22 minute read
Background Check
BACKGROUND CHECK Honorable Randy Kennedy | Bart Pickett
For all his life, Judge Randy Kennedy has lived within a ten miles radius of his first home. He grew up in Donelson, in a blue-collar family. He recalls, at the age of twelve, he accompanying his father, a steamfitter and pipefitter, to a National Labor Relations Board grievance hearing where his dad stood against his former employer. At that moment, Kennedy first saw justice. It was “justice for the little guy,” and it stuck with him.
Kennedy went to Donelson for elementary and high school. Kennedy and his wife, Debbie, met at a young age and married while they were still teenagers. Being a newlywed, Kennedy decided on college at MTSU where he could easily commute. He initially majored in speech/broadcasting with the hope of being a disc jockey or a sportswriter but ultimately switched to business with a minor in speech for more financial security. Kennedy graduated college in three years.
Married with a toddler, he took a year off after college to enjoy not being in school and to make some money working for Aetna Casualty Insurance Company. He then started night law school and when Aetna asked him to move to Iowa, he had to quit after learning he would lose his law school credits. Kennedy started working at the old Nashville City Bank, ultimately becoming the Hermitage Branch Manager.
Upon graduating from Nashville School of Law in 1977, Kennedy joined with two other lawyers to start a practice with offices in Hermitage and Lebanon. He did that until the early 80’s when they split the offices up and he formed an association of attorneys in the Hermitage office. He quickly went from a junior associate to essentially a managing partner. The group eventually became known as Kennedy & Brown and moved into a building in Donelson. Kennedy remained at that firm until December, 2003. He considered the firm to be a classic, general practice in both litigation and transactional law. He did a significant amount of work related to probate, estates, divorces, and conservatorships but also represented lots of small businesses in the Donelson-Hermitage area.
Kennedy dipped his feet into electoral politics in 1989 when the Metro Council seat in his district opened. He ran and won that contested race and was re-elected in 1991. Having served the remainder of an unexpired term and one full term, he chose not to run for a third time in 1995.
In 1998, Kennedy ran, unsuccessfully, for an open General Sessions judgeship. He looks back on that loss as a blessing, as he feels that was not the right job for him. At the time, his son David had recently graduated from UT Law and had joined his father’s practice. Kennedy continued his firm focus on serving Davidson County and particularly his Donelson-Hermitage community until the fall of 2003 when several judicial openings in sparked Kennedy’s interest in the judiciary again. Judge Frank Clement had been appointed to the appellate court, thereby opening the Seventh Circuit Court seat. Kennedy, along with seven others, applied for the opening. Kennedy remembers driving to court around Thanksgiving and receiving a call from Governor Bredesen saying, “Congratulations, your Honor.”
Kennedy took the oath of office on December 4, 2003, and has served in that role ever since. He survived a contested election in 2004 and then was re-elected in 2006 and 2014. Davidson County residents will have the opportunity to vote for him again in 2022 as he seeks another term.
Probate court is one of the busiest courts in Davidson, yet Judge Kennedy absolutely loves what he does every day from trials in the beginning of the week to dockets on Fridays and everything in between.
Kennedy and wife are in their 53rd year of marriage, have two adult children, David and Shelley, and three grandchildren. When not working, you may find Kennedy enjoying sports, particularly the Titans, or in the water. Kennedy believes you must have balance in life and has tried not to lose sight of that throughout his career. 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.
