program. TBALL is designed to equip Tennessee lawyers with the vision, knowledge and skills necessary to serve as leaders in their profession and local communities. The class will meet for its first session in March and spend the next six months learning about leadership in the legal profession, issues in the courts, policymaking in state government and the importance of community service. The program, now in its nineteenth year, is produced by a steering committee of 12 attorneys, all former class members. Co-chairing the program are Terica Smith from the 26th Judicial District Attorney General's office in Jackson and Jeffrey Maddux of Chambliss Bahner & Stophel in Chattanooga. Meet the Class of 2022.

Knoxville attorney Tasha C. Blakney will take office as president-elect of the Tennessee Bar Association (TBA) tomorrow during the group’s annual convention in Memphis. A partner at Eldridge & Blakney PC in Knoxville, she earned her law degree from the University of Tennessee College of Law and has more than 20 years of experience in the legal profession. She has also been an active member of the TBA, serving in a variety of positions with the association, including second district governor for the TBA’s Board of Governors, co-chair of the Public Education Committee, member of the TBA’s House of Delegates and executive committee member of the Environmental Law Section. Blakney will assume the presidency of the TBA in 2022.

Germantown attorney James “Jim” Barry will take office as vice president of the Tennessee Bar Association (TBA) on Friday during the group’s annual convention in Memphis. Barry, who will advance to the presidency in 2023, has long been active in the TBA, serving on the Board of Governors, as chair of the Access to Justice Committee and as co-chair for many years of the TBA’s Corporate Counsel Pro Bono Initiative. Outside of the TBA, Barry has held leadership roles with the Association of Corporate Counsel, Community Legal Center in Memphis, Memphis Area Legal Services, Memphis Bar Association, Tennessee Alliance for Legal Services and Tennessee Justice Center.