DICTA August 2022

Practice Tips: Navigating Multi-State Licensure . . . Page 7 Schooled in Ethics: Clarence Thomas, Ginni Thomas, and Judicial Recusal . . . Page 19

A Monthly Publication of the Knoxville Bar Association | August 2022

LEGAL EDUCATION IN KNOXVILLE’S LAW SCHOOLS UNDER THE NEW ABA ACCREDITATION STANDARDS ON PROFESSIONAL IDENTITY DEVELOPMENT AND BIAS, CROSS-CULTURAL COMPETENCY, AND RACISM

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DICTA

August 2022

In This Issue

Officers of the Knoxville Bar Association

August 2022

COVER STORY 16

Legal Education in Knoxville’s Law Schools Under the New ABA Accreditation Standards

CRITICAL FOCUS President Jason H. Long

President Elect Loretta G. Cravens

Treasurer Catherine E. Shuck

Secretary Carlos A. Yunsan

Immediate Past President Cheryl G. Rice

KBA Board of Governors Ursula Bailey Mark A. Castleberry Meagan Collver Jonathan D. Cooper

Daniel L. Ellis Magistrate Robin Gunn William A. Mynatt Jr. Vanessa Samano

Michael J. Stanuszek Amanda Tonkin Elizabeth Towe Zachary Walden

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The Knoxville Bar Association Staff 19

President’s Message

We Are Family

Practice Tips

Navigating Multi-State Licensure

Management Counsel

Every Employers’ Necessary Evil: Terminating Employees

Legal Update

DAOs and Tennessee’s New Decentralized Organization Law: An Introduction to the New Entity on the Block

Schooled in Ethics

Clarence Thomas, Ginni Thomas, and Judicial Recusal

WISDOM 6 8 Marsha S. Watson Executive Director

Tammy Sharpe Director of CLE & Section Programming

Jonathan Guess Database Administrator

Knoxville Bar Association 505 Main Street Suite 50 Knoxville, TN 37902 865-522-6522 Fax: 865-523-5662 www.knoxbar.org

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Tracy Chain LRIS Administrator

Volume 50, Issue 7

Dicta DICTA is published monthly (except July) by the Knoxville Bar Association. It is designed to offer information of value to members of the local bar association. The news and features should illustrate the issues affecting the bar and its members. The opinions expressed do not necessarily represent those of the Knoxville Bar Association.

All articles submitted for publication in DICTA must be submitted in writing and in electronic format (via e-mail attachment).

Exceptions to this policy must be cleared

by KBA Executive Director Marsha Watson (522-6522).

August 2022

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Dicta is the official publication of the Knoxville Bar Association

Publications Committee Executive Editor Executive Editor Executive Editor Brandon Allen Sarah Booher Anita D’Souza Elizabeth B. Ford Jennifer Franklyn Joseph G. Jarret F. Regina Koho

Managing Editor

Cathy Shuck Campbell Cox Melissa B. Carrasco Matthew R. Lyon Angelia Morie Nystrom Katheryn Murray Ogle Laura Reagan Ann C. Short Eddy Smith Grant Williamson

Marsha Watson KBA Executive Director

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What I Learned About Inclusion and Why It Matters

Inclusion Matters, But We Have Failed

Attorney Profile

Pathway to Tennessee: Meet Dean Lonnie Brown

Better

Changing the World, One Bite at a Time

Hello My Name Is

Taylor Rakes

Lessons Learned: Reflections from a Retiring Lawyer

Your Practice

Around the Bar

Chair Chats

Legally Weird

The Birds and the Bees and…the Geckos

Of Local Lore and Lawyers

Knoxville’s Potter’s Field

Well Read

The Credentialed Court: Inside the Cloistered, Elite World of American Justice

Urban Legends

How Not to Get Away with Murder

Bill & Phil Gadgets

Summer Tech Gadgets

Mitchell’s Malarkey

Voldemort Strikes Again

Tell Me A Story

Because of My Family

COMMON GROUND 4 20 26 28 30

Section Notices/Event Calendar Barrister Bullets New Members/Change of Addresses Bench & Bar in the News Pro Bono Project

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SECTION NOTICES & EVENT CALENDAR

Section Notices

There is no additional charge for membership in any section, but in order to participate, your membership in the KBA must be current. To have your name added to the section list, please contact the KBA office at 522-6522.

Alternative Dispute Resolution Section The ADR Section plans regular CLE throughout the year. If you have a CLE program topic or speaker suggestions, please contact the ADR Section Chairs Joe Jarrett (566-5393) or Betsy Meadows (540-8777).

Bankruptcy Law Section The Bankruptcy Section plans CLE programs and helps coordinate volunteers for the Pro Bono Debt Relief Clinics. Join the Bankruptcy Law Section for the upcoming CLE program “How to Get Paid – Employment and Payment of Professionals in Bankruptcy” on September 26 featuring Hon. Suzanne Bauknight. In conjunction with the CLE,the “Annual Celebration of the Pro Bono Debt Relief Clinic” will also be held on September 26. The celebration and reception will be held from 2-3 p.m. on the Fourth Floor of the Howard H. Baker Jr. United States Courthouse. If you have a program topic or speaker suggestions, please contact the Bankruptcy Section Chairs Tom Dickenson (292-2307) or Greg Logue (215-1000).

Corporate Counsel The Corporate Counsel Section provides attorneys employed by a corporation or who limit their practice to direct representation of corporations with an opportunity to meet regularly and exchange ideas on issues of common concern. Save the date for the “Annual Corporate Counsel Update” extended CLE on August 24. If you would like to know how you can get involved or have suggestions for CLE topics, please contact Section Chairs David Headrick (363-9181) or Marcia Kilby (362-1391).

Criminal Justice The KBA Criminal Justice Section represents all attorneys and judges who participate in the criminal justice system in Knox County. Save the date for the annual CLE program “Criminal Law Rowdy Roundup 2022” scheduled for November 17. If you have suggestions for CLE topics, please contact Section Chairs Joshua Hedrick (524-8106) or Sarah Keith (931-260-5866).

Employment Law The Employment Law Section is intended for management and plaintiffs’ counsel, in addition, to in-house and government attorneys. Join the Employment Law Section for the upcoming CLE programs “A Potpourri of Changes: Employment Law Updates from the White House and SCOTUS” on August 30 and “Employment Law Update” on October 6. If you have a program topic or speaker suggestions, please contact the Employment Law Section Chairs Howard Jackson (546-1000), Tim Roberto (691-2777) or Mark C. Travis (252-9123).

Environmental Law The Environmental Law Section provides a forum for lawyers from a variety of backgrounds, including government, corporate in-house, and private firm counsel. If you have suggestions for CLE topics, please contact Section Chairs Catherine Anglin (525-0880), Kendra Mansur (771-7192), or Jimmy Wright (637-3531).

Family Law Section The Family Law Section has speakers on family law topics or provides the opportunity to discuss issues relevant to family law practice. Save the date for the annual CLE program “TN Family Law Update” scheduled for December 13. If you are interested in getting involved, please contact Section Chairs Jo Ann Lehberger (539-3515) or Steve Sharp (971-4040).

Government & Public Service Lawyers Section The Government & Public Service Lawyers Section is open to all lawyers employed by any governmental entity, state, federal, or local, including judicial clerks and attorneys with legal service agencies. If you are interested in getting involved or have suggestions for CLE topics, contact Hon. Suzanne Bauknight (545-4284) or Ron Mills (215-2050).

Juvenile Court & Child Justice Section The Juvenile Court & Child Justice Section has speakers on juvenile law topics or provides the opportunity to discuss issues relevant to juvenile law practice. If you have suggestions for CLE topics, please contact Section Chairs Justin Pruitt (215-6440) or Mike Stanuszek (766-4170).

New Lawyers Section The New Lawyers Section is for attorneys within their first three years of practice, and any KBA member licensed since 2020 will automatically be opted-in to the section. Save the date for the New Lawyers Section “Field Day: Let the Games Begin” event scheduled for September 25. We’re happy to introduce everyone’s favorite throwback to grade school: Adult Field Day. Round up your team, grab some ice cream, and relive your glory days while competing in schoolyard games with a twist.

This family-friendly event will also offer individual activities for kids of all ages. If you would like to get involved in planning Section activities next year, please contact Section Chairs Courteney BarnesAnderson (803-341-0196) or Sanjay Raman (607-972-6140).

Senior Section The KBA Senior Section plans to start meeting again in 2022 for lunch. If you have suggestions for speakers, please contact Chair Wayne Kline at (292-2307).

Solo Practitioner & Small Firm Section The goal of the Solo Practitioner & Small Firm Section is to provide and encourage networking opportunities and offer high quality CLE programs featuring topics that will help solo/small firm attorneys enhance and improve their practices and assist them with law office management challenges.

Join the Solo Practitioner & Small Firm Section for the upcoming CLE program “Accounting & Tax Tips for Solo and Small Firms” on September 1. If you have a program topic or speaker suggestions, please contact Section Chairs Tim Grandchamp (392-5936), Brittany Nestor (214-7869), or Tripp White (712-0963).

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Law Office Tech Committee Environmental Law Section CLE Brews for Backpacks Professionalism Committee Veterans Legal Advice Clinic Barristers Meeting Judicial Committee Tennis & Pickleball Mixer Diversity in the Profession Committee Corporate Counsel Section CLE Board of Governors Meeting Barristers Summer Fun CLE Wellness Committee Employment Law CLE Swearing In for Knox County Judges

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Solo & Small Firm CLE Law Office Tech Committee Bench-Bar Celebration Emmett Till CLE Judicial Committee Debt Relief Clinic Professionalism Committee Access to Justice Committee Veterans Legal Advice Clinic Barristers Meeting Judicial Committee Employment Law CLE Wellness Conference Field Day Bankruptcy CLE CLE Committee Diversity in the Profession Committee Board of Governors Diversity Reception & CLE

Check the KBA Events Calendar at www.knoxbar.org for scheduling updates.

August 2022

PRESIDENT’S MESSAGE By: Jason H. Long

Lewis Thomason P.C.

WE ARE FAMILY “We Are Family.” There are few songs that get into the soul and make you want to sing, dance, jump around, and generally smile at the world as much as that 1979 hit by Sister Sledge. It is an anthem of celebration and unity. If, like me, you are currently singing it to yourself in the back of your mind, I hope it evokes memories of good times. I have stood on countless dance floors over the years, with my closest friends and family, singing that song at the top of my lungs.

I thought of that song, and the sentiment as applied to our bar association, this past week as I read about the unfortunate passing of our fellow member, Patty Wheeler. Most of you knew Patty from her years of service to the Knoxville Bar, her work as an attorney at McCampbell & Young, Lewis King, and Wimberly Lawson, and her general constant upbeat presence within our legal community. For me, Patty makes me think of my family in the Knoxville Bar. Back in the early eighties, my mom and her siblings were involved in a bitter dispute with their older brother concerning disposition of their parent’s estate. It was the type of litigation that was personal, painful, and led to high stress and anxiety. Mom knew she needed an attorney, but she did not know how to go about finding one who was right for the job. A friend of my dad, whose name is lost to history but we will refer to him as the Guardian Angel, referred her to Patty, and mom was ever grateful that he did. Patty, as she always did, handled the dispute with skill and grace, expertly representing mom’s interests before the court and, perhaps more importantly, providing her needed emotional support throughout the ordeal. Patty and my mom became fast friends. That friendship endured long after the file was closed.

At the time, I was just a 13-year-old kid who could not appreciate the legal proceedings that brought Patty into our lives. All I knew was that my mom’s new friend had a son, Patrick, who was my age. Like me, Patrick was obsessed with learning how to play golf. We quickly became close friends, as we began to spend our days together trudging up and down Holston Hills golf course trying to become proficient at the most frustrating game ever invented (we never succeeded, which is why we are both now lawyers and not playing on the PGA Tour). During my formative teenage years, I probably spent as much time with Patrick as anyone in my life. It will embarrass him to read this, but he was very much a brother to me.

When I became a licensed attorney and began practicing in Knoxville, Patty was one of the first people to reach out to me and congratulate me on my accomplishments. As she did with my mom, she provided support and encouragement during my baby lawyer days, when I felt overwhelmed and out of my element. I knew I could always call Patty if I needed to.

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Patty had been a surrogate mom for me on the golf course. It was a bit strange to now consider her a colleague and an equal (I think it took me about two years to stop calling her Ms. Wheeler). Nevertheless, she never hesitated in treating me as an equal and a fellow member of the bar from day one. Over the years, I stopped appreciating her only for the role she played in my childhood and came to appreciate her for her dedication to the profession. Patty was the type of lawyer who felt a duty to improve the practice, a duty to serve. She was on the KBA Board of Governors, a founding member of ETLAW, an adjunct professor at the UT College of Law, and a member of the Board of Directors for the Tennessee Justice Center. The practice of law was important to her. She took great pride in what she did and wanted to serve as many as possible. She was an outstanding lawyer and a true friend of the profession. For me, she was a member of the family. She will be missed.

All of us have those lawyers whom we consider to be true family members within the practice. It may be a mentor who helped us through difficult and challenging times, an attorney who served on a committee with us and a friendship clicked, or even an opponent we gained respect for and trust in after a hard-fought controversy. What is wonderful about our bar is that it is so interconnected by the friendships and bonds which have built up over years of practice.

Certainly, other bars share in the phenomena, but it feels stronger here in Knoxville (I am willing to acknowledge I may have a slight bias here).

Perhaps it is because we maintain the feel of a small bar despite our size, or because those who went before us set a tone of civility which has allowed us to foster friendships more easily, or because our Executive Director and her office have always made civility and relationships a focal point of our bar. Whatever the reason, as we continue to celebrate this year, we should celebrate our relationships that bond us more closely than as simple colleagues or co-professionals. We should celebrate our family.

It is that family that makes us strong and allows us to achieve what we could not as individuals.

Patty always seemed to appreciate that her legal family was important and required nurturing. It made her a better lawyer. It made her a happier lawyer. It made all of us in the bar ever thankful. There are a lot of ways to serve the bar association and the practice. From committee and section work, to CLE presentations, to writing for publications, and much more. However, perhaps the most important thing you can do as a member of the KBA is to take some time this year to celebrate and nuture your bar family. It will produce great fruit if you do.

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W H AT I L E A R N E D A B O U T I N C LU S I O N A N D W H Y I T M AT T E R S By: Alison Easterday Alexander

Bernstein, Stair & McAdams, LLP

INCLUSION MATTERS, BUT WE HAVE FAILED Inclusion matters, but we have yet to reflect that in Tennessee.