Tennessee was the fifteenth state to pass legislation addressing the issue. Several of the other states’ laws went into effect on July 1, 2021.10
The new law was added to Title 49, Chapter 7 of the Tennessee Code,11 which concerns Higher Education and it is evident the General Assembly has attempted to narrowly focus the potential impact on the athletes in the state’s four-year public and private colleges and universities.12
Some key provisions of the law permitting an “intercollegiate athlete”13 to earn compensation from the use of the athlete’s name, image, or likeness are: 1) the institution may not be involved in
“the development, operation, or promotion of a current or prospective athletes’
NIL”; 2) an athlete earning compensation for use of their NIL must disclose any agreement and the terms to the institution and file annual reports with the institution; 3) an institution cannot adopt any rules that prevents or “unduly restricts” an athlete from earning compensation for the use of the athlete’s NIL; 4) an institution may adopt reasonable time, place, and manner restrictions to prevent an athlete’s NIL from interfering with activities and use of facilities; 5) an institution may prohibit an athlete’s involvement in NIL activities that are reasonably considered to be in conflict with the values of the institution; 6) an athlete may obtain representation by a third party, including an athlete agent, for the purpose of securing compensation for the use of the athlete’s NIL,14 7) institutions must conduct a financial literacy workshop for athletes during the athlete’s first full-time term of enrollment.
What’s To Come?
As many expected, the NCAA Board of Directors waited until June 30, 2021, the day prior to the effective date of several state measures, to suspend the organization’s rules prohibiting athletes from selling the rights to their NIL. Unsurprisingly, the current NCAA rules that prevent schools from making direct compensation to athletes remain in place. Additionally, any payments made to athletes cannot be directly related to athletic achievements, which is geared towards reducing the potential for recruiting inducements, although it is expected that activity in the “transfer portal” will be in high gear next year. Some activities athletes can conduct include, monetizing social media, autographs, camps, and advertising campaigns.
Additionally, athletes will be allowed to sign with agents or other representatives to help them acquire endorsement deals. The NCAA instructed schools in states that have a NIL law to follow the state’s law in making determinations as to what their athletes can do going forward. Schools located in states without an NIL law are directed to create and publish their own policies to provide clarity to the gray area and come up with a plan to resolve any disputes that arise. It is assumed schools in states like Tennessee, which have passed laws but are not yet in effect will be allowed and expected to create their own policies that do not contradict the new NCAA guidelines nor their pending state law; admittedly not an easy task. The NCAA has stated the new guidelines are temporary to make sure all athletes have some opportunity to profit from NIL as state laws start to go into effect. The expectation of most in the industry is that Congress will step in to pass a uniform federal law that sets a national standard for schools and athletes going forward. While there are many details remaining to be worked out and there will certainly be stops and starts along the way, the financial future of college athletes appears to be trending in their favor, particularly in Tennessee. n
JEFFREY CARSON is Senior Vice President with Diversified Trust Co. in Nashville. Jeff serves firm-wide as Senior Fiduciary Officer, charged with leadership and ongoing oversight of the company’s Firm’s comprehensive trust and estate services.
MARK KILGORE focuses his practice on patent prosecution and intellectual property infringement litigation. He also counsels clients on IP procurement in both patents and trademarks.
Endnotes
1 See https://www.ncaa.org/about/resources/research/finances-intercollegiate-athletics. 2 The U.S. Supreme Court issued an opinion on June 21, 2021 in NCAA v. Alston, which unanimously ruled the NCAA cannot prohibit member schools from providing athletes with education-related benefits. Further, as discussed herein, on June 30, 2021, the Governing Board of the NCAA voted to lift restrictions on individual athlete’s use of name, image and likeness. 3Other states to pass legislation include Florida, Georgia, Alabama, Mississippi, South Carolina, and Kentucky. 4733 S.W.2d 89 (Tenn. Ct. App. 1987). 5733 S.W.2d at 96. 6Polygram Records, Inc. v. Legacy Entm’t Group, LLC, 205 S.W.3d 439, 445 (Tenn. Ct. App. 2006). 7TENN. CODE ANN. § 47-25-1103(a). 8Id. §47-25-1103(b). 9Returning to the landmark case State ex rel Elvis Presley, the Tennessee Court of Appeals stated the following: “These endorsements are of great economic value to celebrities and are now economic reality.” 733 S.W.2d at 94. The rise of college athletics as a major money-making business, and thereby the rise of the college athlete to celebrity status, has pushed the “economic reality” into the spotlight. The words written by the Tennessee Court of Appeals in 1987 have transcended time and markets and now poignantly identify the value a college athlete may possess in their name, image, and likeness. 10Alabama, Florida, Georgia, Mississippi, and South Carolina laws have an effective date of July 1, 2021. Texas’ bill will go into effect September 1, 2021, and Arkansas’ law is effective as of January 1, 2022, like Tennessee. 11TENN. CODE ANN. § 49-7-2801. 12An “institution” means a four-year public or private institution of higher education located in the state of Tennessee. Notably this does not include an institution of higher education governed by the board of regents of the state university and community college system. 13An “intercollegiate athlete” is defined in the statute as a student who is enrolled in an “institution” and participates in an “athletic program.” See TENN. CODE ANN. § 49-7-2801(4). 14The athlete cannot enter into an agreement for compensation if it conflicts or unreasonably competes with the terms of an existing agreement of the athlete’s institution and may not extend beyond the duration of the athlete’s participation in an athletic program at an institution.
