Legal Update: Mystery, Memory, and Murder: Hypnosis Takes the Stand . . . Page 11 Management Counsel: Analyzing Tennessee’s New Non-Compete Legislation and Its Effect on Employers . . . Page 21
A Publication of the Knoxville Bar Association | July/August 2026
DISENTANGLING RACE FROM POLITICS, OR POURING OLD POISON INTO NEW BOTTLES?
K NOX V I L L E BA R A S S OC I A T I O N C ONT I NU I NG L E GA L E D UC A T I O N
K N OX V I LLE B A R A S S O C I A T I O N C O N T I N UI N G L E G A L E D U C A T I O N
Upcoming CLE Guide
END-OF-THE-YEAR DON’T MISS THESE CLE KBA CLE PROGRAMS IN JULY & AUGUST! Legislative Update 2026 Wednesday, July 15, 12-1 p.m. | Zoom Webinar
Stephanie D. Coleman & J. Douglas Overbey, both with Owings, Wilson & Coleman 1 hour of General CLE / Sponsor WealthCounsel Family Law Mediation: Rule 31 Overview and Ethics Opinions Wednesday, July 22, 12-1 p.m. | Zoom Webinar | ADR Section Laura Metcalf, The Law Office of Laura Metcalf, Rule 31 Mediator 1 hour of Dual CLE & 1 hour of Ethics CME The Intersection of Business and Estate Planning: What the Roy Family Teaches Us about Succession Planning Thursday, July 23, 12-1 p.m. | East TN History Center | Trust & Estates Section Joan Heminway & Amy Hess, both with U.T. Winston College of Law LEARN 1 hr. of General CLE / Sponsor TCV Trust & Wealth Management / LUNCH & LEARN The Unwritten Rules of Fourth Circuit Court Tuesday, July 28, 12-1 p.m. | Fourth Circuit Courtroom | Barristers Hon. Gregory S. McMillan, Circuit Court, Division IV 1 hour of General CLE Research Reset: A Practical Refresher on Legal Research and Investigation Thursday, August 5, 12-1 p.m. | City County Building, Small Assembly Room All are welcome. This program is free for KBA Legal Associate Members. Holly D. Zitka, J.D., Pellissippi State Community College, Paralegal Studies 1 hour of General CLE /
LUNCH & LEARN
What’s in the Box? Unlocking Event Data Recorder Evidence in Vehicle Crash Investigations Thursday, August 20, 12:30-1:30 p.m. | City County Building, Small Assembly RM Mitch Eisenberg, Assistant District Attorney General, 6th Judicial District, John Capps, TN Highway Patrol, Critical Incident Response Team 1, Dallas T. Reynolds III, Reynolds, Adkins, Brezina & Stewart, PLLC 1 hour of General CLE / Sponsor Scipio Technologies /
LUNCH & LEARN
Missed the Law Practice Today Expo? Catch up On Demand!
The Expo offered some great programs to help you stay up to date on the latest in legal practice, tech, and more. Missed them live? No worries—they’re all available now in the KBA’s On-Demand Catalog. KBA members can watch 30+ CLE programs in the On Demand Catalog 24/7 at your convenience! Visit knoxbar.org/ondemand
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DICTA
Questions? Contact Us
(865) 522-6522 cle@knoxbar.org
July/August 2026
In This Issue
Officers of the Knoxville Bar Association
July/August 2026
COVER STORY 16
Disentangling Race From Politics, or Pouring Old Poison Into New Bottles?
CRITICAL FOCUS President Rachel Park Hurt
President-Elect Ursula Bailey
Treasurer Catherine E. Shuck
Secretary M. Samantha Parris
Immediate Past President Jonathan D. Cooper
KBA Board of Governors Courteney M. Barnes-Anderson R. Kim Burnette Melissa B. Carrasco Meagan Collver
Joshua D. Hedrick Allison Jackson Matthew R. Lyon James R. Stovall
C. Scott Taylor Alicia J. Teubert Shannon van Tol Isaac W. Westling
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The Knoxville Bar Association Staff 21
President’s Message
I Am Talking to the (Wo)man in the Mirror
Appealing
Where Do I Begin?
Legal Update
Mystery, Memory, and Murder: Hypnosis Takes the Stand
Schooled in Ethics
Permissible Provisions in an Engagement Agreement that May Trigger a Request to Withdraw Under TRPC 1.16(b)(5)
Management Counsel
Analyzing Tennessee’s New Non-Compete Legislation and Its Effect on Employers
WISDOM 6 Tasha C. Blakney Executive Director
Tammy Sharpe Director of CLE & Section Programming
Bridgette Fly Membership Coordinator
Alyx White Programs & Communications Coordinator
Knoxville Bar Association 505 Main Street Suite 50 Knoxville, TN 37902 865-522-6522 www.knoxbar.org Tracy Chain LRIS Director
Volume 54, Issue 6
Dicta
All articles submitted for publication in DICTA must be submitted in writing and in electronic format (via e-mail attachment). Exceptions to this policy must be cleared by KBA Executive Director Tasha Blakney (522-6522).
July/August 2026
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Jason Galvas LRIS Assistant
DICTA is a bi-monthly publication by the Knoxville Bar Association. It is designed to offer information of value to members of the local bar association. The news and features should illustrate the issues affecting the bar and its members. The opinions expressed do not necessarily represent those of the Knoxville Bar Association.
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Dicta is the official publication of the Knoxville Bar Association
Publications Committee Executive Editor Executive Editor Executive Editor Executive Editor Sherri Alley Parker Bohne Elizabeth B. Ford Joseph G. Jarret F. Regina Koho Matthew R. Lyon Robin McMillan
Managing Editor
Sarah M. Booher Wade H. Boswell, II Melissa B. Carrasco Summer McMillan Angelia Morie Nystrom Katheryn Murray Ogle Bridget Pyman Cathy Shuck Jimmy Snodgrass Eddy Smith Grant Williamson
Tasha C. Blakney KBA Executive Director
DICTA
20 22 26 27 29 30 31
Around the Bar
Buddy Match Program and More!
Legal Mythbreakers
I Miss My MTV
Attorney Profile
A Conversation with Dean Paula Schaefer
Of Local Lore and Lawyers
Have a Heart! The Curious Case of Chopin’s Heart and a Sister’s Love
Three Stars
Second Chances
Hello My Name Is
Hudson Chastain
Legally Weird
Who Did Your Company Vote For?