In almost every metric, we have failed to bring inclusion into our community. 26.5% of Tennesseans are people of color.1 Only 16% of the state legislature is of color.2 As of 2020, while 35% of the state’s students were students of color, only 14% of teachers were teachers of color.3 Among Tennessee schools, 32% have no teachers of color.4 Unsurprisingly, the legal field also has racial disparities – there are no district attorneys of color in Tennessee,5 and we have an all-white Supreme Court6 (only two black people have ever served on the Supreme Court).7 Here in Knoxville, the University of Tennessee and Lincoln Memorial University only graduate an average of 17% people of color.8 But why does any of this matter?

There are many valid answers to this question, but I contend that inclusion matters because others are watching. More specifically, our children are watching, and we must do better.

My six-year-old daughter, India, is watching. India has brown skin. She is half white and half black, and with our state’s current demographics, she will be hard pressed to see people like her in the legal profession.

Why is it important that India see people of color as her state representatives, as her teachers, and as attorneys? Two reasons come to mind. First, if she sees people of color in these powerful and influential professions, perhaps she will be inspired to attain those professions.

Secondly, seeing people of color in these positions might allow her to see her skin color as a blessing instead of a curse. The latter is extremely necessary because India has already been shamed for her skin color. All too often the first discussion of race, for children of color, is about racism.

When India was just four years old, another child at school told her that he did not like her brown skin. He told my perfect and beautiful child that her skin should be yellow. That one comment changed her whole world - despite our affirmations and love, another child’s negative comment about her skin color shattered her self-perception.

“I don’t want to be brown.”

I heard that repeatedly, and my heart broke each time. My little girl demanded to know why God made her brown, and she begged for

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her skin color to change. Can you imagine? But truth be told, the color shaming began even before India was born. I was eight months pregnant when a member of our bar said that I had “the wrong color baby” in my belly.

How? How can there be a “right” and a “wrong” color?

We have failed.

We are not the last people on this planet. Our children, our nieces and nephews, and our grandchildren are all waiting their turn. So, we need to include people of all sizes, languages, genders, cultures, and yes, colors, in positions of authority and influence. We hold a distinguished and privileged profession. Our children should see themselves in it.

Now I’ve been crying lately, Thinkin’ about the world as it is Why must we go on hating, Why can’t we live in bliss?

‘Cause out on the edge of darkness, There rides a Peace Train Oh Peace Train take this County, Come take me home again.

-Yasuf Islam (Cat Stevens) 1

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United States Census Bureau, Quick Facts – Tennessee, https://www.census.gov/ quickfacts/TN, (2021) Renuka Rayasam, Nolan D. McCaskill, Beatrice Jin, Allan James Vestal - Politico – Why State Legislature are still very white – and very male, www.politico.com/ interactives/2021/state-legislature-demographics/, (2 Feb 2021) The Education Trust, Educator Diversity State Profile: Tennessee, https://edtrust.org/ resource/educator-diversity-state-profile-tennessee/, (2 Dec 2020) Id. Reflective Democracy Campaign, Tipping the Scales: Challengers Take on the Old Boys Club of Elected Prosecutors – Prosecutor Elected Officials Dataset 2019, https://wholeads.us/research/tipping-the-scales-elected-prosecutors/, (2019) American Bar Association, ABA Profile of the Legal Profession, https://www. americanbar.org/content/dam/aba/administrative/news/2020/07/potlp2020.pdf, (2020) Stacey Barchenger, Tennessee appellate courts lack diversity, raising concerns, https://www.tennessean.com/story/news/crime/2015/11/06/tennessee-appellatecourts-lack-diversity-raising-concerns/74745146/, (6 Nov 2015) ABA Profile of the Legal Profession

August 2022

PRACTICE TIPS By: Nicole A. Gross London Amburn

NAVIGATING MULTI-STATE LICENSURE When I was in law school, I interned one summer with the U.S. Attorney’s Office in Kentucky. One of the AUSAs there was licensed in eleven states. I remember being very impressed, but also not understanding what multi-state licensure really entailed. If you are anything like me, after finishing the bar exam you probably thought, “Yep, one and done.” But, here I am, working on getting my fourth license. This was not something I planned, in fact, I specifically planned the opposite; it has just worked out this way. So, what does multi-state licensure entail and is it worth it?

I first became licensed in the state where I went to law school, Kentucky. After eighteen months of practice, I moved to Virginia. Because I had only been practicing for eighteen months, I was unable to waive into Virginia. I was also unable to transfer my MBE score because Virginia did not permit score transfer at that time (they do now). So, taking the bar was my only option. I also had to retake the MPRE since my scores were outdated having taken the exam during law school.

Which brings me to my first tip: check the score expiration details of the state in which you intend to practice and then the dates of the exams you need to take the minute you know you are moving. Second tip: do not forget about the MPRE and do not assume that your MPRE score meets your new state’s requirements. My prior MPRE score met the Virginia minimum, but the score itself was too old to qualify under the Virginia rules. Had I been on top of things, I could have taken the November MPRE exam before the February bar instead of waiting until after the bar exam to retake the MPRE. The stress of waiting for licensure pending a passing MPRE score could have been avoided had I not overlooked the MPRE requirements. You, however, will not experience this stress because you now know not to overlook the MPRE. So, the moral is, as soon as you know you are moving to a different state, look at those deadlines, request score transfers if applicable, and apply.

And speaking of applying, as you likely remember, there are a lot of documents you need in order to do so. For Virginia, I needed to get my fingerprints done. This required making an appointment at a police station, which took longer than anticipated. I also needed a full credit report, driving records from every state I was ever licensed, official school transcripts, certificates of good standing, and the list goes on. Some jurisdictions, like D.C., allow you to obtain a certificate of good standing electronically the same day requested; others, like Kentucky, allow you to pay for it online, but mail you the certificate; and still others, like Virginia, mail you the certificate after payment is mailed. This can mean staggered receipt of documents with potential delays. Additionally, some of the documents might have to be sent directly to NCBE; some you can only get within a certain amount of time before submission of your August 2022

application; some can be sent to you. There are so many documents you need that you probably blocked this part from your memory as a trauma response. Find out the particular jurisdiction’s list as early as possible, and get started on what you can right away. The key to a successful and timely application is organization.

Once you have applied, the wait for licensure can be significant.

After I was admitted in Virginia, my firm asked that I become admitted in D.C. This one was easy, as I was able to apply for admission without examination by MBE score transfer. However, start to finish, it took the longest to become licensed (nearly a year). I was already licensed and actively practicing in Virginia, so the wait did not matter for me. But for others, it might.

Some states, like Tennessee, allow for practice pending admission. This is another form and another fee with additional documentation, but states that have this option, make it so that an attorney does not have to stop working, so long as they meet the requirements.

Another consideration to multi-state licensure is cost. Admission without examination is typically more expensive than taking the exam. If you are taking the exam and have to travel, you might have hotel costs.

Whatever you think you are going to spend, plan for more. Once you are admitted, there will be yearly dues to maintain that license as well as CLE requirements for most jurisdictions. Often, it is possible to get a CLE taken in one jurisdiction approved for credit in another jurisdiction.

This typically requires submission of CLE materials and payment of a fee, but it saves you from having to take separate CLEs for every jurisdiction in which you are admitted.

Finally, if you leave a jurisdiction, you need to decide whether or not you want to keep your license active. If you decide to maintain an active license despite no longer being present in that jurisdiction, you still need to keep up with the yearly license fees and CLE requirements, which can be easy to forget. Keeping track of CLE deadlines and license renewals is key. When I left Kentucky, I never thought I would be back practicing in Kentucky, but at the same time, I wanted to maintain that license. I am glad I did because five years later, I am back handling Kentucky matters while working to obtain a Tennessee license, which might not have been possible without my active Kentucky license.

Every jurisdiction has different admission rules that can change yearly. But, despite the complicated nature of multi-state licensure, it is worth it. It can increase your desirability as an attorney and expand your practice range. It also allows for personal flexibility and growth.

Organization, planning, and time management are crucial, but the reward is great.

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AT TO R N E Y P R O F I L E By: Carol Anne Long Associate Director UT College of Law Career Center

PATHWAY TO TENNESSEE: MEET DEAN LONNIE BROWN Teachers can have a profound impact on our lives, and you would be hard-pressed to find a better example of this truism than in the life of the University of Tennessee College of Law’s newest Dean.

The son of educators, Lonnie T. Brown, Jr. was born in Orlando, Florida (serendipitously, in the same hospital where Dean Emeritus Doug Blaze was born) and was raised in Daytona Beach.

While in high school, Lonnie represented his school at American Legion Boys State, serving as Secretary of State, and he was then selected to represent the state of Florida at Boys Nation, where he was appointed Secretary of Housing and Urban Development. When it came time to consider colleges, it was Lonnie’s school guidance counselor who, recognizing his extreme talent and potential, insisted that he apply for the elite, newly-established Robert W. Woodruff Scholarship at Emory University. Lonnie was awarded the prestigious, full-ride scholarship, and went on to serve as student body president of Emory. In that role, he had the distinct honor of serving as an aide to Emory Distinguished Professor and former President Jimmy Carter, introducing President Carter at the annual Carter Town Hall meeting and observing the great negotiator during his work against apartheid.

Although he initially intended to pursue a career in medicine, a summer spent working as a phlebotomist at a hospital changed his mind.

His heavy involvement in student government and his past experiences with Boys State and Boys Nation caused him to switch his focus to law school and a future in politics. Once again, his outstanding credentials led to a full scholarship, this time at Vanderbilt Law School. On the day of graduation, Lonnie was approached by two of his favorite professors who strongly encouraged him to consider becoming a law professor, something he had never considered. Lonnie already had postgraduation employment lined up: a two-year clerkship with U.S. District Judge William O’Kelley of the Northern District of Georgia, followed by an associate position at Alston & Bird in Atlanta. However, the professorial seed planted by his Vanderbilt professors began to germinate.

During Lonnie’s eight years at Alston & Bird, he became a partner, and he spent several years serving as an adjunct faculty member at Emory School of Law. Lonnie was then offered the opportunity to serve as a visiting professor at Vanderbilt, so he negotiated a leave of absence from Alston & Bird and taught Professional Responsibility for one semester. That experience caused the seed to take root and sprout, and he decided it was time to pursue a career as a law professor.

After teaching at the University of Illinois College of Law for three

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years, he was offered a position with the University of Georgia School of Law. He and his family happily escaped the cold and returned to the South. While at Georgia, Professor Brown taught Civil Procedure, Ethics, Conflicts of Laws, and Georgia Practice and Procedure. He also spent a year as an Administrative Fellow as part of a newly-formed program to expose professors to the operations of central administration, working closely with the university’s Senior Vice President for Academic Affairs and Provost. This introduction to administrative work led to his being named Associate Dean for Academic Affairs at the law school in 2013.

When, several years later, he made the decision that he wanted to serve as the Dean of a law school, he knew that it couldn’t be just any law school: it had to be the right law school.

Fortunately, Lonnie’s wife, Kim, is a Knoxville native, and Lonnie had spent a great deal of time in Knoxville over the years. He also already knew several UT College of Law faculty members, so when the position of Dean became available, he knew that this was the right law school. He was particularly impressed with the College’s values of professionalism and leadership and the emphasis placed on practical training and public service. Praising the work of Dean Blaze and Dean Melanie Wilson, Lonnie reports that he wants to continue the growth and positive momentum cultivated by his predecessors.

Lonnie and Kim are the devoted parents of two grown children (Sophie and Olivia) and two dogs (Winston and Huggy Bear). When he’s not running the College of Law or teaching, he enjoys running, reading, and following his favorite sports teams – which, of course, include the Vols and the 2022 NBA Champions, the Golden State Warriors (he has actually been a fan since the late 1970s).

During his tenure at Georgia, he also found the time to author “Defending the Public’s Enemy,” the seminal biography on former U.S. Attorney General Ramsey Clark. The 10-year odyssey from inception to publication of the book permitted Lonnie to spend a significant amount of time with the subject of his work, as he examined the life of the man who oversaw the drafting of the Voting Rights Act of 1965 and the Civil Rights Act of 1968 and later became the defender of a vast array of controversial and perplexing clients.

From his parents to his high school guidance counselor to his law school professors, teachers have profoundly impacted the trajectory of Lonnie Brown’s life, and it is now the UT College of Law’s great fortune that the path to the role of law school Dean has led him here. He will teach and lead us well.

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August 2022

BETTER By: Melissa B. Carrasco

Egerton, McAfee, Armistead & Davis, P.C.

CHANGING THE WORLD, ONE BITE AT A TIME About 25 miles south of Boston is the township of East Walpole— population just under 5,000 as of 2020. The little town has a bit of a storied history. It has been around since 1647, when a prospector filed a mine claim on a plot of land. As more settlers moved into the territory, a sawmill was built, then a settlement, and 77 years later, in 1724, Walpole was officially incorporated by the Massachusetts General Court (Massachusetts’ legislature established by the Massachusetts Bay Colony).1 Walpole was one of the first communities to defy the British Crown and the Intolerable Acts, and its Minutemen were on the front lines at Concord, Lexington, Bunker Hills, and many other key battles of the American Revolutionary War.2 By 1870, it had its very own high school, and in 1878, it had its first newspaper, the Walpole Enterprize.3 Over the next 25 years, the town survived cholera, malaria, scarlet fever, and several other epidemics, watched train tracks and telephone poles move into the area, and created a water works department to supply water to the town.4 Then, in 1903, two, very important thing happened. In May, Walpole dedicated its public library.5 One month later, baby Ruth Jones Graves was born.6 Very little is known about Ruth’s parents or her early years. But, we do know that, when Ruth was 7 years old, she and her mother, Helen Vesta Jones, moved about 10 miles south to Easton, where her mother’s family lived.7 We also know that her family was very committed to her education. Although Ruth’s mother died when she was young, Ruth’s grandparents stepped in to raise her, and at the age of 17, Ruth graduated from Oliver Ames High School—named after the business man who funded the construction of the public high school.8 Public-private partnership in education is nothing new.

Four years later, Ruth was graduating from the Framingham State Normals School—the first, public college dedicated to training teachers in standardized methods of education.9 Framingham also just so happened to be one of the first public colleges to enroll both women and African American students.10 For the next couple of years, she taught at the local high school, worked in the local hospital as a dietician, and began lecturing on food and how to prepare it.11 After she married Kenneth Wakefield, Ruth and her husband bought a 100-year-old house in Whitman, Massachusetts, about thirteen miles away, and they turned it into a restaurant and inn.12 The house sat on an old toll road, where travelers once stopped to eat a meal while their stagecoach drivers paid whatever tolls or taxes were required.13 So, they called it the Toll House Inn.14 It was 1929. Little did they know that, only a few months later, the stock market would crash, and America would find itself in the Great Depression. If jobs, food, and money were scarce, happiness and hope were even more so. Ruth and Kenneth were the owners of a 7-table restaurant and inn at a time when very few could afford to travel or eat out. As head chef, Ruth decided to try something new. She figured out how to make delicious meals, and she served them on the finest china— all for only $1.00.15 For $1.00, people could put aside their sadness over what they had lost and fear of the future and just enjoy the simple pleasure of a good meal.