2022 Board Nominees | Ballots Coming in November!
Be sure to vote in the upcoming 2021 NBA Board Election!
Renew your membership at NashvilleBar.org/Renew no later than October 31 for eligibility.
Erin Coleman graduated from Johns Hopkins with a degree in Civil Engineering in 2002 and was commissioned as an Engineer Officer in United States Army. She served on active Army service from 2002-2006, deploying to Iraq in 2005 and supporting FEMA in the reconstruction of electrical systems after the devastation of Hurricanes Katrina, Dennis, Rita and Wilma. She served in the Maryland National Guard from 2006-2008, ending her career as a Captain.
She attended University of Baltimore School of Law, graduating in 2009. She also completed a Master of Science in Project Management from Boston University in 2008.
Coleman began her legal career with the Corps of Engineers in the Baltimore District. She and her family moved to Nashville in 2011, where she worked for the Nashville District until 2013. In 2014, she began Yad Consulting LLC, a project management consulting firm in the construction space. In 2015, she ran for Metro Council at Large in Davidson County and then ran for State Senate in 2016. She was honored with the endorsement of President Obama in the 2016 race. Coleman started her solo practice in 2017 focusing primarily on criminal defense.
She has three children - Batya (12), Hirsch (10), and Yael (8). Erin serves on the boards of the Mary Parrish Center, AWAKE, Renewal House, Hadassah, National Council of Jewish Women, American Constitutional Society, Women for TN Future, Community Relations Council for the Jewish Federation of Middle TN and volunteers for Gordon JCC, Moms Demand Action, TN Achieves, and Planned Parenthood.
Anthony (Tony) McFarland is a member of Bass, Berry & Sims, and a summa cum laude graduate of both Vanderbilt Law School and the University of Dallas. A native Nashvillian, McFarland comes from a family steeped in local politics. His career has focused on commercial and business litigation, including privacy and data security incidents.
McFarland is a thirty year member of the NBA. He currently serves on the Federal Court Committee, and is a member of and past chair of the Chancery & Circuit Court Committee. McFarland is a Nashville Bar Foundation fellow, and a mentor in its Leadership Forum program. He is actively involved in the Legal Aid Society pro bono referral program, including his firm’s LAS pro bono adoption initiative.
McFarland serves as Finance Committee chairman at St. James the Less Episcopal church, and is a long-term member of the Diocese’s Constitution & Canons Committee. He and his wife have raised three sons, two of whom are now practicing members of the Nashville bar.
McFarland’s bar interests include expanding resources for new and small firm attorneys, and increasing involvement in programs providing legal services to those in need.