KBA Volunteerism
The Volunteer Spirit: Highlighting Attorney Dedication to Philanthropy
Building the Record
The Adventures of a Yankee Doodle Dandy
Privileged to Be in the Law
Helping Others While Helping Oneself
How to Thrive
When Confidence Becomes a Liability
Barrister Bites
Ladies Who Lunch….And Like Good Food
Well Read
The Land of Sweet Forever: Stories and Essays by Harper Lee
Outside My Office Window
Respite for a Transitioning Sojourner
COMMON GROUND 23 28
Pro Bono Spotlight Address Changes/New Members
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REGISTER҂HERE
www.cle-abroad.com/trip/knoxville SpaceɁisɁlimited.ɁRegisterɁearlyɁtoɁsave.Ɂ©2026ɁCLEɁAbroad 4
DICTA
July/August 2026
PRESIDENT’S MESSAGE By: Rachel Park Hurt Arnett Baker Draper & Hagood, LLP
I AM TALKING TO THE (WO)MAN IN THE MIRROR Back in January, I saw MJ: The Musical at the Tennessee Theatre. I love the theater. It is absolutely escapism for me. I cannot sing or dance or act, but I love to watch others perfectly executing their craft and skill. And the gentleman portraying MJ was exactly that. It was a remarkable show—the actors and actresses incredibly talented. One of my all-time favorite songs played a part in the show, specifically “Man in the Mirror.” The song resonates with me every time I listen to it. The lyrics, in pertinent part:
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I’m gonna make a change For once in my life It’s gonna feel real good Gonna make a difference, gonna make it right As I turn up the collar on my favorite winter coat This wind is blowin’ my mind I see the kids in the street with not enough to eat Who am I to be blind, pretending not to see their needs? … I’m starting with the man in the mirror I’m asking him to change his ways And no message could have been any clearer If you wanna make the world a better place Take a look at yourself and then make a change ... I’ve been a victim of a selfish kinda love It’s time that I realize There are some with no home, not a nickel to loan Could it be really me pretending that they’re not alone? … You gotta get it right while you got the time ‘Cause when you close your heart (you can’t) Then you close your mind With the man in the mirror, oh, yeah … You got to stand up (yeah), stand up (make that change), stand up Stand up and lift yourself now (man in the mirror)
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This song says it all. Great lyrics! You can sing it in the shower! And, as best as I can tell, the message is timeless. Over the years, I have spoken to young lawyers and law students several times. Almost always, I mention my strong belief that being a lawyer is the greatest profession in the world. Lawyers and the law touch on all lives. Lawyers have the ability to make the world better. Lawyers have the ability to help people on their worst days, to ensure brighter days, to bring resolution, to bring joy and relief. Truly, lawyers can do it all (or at least that is what I have always told myself ). Of course, being able to do good and actually doing good are two very different things. In a time where politics are divisive, tempers are high, and compromise and commonality seem nearly impossible, doing good is always universally a great idea. KBA members do a lot of good in this community and have been doing so for nearly 50 years. The KBA might be tiny, but we are mighty. Some of the great things we have done or will do this year: • The Barristers and Access to Justice Committee, in coordination July/August 2026
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with many KBA community partners, have held three legal clinics for veterans (and we have three more scheduled for August 12, October 14, and December 9). Join us in helping those who have served our country in ways we can never repay. The KBA Bankruptcy section has held three debt relief clinics (and we have three more scheduled for June 27, September 12, and November 14). Thank you Judge Bauknight, Legal Aid of East Tennessee, and all the volunteers for your time, efforts, and direct positive impact on the community. Each month (the 4th Thursday at 6:15 a.m.), the Barristers’ Volunteer Breakfast Committee serves breakfast to Knoxville’s unhoused community through a collaboration with the Volunteer Ministry Center. The Committee is always looking for sponsors and volunteers. Additionally, the Committee collaborates with CareCuts to provide haircuts and essential supplies to individuals experiencing homelessness. Donate your time or your treasures to this purposeful endeavor. The Hunger and Poverty Relief Committee coordinates projects including Brews for Backpacks to collect school supplies for Childhelp Foster Family Agency of East Tennessee (to be held in August), the Fall Coat Drive collects coats for KARM (to be held in October), and the Professional Clothing Drive (held in April) collects items of clothing that are donated to community partners. The Committee also partners with Second Harvest Food Bank for an annual Canned Food Drive, distributes Christmas gift baskets during the holidays to Knox County’s elderly community as part of the Mobile Meals program, and conducts a charity drive every December. Through the generosity of our members, each year we collect tens of thousands of dollars (in goods and donations) that directly impact some of the most vulnerable in our community. The Barristers’ School Outreach Committee sends lawyers to Christenberry Elementary, Dogwood Elementary, South Knoxville Elementary, Pond Gap Elementary, and Maynard Elementary on Constitution Day each year. These attorneys engage 3rd graders in learning about the important roles that attorneys and the law have in everyday life.
The KBA touches on all aspects of our community, and our lawyers have an immeasurable impact on Knox County. I could go on and on with these and the many other activities of our 37 KBA and Barristers Committees and Sections. To the attorneys who organize these activities, the attorneys who support them with their time, talents, and treasures, and the judges who elevate these community outreach activities, I give my personal thanks. Thank you for your commitment to the community! I am humbled by the many acts of kindness, service, and caring that occur each day by the lawyers of the KBA. When I think about the good being done by this organization and its lawyers, I am inspired to do more. And, so, I turn up the volume and sing:
DICTA
I’m starting with the (wo)man in the mirror I’m asking (her) to change (her) ways And no message could have been any clearer If you wanna make the world a better place Take a look at yourself and then make a change!
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AROUND THE BAR By: Isaac Westling Spicer Rudstrom, PLLC
Karli Ball
Brock Shipe Klenk, PLC
BUDDY MATCH PROGRAM AND MORE! networking, and team-building as attorneys and law students get to know one another while competing for prizes and the distinction of winning the event.
The Buddy Match Program is back, bringing together law students and practicing attorneys for mentorship, networking, and professional development. Through the program, LMU and UT law students will be paired with local attorneys to gain insight into the legal profession, learn about their desired practice areas, and build valuable connections within the legal community. Attorneys have the opportunity to share their experiences, support the next generation of legal professionals, and expand their own professional networks. Whether you are a law student looking for guidance and career insight or an attorney interested in mentoring and connecting with future colleagues, the Buddy Match Program offers a rewarding way to engage with the legal community. Save the Dates! Participants will have the opportunity to connect at two exciting events this fall. While we are finalizing venue details, please mark your calendars: •
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Barristers’ Diversity Committee Trivia Night – September 17, 2026 Join fellow participants for an evening of friendly competition,
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Barristers’ CLE series, Unwritten Rules: Asked and Answered – November 5, 2026 Participants are invited to attend a CLE program focused on the informal aspects of legal practice—those “unwritten rules” that are critical to professional success but are rarely addressed in traditional legal education. Past sessions have covered a wide range of topics, from general guidance on navigating early legal careers to more specialized programming such as General Sessions Court Practice: Unwritten Rules and Clerk’s Office Ins & Outs.
For more information, please go to the Knoxville Bar Association website or contact the Barristers’ Law School Mentor Committee CoChairs Isaac Westing at iwestling@spicerfirm.com and Karli Ball at kball@bskplc.com to be part of this exciting program!