It worked. Ruth’s reputation for ingenuity, tasty recipes, and dishing out a side of hope with each meal got around. By the time the Great Depression ended nine years later, the Toll House Inn restaurant August 2022

had grown from 7 tables to 60, Ruth had published a cookbook: Ruth Wakefield’s Tried and True Recipes,16 and thousands of people had been fed—body and soul. But, Ruth was not done, yet.

In 1938, she and her kitchen assistant, Sue Brides were in the kitchen making cookies. They were looking for something different to add to Ruth’s already famous (at least regionally) pecan drop cookie dough.17 Ruth’s friend, Andrew Nestlé, had given her a few bars of semisweet chocolate, which were stashed away in the cupboard. Ruth and Sue chopped the bars up into tiny pieces, and then stirred them into the cookie dough.18 They expected the chocolate to melt and flavor the rest of the cookie, but it didn’t. And so, the Nestlé Toll House chocolate chip cookie was born.

Yes, the iconic cookie was born in 1938, but other than guests at the Toll House Inn, not that many people knew about it at first. Then, WWII started, and people started sending the cookies in care packages to the American soldiers stationed abroad.19 The soldiers shared their treats, and soon, soldiers across the U.S. were writing home asking their families to send more cookies.20 So, families starting writing Ruth to ask for her recipe.21 Ruth did what most would find unthinkable. She sold the recipe to the Nestlé company for $1.00 and a lifetime supply of Nestlé chocolate.

Nestlé put the recipe on its semi-sweet chocolate bars and then bags of chips, and that is where it lives to this day.22 That way, everyone could make Ruth’s cookies for their loved one across the ocean. In 1967, Ruth and Kenneth sold the Toll House Inn, and Ruth died 10 years later in 1977.23 Ruth Graves Wakefield may be known for creating the Toll House Chocolate Chip Cookie, but in reality, her impact was much broader.

She brought hope. During the country’s worst economic downturn, she reminded people that not all was lost. During the darkness of World War II, she sent a reminder of the good things in life. And, then she gave others the ability to do the same. She made things better—one bite at a time.

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Walpole, Massachusetts, Historical Timeline of Walpole, https://www.walpolema.gov/library/pages/historical-timeline-of-walpole, last visited July 4, 2022; Massachusetts General Court pp. 3-4 (2020), available at https://www.sec.state. ma.us/arc/arcpdf/collection-guides/FA_CT.pdf Historical Timeline of Walpole, supra n. 1.

Id. Id. Id. Geaneanet, Ruth Jones Graves, https://gw.geneanet.org/tdowling?lang=en&n=grav es&oc=0&p=ruth+jones, last visited July 4, 2022.

Easton Historical Society, 11 Mechanic Street, https://www.flickr.com/photos/histor icalimagesofeastonma/17867675611/in/photostream, last visited July 4, 2022.

Id. Tammy Jo Eckhart, Herstory, Thank Her for Chocolate Chip Cookies, https:// www.monroecountynow.org/blog/2021/6/17/thank-her-for-chocolate-chipcookies, last visited July 4, 2022; Buildings of New England, Oliver Ames High School (Nov. 4, 2020), https://buildingsofnewengland.com/2020/11/04/oliverames-high-school-1896, last visited July 4, 2022.

Sam Roberts, Overlooked No More, Ruth Wakefield, Who Invented the Chocolate Chip Cookie, New York Times, available at https://www.nytimes.com/2018/03/21/ obituaries/overlooked-ruth-wakefield.html.

Framingham State University, FSU History – Part 1, https://www.framingham. edu/academics/henry-whittemore-library/special-collections-archives/universityhistory/history-part1, last visited July 4, 2022.

Roberts, supra n. 9.

continued on page 20

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A NEW ROO By: Dale J. Montpelier Montpelier Law Group

For those of you who read the November 2020 DICTA, you know of my kangaroo obsession and that I own a wallaby. Wally came into my life at a low point and had a huge influence on my life.

Meet Kira Roo, a female red kangaroo that I acquired in Florida on June 18th.

Kangaroos are the spirit animal of change, symbolizing perseverance and strength. My practice underwent an unexpected, but catastrophic change right at the time I got Kira. It has been difficult to adjust given the incredible amount of unfairness that was involved and the lack of any notice from which I could prepare or adjust. Looking at Kira reminded me of what she represents, however. Unfortunately, those things happen to people all of the time, and it is how we move forward that defines who we are as people. That is why Kira came into my life precisely when she did.

She teaches us to persevere and be strong during times of significant change, and to trust that slowly unfolding reality will eventually correct the most grievous of wrongs.

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DICTA

August 2022

HELLO MY NAME IS By: Jennifer Franklyn

Leitner Williams Dooley Napolitan, PLLC

TAYLOR RAKES For this month’s “Hello, My Name Is…” column, we are featuring Barristers member Taylor Rakes, Staff Attorney for Clayton Homes.

Taylor’s work at Clayton Homes is in consumer finance, specifically with a focus on regulatory work. He attended undergrad at Tusculum College (now known as Tusculum University), where he majored in Business Administration (Concentrations in General Management and Economics & International Business). Taylor graduated from the University of Tennessee College of Law in May of 2021. He shared with me that, although he is an Atlanta native and cheers for the Atlanta Braves, Falcons, United, and Hawks, he is also a diehard fan of the Tennessee Vols and has great memories watching the 1998 National Championship football game as well as many National Championship women’s basketball teams coached by Pat Summitt.

Why did you decide to go to law school?

Before law school, I never once thought I wanted to be an attorney.

In fact, a childhood mentor of mine, who is still a practicing attorney, always encouraged me to go to law school, to which I responded (politely), “No way!” However, my work experience in my previous careers got me interested in law school, especially with my role in loan processing. I became fascinated with the regulatory environment that governed the industry. I was very fortunate to have met amazing attorneys who did this type of regulatory work, and I immediately knew what I wanted to do the rest of my career. In fact, I even told one of them (who has since become one of my mentors), “I want to do what you do.” And, yes, my childhood mentor was right all along – when I called to tell him I was thinking about law school, I went ahead and swallowed my pride and started the conversation with, “Well, it only took me fifteen years to listen to your advice.”

Where are you from?

I am originally from Atlanta, GA and lived there through high school. Upon graduating from undergrad in Greeneville, TN, I proceeded to live in Muscatine, IA, Phoenix, AZ, Columbus, OH, and Nashville, TN. I finally settled in Knoxville in 2016, a place I had wanted to live ever since I became a Vols fan as a young kid.

On a typical Saturday afternoon, where are you and what are you doing?

You can typically find me on the golf course on a Saturday. In the fall, my favorite thing to do is to play an early round of golf on Saturday morning, allowing me to get home in time to catch all of the day’s college football with my wife and our new puppy.

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What are you currently reading / watching?

I recently started my first Alex Cross book, Along Came A Spider. I look forward to finishing the book and then finally seeing the movie!

I also just recently finished the Ozark series on Netflix. A lot of the show was filmed near my hometown in Atlanta – a few scenes were even at a restaurant my family frequents.

If you could give a new law student one piece of advice, what would it be?

Embrace and enjoy the challenge. One of my favorite sports movie quotes of all time is quite relatable to how rewarding law school is. The quote comes from the movie Miracle, which is about the 1980 USA Olympic Hockey Team. In a pre-game speech, Coach Brooks, played

by Kurt Russell, told the team, “Great moments are born from great opportunity.” Attending law school is your great opportunity, and even though it is filled with challenges and hurdles that will push you to new limits, it truly results in your great moment. When you walk across that graduation stage, you will be living in a moment that you will never forget – one that will allow you to achieve new heights and dreams for the rest of your life.

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LESSONS LEARNED: REFLECTIONS FROM A RETIRING LAWYER By: John Eldridge

YOUR PRACTICE One of the genuine benefits of the legal profession is the opportunity to develop a practice. Like physicians and many other professionals, lawyers have the opportunity to create a network of referrals. Satisfied clients, who only interface with the legal profession on a very limited basis, sometimes just once, remember their lawyer. And, when in the course of daily living, those satisfied clients hear someone say: “I need a lawyer,” your name pops up, and you get a referral. So you develop your practice: do good work, be noticed and remembered, and then get talked about.

Of course, the whole referral system way of building a law practice as indicated above has changed due to lawyer advertising, but some of the “old way” is still operative. I am told that the key to lawyer advertising is in the reviews, and to get a good review, you have to do the same thing as in the “old way” of referrals: do good work and get talked about.

Whether you rely on referrals alone or advertising alone, or a little of both, developing a practice does not occur overnight. On the contrary, developing a practice takes time; it’s a day-in-day-out sort of thing.

Once you have a practice, no one can take it away from you! Of course, you could booze it away, ruin it with an affair, or ignore it until it disintegrates, but again, the practice is yours, and no one can take it from you!

So what makes a good lawyer? What does it take to get a referral or good review from a client? A wise lawyer once told me that what it takes are primarily two attributes: 1) you are a hard worker, and 2) you care for your clients. This may sound simplistic, but these two traits, working hard and caring for your clients, are indeed the most important thing you can do to build a law practice. Nonetheless, I would add one additional attribute: good communication skills. A good lawyer knows how to talk to a judge or jury, but she must also know how to communicate with clients, lawyers, witnesses, and anyone else with whom the lawyer comes into contact.

It is very rewarding to build a law practice. As you do it, make sure you work hard, care for your clients, and learn to communicate. Then you won’t have a good practice; you will have an excellent practice!

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DICTA

August 2022

MANAGEMENT COUNSEL: LAW PRACTICE 101 By: Jared Garceau

Lewis Thomason, P.C.

EVERY EMPLOYERS’ NECESSARY EVIL: TERMINATING EMPLOYEES While terminating an employee is not something any employer likes to think about, it is a necessary evil for any employer. If you manage a law firm with at least eight (8) employees, ensuring that your firm terminates an employee the right way can save you in a future wrongful termination lawsuit. While Tennessee is an “at will” employment state, you should always keep in mind the reasons for which you cannot terminate an employee – i.e.: for an illegal and/or discriminatory reason. While I’m confident that those reading this would never engage in such a practice, keeping these unlawful reasons in mind when terminating a problem employee can help one engage in some helpful practices prior to termination to head-off a future claim and/or better defend the decision later.

provide the separated employee with a Separation Notice within twentyfour (24) hours of the employee’s separation from employment.1 These notices do not have to be given to any employee who has been in your employ for less than a week or who will be recalled within seven (7) days. These notices are to assist the separated employee with an unemployment claim.

Give the employee the opportunity to improve. While it isn’t a comfortable conversation to have, providing accurate performance reviews that specify sub-par performance is a must. Documenting the legitimate reasons why the employee is having issues, maintaining the documentation in the employee’s file, and measuring future performance is key. Performance improvement plans are a great tool – however you and/or your HR professional need to be ready to follow up on it and monitor progress (or lack thereof ). Termination decisions should never be a surprise to the employee.

Before terminating – Get your ducks in a row. Before terminating an employee, ensure that you have adequate and accurate documentation of the poor performance/problem area. If the employee’s file only contains their job application, resume, and benefits information – you may want to reassess. Good documentation speaks volumes in the event of a future claim or litigation. Further, before having the termination meeting, plan on who will attend, practice what you intend to say, and anticipate questions from the employee. Consider whether you will give the employee the reason for their termination and focus on the facts.

Remember to consider logistical issues as well – i.e.: returning keys, passwords, and continuation of benefits.

Don’t forget about the termination documentation. While your benefits administrator and/or third-party administrator can assist you with COBRA and any other post-termination benefits information, don’t forget that the Tennessee Department of Labor requires all employers to

When completing the separation notice’s section calling for the “circumstances of the separation,” consider using general terms like “violation of company policy” or “employee misconduct” or “poor job performance.” Being highly specific may cause you to inadvertently omit reasons and/or can unnecessarily escalate the termination process. However, rest assured that whatever you put in this section cannot be the basis of a libel or slander lawsuit against you or the employer. Tenn.

Code Ann. § 50-7-701 provides: (c) All letters, reports, communications, or any other matters, either oral or written, from the employer or employee or former employee, to each other, or to the department, or to or by any of the agents, representatives or employees of any of them, which shall have been written, spoken, sent, delivered or made in connection with the requirements and administration of this chapter, shall be absolutely privileged, and shall not be made the subject matter or basis for any suit for libel or slander in any court.2 Moreover, the reason provided should be consistent with your actual reason for termination and supporting documentation. Inconsistencies, while likely inadvertent, can provide litigants evidence that your reason for termination was pretextual.

Terminating employees is not an enjoyable experience, however, it is a necessary evil when running a business and/or law firm. Whether you take care of this task, or whether you delegate it to someone else, avoid making the experience even worse by handling the process with care.

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See Rule 0800-09-01-.02 of the Rules and Regulations of the Tennessee Department of Labor and Workforce Development; see also tn.gov/workforce.

Tenn. Code Ann. § 50-7-701 (emphasis added).

About this column: “The cobbler’s children have no shoes.” This old expression refers to the fact that a busy cobbler will be so busy making shoes for his customers that he has no time to make some for his own children. This syndrome can also apply to lawyers who are so busy providing good service to their clients that they neglect management issues in their own offices. The goal of this column is to provide timely information on management issues. If you have an idea for a future column, please contact Caitlyn Elam at 546-4646.

August 2022

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AROUND THE BAR By: Cathy Shuck

East Tennessee Children’s Hospital

CHAIR CHATS In May we introduced “Chair Chat,” a periodic feature to share information about the KBA’s many committees and sections. This month we hear from Access to Justice Committee co-Chairs Debra House and Daniel Ellis, and Law Office Technology Committee co-Chairs Jonathan Cooper and Robyn Jarvis Askew.1 Access to Justice Committee Deb House has been a co-Chair of this committee since 2015; Daniel Ellis joined her as a co-Chair in 2016. Deb is the Executive Director of Legal Aid of East Tennessee and Daniel is a Staff Attorney with Disability Rights TN. Who should join the Access to Justice Committee?

Anyone who wants to have their joy and zeal for the practice of law reinvigorated. Anyone who believes that lawyers should above all serve others. Those interested in concrete projects that promote access to justice for all in our community.

What is something that people might not know about your committee, but should?

We have two Tennessee Supreme Court Access to Justice Commissioners, Bill Coley and Joy Radice, who are a part of our humble KBA Access to Justice Committee! Bill is the immediate past-chair of the Commission. Also, we have subject area subcommittees! Whether your passion is the Tennessee Faith and Justice Alliance, Immigration, Re-Entry, Homeless Courts/ Clinics, Racial Justice, Veterans, Debt Relief or something wholly new which you can bring to the committee, there is a place for you!!

If the committee were a household appliance, what would it be and why?