Elizabeth E. Foy is a native Nashvillian who attended the University School of Nashville. After studying economics at Kenyon College in Gambier, OH, and a brief stint in Washington, DC, she attended the University of Tennessee College of Law, from which she graduated in 2007. Foy immediately began working as an Assistant District Attorney for the 20th Judicial District, where she prosecuted in many different capacities in many different courtrooms in Davidson County. After ten years with the DA’s Office, Foy shifted to civil practice in-house with Liberty Mutual Insurance Company and the Law Office of Julie Bhattacharya Peak. Recently, she began working with the Tennessee Department of Health, where she is a legislative liaison. Foy is a fellow of the Nashville Bar Association, a graduate of the Nashville Bar Leadership Forum, a graduate of Tennessee Bar Association Leadership Law, and a former barrister with the Harry Phillips Inns of Court. Elizabeth is on the steering committee for the Nashville Bar Leader-
(continued on next page)
ship Forum. She is married to Michael Wilson and has two small children, Hailey and Beau.
Joshua Brand is a true solo practitioner. His practice involves representation of individuals and small business in criminal, domestic, and civil litigation matters. Born and raised in Michigan, he earned his undergraduate degree in cultural anthropology from the University of Michigan and his law degree from Michigan State University.
Having served as the chair of the Criminal Law and Justice Committee for the Nashville Bar Association, Brand is a Fellow of the Nashville Bar Foundation, and is currently participating in the pilot training program for the local federal Criminal Justice Act (CJA) Panel. He has written articles for the Nashville Bar Journal about indigent defense funding and the intersection of criminal and civil law.
Brand is passionate about the needs of solo practitioners, including the importance of mentorship. He believes technology and “small law” play a critical role in bridging the access to justice gap. He is a dedicated family man with a wife and two children (and one on the way) and most of the time would rather be playing the banjo.
Mandy Strickland Floyd is a passionate advocate with a wide range of experience in civil litigation, dispute resolution, and appellate practice. Floyd concentrates her practice in the areas of labor and employment law, constitutional and civil rights, education law, and general business litigation. In addition to her active litigation work, she advises clients concerning business and employment disputes. Following two years of service with the ACLU of Tennessee, she returned to Bone McAllester Norton. While working as an ACLU-TN Staff Attorney, Floyd focused on constitutional and civil rights issues through her federal trial and appellate work. Prior to joining the Firm in 2014, she served as a law clerk to the Honorable Richard H. Dinkins of the Tennessee Court of Appeals, where she first began to develop her appellate expertise.
Chad White is a senior partner with the law firm of Tune Entrekin & White, P.C., where he has practiced since 2003. White is a native of Nashville. He graduated from Miami University, Oxford, Ohio in 1998 and Vanderbilt University Law School in 2001. He is married to Misty White; their son, Colton, is a sophomore at MBA and their daughter, Maddie, is an 8th grader at Harding Academy.
White began his practice doing insurance defense work under Tracy Shaw at Howell & Fisher. For the first ten or so years at Tune Entrekin & White, P.C., White’s practice focused on construction and contract litigation. During his next ten years, White’s practice transitioned to more transactional work assisting large publicly traded companies and small local builders acquire and develop properties in Nashville and surrounding areas.
White was inducted as a Fellow of the Nashville Bar Foundation in 2018, and he was a Barrister of the Harry Phillips American Inns of Court from 2011 through 2015. White enjoys cooking and entertaining, wood working and “projects,” and activities on the family farm.
Yanika “Nikki” Smith-Bartley is originally from Cleveland, Ohio. She is married to Brian Bartley and they have two sons, Grayson (10) and Harper (7). She received her Bachelor’s degree in Psychology from Fisk University and her Juris Doctorate from Vanderbilt University Law School. She currently holds the position of Vice-President, Chief Diversity Equity and Inclusion (DEI) Officer and Counsel at Asurion where she leads the DEI and HR Compliance functions. Under her leadership, Asurion has been recognized both nationally and locally for its diversity and inclusion program.
Before joining Asurion, Smith-Bartley practiced employment law at Baker Donelson, where she also served as a diversity inclusion trainer, Vice-Chair of the Diversity Committee and as a member of the Recruiting Committee. Smith-Bartley is a Past President of the Marion Griffin Chapter of the Lawyers’ Association for Women, served as secretary for the Nashville and Napier Looby Bar Associations, is an alumnus of Tennessee Bar Association Leadership Law, Young Leaders Council, and Harry Phillips American Inn of Court, and a past board member of Bethlehem Centers of Nashville and Nashville Electric Service, where she served as Vice-Chairman of the Board.