DICTA
July/August 2026
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DICTA
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APPEALING By: Robin McMillan
Career Clerk to the Honorable Cynthia R. Wyrick, United States Magistrate Judge
WHERE DO I BEGIN? Where do you begin when deciding issues to raise in an appeal to the Tennessee Court of Appeals? Do you simply select the things your client is most upset about? Or choose issues based upon what was lost in the final judgment alone? If so, you may be missing out on raising issues that could potentially succeed. Allow me to suggest a framework for approaching a civil appeal that will allow you to check off appellate tasks while you contemplate possible issues to raise. Begin at the end, i.e., entry of final judgment. The trial court has entered a final judgment, and your client is unhappy. Follow the steps below. 1. Counsel your client about the possibility of an appeal. I do not mean saying to your client, “Don’t worry. We can appeal.” I mean, counsel them. Some judgments are best not appealed. For instance, imagine that you represent a divorcing parent who is upset because the trial court named the other spouse as the primary residential parent. In this hypothetical case, the trial court granted the parties nearly equal parenting time and decision-making, and the minor children are 17-year-old twins. Your client is angry and determined to appeal – to win at all costs. While your client certainly may appeal, it may not be in their best interest to do so. Reality in this case is that the children likely will age out before an appellate decision can be rendered, and even if that were not so, a win on appeal would have little effect. Counsel your client on what is possible and what is likely. 2. Once you have explained to your client the potential risks vs. rewards and confirmed an informed intent to appeal, ensure that you timely file a notice of appeal. As I discussed in the May 2025 issue in There Must Be 50 Ways to Waive Your Issues, failing to timely file a notice of appeal is a mistake made not only by pro se parties but also sometimes by attorneys. 3. Once the notice of appeal has been filed, read the Tennessee Rules of Appellate Procedure and the Rules of the Court of Appeals. I hear you. And yes, this step is very important. Do not skip it. Unless you read these rules within the last two weeks, take the time to read them now. You can skim past ones that clearly will not apply to your client’s appeal. For instance, if the case does not involve the termination of parental rights, you can skip reading Tenn. R. App. P. 8A. If your case does not involve an administrative proceeding, skip Tenn. R. App. P. 12. And so on and so forth. Just be certain to read all of the rules that will, or may, apply to your client’s appeal. Why is this step so important? Re-reading these rules as you embark on an appeal will ensure that the important steps and timelines are topof-mind. Furthermore, if changes have been made to any of the rules
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since your last read-through, you will uncover them before you have a chance to inadvertently violate a rule. If you read these rules each time you file an appeal, you are far less likely to miss a crucial step or time limit. Remember, procedures in the appellate court are different than they were in the trial court. Re-familiarizing yourself with the rules, and then following them, will save the appellate court from having to issue show cause orders, will save your client from having to pay for show cause orders, and will allow the appeal to proceed more efficiently and swiftly through the appellate process. 4. Now that you have refreshed your memory of the applicable rules, you are going to read through the record – the entire trial court record. You may be surprised at what you have forgotten or misremembered from earlier in the litigation. This will not be a passive read-through. As you read through the record, you will complete two tasks. First, tab each document that you think should appear in the appellate record. Remember, not every document filed in the trial court belongs in the appellate record. I discussed this subject in the February 2025 issue in To Designate or Not To Designate?, wherein I pointed out that filing a designation of the record is not a requirement. If you tab the documents as you engage in your read-through, and then consult Tenn. R. App. P. 24, the decision about whether to file a designation will make itself. Then, if you do wish to file a designation of the record, you can hand the record off to an assistant or your teenage son to type up the list of documents while you move on to other matters.1 Tabbing the important documents is not a wasted exercise even when a designation is not desired. Having the documents tabbed can be very helpful when you write your brief. The second thing you will do as you read through the record is make a list of all of the decisions, large and small, that the trial court made adverse to your client. You will not be raising issues as to all of them, but listing them all out in one place may help you to spot a pattern you might not otherwise have noticed, which may provide fodder for an appellate issue or argument. You may also want to make a list of the decisions the trial court made in your client’s favor. Having these details at your fingertips may come in handy when you are drafting the briefs. Or, at some point, you may need to remind your client that not every decision was adverse to them. Now that you have completed these important preparatory steps, you can more productively brainstorm possible issues to raise on appeal.
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If you do have your teenager type up the list, be sure to compensate them!
July/August 2026
LEGAL MYTHBREAKERS By: Brad Fraser
Leitner, Williams, Dooley & Napolitan
Stefanie Bowen
Leitner, Williams, Dooley & Napolitan
I MISS MY MTV Video killed the radio star In my mind and in my car We can’t rewind, we’ve gone too far Pictures came and broke your heart Put the blame on VCR1 By now you’ve probably heard that MTV shut down. That is not entirely true, but it closed its remaining 24-hour dedicated music video channels (MTV Music, MTV 80s, MTV 90s).2 MTV continues to broadcast, though if you’ve taken any time to glance at the channel you will note, like most everyone else, “MTV doesn’t play music anymore.” But for a period, MTV did play music. When MTV debuted on August 1, 1981, its entire library consisted of just 116 unique music videos.3 Record labels were reluctant to produce material for a new platform—the “music video.” But music videos became a major cultural phenomenon and for a while, for most of us, it was hard to imagine a world where the music video was not a staple. The first video played on MTV was The Buggles’ “Video Killed the Radio Star.”4 The song is a pop-synth exploration of technological evolution and its ability to render old mediums obsolete. In a catchy melody, the message was clear: Adapt or get left behind. Decades later, and even in the legal profession, we experience the same friction between old-school reliability and new age efficiency. This is, however, not another exploration of Artificial Intelligence and risks and benefits of the same. Instead, it turns out, e-mail killed the radio star. The digital age forced a rewrite of the Tennessee Rules of Civil Procedure to guide how we serve legal documents. The law did not adapt overnight. In 2003, the Tennessee Supreme Court created Rule 5A of the Tennessee Rules of Civil Procedure, which allowed for the filing of certain documents via fax.5 The court also amended Rule 5 to allow a party to serve any document by fax if it was filed by fax.6 Fax, like the clunky VCR that “came and broke your heart,” was limited in abilities even in the early 2000s. Strict limits, including a 10 page ceiling on transmissions, accompanied the original Rule 5A. In 2009, the Court again amended Rule 5. For the first time, the Rules acknowledged email.7 The rule required that the document be in PDF format, with language in the subject line designed to alert the sender that it was being served by email. Yet, the old-school legal establishment still put the blame on electronic delivery, viewing cyberspace with immense skepticism. To insulate practitioners from the fear of lost data, the 2009 iteration saddled email service with an incredibly burdensome requirement: on the exact same day the email was sent, the sender had to physically mail, fax, or hand-deliver a paper certificate informing the recipient they had just been served electronically. Rule 5.02, as implemented in 2009, also precluded electronic service upon pro se parties. In short, this iteration was hardly a convenient alternative; it was an analog tether holding back a digital medium. Perhaps the biggest leap forward in service by email became effective in July 2023.8 The Rules finally accepted that we can’t rewind—we’ve gone too far. Rule 5.02 now permits all parties to serve, and be served, July/August 2026
