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Background Check
BACKGROUND CHECK Laura Baker | Bart Pickett
With a new year comes a new president for the NBA. This year we have the good fortune of being led by Nashville-native Laura Baker. She grew up in Bellevue as the second of four children. Her father was a civil engineer and her mother is a nurse practitioner. She attended St. Henry for her primary education and graduated from Father Ryan High School. Following her high school graduation in 1999, she moved to Memphis to study at Rhodes College. She chose the small liberal arts school since it was close to, but still far enough away from, home. While at Rhodes, the political science major continued participating in mock trial, which she became smitten with in high school. It was this love of the courtroom that led Laura to law school. In 2003, Laura packed up and headed to East Tennessee. She chose UT College of Law because she wanted to get the big, SEC school experience. She loved her time at UT, which provided for a great education and introduced her to some of her closest friends. While there, she competed on the National Trial Team, served on the Journal of Law and Policy, and served in the student bar association. She spent her first summer interning at the
Nashville DA’s office. During her second summer, she clerked for firms in Memphis and Knoxville.
Following graduation in 2006 and while studying for the bar, Laura remembers seeing an online posting for a job at what was then the firm of Branham & Day. That fortuitous find led to a job that has lasted her entire legal career. After beginning at the firm as a brand-new associate, Laura is now one of three partners at The Law Offices of John Day, practicing 100% civil litigation. She enjoys being a trial lawyer and helping people as they seek recovery and normalcy following personal injury.
Since beginning her career in Nashville, Laura remains active in the legal world. After years of serving on multiple committees, she served as the president of Lawyers’ Association for Women from 2014-15. She also spent several years in the Harry Phillips Inn of Court. After her experience in 2014 in the inaugural class of the Nashville Bar Foundation’s Leadership Forum, she felt inspired to step up and take a leadership role within the NBA. She first served as the co-chair for the Chancery & Circuit Court Committee, which led to her to run for and be elected to the NBA Board of Directors in 2016. Laura spent a year on the Membership Committee, and then served on the Executive Committee prior to being elected president by her fellow board members.
Laura has many goals for this year. First, she wants to focus on the 100th anniversary of the passage of the 19th Amendment granting women the constitutional right to vote. She wants the NBA to join the city in celebrating the historic anniversary and recognizing the role our city and state played in its passage. In particular, she hopes to work with NBA members to provide education and outreach on the 19th Amendment at local high schools. Laura also wants to focus on pro bono work and increasing participation by our members, including celebrating Pro Bono Week set in October. Finally, she will highlight the Diversity Summit that the NBA is spearheading and hosting in conjunction with other bar associations across the state.
Laura has John Day to not only thank for her job, but also for her family. Not long after starting at the firm, co-worker Brandon Bass introduced her to his brother, JT Baker. Laura and JT hit it off immediately and were married in 2012. JT works at Vanderbilt University as a senior business intelligence analyst. While they used to love to travel and could often be found on a golf course or singing karaoke, their hobbies have changed drastically to revolve around their children. The couple live in Bellevue with their two children: Claire (4 years) and Hudson (10 months). After many years of living apart, Laura also has all her siblings in Nashville again—including a sister who is raising her family in the same neighborhood. n
BART PICKETT is an attorney at the Law Offices of Julie Bhattacharya Peak where he represents Liberty Mutual Group, Inc.’s insureds and customers of its affiliated groups in litigation throughout Middle Tennessee. Prior to practicing, Pickett worked as a law clerk for the Honorable Judge Thomas W. Brothers of the Sixth Circuit Court of Davidson County and the Honorable Joseph P. Binkley, Jr. of the Fifth Circuit Court of Davidson County.
The Senate then voted to adjourn. When they reconvened, the second and third articles met with the same result, and the trial was over. Johnson was acquitted on May 26. The impeachment affected the remainder of his presidency with another impeachment attempt made with new far-fetched charges that failed. In his Farewell Address, Johnson attacked Congress’s reconstruction policies, insisted he upheld his oath, and demanded a return to the principle that the Constitution and the Union were one and inseparable. Johnson sought, but did not win his party’s nomination in the next presidential election.
Conclusion
Highly charged politics, policy disagreements, and substitution for an election are not a sound, viable grounds for impeachment. 5 Reviewing what occurred from 1865 to 1868 as Republicans impeached President Johnson for political reasons sheds light on present day impeachment efforts. History appears to be repeating itself with the valuable lessons of the past presumably unknown or ignored by those who should know better. n
Endnotes
1 All citations to the US Constitution are from the original transcription on parchment by Jacob Shallus on display at the National Archives. The spelling and punctuation reflect the original.
2 The Federalist No. 65 (Alexander Hamilton).
3 Johnson freed his slaves in 1863, and later believed slavery should be abolished.
4 The Tenure of Office Act was effectively declared unconstitutional in 1926. See Myers v. United States, 272 U.S. 52, 116–18 (1926).
5 The US Senate maintains research regarding impeachment that is accessible online.
The factual background is a compilation prepared by the author relying on a variety of resources, including visiting the Andrew Johnson National Historical Site and Museum in Greenville, Tennessee. See also Davi O. Stewart, Impeache (2009); Han Tref u e, An rew J ack n, A Bi graphy (1989); Erick Trickey, Andrew Johnson National Historic Site, Articles of Impeachment; PBS American Experience, The Impeachment of Andrew Johnson.
RAMONA S. DESALVO practices copyright, trademark, and entertainment law at DeSalvo Law Firm in Nashville. She earned her BA from University of California, Berkeley, and her JD from University of Cincinnati College of Law. She is admitted in Tennessee, Ohio, and California (inactive). Ramona is a Fellow of the American and Nashville Bar Associations, a member of NARAS, Copyright Society, ABA, TBA, NBA, and a past president of the Tennessee Lawyers’ Association of Women.
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