Currently, Smith-Bartley serves on the boards of CABLE (Legal Advisor), Nashville Public Television and Tennessee Alliance for Legal Services (Chair of Racial Equity and Justice Committee). She is also an active member of the Williamson County Area County Chapter of Jack and Jill of America, Inc., and Kap pa Lambda Omega Chapter of Alpha Kappa Alpha Sorority, Inc. where she previously served as parliamentarian and held the regional position of Tennessee Connections Chair.
She has received the following Nashville Business Journal awards: “Women of Influence – Trailblazer” (2019), “Best of The Bar” (2017) and “Top Forty under 40” (2013), was a 2018 Nashville CABLE ATHENA nominee, and is currently a Nashville Bar Foundation Fellow.
Chris Sabis heads Sherrard Roe Voigt & Harbison’s Government Compliance & Investigations Group and is a member of its Litigation Group. Before joining SRVH, he served as an Assistant United States Attorney in Nashville. Sabis earned his J.D. at Georgetown University, and a B.A. in History and Political Science magna cum laude from the University of Rochester.
Sabis is primarily interested in expanding Bar membership to a broader constituency of attorneys, preserving the history and stories of the Bar, and advocating for the interests of the Bar’s membership in Nashville and throughout Tennessee. He is a Premier Member of the NBA, a Nashville Bar Foundation Fellow, Chair of the NBA Historical Committee, and an active member of the NBA Diversity Committee. He also serves as a Hearing Examiner for the Tennessee Board of Professional Responsibility. He is the Program Committee Chair of the Harry Phillips American Inn of Court and has served as Chair of the TBA Federal Practice Section.
Sabis is the past chair of Stars Nashville, board secretary of Autism Tennessee, and a member of the Rotary Club of Nashville and the Economic Club of Nashville. He enjoys hockey, theater, and spending time with his wife and two young boys.
Justin Campbell is a partner in the Bankruptcy and Creditors’ Rights group at Thompson Burton, PLLC, where he has practiced for the last seven years. Justin’s primary practice includes assisting debtors, creditors, and trustees in various forms of bankruptcy court litigation and other related matters.
Prior to joining Thompson Burton, Campbell was an associate attorney with Garfinkle, McLemore, & Young, PLLC. He received Bachelor of Arts degrees in Political Science and History from the University of Tennessee, Knoxville and his J.D. from the University of Mississippi, where he was founder and editor-in-chief of the Mississippi Sports Law Review.
Campbell currently serves as the Treasurer for the NBA Board of Directors and co-chair of the NBA’s Bankruptcy Court Subcommittee and is a 2017 graduate of the Nashville Bar Foundation Leadership Forum. He is particularly interested in the NBA’s community outreach and pro bono work, having assisted with outreach efforts after the 2020 tornado and during the pandemic. Campbell is also a member of the Music City Classic Board of Directors and Martha O’Bryan’s NextUp Board. Joseph Hubbard is a partner at Kay Griffin. Hubbard graduated with honors from the University of Tennessee College of Law, where he served as Editor in Chief of the Tennessee Law Review. He received his B.A. magna cum laude from the University of Tennessee and was a recipient of the Torchbearer award—the highest student honor conferred by the university.
Hubbard is a trial lawyer, and he represents individuals and corporate clients in state and federal courts, as well as in arbitration and before administrative agencies. His practice focuses on commercial disputes, education and civil rights, employment, and transportation. Hubbard also has an active appellate practice. Before entering private practice, he worked as a judicial clerk for the Honorable Richard H. Dinkins on the Tennessee Court of Appeals.
Hubbard is a Fellow of the Nashville Bar Foundation, and he currently serves as president of the NBA’s Young Lawyers Division. Joseph graduated from the Nashville Bar Foundation’s Leadership Forum, and he serves on its steering committee and as co-chair of its mentorship program. He actively participates in many other NBA events and initiatives.