documents via email. Some strictures are still required—and appreciated by almost everyone. The document must be in PDF format. This revision permanently deleted the archaic requirement of a physical follow-up certificate, finally permitting all parties to serve and be served documents smoothly via email. The rule change finally gave electronic service the same legal weight as posted mail, officially leaving the old paper “radio stars” behind in the static. Service by email, at least under the Rules, now has the same legal effect as service by “snail” mail. This leaves some interesting play between email and additional time after service by mail as required by Tennessee Rule of Civil Procedure 6.05. Tennessee Rule of Civil Procedure 6.05 says that, “Whenever a party has the right or is required to do some act or take some proceedings within a prescribed period after the service of a notice or other paper upon such party and the notice or paper is served upon such party by mail three (3) days shall be added to the prescribed period.” This effectively means that a notice of hearing requires not 5 but 8 days.9 The advisory comments state that this is included to “guard against injustice caused by loss of time required for notice to be delivered through the mails.”10 Rule 5.02(2)(c) states that a document transmitted by email shall be treated as a document that was mailed for purposes of computation of time under Rule 6. This seems to imply that another 3 days should be added to the computation of time under Rule 6, even when the email is delivered instantaneously and there is no “injustice caused by loss of time.” The same cannot be said for fax filing or hand delivery—both of which are less instantaneous than email. Additionally, it seems odd that an attorney who serves via US mail and spends money on paper, ink, and postage must allow more days than one who serves via fax, ostensibly using the recipient’s ink and paper (for those who still get paper faxes). This intersection of Rule 5.02(2)(a) and Rule 6.05 is a reminder that while technology moves fast, the legal profession may take time to catch up. The legal profession may officially concede that documents are “rewritten by machine on new technology,” and email may have successfully killed the old-school paper copy, but there is still room for the classics. 1
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The Buggles, Video Killed the Radio Star YouTube (October 8, 2010) https://youtu.be/ W8r-tXRLazs?si=RQVfDu39_x2iD4GV. Charlotte Walsh, Is MTV Shutting Down? Everything to Know About the Channels Going Off the Air, People.com (December 31, 2025), https://people.com/is-mtvshutting-down-11878155. Alex Wexelman, The 40 Best Videos From MTV’s First Day, StereoGum (July 29, 2021), https://stereogum.com/2155619/mtv-first-music-videos-best-anniversary/ lists. Id. In re: Amendments to Tennessee Rules of Civil Procedure. Dec. 10, 2003 (https:// www.tncourts.gov/sites/default/files/sc_rule_of_civ_proc_ord.pdf). Id. In re: Amendments to Tennessee Rules of Civil Procedure. July 1, 2010. www. tncourts.gov/sites/default/files/order-trcivpamendments.pdf. Tenn. R. Civ. P. 5.02(2)(a)-(c). Tenn. R. Civ. P. 6.04(1). A notice requires 5 days, unless otherwise noted in the Rules or by local rules of a court. Your mileage may vary! N.B., Tenn. R. Civ. P. 6.01 states in part, “When the period of time prescribed or allowed is less than eleven (11) days, intermediate Saturdays, Sundays, and legal holidays shall be excluded in the computation.” Tenn. R. Civ. P. 6.05 Advisory Commission Comment.
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ATTORNEY PROFILE By: Elizabeth Towe
University of Tennessee Winston College of Law
A CONVERSATION WITH DEAN PAULA SCHAEFER When the University of Tennessee Winston College of Law announced that Professor Paula Schaefer will serve as Interim Dean, few people were surprised. Dean Schaefer has spent nearly two decades shaping the law school in her many roles as a professor, mentor, associate dean, and champion of professionalism in the legal profession. For Knoxville lawyers, she’s also a familiar face through her long involvement with the Knoxville Bar Association, the Tennessee Bar Association, the KBA Ethics Bowl, and her popular Schooled in Ethics columns in DICTA. I recently sat down with Dean Schaefer to talk about the path that brought her here, the mentors who shaped her career, and the lessons she hopes to carry with her into her new role. ET: Your scholarship and teaching focus on professional responsibility, leadership, and professionalism in the legal profession, subjects that feel especially fitting for someone now stepping into one of the institution’s most important leadership roles. When you look back at your career at Winston Law, did you envision that path leading here? PS: I did not have a traditional path to becoming a law professor. I went to law school to practice law—something that I truly enjoyed. When I decided to pursue teaching, I was incredibly fortunate to become a law professor here. I think about that every single time I walk through the law school’s doors. My scholarship reflects things that were important to me as a lawyer and that I hope will make a difference in the law and lawyers’ lives. So, the short answer is I did not envision my path leading here, but that’s the great thing about being a lawyer. This career can take you places you never expected to go.
observed in Ann Covington for all these years. ET: So many have found such a mentor in you (me included). Often that mentorship begins in the classroom. You teach subjects that many law students initially find intimidating, like Civil Procedure and Professional Responsibility, but former students talk about your classes with real affection. Why do you think students connect so strongly with your classes? PS: In the summer after my 1L year, I remember the moment when civil procedure clicked for me. I was working as a summer associate and used my civil procedure knowledge—and ability to read the rules—to solve a problem in a case. Even though I had done well in Civil Procedure, I did not truly understand and appreciate it until I had that real world context. As a result, I have always focused on bringing the context of practice into the classroom. I want students to appreciate that lawyers do not just read rules and cases for fun or with the goal of memorization; lawyers study the law to help clients solve problems. I also want students to appreciate that clients are the center of everything we do as lawyers, so talking about clients throughout all of my classes has always been important to me. I think that resonates with law students and it’s something Winston Law does very well—whether in doctrinal classes, simulation-based classes, externships, or in the oldest, continuously operating legal clinic in the country. We are a school that is committed to preparing students for practice.
ET: Speaking of your career path, you clerked for Justice Ann Covington, the first woman on the Missouri Supreme Court. How much did those early experiences shape the kind of lawyer, mentor, and leader you became?
ET: In addition to being well-prepared for the substantive side of legal practice, I think many alumni and members of the bar would say your influence on professionalism and legal ethics has shaped the way they practice law. (Especially those for whom the KBA Ethics Bowl is a can’tmiss event and your Schooled in Ethics columns in DICTA were mustreads!) How did you develop these areas of interest?
