Hear Ye, Hear Ye

2021 NBA BOARD OF DIRECTORS Journal

MICHAEL ABELOW, President MARTESHA JOHNSON, President-ElectJournal LYNNE INGRAM, First Vice President DANIEL BEREXA, Second Vice President JOSH BURGENER, Secretary JUSTIN CAMPBELL, Treasurer FLYNNE DOWDY, Assistant Treasurer LELA HOLLABAUGH, General Counsel JOSEPH HUBBARD, YLD President LAURA BAKER, Immediate Past President HON. MELISSA BLACKBURN, First Vice President-Elect LIZ SITGREAVES, Second Vice President-Elect

BAHAR AZHDARI JAZ BOON BRIGID CARPENTER RAQUEL EVE OLUYEMO SAM FELKER LORA BARKENBUS FOX MARY TAYLOR GALLAGHER JEFF GIBSON PAZ HAYNES KIM LOONEY HON. ELLEN HOBBS LYLE MARLENE ESKIND MOSES JUNAID ODUBEKO KAYA GRACE PORTER TIM WARNOCK LUTHER WRIGHT, JR. HON. BILL YOUNG GULAM ZADE

NBA TEAM

MONICA MACKIE, Executive Director CAMERON GEARLDS, CLE Director TRACI HOLLANDSWORTH, Programs & Events Coordinator JILL PRESLEY, Marketing & Communications Director SHIRLEY ROBERTS, Finance Coordinator VICKI SHOULDERS, Membership Coordinator, Office Manager

HAVE AN IDEA FOR AN ARTICLE?

We want to hear about the topics and issues you think should be covered in the journal. Send your ideas to Jill.Presley@nashvillebar.org.

Jack Norman, Sr. Award Nominations

Nominations are being sought for the Jack Norman, Sr. Award, which will be presented during the NBA Law Day Luncheon, tentatively scheduled for October 12. Nominations and supporting documentation should be emailed to the NBA Criminal Law & Criminal Justice Committee Co-Chair, Ben Raybin, at braybin@ nashvilletnlaw.com no later than Friday, April 30. Visit NashvilleBar.org/Awards to learn more. n

Liberty Bell Award Nominations

Nominations are now being sought for the Liberty Bell Award, which will be presented during the Law Day Luncheon, tentatively scheduled for October 12.

This award is given to the person or group—not necessarily attorneys or law related groups—who has promoted a better understanding of the rule of law, encouraged greater respect for law and the courts, stimulated a sense of civic responsibility, or contributed to good government. Nominations should be submitted to the NBA Community Relations Committee via Traci. Hollandsworth@nashvillebar.org no later than Friday, April 30. n

NBA “Grand Slam” Tennis Tournament

Join the NBA at Seven Hills Swim and Tennis Club on Saturday, May 1, from 10:00am to 3:00pm for a “Grand Slam” Tennis Tournament, sponsored by LOGICFORCE. We will be playing doubles in a Round Robin tournament—registrants will be paired up randomly. Entry fee is $30 per person and includes lunch, drinks, and a can of balls. First and second place prizes will be awarded. Register now at Nashville Bar.org/Tennis! n

NBA + NBF Spring Golf Tournament

“Putter around” with your friends and colleagues on Thursday, May 13, and spend a day in the sunshine together at our annual golf tournament. Presented by the NBA and NBF, this year’s tournament will be held at Hermitage Golf Course in Old Hickory. Range balls will be available beginning at 12:00pm with a shotgun start at 1:00pm. The entry fee is $160 for NBA members and $180 for non-members, and includes range balls, greens fee, cart, beverages, snacks, and dinner. All registrations must be submitted by Thursday, May 7. We will have dinner and prizes at the conclusion of play. There will be prizes for both team and individual contests, such as longest drive, longest putt, and closest to pin. To register your foursome, visit NashvilleBar.org/Golf. n

NBA Family Zoo Day

Gather with your lawyer friends and their families on Saturday, June 12, for our NBA Family Zoo Day at the Nashville Zoo! Upon arrival, stop by the NBA table between 10:00am and 12:00pm to pick up complimentary treats and tickets. Need tickets? Email Traci.Hollandsworth@nashvillebar. org, and let her know how many FREE tickets you need. Limit four tickets per NBA member.