A Swiss Army Knife, because you can be a part of Access to Justice anywhere (portable) and because access to justice work is versatile and adaptable because you can do it in person, online, by phone etc.

How has the pandemic affected the committee?

We have become more flexible and more accessible. We continued to meet virtually throughout the pandemic. We benefited from the insight and partnership of Joy Radice and the UT Legal Clinic’s partnering with the UT Nursing School as a model for a “COVID Safe” in-person legal clinic. We expanded volunteer and individual access to legal clinics by allowing people to join and be served virtually. We also allowed lawyers to volunteer virtually or by phone as their schedules permitted.

What events or other projects are in the works?

Our Homeless Courts/ Clinic Committee is putting together some exciting ways to expand access to justice for people who are unhoused or whose housing is at serious risk. We are grateful for the leadership of Christy Murray and Amy Hess and others on this committee! We are continuously expanding our collaboration with Legal Aid of East Tennessee to develop and implement new legal clinics to better serve those in need of legal help.

If the committee could do anything at all, what would it be?

Encourage people to join our committee even if they just want to attend and learn more. Then they can volunteer as it fits their schedule and also refer individuals and other lawyers to the many great clinics hosted by members of the Access to Justice Committee!

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Anything else to add?

We encourage law students to become involved in our committee.

There are so many ways that students can promote access to justice and participate in the work of the committee. Finally, we could not do our work without the able support of the KBA staff, particularly Tracy Chain.

Law Office Technology Committee Jonathan Cooper is a longtime member of the Law Office Tech Committee; he joined veteran co-Chair Robyn Jarvis Askew as a coChair in January 2022. Jonathan practices with Knox Defense. Robyn is a shareholder in Lewis Thomason.

Who should join the Tech Committee?

Any lawyer who is interested in office management and efficiency. This committee is responsible for producing the KBA’s annual Law Practice Today Expo, which provides our legal community with incredible practice instruction, tips, and resources that cannot be found anywhere else. Each year, the Expo produces local and regional experts to discuss cutting edge technology, best practices, and office resources designed to optimize law practice efficiency and output.

What is something that people might not know about your committee, but should?

The Law Practice Today Expo is the KBA’s largest CLE program and generates more revenue for our Association than any other.

If the committee were a household appliance, what would it be and why?

The iPhone 13 Pro Max. This committee is dedicated to producing the highest-end, most technologically advanced instruction for law office management. For example, this past year the Expo offered 22 different topics covering independent tracks such as “Software,” “Efficiency,” Security,” “Tech Tools,” and “Litigation”. Like an iPhone, this program is packed with the latest and greatest that law tech has to offer.

How has the pandemic affected the committee?

It affected our work in two ways, one negative and one arguably positive.

In reverse order, first, the committee now meets by Zoom, which is much more convenient for monthly meetings. Second, we were forced to cancel the 2020 Expo and hold the 2021 Expo virtually using a webinar platform. While successful, it just was not the same as meeting in person.

Fortunately, this year we were back in person! It was fantastic and we had an extraordinary turnout!

Anything else to add?

Lots! One great thing about the Expo is the opportunities for networking. For example, this year we hosted a “Moonshine Reception” and invited all of the judicial candidates to attend. It was great way to speak socially and informally with our judiciary! We also invited the owners of the Tennessee Smokies baseball team to present their plans for the new downtown stadium complex during a lunch session. Another great thing about the Expo are the door prizes. Our sponsors gave away lots of swag and prizes, and one lucky attorney won a $1,000 drawing.

We do our best to make this annual event both informative and fun!

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DICTA

Responses have been edited slightly for length and clarity.

August 2022

L E G A L U P DAT E By: Alicia J. Teubert Anderson Busby PLLC

DAOS AND TENNESSEE’S NEW DECENTRALIZED ORGANIZATION LAW: AN INTRODUCTION TO THE NEW ENTITY ON THE BLOCK On April 20, 2022, Governor Lee signed Public Chapter No. 852 into law,1 which allows decentralized autonomous organizations, or DAOs (pronounced “dows” like “Dow Jones”), to register as limited liability companies (LLCs) in Tennessee. While DAOs have become increasingly popular in the blockchain and crypto space since 2016,2 recognition of DAOs as a separate legal entity is new. Wyoming was the first state to explicitly recognize a DAO as a separate entity in July 2021.3 Tennessee followed suit with a law that closely mirrors the Wyoming text and allows for DAOs to be chartered as Tennessee LLCs (referred to in this article as DAO LLCs).

What is a DAO? “DAO” stands for decentralized autonomous organization, but there is no universally adopted definition of a DAO. Some definitions are nearly incomprehensible unless you have a degree in computer science.

Some people describe DAOs much more simply as “group chats with bank accounts.”4 Conceptually, it is a group of people centered on a common goal, whether for-profit or non-profit, who collectively decide how the organization functions by relying on smart contracts (computer programs that take action automatically upon the fulfillment of preset conditions) to implement the decisions of the collective rather than relying on centralized management.

What are the characteristics of a DAO? Despite the varying definitions, most in this space seem to agree on the basic ideal characteristics of a DAO: 1. Decentralized. DAOs are managed by their members. Members are authorized to make proposals for cooperative action and then vote on those proposals using platforms powered by smart contracts. The members have access to all of the DAO’s information that is recorded on a blockchain (a shared digital transaction ledger posted on a public or private network). In theory, there is no central authority like a manager or board of directors that can implement actions that are contrary to the members’ collective will.

2.

Autonomous. DAOs are operated through one or more smart contracts that are immutable (cannot be modified) and recorded on a blockchain, so even the code is visible to members. The smart contract’s code provides for actions to occur upon the fulfillment of certain conditions. For example, if the membership proposes to pay a third-party and the proposal is approved, the third-party is automatically paid.

3.

Organization. DAOs are groups of people coordinated for specific purposes, missions, or goals. For example, Constitution DAO’s purpose was to purchase a rare copy of the U.S. Constitution, and it raised $47 million in one week.5

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4.

Transparency and Trust. These are imbedded in a DAO’s fabric.

The use of smart contracts is intended to ensure the decisions of the collective are executed, prevent unscrupulous behavior, and allow everyone full access to the innerworkings of the DAO.

How does a DAO start and operate?

Generally speaking, one or more people publicize an idea for creating a DAO on different platforms (like Twitter or Discord) to gain popularity. If there is traction, the “organizers” will contact developers to code customized smart contracts or use service providers who offer more off-the-shelf smart contracts. If properly constructed, the code in those smart contracts embodies the rules governing the DAO, including those regulating how people become members, quorum requirements for taking action, and the voting process. It is important to understand that smart contracts also can direct the acquisition, possession, and disposition of the DAO’s assets. Once the smart contracts have been deployed on a blockchain, the DAO can accept members and funding.

Usually to become a member, someone sends a designated type of crypto currency or other digital asset to the DAO and receives a digital token(s) in return.6 These tokens can have value (like shares of corporate stock), and may also confer the right to vote on proposals put forth by other members. Commonly, members discuss the DAO’s operations on messaging platforms and can submit proposals for anything from a broad-scale change in the DAO’s purpose to whether to hire a website designer. If the quorum and voting requirements established in the smart contract are satisfied for a proposal, then the proposal goes into effect automatically.7 What are some of the concerns of a DAO? If the preceding part of this article was a law school exam, how many issues do you spot? One of the main issues raised is member liability. An association of two or more people to carry on a business for a profit is a partnership where each party is jointly and severally liable for all the obligations of the joint enterprise. Another issue typically raised is whether a DAO has the capacity to enter into third-party transactions conducted off the blockchain? If so, who is authorized to legally bind the DAO, and is that person taking on personal liability?

Do the members of the DAO owe it and their fellow members fiduciary duties or obligations of good faith and fair dealing? If there is a dispute between DAO members or between the DAO and a third-party, what law and forum applies to a virtual organization with members potentially spread across the world, some of whom or which may be anonymous?

Will the membership tokens be deemed securities by the U.S. Securities and Exchange Commission or state securities regulators?8 Could chat room discussions between real world competitors be deemed anti-trust violations? These are only a few of the potential issues.

What does the Tennessee Decentralized Organization Law provide?

Without judging whether Tennessee’s new law is good or bad, continued on page 24

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LEGAL EDUCATION IN KNOXVILLE’S LAW SCHOOLS UNDER THE NEW ABA ACCREDITATION STANDARDS ON PROFESSIONAL IDENTITY DEVELOPMENT AND BIAS, CROSSCULTURAL COMPETENCY, AND RACISM In February 2022, the ABA Section on Legal Education and Admissions to the Bar adopted several revisions to the Standards for Approval of Law Schools.1 Among these are revisions to Standard 303 that require attention to students’ professional identity development and education in bias, cross-cultural competency, and racism.

Development of Professional Identity The new ABA Standard 303(b)(3) requires law schools to provide substantial opportunities to students for “the development of a professional identity.” Interpretation 303-5 explains professional identity “focuses on what it means to be a lawyer and the special obligations” of lawyers. It also states that professional identity development “should involve an intentional exploration of the values, guiding principles, and well-being practices considered foundational to successful law practice.”

At UT Law, issues of professional identity development have been a cornerstone of our 1L Lawyering & Professionalism class since 2016. A core purpose of the course is to help each student begin to chart a path that will ultimately lead to a fulfilling and satisfying career. Our course goals include: helping students begin to understand what it means to be a lawyer; providing guidance to each student in deciding what kind of lawyer they aspire to be; prompting students to draft a professional development plan (that they will update throughout law school and, hopefully, throughout their careers); and exposing students to important values and skills that will prepare them to be ethical, successful, and fulfilled practitioners.

Throughout the first-year curriculum at UT Law, professors use exercises and examples to connect legal doctrine to the realities of practice. After the first year, upper-division students continue the discussion of professional identity in our required Professional Responsibility course, as well as numerous elective courses. In our Legal Clinic, developing professional identity is a necessary competency for students representing clients in our seven

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clinics. One recent innovation in the Legal Clinic is a collaboration with graduate social work students who are helping law students develop tools to maintain well-being while navigating the practice of law. In another example, students who complete our certificate programs in Advocacy & Dispute Resolution and Business Transactions are provided numerous opportunities to explore the impact lawyers can have in various practice settings.

Additionally, UT Law’s Institute for Professional Leadership offers two popular courses that consider issues of professional identity: “Lawyers as Leaders” and “Thriving as a Lawyer.” Since 2012, Lawyers as Leaders students have explored issues of professional leadership, law firm management, bar association service, public service, practical ethics, redefining success, and leaving a proud legacy. Doug Blaze, one of the course designers, describes the course as “helping students decide what kind of lawyer—and person really—they want to be, and helping them develop a purposeful plan to get there.” In the Thriving as a Lawyer course, UT Law alumna Candice Reed draws upon her Master in Applied Positive Psychology in guiding students through the practices, strategies, and mindsets that contribute to lawyer well-being. The course includes an extensive reading list, reflection and planning opportunities, and two intense three-day weekends when students gather for discussion, exercises, and presentations.

At LMU Law, the students’ opportunities for development of professional identity start with the first-semester Legal Foundations course. This course focuses on teaching foundational skills for success in law school but is also an early step toward guiding students to the skills and values needed to be successful practitioners, with specific focus on self-care and good habit formation. In the required upper-level Professional Responsibility course, students explore issues of professional identity further, including a requirement to “demonstrate an understanding of the history, structure, values, rules of the legal profession, and responsibilities of members of the legal profession.”

DICTA

August 2022

COVER STORY By: Maha M. Ayesh

Director of Experiential Learning and Assistant Professor of Law Lincoln Memorial University Duncan School of Law

Paula Schaefer

Associate Dean for Academic Affairs and Art Stolnitz Professor of Law University of Tennessee College of Law

All LMU Law students also must attend at least eight Professionalism series events before graduation, including at least one per semester. This series, presented by practicing attorneys, judges, and community leaders on a range of topics, is designed to give students a broad view of what it means to be a lawyer and understanding of what they may want their own career paths to look like and how to excel in those paths. In light of new Standard 303(b)(3) and especially the guidance that “students should have frequent opportunities for such development during each year of law school,” the administration at LMU Law plans to even more deliberately curate the Professionalism series going forward.

The LMU Law Externship Program, in which 80-90% of students historically have participated, also provides an opportunity for professional identity formation. In addition to learning directly through practice, Externship students receive course instruction on topics such as goal setting, professional development planning, and the importance of reflection for professional growth.

Although a dedicated course is not required by the new Standard 303(b)(3), LMU Law had already been developing a new 1L second-semester course on professional identity formation. This course would begin in the 2023-2024 academic year and would utilize guest speakers, discussion groups, and hypothetical or real word scenarios, focusing on such foundational skills and values as self-motivation, fidelity to the law, civility, cultural competency, and wellness.

Bias, Cross-Cultural Competency, and Racism Education The revised ABA curricular Standards also include a new requirement that all law schools “provide education to law students on bias, cross-cultural competency, and racism” on at least two occasions: “(1) at the start of the program of legal education, and (2) at least once again before graduation.”2 The second occasion must occur “before, concurrently with, or as part of their enrollment in clinical or field placement courses.”3 Moreover, law schools are expected to include discussion of “the importance of cross-cultural competency to professionally responsible representation and the obligation of lawyers to promote a justice system that provides equal access and eliminates bias, discrimination, and racism in the law” as “among the values and responsibilities of the legal profession.”4 At LMU Law, specific programming on racism and implicit bias has been a feature of 1L orientation for the past several years. In addition, “understanding of the importance of a respect for diversity and the rule of law” has long been a critical objective in the PR course. Bias, cultural competency, and racism education historically also have been included within the Professionalism series, with relevant events over the past year including an implicit bias presentation and programs on legal issues affecting indigenous communities. Over the past two years, LMU Law has also hosted a “Race and the Law” series, through which doctrinal professors present on the intersection of race with subject areas such as August 2022

torts, immigration, or banking and finance law. Students also can explore issues related to institutional racism and bias in upper-level electives, such as Critical Race Theory.

LMU Law will be adding relevant curricular content before the end of 1L year to ensure all students receive the newly required second occasion of bias and cultural competency education before beginning their externships or clinics. It is expected that the new 1L secondsemester professional identity course will include a specific unit on cultural competency and issues of bias and eliminating racism in the legal profession. Also, LMU Law is in the process of hiring its first Assistant Dean of Diversity, Equity, and Inclusion, with the hope this new administrator will, among other things, assist in ensuring appropriate bias and anti-racism education throughout the curriculum.