PS: When I was in high school, John Ashcroft appointed Ann Covington to the Missouri Supreme Court. With plans to go to law school, I remember feeling excited and proud that a woman was joining the state’s highest court. She has been my most important role model and mentor for almost forty years. Ann Covington embodies the best of the legal profession. She is conscientious, hard-working, generous, and always a professional. She holds herself to a standard of excellence in everything she does. I have often said that everyone needs a mentor like Ann Covington. She has been my cheerleader, but also someone who understands my weaknesses. As a result, she is the person I go to when I need honest advice on tough issues. I should hope to be half the lawyer, mentor, leader—as well as mom, colleague, and friend—that I have
PS: As a young lawyer, I worked on a case involving a lawyer who had entered a business transaction with a client. The client later felt taken advantage of by the lawyer and sued to set aside the transaction. That case marked the beginning of my interest in the intersection of fiduciary duty and professional conduct obligations. Anyone who has taken my professional responsibility class knows that a theme that runs throughout the semester is the importance of fulfilling duties of care and loyalty to clients. While that may sound a little academic, it’s actually very practical advice about how lawyers should conduct themselves in service of their clients. I am passionate about helping lawyers and law students understand how to conduct themselves as representatives of clients while also fulfilling professional conduct rules and playing a special role in their
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continued on page 15 July/August 2026
LEGAL UPDATE By: Sydney A. Beckman1
Lincoln Memorial University Duncan School of Law
MYSTERY, MEMORY, AND MURDER: HYPNOSIS TAKES THE STAND On the morning of January 29, 1998, someone broke into a home in Farmers Branch, Texas, and shot 64-year-old Elizabeth “Betty” Black during a robbery gone wrong.2 A neighbor named Jill Barganier told police she had seen two white males with long hair climb out of a Volkswagen Beetle near the Black home.3 Shown photo lineups twice, she could not identify the second man.4 Then police put her under hypnosis. Thirteen months later, at trial, Barganier pointed to Charles Don Flores, a Hispanic man who was short and stocky, with a shaved head.5 She said, “when I saw him in person, there wasn’t any doubt.”6 Barganier was the only eyewitness to place Flores at the scene. Flores was convicted of capital murder and sentenced to death, even though no one accused him of pulling the trigger and no DNA, fingerprints, or ballistics tied him to the scene. The man who actually shot Betty Black confessed in 2000, took a plea deal, served less than half of a 35-year sentence, and walked out of prison in 2016. Flores is still waiting for his execution date. 1
Hypnosis Changed Everything The hypnosis session at the center of this case was, by any measure, a catastrophe. Texas law at the time prohibited any officer involved in the investigation from conducting the hypnosis session. The officer who hypnotized Barganier was a lead detective on the case and had never performed hypnosis before. The recorded session revealed a pattern of leading suggestions that would later horrify memory researchers. During the session, Barganier was urged to focus on the passenger’s hair. She said it was long, dark, reaching his shoulders. Before bringing her out of the trance, the detective told her she would “be able to recall more of the events as time goes on.”7 That parting suggestion, critics argue, planted the seed of a false certainty that manifested in court more than a year later.8 Even though the judge found that multiple state guidelines were violated, Barganier was allowed to testify. The jury never saw the videotape of the session and never heard her original descriptions of the suspects.9 Science Says Otherwise Memory researchers have long documented the dangers of investigative hypnosis. The Innocence Project calls the technique “deeply unreliable,” citing research showing that hypnotized subjects remembered less, yet are more confident in whatever they do recall.10 Barganier herself acknowledged seeing Flores’s image on television and in the newspaper before identifying him at trial.11 The scale of the problem is staggering. The Dallas Morning News found that Texas Rangers alone used investigative hypnosis in at least 1,700 criminal investigations between 1980 and 2021.12 According to the National Registry of Exonerations, at least 37 people exonerated since 1989 were convicted in cases involving hypnotized witnesses.13 Texas Acts, But Not for Flores In cruel irony, Flores’s case is widely credited as a catalyst for a 2023 Texas law barring hypnotically refreshed testimony in criminal July/August 2026
proceedings. But the law does not apply retroactively. Flores inspired the law that would have saved him and cannot benefit from it. All his post-conviction appeals have been denied, most recently in October 2025. In February 2026, a petition for certiorari was filed with the United States Supreme Court. Enter the Honest Liars In March 2026, legendary magicians Penn & Teller, self-described “honest liars,” filed an amicus curiae brief urging the Court to grant certiorari.14 The techniques used in the Flores session, they argued, are indistinguishable from the manipulation they deploy nightly on stage to make audiences believe they witnessed things that never happened. They took particular aim at a foundational lie that Barganier’s mind would allow her to “rewind and replay” the morning of the murder with perfect clarity. Penn & Teller called this “one of the biggest lies about hypnosis,” warning that the brain “just can’t go back and try again.” Memory, they explained, is not a recording but a reconstruction, and every act of remembering changes the copy. That instability is precisely what makes investigative hypnosis “junk science of the worst sort.” They were not alone. The American Psychological Association, crime survivor Jennifer Thompson, and others filed separate briefs as well, all united around a single argument: investigative hypnosis does not unlock hidden memories. It manufactures false ones. A Life Hangs in the Balance Charles Don Flores is 56 years old. He has spent much of his life on death row, where he spends 23 hours a day in a 9-by-12-foot cell. He has never stopped insisting he is innocent. As of this writing, the Supreme Court has not yet decided whether to hear the case. Flores sits on death row because a hypnotized witness, coached by an untrained investigator who violated the rules, changed her story. The science that might have saved him exists. The law that would have protected him exists. A pair of famous magicians is now explaining to the highest court in the land how police used the same tricks that fill Las Vegas showrooms to extract a false memory and seal a man’s fate. In the end, the Flores case asks a question every courtroom in America should be asking: when we allow junk science through the door, who pays the price? 1
2
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I want to thank Cecilia Plummer for her assistance with this article. For sake of brevity, citations were kept at a minimum. See Jolie McCullough, Texas Court Halts Execution in Dallas Murder, Tex. Tribune (May 27, 2016), https://perma.cc/EXM9-RZS8. See Toluwani Osibamowo, Texas death row inmate’s appeal of hypnosis conviction for 1998 murder denied a fourth time, KeraNews (Oct. 10, 2025), https://perma.cc/ MN3H-TWPC). David Martin Davies, Texas Matters: The ‘Magic Movie Theater’, Hypnosis and Death Row, Tex. Pub. Radio (Dec. 7, 2021), https://www.tpr.org/podcast/texasmatters/2021-12-07/texas-matters-the-magic-movie-theater-hypnosis-and-deathrow. Hayley Bedard, Texas Death Row Prisoner Seeks New Trial, Citing Convicting Based on Flawed Hypnosis Evidence, Death Penalty Info. Ctr. (Jun. 2, 2025), https://perma.
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OF LOCAL LORE AND LAWYERS By: Joe Jarret, J.D., Ph.D. University of Tennessee
HAVE A HEART!