Already have tickets or passes? Come by the NBA table to say hello and pick up some treats on your way into the zoo. Visit NashvilleBar.org/Zoo for more information. This is a wonderful outing for the entire family! n

Office Space for Rent

Class A office space for rent in trendy residential area two blocks from courthouse. Three attorney offices. Traditional style with hardwood floors throughout, crown molding, exotic granite countertops, and elegant alabaster sconce lighting. Includes lobby, conference room, work room, two large secretarial stations, and kitchenette. Free parking; covered parking available. Photos of the space are available here. For more information, contact Cleve Weathers at 615-975-1075. n

Spring Memorial Service

Our Spring Memorial Service will be held virtually via Zoom on Thursday, May 27. The service begins at 11:00am. Memorial resolutions recounting the lives and legal careers are presented in honor of those in the Nashville legal community who have recently passed away.

The memorial resolutions are prepared and read on the minutes of the Chancery Court at the service by friends and colleagues of the bench and bar and are added to the NBA’s collection of more than 100 years of resolutions. Family members and friends of the deceased are also invited to attend. Visit NashvilleBar.org/Memorial to view a list of those being honored and to save your spot today. n

Kim Kardashian, Donald Trump, and the Rule of Law: Interview with Hon. Kevin Sharp

Law Day is always a highlight of our bar year. We gather in person to catch up with colleagues who we may not have had a case or a deal with during the prior year, and are reminded of some fundamental principles that may have led us to be attorneys in the first place as we rededicate ourselves to those principles.

This year, Law Day is April 29. Because of the importance of Law Day and its in-person nature, the NBA has made the decision to move our in-person celebration of Law Day to October 12 at 11:30am. Please mark your calendars and watch your NBA Weekly Updates for details to come.

The Law Day theme for 2021 is Advancing the Rule of Law Now. The “now” is significant: as the ABA explains, the “rule of law is the bedrock of American rights and liberties—in times of calm and unrest alike.” Thus, “we the people share the responsibility to promote the rule of law, defend liberty, and pursue justice.”1

I was asked to interview federal district court judge, Kevin H. Sharp, to discuss this year’s Law Day theme. In 2014, Judge Sharp was on the bench when Chris Young came before him for sentencing. Young has been convicted by a jury of conspiracy to distribute cocaine.2 He had been mid-level in the conspiracy, and if Judge Sharp had been able to choose the sentence, he would have given Young a substantial prison term. But Judge Sharp had no discretion: he was required to sentence Young to life without parole. Judge Sharp thought this was unjust, and the case stuck with him.

Judge Sharp left the bench in 2017 to become a Managing Partner of Sanford Heisler Sharp, which represents plaintiffs in individual matters and class action cases nationwide. Upon his resignation, he was interviewed by The Tennessean, and he spoke about Chris Young’s case as a factor in stepping down. Young read the article from his jail cell. Another reader of the article was Brittany K. Barnett, a former corporate lawyer who co-founded the Buried Alive Project, which focuses on challenging life without parole sentences under the drug laws. Barnett contacted Judge Sharp and asked him to assist her in representing Young.

By this time, Young’s best hope was clemency or a pardon. Judge Sharp and Barnett connected with Kim Kardashian, who, through her connections to Ivanka Trump, had helped secured pardons in other cases from the Trump White House. (This is likely the first time that the star of Keeping Up with Kardashians has appeared in the esteemed pages of the Nashville Bar Journal, but the strangeness of this tale is not yet at an end). Kardashian took an interest in the case, and so it was that Judge Sharp, his co-counsel, CNN’s Star Van Jones, and other members of their team found themselves meeting with Jared Kushner, Ivanka Trump, and Donald Trump at the White House on September 6, 2018.

When I asked Judge Sharp about Kim Kardashian, he responded that she is smarter than you think. When I asked Judge Sharp about Donald Trump, Judge Sharp responded that President Trump is not as orange as you think. (In Judge Sharp’s observation, the orange comes out later for the TV cameras).

