TBA Public Policy and Government Affairs

One of the most important responsibilities of the Tennessee Bar Association (TBA) is to advocate for the legal profession and our system of justice. 

The TBA's Government Affairs team, Berkley Schwarz, Brad Lampley and Ashley Harbin, has deep industry knowledge, historical insight into legislative/regulatory issues and strong relationships with policymakers and their staff.  

TBA Legislative Review Process During the Legislative Session

After the General Assembly bill filing deadline, which is usually the first week of February, the TBA Government Affairs team reviews the newly introduced legislation and circulates the legislation that affects the practice of law to the TBA Section that it affects the most and asks the Section's Executive Council for feedback on the bills.

The TBA Executive Council of the Section reviews the legislation and lets the Government Affairs team know whether they support the bill, have concerns with the bill – including specific reasons for those concerns, and whether the bill language could be amended to address these concerns.  The TBA Government Affairs team works with legislators and 1) expresses concerns with the bills that are unnecessary or detrimental to the practice of law, 2) tries to improve the bills that can be improved, and 3) help pass the bills the TBA supports.   

TBA Legislation

Additionally, the TBA has its own bills that are introduced and that our Government Affairs team works to get passed; these bills are called TBA Initiatives. The TBA gets its best ideas from its members, especially from the Sections, Committees and Divisions.  Every year the Executive Council of each TBA Section, Committee and Division discusses whether they have a legislative proposal they want to be considered a TBA Legislative Initiative.  The deadline for submitting legislative proposals to the TBA is usually around September each year.  Once all of the legislation is submitted, the TBA House of Delegates first considers the legislative proposals and votes to recommend it or not to be a TBA Initiative. Then the TBA Board of Governors considers the proposals and makes the final decision about which legislative proposals will become TBA Initiatives and will be introduced in the next session of the General Assembly.   

TBA Supreme Court Rule Review Process

With regard to proposed changes to Supreme Court Rules, once the TBA receives the Supreme Court Orders asking for comment, TBA Section coordinators circulate the proposed changes to the Executive Councils of the TBA sections that would be impacted by the rule change. The Executive Council discusses whether they support or oppose the proposed change and whether they want the TBA to file a comment and weigh in on the proposed change. If a Section decides they want the TBA to file a comment in response to a proposed change to a Supreme Court rule, the Section's recommendation is sent to the TBA Board of Governors to discuss and vote on during the next scheduled meeting. If no board meeting is scheduled before the Supreme Court comment deadline, then the Executive Committee of the Board of Governors reviews the Section's comment and votes on whether the TBA should file the comment.

Occasionally a TBA section or a member of TBA leadership will ask the TBA to file a petition for the Supreme Court to create or amend a Supreme Court Rule. That request would follow the same process as outlined above.