THE CURIOUS CASE OF CHOPIN’S HEART AND A SISTER’S LOVE Introduction: On a recent trip to Poland, Amanda and I were exploring the streets of Warsaw when we came upon a church that seemed to draw a crowd. Because it was a Tuesday morning, we decided to investigate. As you would imagine, the church’s interior was not unlike what you’d presume an old European church to contain: an ornate altar, beautiful stained glass, and statues of saints and other church luminaries. It was then we noticed the sign that read: “Heart of Chopin, this way.” We soon learned that this church, known as the Church of the Holy Cross or Kościół Świętego Krzyża in Polish, did in fact contain the heart of the famous Polish composer, Frédéric Chopin. About a Composer: His birth name was Fryderyk Franciszek Chopin, born in Zelazowa-Wola, a village six miles from Warsaw, Poland, in 1810 to a French father and a Polish mother. His father was a tutor for the son of a countess. Chopin was an extremely rare child prodigy, who, encouraged by his mother, started playing the piano at age 4. By the time he was 8 years old he was giving private concerts in Warsaw. He published his first composition “a rondo” at age 15. From 1823 to 1826, Chopin attended the Warsaw Lyceum, where his father was a professor. In the autumn of 1826, Chopin began studying music theory at the Warsaw Conservatory. He later moved to Paris where he taught piano lessons. He often played the piano in private homes, preferring this to public concerts. While in Paris, he became a noted pianist, teacher, and composer.1 In 1847, Chopin began to suffer from tuberculosis. He died on October 17, 1849 in Paris. Since Chopin is buried in the Père Lachaise cemetery in Paris, how did his heart become entombed in a pillar in the Church of the Holy Cross in Warsaw? We have a sister’s love to thank for that. About a Sister’s Love: “The earth is suffocating, dear sister. Swear to me that though my body must remain in France, my heart will forever be in our beloved homeland.” This is what Chopin reportedly told his sister on his death bed in 1849. His desire to have his heart returned to Poland stemmed from intense patriotism and homesickness, as he lived in exile (due to the failed Polish “November Uprising” of 1830–31 against Russian rule), and was advised he could never return to his Russian-occupied homeland. And so, after passing away, Chopin’s eldest sister, Ludwika Jędrzejewicz, complied with his request and ordered
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doctors to perform an autopsy on her brother, both to determine his cause of death and to fulfill his wish to have his heart brought back to their homeland. Jędrzejewicz had his heart removed, then took it before his body could be buried and secreted it back to Poland in a jar of cognac. Jędrzejewicz hid the hearty package under her cloak, avoiding officers and agents that might ask too many questions about the body part she was carrying. She was able to smuggle it to the Holy Cross Church in Warsaw where it was buried beneath a small monument. The rest of his body remains in the famed Pere Lachaise cemetery in Paris.2 Over the years, the heart has been stolen, almost destroyed, and even lost due to world wars and political issues on a number of occasions. Given Chopin’s popularity in his native Poland, the monument to his heart quickly became a rallying point for proud nationalists. During World War II, the Nazis, knowing the power the composer’s legacy held over the people, stole the heart and outlawed the playing of his music. However, after the war, the newly formed West German Government returned it, undamaged. The heart was reinterred in the church and remained there, undisturbed, until 2014. That’s when a group of church officials, scientists, and medical experts removed the heart from its final resting place under the cover of night. As evocative as the situation sounds, the group was actually just checking the container preserving the heart. They feared it might have cracked, which would have allowed the heart to dry out and decay. Knowing how beloved Chopin still is among the Polish people, they simply wanted to avoid causing a public outcry at the exhumation. Though Chopin’s heart is no longer beating, luckily it is still in great condition.3 Conclusion: Today, Chopin’s heart lies safe and sound in the Holy Cross Church to the delight of Poles and tourists alike. The pillar containing the heart is inscribed with a biblical verse from Matthew 6:21: “For where your treasure is, there your heart will be also.” It also features a plaque that reads, Tu spoczywa serce Fryderyka Chopina “Here rests the heart of Frédéric Chopin.” 1
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For a more expansive biography of Chopin, see https://www.kennedy-center.org/ artists/c/ca-cn/frederic-chopin2/, Fryderyk Franciszek Chopin Palmer, Ellie, 2024, The Pianist Magazine. https://www.pianistmagazine.com/blogs/ why-is-frederic-chopins-heart-preserved-in-a-jar-in-warsaw/. Tsioulcas, Anastasia, 2014. Uncovering The Heart Of Chopin — Literally. NPR magazine.
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THREE STARS By: Melissa B. Carrasco Carrasco Trump, PLLC
SECOND CHANCES Sitting on the border of Kentucky, Henry County, Tennessee is known for having the world’s largest fish fry (the last week of April), a decent part of America’s largest man-made lake (Lake Kentucky), and being the birthplace of former Supreme Court Justice Howell E. Jackson, who, initially, was a member of the inaugural panel of the newly formed Sixth Circuit Court of Appeals.1 It has never had a population of more than 35,000,2 and in 2015 it had a population of only 32,133.3 Ms. Michele Lee Ridgeway of Paris, Tennessee, was one of them. In 2015, a Henry County grand jury indicted Ms. Ridgeway for possession of drug paraphernalia.4 We do not know what happened to that indictment, but we do know that, in November 2022, Ms. Ridgeway pled guilty to possession of methamphetamine.5 She received a sentence of eight years, which was then suspended, and Ms. Ridgeway was placed on supervised probation.6 For the next two years, Ms. Ridgeway submitted to multiple random drug screens. Every time, her tests were negative. She reported to her probation officer as scheduled, got a steady job and then a second job to help make ends meet, and she submitted to random home visits. She worked out a payment plan with her probation officer to pay the $5,785 in court costs and fines from the Henry County case and from a prior theft (less than $2,500) conviction from Carroll County plus another $900 in supervision fees. She was making the payments.7 Then on October 22, 2024, she was arrested at her shared home. The police were called to investigate a report of an unrelated assault, and when they searched the home, they found a glass pipe on a glass plate next to her bed.8 They arrested Ms. Ridgeway for possession of drug paraphernalia, her former probation officer filed a violation warrant, and in February 2025, the trial court issued a probation warrant.9 In the interim, the charge of possession of drug paraphernalia was dismissed.10 The warrant listed two grounds for revocation – new criminal conduct (possession of drug paraphernalia) and failure to pay the fines and court costs from the Henry County case.11 At the revocation hearing, the trial court found that Ms. Ridgeway violated the terms of her probation by possessing drug paraphernalia and by not paying the court costs in the Henry County case, “despite being ‘gainfully employed.’”12 The trial court also noted that Ms. Ridgeway had two prior felony convictions and that, even though she had paid a substantial amount of the court costs associated with the Carroll County case, she had not paid the required restitution to the victims.13 So, Ms. Ridgeway’s probation was revoked, and Ms. Ridgeway appealed. And while it is an opinion from the Court of Criminal Appeals, the Court’s opinion in State v. Michele Lee Ridgeway is instructive in civil cases as well. It is well-settled that, after imposing a sentence for a criminal violation, the trial court may, in the appropriate case, suspend the sentence and place the defendant on probation instead.14 If the defendant violates one of the terms of their probation, “the trial court may address the violation as it ‘may deem right and proper under the evidence.’”15 To revoke a person’s probation, the trial judge must find, by a preponderance of the evidence, that the conditions of probation have been violated.16 However, probation cannot be revoked for the first instance of a technical violation.17 Therein lies the question. Did the State introduce sufficient July/August 2026