Hubbard has volunteered for and served on boards for several local organizations, including the Belmont University College of Law American Inn of Court and the Phoenix Club of Nashville. Joseph is a cancer survivor, and he has volunteered over 130 hours of service at Monroe Carell Jr. Children’s Hospital at Vanderbilt. He lives in Nashville with his wife and two daughters.
Marie Scott practices with Neal & Harwell and focuses on crisis management, white collar criminal defense, toxic tort defense, and complex civil litigation. She is a proud “Wahoo” from the University of Virginia, graduated from Saint Louis University School of Law, and attended Boston University School of Law as a visiting student. Scott is a long-time member of the Nashville Bar Association. She was in the 2019 Class of the Nashville Bar Foundation Leadership Forum and currently serves on the NBFLF Steering Committee. She has served as co-chair of the NBA Nashville Student Suffrage Project Committee, which launched a program to promote voter registration within local high schools prior to the State and Federal General 2020 Election, and she serves on Neal & Harwell’s Social Justice Task Force and Recruiting Committee.
(continued on next page)
P. Danielle Nellis is an attorney by training, teacher by calling, and blessed to combine a myriad set of skills to train, consult, encourage, and motivate others. Nellis began her legal practice as a solo practitioner where she focused on criminal defense. Following her solo practice, Nellis joined the Office of the District Attorney General.
In 2019, Nellis began working as the Judicial Law Clerk for the Honorable Angelita Blackshear Dalton in the Davidson County Criminal Court. Nellis recently joined the team at Klein Solomon Mills, PLLC as Counsel. There she represents businesses and individuals in civil litigation matters. Danielle is also the Adjunct Professor for Mock Trial at Vanderbilt University Law School.
Nellis graduated from Spelman College in 2005 and Boston University School of Law in 2009. She is active with the Nashville Bar Association as a member of the Diversity, Memorial and Criminal Law Committees and has produced/ taught several CLE’s. She also chaired the 2020 Diversity Summit Committee and served on the 2018 and 2022 Summit Committees. Danielle received the NBA President’s Award in 2017 and 2020.
Nellis believes the most pressing issues facing the Bar (lawyers generally) is a return to the ethical obligation and high calling to forward justice as an idea and in practice.
Christen Blackburn is shareholder of Lewis Thomason, where her practice focuses on defending companies in complex and catastrophic transportation and products liability claims. In 2021, she was named as 40 Under 40 by the Nashville Business Journal and “Lawyer of the Year” for Litigation-Insurance by Best Lawyers. She is a Past President of Lawyer’s Association for Women.
Blackburn is an active member of the NBA. Since 2018, she has served as a Chair of the NBA’s Community Relations Committee, planning community service opportunities for NBA members at Habitat for Humanity, Second Harvest, and Metro Nashville Public Schools. Blackburn also hosts networking lunches for NBA members at restaurants that re-invest in the community and has worked with NBA’s High School intern program.
Blackburn has contributed to a number of NBA programs concerning women in the law, including 100 Years of Woman Suffrage, celebrating the 100th Anniversary of the 19th Amendment, and the celebration of the life of Justice Ruth Bader Ginsberg.
She would be honored to continue to serve the NBA on the Board of Directors where she would focus on increased opportunities for networking through service and through collaborative partnerships with all of Nashville’s bar associations.
Mark Your Calendar
Oct 14 | Cocktails for Costumes @ Bastion
Oct 30 | NBA + NBF Golf Tournament @ Hermitage Golf Course
Oct 30 | NBA Grand Slam Tennis Tournament @ Seven Hills Swim & Tennis Club
Nov 5 | Nashville Bar Foundation Fellows Dinner @ Loews Vanderbilt Hotel
Nov 18 | Fall Memorial Service @ Downtown Presbyterian Church
Dec 6 | 2021 Arts Immersion @ Mercy Lounge
Dec 9 | Annual Meeting and Banquet @ Music City Center