At UT Law, our curriculum provides students with meaningful opportunities to explore how issues of bias, cross-cultural competence, and racism can affect attorney-client relationships and the administration of justice. In our first-year Lawyering & Professionalism course, for example, we have looked to an analogous setting—the doctor-patient relationship—to explore unequal treatment in medicine and medical education’s response over the past two decades. We ask our students to consider the lessons this research may hold for the attorney-client relationship and what lawyers can do to provide equal, high-quality representation to all clients. For seventy-five years, UT Law’s Legal Clinic has been central to how we prepare students for practice. So, it makes sense that our faculty decided that the Legal Clinic should play a lead role in developing the upper-division experience required by the new ABA standard for all clinical, externship, field placement, and Semester in Residence students. The clinicians have developed a curriculum that helps students identify and understand how cultural differences and perspectives can impact their representation and advocacy. Outside of clinics and field placements, students will have the option of satisfying the requirement through a range of upper- division electives in various subject matter areas.

Conclusion Both law schools are well on their way to providing a variety of offerings that satisfy these new accreditation standards, which will assist students in becoming well-rounded attorneys equipped to be excellent representatives of their clients.

1

2

3 4

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Am. Bar Ass’n Sec. of Legal Educ. And Admissions to the Bar, Report of the House of Delegates 4 (adopted Feb. 14, 2022), available at https://www.americanbar.org/ content/dam/aba/administrative/news/2022/02/midyear-hod-resolutions/300.pdf.

Revisions to the 2021-2022 ABA Standards and Rules of Procedure for Approval of Law Schools, Standard 303(c).

Id. Id. Interpretation 303-6.

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L E G A L LY W E I R D By: Lisa J. Hall Hodges, Doughty & Carson

THE BIRDS AND THE BEES AND… THE GECKOS Starting in late elementary school, most children begin to learn about the facts of life, also known as “the birds and the bees,” also known as reproduction. (For perhaps the best explanation of this phenomenon, listen carefully to the lyrics of “Reproduction,” the eighth song on the Grease 2 Original Motion Picture Soundtrack).

At some point, most parents engage in an awkward but important conversation with their teenagers to make sure they are well informed and encouraged to make responsible decisions. Agenda items for these meetings may include a discussion of religious principles and values, options for contraception, a review of the applicable auto insurance coverage, and a list of acceptable locations for any activities that may take place. It goes without saying that under no circumstances does this list of acceptable locations include a motor vehicle.

Once upon a time, circa November of 2017, in Jackson County, Missouri, a woman known as “M.O.” began a romantic relationship with a man identified as “M.B.” As The Fixx taught us in 1982 (the same year “Reproduction” was released)(Happy 40th Anniversary to each of these songs!), “one thing leads to another,” and the couple began to engage in unprotected sexual activities in M.B.’s vehicle on a number of occasions.

Unfortunately, M.B. transmitted HPV to M.O., without disclosing his condition. You may be wondering whether M.B. was properly insured to have engaged in such activity. Rest assured, M.B. was a GEICO insured.

He may have even saved a ton of money by switching to GEICO at some point.

M.O. notified GEICO that she intended to seek damages from M.B. (who had made the transition from boyfriend to former boyfriend) and demanded the policy limits of 1 million dollars. (If you are reading the “1 million dollars” to yourself in Dr. Evil’s voice, that is okay. I did too. We will grow out of it one day. Or maybe not.). GEICO rejected the offer, denied coverage, and filed a declaratory judgment action in federal court. And one would think that is where the matter would end.

However, unbeknownst to GEICO, M.O. and M.B. agreed to go to arbitration. The arbitrator awarded M.O. $5.2 million.

After the arbitrator announced the award, M.O. notified GEICO about the arbitration award and filed a petition in state court to confirm the private award and “reduce it to judgment.” GEICO filed a motion to intervene, which was granted, but the court also entered the judgment the same day. GEICO moved to vacate the judgment, as it had not participated or provided a defense to M.B., and that motion was denied.

GEICO appealed and lost:

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GEICO’s claim of constitutional deprivations presumes GEICO was denied the opportunity to defend its interests relating to M.O.’s claims against Insured, including the ability to challenge liability and damages. But GEICO did have the opportunity to participate and defend its interests—including the ability to challenge liability and damages—by entering a defense of Insured. See Aguilar, 588 S.W.3d at 201 (“To the extent that GEICO claims it should have been able to litigate any of the purported findings of fact and conclusions of law in the Arbitration Award ..., we would note that it had every opportunity to enter a defense of [its insured] without reservation and thus to litigate such matters, but chose not to do so.” (internal marks omitted)). GEICO did not take advantage of this opportunity, and instead denied coverage and refused to defend Insured. Moreover, GEICO initiated a declaratory judgment action in federal court seeking a determination as to its obligations under the insurance policy, and that federal action provides yet another forum in which GEICO may defend its interests. See Britt, 577 S.W.3d at 142 (“[T]he insurer has a forum by declaratory judgment action ... that affords the insurer full scope to protect its interests against the contention of coverage, and hence liability for the judgment.”). 1 While it remains to be seen whether GEICO must cover the $5.2 million (that will be addressed in the federal court action), the $5.2 million judgment in favor of M.O. stands.

It may indeed be that in 2022, “safe sex” now requires auto insurance coverage for both parties. What if the owner of the vehicle only has minimum policy limits or is completely uninsured? Will uninsured or underinsured motorist coverage bridge any gaps? Will health insurance companies start asking their insureds where exactly their sexually transmitted diseases were contracted to see whether they should pursue subrogation against their insured’s partners? Will people demand to see someone’s declarations page before agreeing to go on a date? Will the particularly cautious make sure they are a decisive distance from their automobile before engaging in sexual activity? What if M.B. had disclosed his condition? Would the court consider comparative fault such that M.B.’s insurance carrier’s exposure might be reduced?

We cannot be sure how this story will unfold, but don’t be surprised if the GEICO gecko is the new face of the next safe sex campaign. They may have about 5.2 million reasons to do something to get ahead of this.

1

DICTA

M.O. v. GEICO General Ins. Co. and Gov’t Employees Ins. Co., No. WD 84722, 2022 WL 2032309 (Mo. Ct. App. 2022).

August 2022

SCHOOLED IN ETHICS By: Alex B. Long

Williford Gragg Distinguished Professor of Law University of Tennessee College of Law

CLARENCE THOMAS, GINNI THOMAS, AND JUDICIAL RECUSAL Virginia “Ginni” Thomas, the wife of Supreme Court Justice Clarence Thomas, has long been active in conservative political causes.

By and large, the public and lawyers have not been terribly concerned about the fact that her husband must decide issues on which she has spoken publicly. However, Ginni Thomas’ actions surrounding the January 6 attack on the Capitol changed all of that.

Her actions surrounding the 2020 election – including texting with White House officials with advice about post-election strategy, emailing state legislators in an attempt to undo the results of the election, and corresponding with one of the chief architects of Donald Trump’s legal strategy to overturn the election results – have dramatically increased public discussion concerning Ginni Thomas’ political activities. Critics have publicly questioned whether it is appropriate for the spouse of a sitting Supreme Court justice to be so politically active (or, conversely, whether it is appropriate for a Supreme Court justice to remain on the bench when the justice’s spouse is so politically active). But putting aside these broad and difficult questions, Ginni Thomas’ actions raise some interesting questions concerning judicial ethics, most notably when, if ever, might Justice Thomas be required to recuse himself based on the actions of his wife.

This is far from the first time the question has come up as to whether the political activities of a judge’s spouse necessitate the judge’s recusal. Just last year, in fact, the issue came up in Tennessee. In Neuman v. Phillips, No. M2021-01162-COA-T10B-CV, 2021 WL 6055923 (Tenn. Ct. App. Dec. 21, 2021), Neuman requested the recusal of the trial court judge in a dispute over a parenting agreement concerning the child’s attendance in school during the pandemic. Neuman wanted the children to remain at home; her husband disagreed. Neuman sought the judge’s recusal because the judge’s spouse – the majority leader of the state senate – “ha[d] been a vocal proponent of the view that children should now be attending school in-person ... and that students and teachers should not be required to wear masks.” Neumann argued that the judge needed to recuse herself because, based on these public statements, (1) “there [wa]s good reason to infer that [the judge] probably ... share[d] [her husband’s] view” or (2) even if the judge did not have a view on the subject, “[her husband’s] highly visible public profile and stated views could influence her consideration of this case.”

The Tennessee Court of Appeals held that recusal was not required.

Rule 2.11(A) of the Tennessee Code of Judicial Conduct provides that disqualification is required when the judge’s impartiality might reasonably be questioned. This is an objective standard, requiring recusal “when a person of ordinary prudence in the judge’s position, knowing all of the facts known to the judge, would find a reasonable basis for questioning the judge’s impartiality.” Davis v. Liberty Mut. Ins. Co., 38 S.W.3d 560, 564-65 (Tenn. 2001) (quoting Alley v. State, 882 S.W.2d 810, 820 (Tenn.

Crim. App. 1994)). The court concluded that the statements of the

judge’s spouse were irrelevant to the proceedings and, therefore, recusal was not required. The court explained that the issues before the trial judge were whether the parenting plan should be modified and which parent had authority for educational decisions affecting the children, “not the merits of in-person or online schooling or whether masks should be required in schools.”

In support of its conclusion, the court cited a host of cases in which judges had denied recusal motions based on the political speech or activities of their spouses. In one case, the moving party was a group of anti-abortion activists who sought the recusal of the judge based on the fact that the judge’s spouse occasionally expressed support for pro-choice causes on Facebook.1 In another, the judge was presiding over a civil rights claim involving alleged police misconduct, and the judge’s wife was a prosecutor; therefore, the moving party argued, “ ‘it would seem inevitable ... that the Court’s spouse would have shared, discussed, talked about etc. the difficulty of a police officer’s job,’ and that ‘the possibility of such discussion’ would cause a reasonable person to doubt the judge’s impartiality.”2 And in a case involving same-sex marriage, one of the parties moved to disqualify the judge based on his “wife’s beliefs, as expressed in her public statements and actions, both individually and in her capacity as Executive Director of the American Civil Liberties Union of Southern California.”3 The theme that emerges from the cases cited is that “[p]olitical activity of the judge’s spouse, or other family member . . . cannot be imputed to the judge.”4 As one judge put it, “[n]o thoughtful or wellinformed person would simply assume that one spouse’s views should always be ascribed or attributed to the other in the absence of an express disclaimer.”5 The views of a judge’ spouse “public or private, as to any issues that may come before this court, constitutional or otherwise, are of no consequence.”6 While the decisional law is clear that the views of a judge’s spouse are irrelevant to the recusal analysis, the spouse’s political activities might still potentially be relevant. A 2006 advisory opinion by the U.S. Judicial Conference advises that “[a] spouse’s involvement in political activities or candidacy for elected office may increase the frequency with which a judge is required to recuse. Judges should pay attention to that increased likelihood.”7 Thus, the opinion advises, “a judge should, to the extent possible, disassociate himself or herself from the spouse’s political involvement.”

28 U.S.C. § 455, which applies to all federal judges (including justices on the Supreme Court), articulates the same general recusal standard as Tennessee’s Rule 2.11(A): might the judge’s impartiality reasonably be questioned in a matter? Is Justice Thomas ethically required to recuse in any case that touches on political issues that his wife has spoken publicly about? The decisional law clearly suggests the answer to that question at least is “no.” Is Justice Thomas ethically required continued on page 25

If you have an idea for Schooled in Ethics column, please contact Cathy Shuck at 541-8835.

August 2022

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B E T T E R , continued from page 9 12

BREWS FOR BACKPACKS SCHOOL DRIVE EVENT The KBA Barristers Hunger & Poverty Relief Committee will host their annual Brews for Backpacks event on August 4, 2022, from 5:30 p.m. until 7:30 p.m. at Xul Beer Co., located at 213 E. 5th Avenue, Knoxville, TN 37917. Participants will receive a free drink ticket if they bring a backpack with 3 designated school supplies or purchase a $10 Back to School Bundle from the KBA. All donations will go to ChildHelp. Register by clicking “August 4” in the event calendar at www.knoxbar.org.

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LAWYERS LINK UP CHARITY GOLF TOURNAMENT The Barristers and the KBA are joining together to co-host the annual four-person scramble golf tournament on Monday, October 24, at the Holston Hills Country Club. Revenue from the tournament goes directly to funding various charitable endeavors of the Barristers, including the efforts of the Hunger & Poverty Relief Committee. Register by clicking “October 24” in the event calendar at www.knoxbar.org The Golf Tournament sells out quickly and payment is required to reserve a spot in the tournament.

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America Comes Alive, About Ruth Wakefield, https://americacomesalive.com/ chocolate-chip-cookie-inventor-ruth-wakefield, last visited July 4, 2022.

Lauren David, The Untold Truth of Toll House, Mashed, available at https://www. mashed.com/365260/the-untold-truth-of-toll-house.

Id. Id. Kate Kelly, Chocolate Chip Cookie Inventor: Ruth Wakefield (1903-1977), America Comes Alive, https://americacomesalive.com/chocolate-chip-cookie-inventor-ruthwakefield, last visited July 4, 2022.

Robert Hitchings, History Lesson-How America’s Most Popular Cookie—the Chocolate Chip—was Born (The Virginian Pilot Jan. 18, 2018), available at https:// www.pilotonline.com/history/columns/article_5760d6d4-0586-587c-93243ea28d9c06bd.html.

Kelly, supra n. 16.

Id.; see also Hitchings, supra n. 17.

Kelly, supra n. 16; Hitchings, supra n. 17.

Hitchings, supra n. 17.

Id. Roberts, supra n. 9.

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MONTHLY MEETING Plan now to attend the Barristers monthly meeting on Wednesday, August 10, starting at 5:15 pm at the outdoor patio at The Firefly at the Hilton, located at 501 W. Church Avenue, Knoxville. Social time starts at 5:00 pm. Register by clicking August 10 on the event calendar at www.knoxbar. org.

VETERANS LEGAL ADVICE CLINIC The Veterans’ Legal Advice Clinic is a joint project of the KBA/Barristers Access to Justice Committees, Legal Aid of East Tennessee, the Knox Co. Public Defender’s Community Law Office, the UT College of Law, LMU- Duncan School of Law, and the local Veterans Affairs office. This is a general advice and referral clinic which requires attorney volunteers for its continued operation. The next Veterans Legal Clinic will be held in person at the Knoxville Community Law Office on August 10. Sign up at https://www.knoxbar.org/?pg=Upcoming-Legal-Clinics.

Where

VOLUNTEER BREAKFAST COMMITTEE

Meet Professional • Experienced • Dedicated

Call us to enhance your practice.

Thank you to Butler Vines & Babb for sponsoring the Volunteer Breakfast in June. The Volunteer Breakfast is a recurring event on the 4th Thursday of each month at 6:15 a.m. at the Volunteer Ministry Center, located at 511 N. Broadway, Knoxville, Tennessee. The Barristers Volunteer Breakfast Committee always needs volunteers to serve food or sponsor. The cost is $150 for sponsoring, and we need 4-5 volunteers.

