President’s Column

By LUCIE BRACKIN, MBA President

The accomplishment I am most proud of this year has been the commitment the MBA has made to raise awareness of and combat the racism that continues to exist in our society today. At the beginning of the year, Ben F. Jones chapter President Shayla Purifoy, AWA President Megan Lane and I wanted to strengthen the relationships between our organizations and we planned the first annual Bar Mixer. Prior to the pandemic, we envisioned joint CLE’s and social events. Those plans, of course, came to a screeching halt after March 18, 2020.

The death of George Floyd was a wake-up call to systemic racism that could not be ignored any longer. When President Purifoy contacted me about a joint Bar Unity March, we began carefully planning our public statement of solidarity. Read more about this unprecedented event on page 6. We knew, though, that this one-time effort would not be enough to make a difference in the fight against systemic racism and implicit bias. The MBA’s “Law Week and Outreach” Committee was transformed into the “Outreach and Diversity” Committee. Led by Co-chairs Danielle Irvine and Patrick Morris, and fueled by a strong and robust committee, they have promptly and timely undertaken every request made of them. We issued a press release in support of DNA testing in the case of Pervis Payne, published a comment in support of requiring 2 hours of diversity training with our CLE requirements, and began the 21-Day Racial Equity Habit Building Challenge ©

on October 1, 2020. It is not too late to sign up for the challenge, if you have not already. Each day comes with a task that will take about 15-30 minutes. The tasks consist of articles, podcasts, and videos that challenge the way white people think about, and talk about, racial issues.

For our first (and hopefully only) virtual Bench Bar Conference, one of our featured speakers is attorney Janice Brown from San Diego, who will speak on understanding the economic advantages of embracing diversity. The conference will take place on the afternoons of October 13, 14 and 15, 2020 with a kickoff party in the courthouse courtyard on Thursday, October 8, 2020. Co-chairs Adam Johnson and Hon. Bobby Carter, along with vice-chair Matt May, have done a wonderful job of planning their second conference of the year, and we have 14.5 hours of CLE credit for only $150 (or $75/day). In partnership with Buster’s, we will offer a virtual wine tasting on Wednesday, October 14, 2020. On Thursday, October 15, 2020, at The Slider Inn downtown, we will have a Shred415 outdoor exercise class, followed by happy hour sponsored by BankTennessee and Dixon, Hughes, Goodman, LLP. Please visit our website for more details, and sign up for the conference. This event will be the only revenue generating event for your bar association this year, and we very much need your support.