Judge Sharp had not been planning on a meeting in the Oval Office with the President, let alone a meeting of more than an hour. But they indeed met for more than an hour, and Pres-

(continued on page 8) (continued on page 00)

ident Trump challenged Judge Sharp asking if he was “some kind of liberal” because of his interest in criminal justice reforms. Judge Sharp felt good about the meeting overall but did not know if it would bear fruit. Indeed, he was discouraged when, immediately after the meeting, President Trump appeared on the news with law enforcement and seemed to espouse a tough-on-crime message.

Fast forward to 2021. With President Trump set to leave office, a flurry of activity occurred again to obtain pardons and commutations. The day before the last set of pardons and commutations, Judge Sharp got word that Young’s sentence would be commuted. Judge Sharp planned to meet him at the airport upon his return to Tennessee. Judge Sharp had sentenced Young to life in prison, and now through a combination of advocacy, celebrity, and luck, Young was a free man.

Not every person serving a life sentence for a drug crime is lucky enough to have this team of a former federal Judge and a celebrity advocate. But Judge Sharp hopes that Young’s story will serve as an example and spur to systemic change—and there is already a model for this. The First Step Act, signed into law in 2018, passed in part because of individual prisoners’ stories. Judge Sharp hopes that Young’s story— and those of others like him—will lead to passage of the “Second Look Act,” which would permit federal judges to reevaluate and reduce sentences after a person has served 10 years.

In Judge Sharp’s view, this potential leniency on the back end would be a huge step. But it is no substitute for trying to prevent the problem on the front end. Removing mandatory minimum sentences would let judges craft a sentence appropriate to the defendant. An appropriate sentence would consider the impact on the defendant’s family and community of a long prison sentence. As Judge Sharp puts it, a jail sentence is not just sentencing the defendant, but rather the defendant’s children and even grandchildren. Perhaps President Trump was right in calling Judge Sharp “some kind of liberal,” but Judge Sharp also recognizes that there are some defendants who must receive a long sentence for the protection of society. Judge Sharp just wants judges to be able to use their judgment.

If systemic reform of the criminal justice system was not a big enough task, Judge Sharp has his sights set on even more fundamental issues. Criminal justice reform is necessary but not sufficient. By the time a criminal defendant arrives in the courtroom the system has likely already failed. Unequal schools, lack of jobs, and lack of transportation are among the factors that lead to many defendants getting caught up in the system and keeping them there even after they serve their sentences. He believes that the rule of law is not limited to the laws and rules of procedure; rather the rule of law depends on access to the basics: education, a job, a car, or public transport. Absent this, we are just treating the symptoms but not the disease.

To illustrate the point, Judge Sharp looks to his decision in the Nashville education system case.3 In that case the parents of African American Metro Schools students alleged that the District’s rezoning plan led to resegregation of the school district. Judge Sharp found that, in fact, Metro Schools were being resegregated. But the reason was not that the School Board intended to resegregate the schools; rather the resegregation resulted where people of different races lived and a system of neighborhood schools. Where people lived, in turn, resulted from unequal economic opportunities. So, the rule of law said that Metro should win the case because the School Board did not intentionally discriminate. But the rule of law did not prevent segregated schools, in fact it permitted them.

Judge Sharp urges lawyers of all kinds to get involved in these issues. There is a great need for assistance in the criminal justice system, and civil litigators (particularly young lawyers in need of trial experience) would be welcome. Although civil lawyers may not think they know enough about criminal law, the public defender’s offices and panel attorneys are overwhelmed and bringing civil litigators’ resources to bear would make a huge difference. Beyond that, Judge Sharp urges lawyers to help solve the problem at its root—to get involved in access to education, housing, jobs, and transportation. The rule of law, Judge Sharp says, depends on the consent of the people, and many people do not believe they have a fair shot. Lawyers can help change that, and not just on Law Day. n

Endnotes

1 American Bar Association, Law Day 2021.

2 See United States v. Young, 847 F.3d 328 (6th Cir. 2017) (upholding mandatory life sentence of Chris Young against 8th Amendment cruel-and-unusual challenge).

3 Spurlock v. Fox, 716 F.3d 383 (6th Cir. 2013) (on appeal).

2021 NBA President. MIKE ABELOW is a Member of Sherrard, Roe, Voigt & Harbison. His practice focuses on business litigation and business bankruptcies. He currently serves as the