If you are unable to fund the breakfast, the Barristers will subsidize the cost of the breakfast. We meet at 6:15 a.m. and serve breakfast to approximately 30-40 individuals, generally leaving the site around 7:30 a.m. It’s a great way to serve the community! Please contact either Matt Knable at (865) 360-5044 or Laura Wyrick at (865) 297-5511 with any questions and/or about volunteering.

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Thousands of East Tennesseans each year call LRIS when they need a private attorney.

LRIS provides pre-screened referrals to multiple counties in the East Tennessee area.

If your caseload is full, give callers the LRIS number (865)522-7501 - you will help a KBA member build his or her practice.

knoxbar.org/joinLRIS KBA members may join LRIS for only $150 and receive referrals through June 2023. Additional discount is available to attorneys practicing less than 5 years.

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August 2022

OF LOCAL LORE AND LAWYERS By: Joe D. Jarret, J.D., Ph.D. Attorney, University of Tennessee

KNOXVILLE’S POTTER’S FIELD “Oft is said of these dead, ‘They’re unclaimed. Be ashamed to think so!”1 Introduction: It has been revered and rejected. Remembered and repressed.

Dedicated and desecrated. It has known scandal and intrigue, and, until recently, has been but a distant memory in the minds of many. Its residents are the unheard and the unheralded. The poorest of the paupers, they lay in unmarked graves, their demise a mix of abject poverty, violence, neglect, suicide and diverse tragedies. They are the denizens of Knoxville’s Potter’s field, the place where, from the 1860’s to the mid-1930’s buried, most often in unmarked graves, the unloved, unremembered, and too often, people merely regarded as unimportant.

Local historians estimate that Knox County’s Potter’s Field (located on the corner of South Kyle Street and Bethel Avenue), holds as many as 20,000 people. In an era of segregation, there was no discrimination when it came to burying the unnamed dead. As local historian George Mielke so succinctly put it, “Death in bitter poverty knows no racial or religious bounds. In Knoxville’s Potter’s Field, heathen and saint, black and white, the dead lay side by side.” For decades, the only evidence of the existence of this obscure cemetery is a cut limestone monument, (until recently covered in brambles and thick brush), erected by order of the Knox County Quarterly Court (which was empowered, inter alia to settle insolvent estates) in 1937.2 Potter’s Field The name “Potter’s Field” is of Biblical origin, referring to Akeldama (meaning field of blood in Aramaic), stated to have been purchased by the high priests of Jerusalem with the coins that had been paid (and ultimately returned), to Judas Iscariot for his betrayal of Jesus, and within which he committed suicide. There was a time when such graveyards were commonplace in the United States, where unidentified victims and impoverished citizens who couldn’t afford their own cemetery plots were buried. However, Knoxville’s Potter’s Field is unique among its peer cemeteries because, as will be seen below, it was, for some time, cloaked in scandal.

Scandal in the Graveyard The question posed to Dr. Charles P. McNabb, president of the Tennessee Medical College 3 regarding the school’s cadavers was direct August 2022

and to the point: “Do you believe that body snatchers have supplied any bodies to the school from local graveyards?” Dr. McNabb’s response was equally concise: “I would not be surprised if they had.” This exchange between Dr. McNabb and a reporter for the Knoxville Journal & Tribune 4 was an interesting one, considering it occurred in 1903 after a trunk containing a corpse that had been essentially dissected, and which contained a rubber tube protruding from the corpse’s chest, was found in Potter’s Field. The purpose of the story was not to determine whether the medical school was taking bodies from the graveyard, but rather, disposing them there after they were examined by medical students, and as such, without a proper burial. The mystery was never solved, because, months later, the investigation was soon preempted by a scandal considered far more intriguing by the general public. The second scandal occurred when a local undertaker who had a contract with the county for the burial of indigent dead, and a clerk responsible for filing death certificates, conspired to charge the county for burial fees based on fraudulent death certificates and empty caskets. In essence, the pair were filling coffins with debris instead of bodies, and billing the county accordingly. Ultimately, both men were indicted by the Knox County Quarterly Court for the offense of “false pretenses.”

Epithet Along with an announcement that the Knox County Quarterly Court was responsible for the monument identifying Knoxville’s Potter’s Field, are the words “In Memoriam of Knox County Citizens Interred Here,” followed by an excerpt from Thomas Gray’s “Elegy Written in A Country Churchyard” which reads as follows: Perhaps in this neglected spot is laid Some heart once pregnant with celestial fire; Hands, that the rod of empire might have swayed, Or walked to ecstasy the living lyre.

Full many a gem of purest ray serene, The dark unfathomed caves of ocean bear: Full many a flower is born to blush unseen, And waste its sweetness on the desert air.

Some village-Hampden, that with dauntless breast The little tyrant of his fields withstood; Some mute inglorious Milton here may rest, Some Cromwell guiltless of his country’s blood.5 Today, a concerned group of Knox County citizens are maintaining this monument to the unheard, restoring them to the light and dignity they deserve. Lest we forget.

1 2

3

4

5

DICTA

Potter’s Field, a Poem. McCarthy, Thomas, 2006.

As a result of the Chapter 236, Laws of Tennessee, 1887, the defunct Knox Count Quarterly Court (now replaced by … courts, had various powers, up to an including the passage of local laws in the form of ordinances, the probate of wills, and the supervisions of executors and administrators of wills.

The Tennessee College of Medicine is the forerunner to The UT Graduate School of Medicine The Knoxville Journal and Tribune was published from 1898-1924 and was formed by a union of the Knoxville Journal and the Knoxville Tribune.

Elegy Written in A Country Churchyard, Gray, Thomas, 1751. the full poem can be viewed at: https://www.poetryfoundation.org/poems/44299/elegy-written-in-acountry-churchyard

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WELL READ By: Maj. Chris Davis

Staff Judge Advocate 2nd Marine Raider Battalion, Marine Corps Special Operations Command (MARSOC)

THE CREDENTIALED COURT: INSIDE THE CLOISTERED, ELITE WORLD OF AMERICAN JUSTICE On the same day that President Joe Biden announced that his first nomination to the U.S. Supreme Court would be Justice Ketanji Brown Jackson, the University of Tennessee College of Law’s Professor Ben Barton published his fourth book: “The Credentialed Court: Inside the Cloistered, Elite World of American Justice.”

The nomination of Justice Jackson rightfully received wide praise from many Americans as a demonstration of an increased diversity on the high bench. Indeed, today the U.S. Supreme Court is the most diverse assemblage of Justices in our Nation’s history. However, beyond first glance, and as Professor Barton argues in his book, Justice Jackson’s path from Harvard Law School to a Supreme Court clerkship and, eventual appointment to the D.C. Circuit as a Federal Judge, presents the latest example of the Court’s diminished educational and professional diversity from the Justices.

Starting in 2008, Professor Barton began empirically studying the history of every Justice on the Supreme Court. He focused his research on each of the Justice’s pre-nomination professional and life experiences to better understand what might have informed their individual nomination and the Justice’s utility to the Court. From John Jay and the original four Supreme Court nominations

by President George Washington, through the appointment of Justice Amy Coney Barrett, Barton has compiled thousands of useful (and alarming) data points and trends.

What troubled Barton most is that the Court is made up almost exclusively of Ivy League educated, highly technical, legal experts. In fact, outside of Justice Amy Coney Barrett, no Justice on the Court today attended any law school besides Harvard or Yale. In a playful way, Barton offers to the reader (thereby pointing out how difficult it is to obtain admission to an Ivy League school) that the most critically important decision made by anyone desiring to one day serve on the Court: How well you do in 9th grade Algebra. A bad grade might otherwise foreclose that dream.

Furthermore, nearly every single Justice of the last few decades has primarily “cut their teeth” as Federal Court Judges – mostly on the D.C. Circuit with little to no contact with “ordinary Americans.”1 Almost prophetically, Senator William Smith wrote in 1819 if Congress nixed the practice of Supreme Court Justices riding the circuit (i.e. the practice of Justices traveling through the country to preside over normal court cases), “your supreme judges will be completely cloistered within the City of Washington, and their decisions, instead of emanating from enlarged and liberalized minds, will assume a severe and local character.”2 According to Professor Barton this is troubling for multiple reasons. First, the Nation’s history demonstrates – quite convincingly – that the Court was not always this way. In fact, the history of the

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Supreme Court is littered with politicians, Department Secretaries, and even two past Presidents (assuming that one is willing to count John Jay who led the Executive Branch prior to the ratification of the U.S. Constitution). Second, this lack of professional experiences encourages the nomination of one type of individual: “technical legal thinkers.”3 Is this a bad thing? Well, as Barton argues, that depends on what one believes the Supreme Court does, what the Supreme Court should do, and who one believes is best suited to meet the goals one would like to see for the Court.

Ultimately, good lawyering requires a mastery of much more than the law. As Justice Oliver Wendell Holmes, Jr. offered: “The life of the law has not been logic it has been experience.”4 Similarly, Barton uses the example of Justice Louis Brandeis, who argued that success as a lawyer requires, “knowledge, not only of law, but of affairs, and above all of [human] nature.”5 Good lawyering requires an understanding of the context surrounding the law, and those broad life experiences are severely lacking in the Court today.

Despite Barton’s criticism of the “process” by which Justices today are nominated, by the end of the book, the reader is left in awe of the highly impressive education career paths of our modern Supreme Court Justices – each of them are truly among our most brilliant legal scholars today. However, their lack of diverse professional pre-nomination experiences significantly impacts much of the Court’s utility. Multivariate diversity is an antidote to “groupthink” because injections of disparate views and experiences create cognitive conflict. Ultimately, diverse groups do a better job of revealing false assumptions and prejudices, and also propose better strategies to finding novel solutions.6 This is why the President should cast a wider net in determining one’s suitability to serve on the Court.

In one of Barton’s most-prescient observations he states: “Healthier societies offer multiple different routes into success and many fewer routes to failure. We should recognize merit across different types of achievements at all states of life. “Failing” to gain admission to the Ivy League for undergrad, or to Harvard or Yale Law School, should not foreclose entire career paths so decisively, especially not a job as important as joining the Supreme Court.”7 1

2 3 4

5 6 7

DICTA

Professor Benjamin H. Barton, The Credentialed Court: Inside the Cloistered, Elite World of American Justice, (Encounter Books: New York, 2022), 255.

Id. at 317.

Id. at 19.

Justice Oliver Wendell Holmes, Jr., The Common Law (Dover Publication: New York, 1991), 13.

Id. at 108-9.

Id. at 305-6.

Barton, The Credentialed Court at 24.

August 2022

URBAN LEGENDS By: Sarah M. Booher, Esq. Garza Law Firm, PLLC

Carson Kovalic

LMU-DSOL Juris Doctor Candidate ’24

HOW NOT TO GET AWAY WITH MURDER Generally, killers do not give a warning before killing their victims.

However, this surely was not the case for the 72-year-old Oregon native, Nancy Crampton-Brophy. In a now-deleted 2011 essay titled “How to Murder Your Husband,” the author listed several ways to commit mariticide in extensive detail.1 The killer also wrote a variety of selfpublished books entitled “The Wrong Husband” and “The Wrong Lover” (available for purchase on Amazon), before ending her husband’s life several years later.2 Crampton-Brophy was married to her husband, a culinary instructor, for 26 years before she shot him in June 2018 at his work.3 A longtime employee of the Oregon Culinary Institute, Mr. Brophy was found dead by students arriving for his class around 7:45 a.m. A well-known and liked figure in the culinary community, he had been shot twice, one bullet piercing his heart and the other his spine. Although there were no cameras within the school, surveillance footage captured CramptonBrophy driving to and from the culinary school within a 13-minute window of the homicide. She considered this a mere coincidence during testimony, stating she has no memory of the drive, but that she was probably on a coffee run.

In this case of life imitating art, CramptonBrophy outlined in her essay the pros and cons that would come with killing an abusive husband, how to get away with the murder, as well as the negatives divorce can bring. According to the infamous killer, many people often contemplate murder, but rarely follow through. Although authors tend to make up elaborate stories to intrigue their readers, in an online bio, Crampton-Brophy wrote that fiction is often inspired by portions of an author’s life where he or she may change the ending, and often do.

Crampton-Brophy did not change the ending of her own story and, instead, she followed through with the killing of her husband under the noses of her readers. In the same online bio, she explained how loving the couple’s marriage was and how she knew Mr. Brophy was Mr. Right when he made her hors d’oeuvres while she was in the bath. Her lack of sensitivity toward the topic of murder in her writing suggests she had contemplated taking Daniel Brophy’s life long before the act. However, the judge overseeing the jury trial ultimately excluded the essay, stating that any minimal value of an article written is substantially outweighed by the danger of unfair prejudice and confusion on the issue.4 Forensics traced the bullets from the murder scene to a Glock pistol, which is the same type of gun the author owned. In testimony, August 2022

Crampton-Brophy admitted she had purchased a “ghost-gun” kit off eBay, replaced pieces of the Glock pistol with the new purchased kit, and that the gun did not have a serial number after it was modified. To add insult to injury, she stated she bought it for her husband for self-protection during his mushroom hunts. She was also conveniently “researching guns” for another story she was writing. Although the murder weapon was never found, the circumstantial evidence surrounding the homicide evidently spoke for itself.

Crampton-Brophy was the prime suspect in the murder of her husband and was put on trial in April 2022. Prosecutors argued she was motivated by the $1.5 million life insurance policies after the couple fell into financial hardship. Her defense attorney, Lisa Maxfield, argued the financial situation was not what the prosecution had made out to be, and instead, a robbery gone wrong. After a seven-week trial, the jury, made up of seven women and five men, agreed with the prosecution and found Crampton-Brophy guilty of second-degree murder after eight hours of deliberation. The judge later sentenced the author to life in prison with the possibility of parole after 25 years.5 Before sentencing, Nathaniel Stillwater, Mr. Brophy’s son from a previous marriage, remarked that she should borrow from her own catalog: “The Wrong Wife.”6 1

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Sam Cabral, ‘How to Murder your Husband’ Writer Sentenced for Murdering Husband, BBC News (June 13, 2022), https://www.bbc.com/news/world-uscanada-61786575.

Amazon, https://www.amazon.com/Wrong-Husband-Never-Felt-Right/ dp/0986235458 (last visited July 7, 2022, 3:21 PM); Amazon, https://www.amazon. com/Wrong-Lover-Never-Felt-Right/dp/0986235474 (last visited July 7, 2022, 3:21 PM).

Cabral, supra note 1.

Nancy Brophy, romance novelist who wrote “How to Murder Your Husband,” found guilty of murder 4 years after chef spouse found dead in kitchen, CBS News (May 26, 2022), https://www.cbsnews.com/news/nancy-brophy-guilty-murder-husbanddaniel/.

Id. Id.

