President’s Message

PRESIDENT’S MESSAGE By: Jason H. Long

London Amburn

TECHNICALLY, A GREAT OPPORTUNITY

I encourage all of our members to, at some point, consider taking a leadership role for our bar. Whether serving on or chairing committees and sections, leading a Barristers program, running for elected office, or coordinating a special event, the Knoxville Bar Association has countless opportunities for members to become involved and have a meaningful impact. We need the diverse viewpoints and talents of all of our members. With that leadership comes special perks. For instance, this past month bar leaders were invited to attend and enjoy a leaders’ workshop at The Square Room. It was a nice evening to gather together (something we have not an opportunity to do much of in the past two years), share fellowship, and reflect upon what makes our bar so strong. The event was led by Charles Swanson and Heidi Barcus who presented on leadership qualities, using an outline which had originally been developed by our late and beloved, Pam Reeves. The program identified the essential qualities of a good leader and asked participants to reflect upon and identify times when the bar association exhibited such leadership. My personal favorite example was when Charles noted that good leaders do not panic in moments of uncertainty or in the face of obstacles. A good leader keeps his or her senses about them and uses such moments as an opportunity. One example that was suggested to reflect this leadership skill was the efforts of the Knoxville Bar Association in the development of the Law Practice Today Expo. Lawyers, just like all other professionals, have been confronted with a rapid pace of technological change over the past two and a half decades. The process continues today, and, if anything, with adaptations from the pandemic, the rate of change is even more disruptive to our daily lives.

In this environment, where many of the bedrock foundations are shifting and the ground figuratively moves under our feet, there has been great anxiety in the legal profession about what it all means. How can a lawyer keep pace with technological advances to assure that he or she is providing the best service possible? What can a lawyer do to ensure that the expectations of clients are being met and their practice is still growing? How can a lawyer stay on the cutting edge and keep pace with the competition to attract more clients in a technological age? We, as a profession, tend to be slow to change and reticent to embrace new or different ideas. For many lawyers, the rapid rate of change causes frustration, uncertainty, and fear.

Into this uncertainty and anxiety stepped your Knoxville Bar Association. Sixteen years ago the KBA started the Law Practice Today Expo in an effort to bring lawyers and technology together and to provide some form of road map for our attorneys in this fast-paced arena. Over the years, thanks to the many volunteers who have dedicated their time and effort to this event, it has grown into a signature project for the association that many of us look forward to and circle on our calendars each year.

The event includes two days of CLE sessions (an All-Expo pass will get you 15 hours of CLE credit) designed to educate attorneys on how to get the most out of products and devices currently on the legal market. Speakers present on everything from the release of new products to the ethical implications of practicing in a modern era. Attendees this year can choose from six different CLE tracks designed to educate on software, efficiency, security, tech tools, litigation and essential software (in case you miss that software track on the first day, we will let you know what essential software is out there).

In addition to the educational opportunities, an exhibit hall allows members to interact with vendors and find resources that meet their daily needs in the practice. Our exhibit hall grows year over year and we are truly blessed that a bar our size is able to attract some of the best and most cutting-edge vendors in the industry to share their resources with our members.

Aside from the educational and technological benefits from the Expo, there is simply the fact that it is a wonderful opportunity to socialize and network. Every year, we have a judicial roundtable luncheon giving members an opportunity to share a meal with our local judiciary, and this year our keynote speakers will include Randy Boyd, President of the University of Tennessee and Doug Kirchhofer, CEO of the Tennessee Smokies baseball team. An additional bonus this year will be our moonshine reception on Thursday evening, giving members an opportunity to celebrate who we are as East Tennessee lawyers and engage in a meet and greet with judicial candidates running in the May 3 primary election. If that were not enough, the two-day event will attract lawyers throughout our bar and give everyone an opportunity to reconnect in person, in a way we have not been able to do in quite some time.

In short, the KBA Law Tech Expo is our effort to bring together everything related to technology available in this area under one roof and have meaningful discussions about what that technology means for the practice. Several bar associations have attempted their own version of this event, and I believe it is fair to say that, for its size and punching power, none stack up quite like the KBA Law Practice Today Expo.

I once had a friend who tried to encourage me to take up kayaking. He was in love with the sport and really wanted to see me out on the water. I was struggling with the idea because I did not know anything about kayaking and it seemed a little cost prohibitive to me at the time. In selling the idea, he told me “Jason, you live in Knoxville, Tennessee. You are literally within an hours’ drive of the best rivers in the world for kayaking. Knoxville is an epicenter for the sport. Why would you not want to take advantage of that opportunity?” I never did take him up on his offer (shortly after our conversation, my first child was born, and the question was no longer one of money, but of time). However, his words stuck with me, and one day I still aspire to take advantage of the amazing resources around me. I feel the same way about our Law Practice Today Expo. We are Knoxville lawyers, and one of the premier technology-driven expositions will be occurring March 31 and April 1 in our backyard. Why would we not want to take advantage of that opportunity? I hope you will join us at the Law Practice Today Expo this year. It’s another wonderful opportunity to celebrate who we are and where we are going.