evidence to establish, by a preponderance of the evidence, that Ms. Ridgeway violated the law by engaging in new criminal conduct? Did the State introduce sufficient evidence to establish, by a preponderance of the evidence, that Ms. Ridgeway failed to pay her court costs and fines? Or, was this a technical violation? To Ms. Ridgeway’s credit, at oral argument, Assistant Public Defender Mitchell A. Rains, conceded that the first two elements of the crime of possession of drug paraphernalia were satisfied: “(1) that the defendant possessed an object” and “(2) that the object possessed was classified as drug paraphernalia.”18 But, he (her attorney, that is) took issue with the proof as to the third element: “that the defendant intended to use that object for at least one of the illicit purposes enumerated in the statute.”19 To the State’s credit, at oral argument, Asst. Attorney General Benjamin L. Barker, conceded that the State’s evidence was “not overwhelming” when it came to the third element.20 In fact, the trial court did not make any findings as to Ms. Ridgeway’s intent.21 There was no evidence that there were controlled substances near the pipe; no drug residue on the pipe, no positive drug screen after arrest, no witness testimony that Ms. Ridgeway was seen using the glass pipe to ingest drugs.22 In the words of Judge Campbell, the evidence of intent was “ephemeral.”23 Although the State relied upon a logical inference of intent which could be drawn from Ms. Ridgeway’s having possession of the glass pipe and testimony during the hearing that the glass pipe could not be used for any purpose other than the ingestion of drugs, the Court of Criminal Appeals found that was not sufficient to establish intent by a preponderance of the evidence.24 To find otherwise would conflate the elements of the crime, which is impermissible. “To accept the State’s reasoning, therefore, would be to rewrite the statute rather than apply it.”25 The State conceded that the failure to pay the court costs and fines was, at most, a technical violation because Ms. Ridgeway had been making payments, albeit on a different case, at the advice of her probation officer.26 Thus, the trial court order revoking Ms. Ridgeway’s probation was reversed and vacated; and thus, we also can confirm that, while the “preponderance of the evidence” is a lower burden of proof, it still requires more than an “ephemeral” amount of evidence. 1
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David W. Webb, Henry County, Tennessee Encyclopedia, available at https:// tennesseeencyclopedia.net/entries/henry-county/. Neilsberg Research, Henry County, TN Population by Year, https://www.neilsberg. com/insights/henry-county-tn-population-by-year/, last visited June 7, 2026. Id. Melanie Howard, Paris TN: Springville Man Indicted in Murder Case, Paris PostIntelligencer (Mar. 3, 2015), State v. Michelle Lee Ridgeway, No. W2025-01052-CCA-R3-CD, p. 1 (Tenn. Crim. App. June 2, 2026), available at https://s3.amazonaws.com/membercentralcdn/ sitedocuments/tnbar/tnbar/0873/3125873.pdf?AWSAccessKeyId=AKIAIH KD6NT2OL2HNPMQ&Expires=1780536663&Signature=B5Xdiu2MHnlS61 iu2%2F2%2BPAIGlB0%3D&response-content-disposition=inline%3B%20filename%3D%22rigdewaym%5F6226%2Epdf%22%3B%20filename%2A% 3DUTF%2D8%27%27rigdewaym%255F6226%252Epdf&response-contenttype=application%2Fpdf. Id. at pp. 2-3. Id. at p. 2; see also, Grand Jury Indicts 48, Carroll County News Ledger (May 12,
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HELLO MY NAME IS By: Bridget J. Pyman
Arnett Baker Draper & Hagood, LLP
HUDSON CHASTAIN This month’s Hello My Name Is column features Hudson Chastain, an Associate at Bernstein, Stair & McAdams LLP, where his diverse practice spans construction litigation, estate planning, probate, and healthcare transactions and compliance. A Knoxville native, Hudson earned his undergraduate degree in accounting from Transylvania University before attending Samford University, where he graduated in 2024 with both his law degree from the Cumberland School of Law and an MBA from the Brock School of Business. He is an active member of the Knoxville Bar Association, the Tennessee Bar Association, and the TBA’s Health Law Section. It is axiomatic that a person receives the full benefits of community only after becoming firmly established within it and intentionally contributing to the community’s shared strength and success. To that end, the KBA is only as vibrant as the attorneys who dedicate their time, talent, and hard work to our collective purpose. A pivotal facet of building and thriving within community is, of course, the requisite act of pursuing and nurturing healthy interpersonal connections and building strong mentorships therein, which are perfected only within relational security anchored by mutual virtues of loyalty and reliability. It is apparent through Hudson’s responses that he both values and embodies these virtues. His responses are indicative of a new lawyer who recognizes that professional development is inseparable from the influence of mentors, the trust of clients, and the support of family and community. Hudson, grounded in gratitude, respect, and internal motivation for continual growth, exemplifies the kind of attorney whose investment in relationships strengthens not only his own practice but also the broader community to which he is committed. Where do you see yourself in 10 years? In ten years, I see myself continuing to grow as an attorney and gaining the experience that comes with years of practice. As a Knoxville native, I plan to spend my career here and remain involved in the community where I was raised. I hope to continue building meaningful relationships with clients, developing my knowledge of the law, and taking on greater responsibilities within my firm. More than anything, I want to look back and know that I have consistently improved my practice and helped people navigate serious challenges in their lives. Why did you decide to stay in Knoxville? I decided to stay here in Knoxville because it is truly my favorite city. To me, it strikes the perfect balance of a small-town feel matched with a growing city. I enjoy keeping up with new restaurants and coffee shops, local events, and the continued growth and development of the area. Knoxville has changed quite a bit since I was growing up, but one of the things I appreciate most is that it has managed to preserve the character and sense of community that makes it feel like home. It is a place where I can continue to grow professionally while staying close to the people, values, and community that matter most to me. Did you have any significant or formative experiences during law school that relate to your career now? My clerkships during law school were among the most formative
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experiences of my professional development. I had the opportunity to work with several amazing attorneys who excel in the practice of law while consistently showing genuine care for their clients. They taught me that while legal issues are important, the client must always remain the priority. No matter how routine a matter may seem, a normal legal issue may be one of the most significant and stressful events someone experiences. Because of that, I am thankful that I was taught the importance of approaching every client and issue with empathy, understanding, and genuine care. Their example showed me that understanding a client’s goals, concerns, and circumstances is often the key to effectively solving the legal problems they face. What energizes and motivates you at work? I am motivated by the opportunity to continuously rise to the levels of those around me. I am fortunate to work alongside experienced and highly respected lawyers, and I strive every day to learn from them and strengthen my own skills. The challenge of becoming the best version of myself, as my mentors have done before me, pushes me forward. Tell me about your family. I am married to Deb Chastain and we have one daughter named Margo. We love exploring the city, traveling, and hanging out with friends in spots around the city. One of our favorite activities as a family is visiting new coffee shops and breakfast spots on the weekend. Our current favorite coffee shop is Partial Coffee off North Broadway, and my personal favorite breakfast is a bagel from Best Bagels in Town. How do you practice self-care? One of the best ways for me to de-stress is to stay active. I enjoy playing basketball, working out, golfing, or simply spending time outdoors. Being active helps me clear my mind, recharge, and maintain a healthy balance between work and personal life. It gives me an opportunity to step away from the day-to-day demands of practice, reset mentally, and come back with a fresh perspective. What’s your favorite restaurant in Knoxville? My favorite restaurant in Knoxville is Fuji. It is a nostalgic pick, but I always enjoy going there.