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L E G A L U P D A T E , continued from page 15 it initially appears to address some the of most-cited concerns facing DAOs. Provided the DAO fulfills the requirements outlined in the statute, the DAO’s members will have limited liability just like members of other Tennessee LLCs, and it will be a recognized legal entity with the ability to contract, sue, and be sued.9 By default (although the DAO LLC’s articles of organization or operating agreement may provide to the contrary), “a member of a decentralized organization does not have a fiduciary duty to the organization or another member,” although “the member is subject to the implied contractual covenant of good faith and fair dealing.”10 As with most statutes, the law does not answer all the questions surrounding the organization of DAOs as LLCs. The new law also raises some new ones. Like other Tennessee LLCs, a DAO LLC must list a registered agent in its articles of organization11; however, how does that registered agent relay information to an entity without central management where anonymity is valued? Is a quorum requirement of no less than a majority of the members12 practical when a DAO could have daily proposals and thousands of members spread across the world who need to respond? Is the elimination of all member fiduciary duties13 justified by the transparency and assumed trust of blockchain governance? How does one interpret and enforce a duty of good faith and fair dealing in a DAO LLC? How do lawyers ensure they are meeting their professional responsibilities to DAO LLCs and their members?

Next Steps?

As with most technological advances, the law tends to lag behind.

Tennessee moved faster than most states to recognize this new entity, but it will be important to carefully analyze all aspects of the new law and its

24

interplay with both our existing LLC Act and the practical governance realities facing DAOs before passing judgment. Stay tuned for further programming on this topic from the KBA this fall.

1 2 3

4 5

6 7 8

9 10 11 12 13

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See Tenn. Code Ann. §§ 48-249-101 to -115 (West 2022).

“The DAO,” which is commonly considered the first mainstream DAO, was launched in April 2016, but earlier versions exist.

See Wyo. Stat. Ann. § 17-31-101 to -116 (West 2022). Note that in 2018, Vermont established the BBLLC, or blockchain-based LLC, which did not expressly reference a DAO, but its language could be interpreted to include DAOs. See Vt. Stat. Ann. Tit. 11, §§ 4171-4176 (2022).

Erin Woo and Kevin Roose, This Social Club Runs on Crypto Tokens and Vibes, New York Times, Mar. 2, 2022, https://www.nytimes.com/2022/03/02/technology/friendswith-benefits-crypto-dao.html.

See MacKenzie Sigalos, The Crypto Investors who Raised $47 Million to Buy a Copy of the Constitution lost their bid – here’s where the money goes now, CNBC, Nov. 18, 2021, https://www.cnbc.com/2021/11/18/constitutiondao-crypto-investorslose-bid-to-buy-constitution-copy.html. For other examples, consider PleasrDAO (https://pleasr.org), which focuses on collecting digital art, and BitDAO (https:// www.bitdao.is), which provides research and development, liquidity, and funding and for the development of other decentralized technology projects.

Multiple variations exist.

Many DAO organizers will admit that full automation for most DAOs is not possible yet. For example, an undisclosed person had to bid on behalf of Constitution DAO at the Sotheby’s auction.

After reviewing the smart contracts of “The DAO,” the SEC determined that its tokens constituted a security. See Report of Investigation Pursuant to Section 21(a) of the Securities Exchange Act of 1934: The DAO, Exchange Act Release No. 3481207, 117 SEC Docket 5 (July 25, 2017).

See Tenn. Code Ann. § 48-250-102(a) (West 2022).

Tenn. Code Ann. § 48-250-109 (West 2022).

See Tenn. Code Ann. § 48-250-104(b) (West 2022).

See Tenn. Code Ann. § 48-250-110(3) (West 2022).

See Tenn. Code Ann. § 48-250-109 (West 2022).

August 2022

S C H O O L E D I N E T H I C S , continued from page 19 to recuse in any case involving events related to the 2020 election? To the January 6 riot? To legal issues in which Ginni Thomas was actually involved? Here, the answers might depend on the specific legal questions and Ginni Thomas’ actions in relation to that question. But where Ginni Thomas’ actions are part of the underlying narrative in a case – where they are actually part of the record - a reasonable person might very well question Justice Thomas’ ability to be impartial.

This is why Justice Thomas’ decision not to recuse in Trump v.

Thompson, a January 2022 decision, is problematic. In Trump, the Supreme Court refused to block the release of White House records to the House select committee investigating the January 6 incident as ordered by the D.C. Circuit Court of Appeals.8 Ultimately, the case boiled down to the question of whether the White House was required to release records related to the January 6 incident. Following the November election, Ginni Thomas sent 29 texts to White House Chief of Staff Mark Meadows, in which she alleged widespread election fraud and provided regular advice about how the White House and the Trump campaign should challenge the election results. So, the documents that the select committee sought necessarily included Thomas’ communications with Meadows. Thus, Justice Thomas was being asked to rule on the question of whether potentially embarrassing records – including those involving his wife – should be made public. Surely, a reasonable person, knowing all of the facts known to the Justice Thomas, might reasonably question his impartiality in this particular instance.

Questions about Justice Thomas’ impartiality in this matter and in future cases related to the election are only heightened by his decision in the case. Thomas would have granted President Trump’s application to

August 2022

stay the order pending review by the Court. He was the only justice to vote this way.9 It is impossible to know whether his wife’s involvement in the matter played any role in his decision. But that’s also kind of the point. Ultimately, as the Tennessee Court of Appeals has observed, “the appearance of bias is as injurious to the integrity of the judicial system as actual bias.”10

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Nat’l Abortion Fed’n v. Ctr. for Med. Progress, 257 F. Supp. 3d 1084 (N.D. Cal. 2017).

Glair v. City of Los Angeles, No. CV 13-8946 GAF, 2014 WL 12923962, at *1 (C.D. Cal. Apr. 30, 2014).

Perry v. Schwarzenegger, 630 F.3d 909, 911 (9th Cir. 2011).

Hayes v. Oregon, No. 1:20-CV-01332-CL, 2021 WL 374967, at *4 (D. Or. Feb. 3, 2021).

Nat’l Abortion Fed’n, 257 F. Supp. at 1090.

Perry, 630 F.3d at 911.

U.S. Judicial Conference Committee on Codes of Conduct Advisory Opinion No. 53: Political Involvement of a Judge’s Spouse(2009), https://www.uscourts.gov/sites/ default/files/vol02b-ch02.pdf.

No. 21A272, 595 U. S. ____ (2022), available at https://www.supremecourt.gov/ opinions/21pdf/21a272_9p6b.pdf.

No. 21A272, 595 U. S. ____ (2022), available at https://www.supremecourt.gov/ opinions/21pdf/21a272_9p6b.pdf.

Neuman v. Phillips, No. M2021-01162-COA-T10B-CV, 2021 WL 6055923, *3 (Tenn.

Ct. App. Dec. 21, 2021).

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WELCOME NEW MEMBERS

THE KNOXVILLE BAR ASSOCIATION IS PLEASED TO WELCOME THE FOLLOWING NEW MEMBERS: NEW ATTORNEYS Sean D. Bright District Attorney General, 6th Judicial District Briton S. Collins LuckyGunner, LLC Laura K. Doty Young, Williams & Ward, P.C. Amelia R. Hamilton Molly E. Hester Wayne W. Hood EdSouth Landon P. Lackey A.J. Million Kirkland & Ellis LLP Olamide O. Oso Baker, Donelson, Bearman, Caldwell & Berkowitz Jeff K. Spellerberg

NEW LAW STUDENT MEMBERS Jeffrey P. Norris Miller Sullivan Bethany Wilson

Jackson E. Barton Samir G. Harb Andrea Hitefield Andrew Holt

Address Changes

Please note the following changes in your KBA Attorneys’ Directory and other office records:

Casey S. Carrigan BPR #: 026611 Tennessee Board of Regents 1 Bridgestone Park, 3rd Floor Nashville, TN 37214-2454 Ph: (615) 366-2199 casey.carrigan@tbr.edu Michael S. Deel BPR #: 036784 Paine | Tarwater | Bickers, LLP 900 S. Gay St., Suite 2200 Knoxville, TN 37902-1821 Ph: (865) 525-0880 deel.michael11@gmail.com

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Jennifer Egelston BPR #: 026553 800 S. Gay St., Suite 700 Knoxville, TN 37929-9703 Ph: (865) 404-8226 jenegelston@gmail.com

We Act In Your Clients’ Best Interest As a chartered fiduciary, TCV is subject to special legal duties of fidelity and loyalty to your clients.

We are required to put clients’ interests first with our trust and wealth management services.

• Wealth & IRA Management • Tax-Managed Investing • Financial Planning • Trust & Estate Services

John Roan BPR #: 026553 1232 Premier Drive, Suite 320 Chattanooga, TN 37421-5186 Ph: (423) 498-7400 jroan@raslg.com

In Knoxville, contact:

John Billings - Vice President, Client Administration 865.297.4070 | tcvwealth.com An Independent Fiduciary and Fee-Only Wealth Management Firm

DICTA

August 2022

B I L L & P H I L’ S G A D G E T O F T H E M O N T H By: Bill Ramsey Neal & Harwell

By: Phil Hampton

SUMMER TECH GADGETS Summer is our favorite time of the year because we make time to push away from the computer and get outdoors to enjoy the summer sunshine. Just because we leave our PCs and laptops behind though does not mean we forsake all tech as we venture out on summer break. We have found some of the best summer tech gadgets to take with us and enhance our immersion back into nature. Here are some of our favorite summer tech gadgets: Bose SoundLink Flex Bluetooth Speaker ($149 Bose): No summer trip is complete without our vacation playlist; and playing those tunes in the mountains or on the beach doesn’t have to sacrifice audio quality. The SoundLink Flex by Bose is the latest in a long line of Bluetooth speakers that we keep on the ready for travel. The SoundLink flex is extremely durable (“rugged” is the way Bose describes it) and is both dust and waterproof. Of course, Bose speakers have some of the best audio that we have found; and the SoundLink Flex is no exception. With a 12-hour battery life, this speaker will last longer than we will on a hot, summer excursion.

GasBuddy App (Free download): Yes, we noticed fuel prices were a wee bit elevated this summer, so we armed ourselves with the free mobile app, GasBuddy. This app operates sort of like the Waze app that crowdsources traffic conditions; except GasBuddy crowdsources gas prices. As users report gas prices at various stations along your route, the app will show you all the stations in your vicinity and what their gas prices are. This one is a no-brainer, especially on a long road trip.

Nimble CHAMP Portable Charger ($29.95 GoNimble.com): If you’re like us and like to get far away from the office during summer break, you’re not always going to be close to electricity to charge up all your gadgets. That is why we always pack our Nimble CHAMP. This ultracompact charger, which weighs only 6.4 ounces, packs a powerful punch.

The 10,000 mAh battery stores up to 3 days of power and is capable of fast-charging both Apple and Samsung gear.

put on your desk or on the kitchen counter top. It works great inside a tent, if you have power.

Magic Chef MCIM22/HNIM27 portable ice maker ($110 from Home Depot): This small portable ice maker has a reservoir that holds water for your ice. It makes about 27 pounds of ice in 24 hours. It is very portable and you can carry it with you to party and fill your adult beverage glasses with ice. It holds about a pound and a half of ice in its storage bin and it tells you when the bin is full. Drink away!

BIG HORN OUTDOORS Pizza Ovens Wood ($200 at Amazon): Outdoor pizza ovens are trendy … and fun. For a small price, you can have your own outdoor pizza over that uses wood pellets and a delicious homemade 12 inch pizza in a flash. You can also use it to cooks steaks, sausages, etc. We like this one because it is very portable and reaches a temperature as high as 86o degrees – perfect for a proper pizza or for searing a steak. It comes with its own pizza stone and user manual.

Cuisinart Cool Creations Ice Cream Maker ($149.95 from Cuisinart): Bill and Phil love ice cream. In fact, we make sure to eat some every day – ice cream, gelato, frozen yogurt, sorbet. We don’t care, as long as it is cold and sweet. With Cool Creations, you don’t need to crank and get all sweaty. You just put the bin in the freezer, put the mix in after it freezes, and you get about 2 quarts of ice cream in 20 minutes. And it comes with a recipe book filled with our favorite frozen concoctions.

Wise Owl Outfitters DoubleOwl Hammock ($40): Bill likes to sleep, and what could be better than to hang your hammock under the stars for a cool night’s sleep? Setup of the hammock is a breeze and it holds up to 500 pounds (which Bill needs after eating all that ice cream). And the Wise Owl is highly portable. It only weights 24 ounces and folds up to the size of a Black Beauty eggplant.

MECO Solar Flashlight ($12.99 on Amazon): If you’re out camping, you will probably want to pack the MECO solar flashlight. This emergency flashlight has a solar rechargeable battery that also can be hand-cranked if the battery drains and you’re in the dark. Cranking for 6 minutes gives an hour of light. This essential gadget is tiny and light (less than a quarter pound).

NEBULA Anker Capsule ($299.99 on Amazon): If you’re planning a staycation with the kids this summer, you might want to get the NEBULA Anker Capsule, smart Wi-Fi mini projector to have a movie night in the backyard. This compact projector has a 360-degree speaker and projects a 100-lumen image up to 100-inches anywhere you want to place it. The NEBULA runs Android natively and allows you to stream content directly from apps such as NetFlix and YouTube.

Ontel Arctic Air Pure Chill 2.0, Evaporative Air-Cooler ($35.99 Amazon): This is not an air conditioner; it is an air cooler. But it works.

You just pour water into the tank on top and plug it in. It will give you cool (not icy cold) air for 10 hours on one filling. It is small enough to August 2022

DICTA

Your local source for Voice Recognition, & Digital Dictation Hardware & Software Sales | Service | Installation | Support

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BENCH AND BAR IN THE NEWS How to place an announcement: If you are a KBA member in good standing and you’ve moved, have property to rent, or received an award, we’d like to hear from you. Talks, speeches (unless they are of international stature), CLE promotions and political announcements are not accepted. Notices must be submitted in writing and limited to 100 words. They are printed at no cost to members and are subject to editing. Email your notice to Marsha Watson at mwatson@knoxbar.org.

PORTRAIT UNVEILING FOR US DISTRICT COURT JUDGE HARRY S. MATTICE SET FOR AUGUST 5 The United States District Court - Eastern District of Tennessee invites members to attend the Portrait Unveiling for The Honorable Harry S. Mattice, Jr., US District Judge (Retired) on Friday, August 5 at 3 pm at the Joel Solomon U.S. Courthouse and Federal Building at 900 Georgia Avenue. Please RSVP by Friday, July 22 by calling 865-329-4780.

INVESTITURE CEREMONY FOR HON. KATHERINE CRYTZER The U.S. District Court for the Eastern District of Tennessee has announced that an investiture ceremony and reception for the Honorable Katherine Crytzer will be held on Friday, September 30 at 1 pm at the Howard H. Baker, Jr. United States Courthouse.

