3 minute read
Barrister Bullets/New Members
MONTHLY MEETING
Plan now to attend the Barristers monthly meeting on Wednesday, February 8, 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 February 8 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 February 8, 2023. Sign up at https://www.knoxbar.org/?pg=Upcoming-Legal-Clinics.
VOLUNTEER BREAKFAST COMMITTEE CONTINUES OPERATIONS
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) 3605044 or Darrius Dixon at (865) 546-4646 with any questions and/or about volunteering.
HIGH SCHOOL MOCK TRIAL SEEKS VOLUNTEERS
The Regional High School Mock Trial Competition will occur this month, in the City County Building on February 24 and 25, and the final two teams will advance to the championship round held in LMU’s Business Courtroom on Sunday, February 26. This program is supported entirely by volunteer efforts. Traditionally, East Tennessee law school students, attorneys, and judges have donated their time to serve in the roles of bailiffs, scoring judges, and presiding judges during the competition. Each volunteer shift is a roughly 2.5-hour time commitment (the length of one trial). Please contact either Bridget Pyman at (865) 546-7000 or Isaac Westling at (865) 673-8516 with any questions, and if you are interested in volunteering, you can sign up at: https://memcentral. wufoo.com/forms/mdbyy3q1labt0z/
DIVERSITY COMMITTEE COLLECTS DONATIONS FOR SCHOLARSHIP FUND
The KBA is committed to becoming a more diverse and inclusive organization. To help further this important goal, the Barristers Diversity Committee Chairs, Mariel Bough and Grant Williamson, spoke with student leaders of several student organizations at the law schools in Knoxville to gain a better understanding of what barriers diverse students were facing in attending law school in Knoxville. In an effort to target this issue, the Barristers Diversity Committee has created a scholarship fund to help with travel and lodging costs for diverse students who are invited to attend preview days hosted by the law schools. Members are asked to donate to help ensure that one student, who may not otherwise be able to afford to visit a law school in Knoxville prior to their enrollment, is able to attend a preview day. A more diverse and inclusive KBA is only possible with a more diverse student population at local law schools. Your donation would help alleviate one of the barriers preventing diverse students from being able to visit campuses in Knoxville and see all that its law schools and the Knoxville Bar have to offer. Learn more and donate at https://www.knoxbar.org/?pg=BarristersDiversityCommittee. If you have questions, please reach out to Mariel Bough (mariel.bough@verasafe.com) or Grant Williamson (gwilliamson@bradley.com) for more information on how your donation will be used, or for more ways to get involved with the Barristers Diversity Committee’s efforts to make the KBA a more inclusive and diverse organization.
WELCOME NEW MEMBERS
THE KNOXVILLE BAR ASSOCIATION IS PLEASED TO WELCOME THE FOLLOWING NEW MEMBERS:
NEW ATTORNEYS
Stephen M. Boyette, Jr. Breeding Olinzock Carter Crippen, PC Kelby Christopher Cowan Christopher C. Cowart Knoxville Leadership Foundation Bill E. Dials Gregory Chance Harrison Valliant, Harrison & Schwartz, P.A. Preston D. Pierce Knox County Public Defender’s Community Law Office Caleb A. Smothers Alaina Michelle Tolbert Spicer Rudstrom, PLLC