Weekly Walk - Join us Tuesdays at 6 pm The KBA Wellness Committee invites everyone to meet up for a group walk every Tuesday evening at 6 p.m. at Lakeshore Park to walk/run. All distances / levels (run/walk) welcome. Kids, spouses, friends, dogs also welcome.

KBA MEMBER SHOUT OUTS As part of this year’s focus on celebrating our bar association’s diverse membership and exploring creative ways for members to connect, network, and experience fulfillment in the practice of law, we would like to highlight the accomplishments and contributions of KBA members who are making a difference in the legal arena and beyond. Send links to news to posts or articles, pictures, or just a blurb about what’s going on to membership@knoxbar.org.

August 19 Tennis & Pickleball Mixer The KBA Wellness Committee is planning the KBA Tennis and Pickleball Mixers for Friday, August 19 at Cedar Bluff Racquet Club and the Pavillion of Pickleball. This is an event for all skill levels. We want this to be a great player experience and give members a chance to get to know each other in a fun and relaxed environment!

The registration fee includes water, sports drinks, snacks during the tournament, and a post-tournament celebration featuring prizes and refreshments.To sign up, click on August 19 in the event calendar at www.knoxbar.org.

FREE CLASSIFIEDS AVAILABLE Did you know the Classified section on the KBA website allows you to add your resume if you are looking for a job or if you need to hire someone, you can post a job and search for candidates? Click on Public Resources and select “Career Classifieds” from the dropdown navigation.

The Classifieds receive in excess of 8,000 page views each month so if you are looking for a job or a new position, make sure to check out this valuable resource.

LEGAL HISTORY VIDEOS AVAILABLE In 2012, the KBA’s Archives Committee began interviewing senior members of the local legal community to capture their stories and perspectives on life and the practice of law. With funding provided by the Knoxville Bar Foundation, the KBA has been able to preserve this history for future generations of lawyers and other interested persons. It is important not to forget the contributions of those who built the local bar and sharing milestones and stories of great lawyers and judges provides new lawyers with historical perspective and inspiration. View the interviews online at www.knoxbar.org by clicking Member Resources and then Practice Resources.

OFFICE SPACE AVAILABLE: • Existing association of attorneys have available 1-2 office spaces in historical building 1816 Clinch Ave., across from Ft. Sanders Reg. Hospital to include parking spaces, conference room, reception area, receptionist, phone system, internet and Lexis access. Email cburks@ jnblawfirm.com or call (865) 522-4964 for inquires.

•

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1520 Highland Avenue in Fort Sanders Available - The offices are $1,000/month and includes a private office and access to a common area that includes a full kitchen, reception area, conference room and separate client meeting room, plus 1 free parking space in addition to free on street parking. The office is “Class A” space (there’s even a fireplace in the meeting room!) and it would be a great office sharing arrangement for up to 4 people who are starting out. Rent includes utilities, alarm, and internet. Contact Perry Childress at (865) 8032545.

DICTA

Standing by the legal community for nearly 60 years.

Contact Jessica McKenna today to learn more!

508.954.4222 Jessica.Mckenna@ abaretirement.com abaretirement.com Built by LAWYERS, Powered by PROS® August 2022

M I T C H E L L’ S M A L A R K E Y By: T. Mitchell Panter

Lewis Thomason, P.C.

VOLDEMORT STRIKES AGAIN Earlier this year, I wrote about my dear friend and colleague, “Voldemort,” and his intolerable knack for poor tipping. The reviews of that column were a mixed bag. Some, including Voldemort, felt I came on too strong or that it was in poor taste to write a smear article in a trade publication. Others applauded the effort, emailed to guess Voldemort’s true identity, or made fun of me for being a server at Cheddars. Despite the differing thoughts on my delivery, most agreed that Voldemort’s pretax method of calculating a tip is (a) stupid and (b) unacceptable in a civilized society.

While I derived some independent benefit from slamming Voldemort in my column (catharsis), my primary motive was to stage an intervention of sorts. With all that scrutiny and moderate backlash (several of you figured out Voldemort’s true identity), Voldemort would surely see the error of his ways, repent, and be redeemed, right? Sadly, that was not the case, and Voldemort’s parsimony rages on.

Earlier this month, for example, Voldemort’s long-time assistant announced that she would be retiring at the end of the month. There are no hard and fast rules on retirement parties, but our office customarily throws some kind of send-off for retirees on their last day. Usually informed by the retiree’s preference, send-offs run the gamut of a sheet cake in the breakroom to a full-blown party. It’s also common for someone to circulate a greeting card around the office for everyone to sign, and those closest to the retiree often start a collection plate for a cash gift or solicit money for some kind of personalized gift.

Despite those norms, Voldemort offered no gifts, circulated no offering plate, and to my knowledge, never offered a greeting card for goodbyes. That’s not to say, however, that he did nothing.

At 2:06 p.m. on his assistant’s last day (which was a Thursday, by the way), Voldemort sent the following email to everyone in the Knoxville office: “In honor of [my assistant’s] last day, we have some Ham ’n Goody’s cookies in the 5th floor kitchen. Enjoy.”

Like the hyenas circling Scar at the end of The Lion King, the mere suggestion of free food draws out the most animalistic instincts amongst my colleagues. Voldemort’s invitation was no exception. People came from afar (i.e., the fourth floor) and quickly descended on the kitchen, arranging like a mob of suburban moms at Kohl’s on Black Friday.

One by one, people entered, grabbed their cookies, and exited the kitchen in pure delight. Quickly, however, the line began to jam, and people at the front began hissing. It wasn’t immediately clear what had happened, but as the aggrieved worked their way back to the door, I overheard someone say, “We’re already out of cookies.”

I asked myself, “How could that be?!” Voldemort clearly invited everyone, and although I hadn’t been there for the start of the frenzy, I was at the kitchen within 5 minutes of his email. “Surely people weren’t hoarding cookies. This has to be a mistake.” I thought to myself.

As I collected my thoughts, I started to suspect the obvious: Voldemort. So, I left the kitchen, searched the halls for Voldemort, and on my second round near the scene of the crime, there I spotted him. He was surrounded by at least two other co-workers with the same objective: finding truth.

“What’s going on?” I asked.

“I didn’t think there were that many people here today,” Voldemort August 2022

responded.

“How many cookies did you buy?” I questioned.

“Eighteen! I bought Eighteen, okay! I don’t want to hear it! There’s hardly anyone here, and I thought that would be enough.” Voldemort exclaimed.

Contrary to Voldemort’s perception, the office was mostly at full steam that day, and very few people were out of the office. To compound issues, our office has grown significantly, and in the last six months, six attorneys have lateralled to our firm with their respective support staff. At present, the Knoxville office is home to 43 attorneys, three law clerks, 20 legal assistants, 13 paralegals, and 14 administrative staff members (accounting, IT, HR, etc.). I did not take an exact headcount on the date in question, but I assure you that of the 93 employees in our firm, at least sixty percent were here and could have enjoyed a delicious lemon cookie.

Aside from Tony Perkis’ weight loss plan at Camp Hope, there’s literally no circumstance in which a normal person faced with those numbers would think 18 cookies is sufficient. Enter Voldemort. For those of you who may be wondering, “How much are Ham ’n Goody’s cookies?” I and several of my colleagues have investigated the issue, and the answer appears to vary by volume. At most, though, a single cookie costs roughly one crisp, American dollar.

Doing the math, that means Voldemort publicly slighted his assistant, maligned 91 of his colleagues, and set himself up for this and other public shaming all to save, at most, $38.00.1 Add to that the rising cost of inflation, and the ever-diminishing value of the dollar, it seems abundantly clear to me that Voldemort’s decision was, well, dumb.

Fortunately, three of my colleagues saved the day by purchasing four dozen more lemon cookies—two dozen for those on the fourth floor and two dozen for the fifth. Just so it’s clear that I’m not the only person in my office who’s fed up with Voldemort’s stinginess, here’s an email from the Three Musketeers announcing their purchase, which was sent to the office at 2:41 p.m., roughly forty minutes after Voldemort’s invitation: Good afternoon, all, In actually honoring [the retiree’s] last day, rather than buying just enough cookies for a table full of 4th graders to share, [the Three Musketeers] travelled to Ham ’n Goody’s, and we have placed 4 boxes (2 on 5 and 2 on 4) in the firm’s kitchens.

Please enjoy these afternoon treats, and continue to deservedly mock [Voldemort’s First Name] “Pinchin’ Pennies” [Voldemort’s Last Name].

We will miss you, [retiree].

In sum, to those of you who criticized my prior column on Voldemort, I look forward to receiving your apologies . . . .

1

DICTA

Rounding up, sixty percent of 93 employees is 56. Less the 18 cookies he actually bought, that leaves 38 for purchase at one dollar each.

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Serving the Legal Community in Assisting Low-Income Persons To Navigate the Justice System

PRO BONO SPOTLIGHT By: Caitlin Torney Pro Bono Project Attorney Legal Aid of East Tennessee

PRO BONO Pro ATTORNEYS IN ACTION! Bono Attorneys in Action!

We are so grateful for all the volunteer attorneys who make our clinics a success! We hope you’ll consider volunteering at an upcoming clinic to join We are so grateful for all the volunteer attorneys who make our clinics a success! We hope you’ll consider volunteering with your fellow attorneys in giving back.

at an upcoming clinic to join with your fellow attorneys in giving back.

Kaitlyn Dean Pack and Bill Coley at the UTK School of Law and LMU Duncan School of Law Student February Faith and Justice Clinic.

Volunteers at February's Faith and Justice Clinic.

Kevin Newton, Patrick Woodside, Bill Maddox, and Brent Snyder at the June Debt Relief Clinic.

Professor Amy Morris Hess and Dan Holbrook at the Faith and Justice Clinic.

Representative Tim Burchett stops by the Veterans Clinic.

Tim Grandchamp and a law student help a client at the Veterans Clinic.

Chuck Sharrett and law student volunteers at the monthly Veterans Clinic

Caitlin Torney and Ian Hennessy at the Faith and Jusice Clinic

Mark Your Calendar

Mark Your Calendar

Legal Advice Clinic for Veterans: In person at the Public Defender’s Community Law Office, Wednesday August 10th and Wednesday September 14th Noon – 2:00 PM.

Legal Advice Clinic for Veterans: In person at the Public Defender’s Community Law Office, th Wednesday August 10thName and Wednesday 14th 20 Noon – 2:00 Virtual Change Clinic:September Saturday August 10:00 AM –PM. 1:00 PM. Email ctorney@laet.org

Virtual NameDebt Change Saturday August 20th 10:00 – 1:00 PM.September Email ctorney@laet.org ReliefClinic: Clinic: Public Defender’s Community LawAM Office, Saturday 10th 9:00 AM – Noon.

POA Clinic: Saturday Law October 1st 9:00 AM – Noon.

Email ctorney@laet.org Debt Relief Clinic:Loudon PublicCounty Defender’s Community Office, Saturday September 10th 9:00 AM – Noon.

Loudon County POA Clinic: Saturday October 1st 9:00 AM – Noon. Email ctorney@laet.org

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DICTA

August 2022

TELL ME A STORY By: Courtney M. Barnes-Anderson Tennessee Valley Authority

BECAUSE OF MY FAMILY I wanted to attend law school and become an attorney since I was a child. I have no recollection of making that decision; I just always knew it was something I wanted. In my early twenties, I believed I would have to put my career first to ensure a family (or even the idea of a family) was no distraction preventing me from achieving my goals. Little did I know it would be because of my family that my goal of entering the legal profession would be achieved and in a manner I never dreamed possible.

After my undergraduate education at the College of Charleston, in Charleston, SC, I decided to abandon my childhood dream of attending law school (mostly because I was burned out from school but partly because I had no faith I could succeed) and follow a different path that, seemingly, fell into my lap during college. Nearly two months after crossing the cistern in my white dress (a tradition for CofC graduates during our commencement ceremonies), I packed up my apartment and my dog to hit the road from the Low Country of South Carolina to the Appalachian Mountains. I moved into a city I learned existed only months prior to my move to begin a career I never contemplated until my senior year of undergrad.

With this move, I found myself thrust into the fast-paced, everexciting world of broadcast journalism. I loved the anticipation at the beginning of my day, the thrill at the hint of breaking news, and the rush of calling the shots from the control room. My career as a television news producer became the challenge I never knew I needed to jump-start my professional life in a way I never expected. Just like the world of news, my life moved fast from there. Less than a year into my new life in the Tri-Cities, I met the man who would become my husband. We married on our second dating anniversary (yes, to take it easy on my memory), then just a month after celebrating our first wedding anniversary, we welcomed our son.

There is nothing like a child to make you dream again. When I looked into my son’s face, I could see my hopes and dreams for him, as well as my own dreams beckoning for me follow. I realized the only way for me to encourage my son to chase his own dreams was for me to do the same. My love and hope for his future pursuit of his own dreams pushed me to again chase my own. I soon left my first career and took one step toward my next one.

The confidence I felt in the control booth soon gave way to uncertainty and apprehension as I embraced my new role as a paralegal in a small law firm in Abingdon, Virginia. I loved it all—meeting with clients, reviewing discovery, and drafting even the most menial of pleadings. I realized I was coming into the place I was always meant to be, but I still could not shake the feeling that I still had a way to go.

With my husband’s encouragement, a couple years (and another degree) later, I took the leap to law school. When I started looking into law schools, a non-traditional student told me I would need to separate myself—both physically and otherwise—from my family to be successful, but she could not have been more wrong. Even living apart for half of each week for three years, my family found a way to continually encourage me to show up and push harder until I could see the light at the end of the tunnel.

Then came COVID. For those of us who graduated at the start of the pandemic, elation over the end of our three years quickly gave way to devastation with the cancellation of every celebration of our August 2022

accomplishment. When I cried with the rest of the graduating law school classes of 2020 over the seeming anticlimactic end of our law school career, it was my family who wiped the tears and found ways to celebrate the accomplishment despite COVID protocols and restrictions.

They cheered me up and on as I took on the bar exam and the started my law career in earnest in our new city—Knoxville.

Some people believe in luck, some believe in making your own luck, but I believe in support. Luck is a success or failure brought by chance rather than through one’s own actions. I do not believe my success or failure is through luck or my own actions. Instead, I believe a large portion of my success is in the love of my family. In a world that focuses on self-love so much it often results in selfishness, and in a profession that seems to demand all we have, I often take a step back to ground myself and remember why I am in this career I strived for years to achieve. A wise attorney told me at the start of my law school journey to protect and prioritize my family because the law is a jealous mistress, but the law met its match in my family. Throughout the years, I have realized my husband and son can never be a distraction from my career. I am not an attorney despite my family; I am an attorney because of my family, and that is a fact that brings me more pride than anything else ever could.

DICTA

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P.O. Box 2027 Knoxville, TN 37901

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KNOXVILLE, TN PERMIT NO. 3 0 9