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A T T O R N E Y P R O F I L E , continued from page 10 communities—as leaders and public citizens. ET: You’ve spent years helping law students think about what kind of lawyers they want to become. What do you hope Winston Law students carry with them long after graduation? PS: Law students often want to know the steps to take to get from Point A (law school) to Point B (career success). But “success” is not just career success, and it’s rarely found by walking in a straight line. I tell students to learn from the paths of my former students—whose careers and lives I follow through emails, calls, holiday cards, and social media. Alumni career success often takes the form of promotions, but it also looks like multiple job changes and major career pivots. My former students also find success outside of work, including through service to the profession and their communities, through their travel and adventures, and in their friendships, relationships, and growing families (I really love the baby pictures.). I hope my current students appreciate that a lawyer’s success is all about relationships and that success is in the journey, not the destination. ET: One of those opportunities for service to the profession is through bar association participation. You and I have both been involved in the Knoxville Bar Association over the years. What do you tell students about why involvement in the local bar matters? PS: I always encourage our first-year law students to join the KBA, TBA, ABA, and any other bar association that fits their interests. I know those communities of lawyers can have such an impact on a law student’s professional development. For law students and new
lawyers, bar membership and service lead to friendships, educational opportunities, and an avenue to give back. My involvement in the KBA keeps me connected to local lawyers and the issues they are facing in their practices. In turn, that influences my teaching and my scholarship, which is essential to my job as a teacher. ET: You’ve served Winston Law in so many roles already. Does becoming Interim Dean feel like a continuation of that service, or does it feel fundamentally different? PS: I think the new role is pretty similar to the roles I have played in the past in that I am drawing on recent experience to meet a need. When I joined the faculty in 2008, I had recent litigation experience. That proximity to practice led me to do things like create an e-discovery class with a simulated case file with thousands of documents. That class gave my students a realistic experience drafting discovery and using technology-assisted review tools—and the context to understand Judge Cliff Shirley’s discovery advice during his class visits each semester. Eighteen years later, my recent experiences have prepared me to serve the school in a different way—one that I hope provides stability during the year ahead. I was associate dean for academic affairs for three deans; each taught me important lessons about leading a law school for which I am grateful. I have led the school through curriculum revisions, our 10-year re-accreditation review, and online teaching during COVID. I have connected the school’s alumni and friends with opportunities to support our students. And I have worked closely with every faculty member and most every staff member in the building—some of the best people I know and my closest friends. I will draw on all of that in the year ahead.
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July/August 2026
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DISENTANGLING RACE FROM POLITICS, OR POURING OLD POISON INTO NEW BOTTLES? For the past 60 years, the Voting Rights Act of 1965 (the Act) has held fast against attempts to disenfranchise minorities or dilute the value of minority votes. The Supreme Court’s April decision in Louisiana v. Callais1 fundamentally changes the Act’s utility and adds to a plaintiff ’s requirements under § 2–significantly limiting the ability of anyone to successfully challenge state election maps on the basis of racial discrimination. The opinion applies strict scrutiny to racebased governmental action pursuant to a challenge under the equal protection clause of the Fourteenth Amendment, but the decision diverges from the body of settled law related to § 2. In the opinion, Justice Alito asserts that “things have changed dramatically” from the time of Jim Crow laws until now,2 which is undeniably true. But the Callais decision immediately spurred urgent redistricting efforts from several states (including Tennessee) under the guise of partisanship, inevitably diluting the power of the minority vote within those states. These redistricting efforts comply with the Callais Court’s command to eliminate race-based congressional districts. The practical result, however, is likely to be the elimination of most, if not all, districts with minority representation in those states. Pre-Callais, this constitutional “partisan” gerrymandering3 may have been challenged under the totality of circumstances “results” test of § 2, due to its effect on minority voting power. But now, it may result in virtual elimination of minority majority districts in these states without legal recourse. Given the Court’s reasoning in Callais, a fundamental question remains: Is the Act no longer necessary if racebased voter discrimination is all but eradicated, or has it been so effective at addressing race-based voter discrimination that the pervasive problems it was meant to fix now seem distant? The Court appears to believe the former while opponents decry the new partisan gerrymandering attempts as just “pour[ing] old poison into new bottles”4 to continue suppressing and diluting minority voting power. For forty years after its passage,5 actions taken pursuant to the Act
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were generally found to be constitutional.6 This changed in 2013, when the Court significantly weakened § 5 of the Act with the Shelby County decision.7 Section 5 proscribed the preclearance requirement for any changes to state regulations affecting voting in states under the “coverage” of the Act as determined by the formula stated in § 4(b). After Shelby County, the federal government no longer had the statutory authority to require historically discriminatory states to get preapproval for proposed voting regulations. Vote dilution cases, brought under § 2, as amended, were first addressed by the Court in Gingles.8 The Gingles decision identified three preconditions that a plaintiff must meet to successfully show vote dilution under § 2: (1) “the minority group must be able to demonstrate that it is sufficiently large and geographically compact to constitute a majority in a single-member district,” (2) “the minority group must be able to show that it is politically cohesive,” and (3) “the minority must be able to demonstrate that the white majority votes sufficiently as a bloc to enable it . . . to defeat the minority’s preferred candidate.”9 With the 1982 Amendment, passed in response to the Court’s decision in City of Mobile10, Congress had reasserted the importance of the Act to the political process. The Amendment, mirrored by the Court in Gingles, clarified that a plaintiff did not have to show discriminatory intent to establish a violation of § 2, requiring only a showing that the totality of circumstances reflected a discriminatory result.11 The amendment was not easily won, however, involving a compromise clause specifically disclaiming the creation of a right to proportional representation for minority groups.12 In 2021, the Court’s decision in Brnovich, also authored by Justice Alito, effectively narrowed the interpretation of § 2 of the Act.13 The case involved a § 2 challenge to two Arizona laws related to out of precinct in person voting and ballot harvesting. The Brnovich majority held the totality of circumstances results test in § 2 is materially different from the disparate-impact model used in discrimination cases under Title VII
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COVER STORY By: Yancy A. Woody Tennessee Valley Authority Office of the General Counsel
and the Fair Housing Act.14 This new interpretative framework effectively demoted the discriminatory impact of a challenged law—moving it from the keystone of the § 2 analysis to being just a single one of the circumstances that the Court should analyze. Based on the text of § 2, the Court stated their job was to judge the degree to which a challenged law affected the equal openness and equal opportunity of a person to participate in the voting process.15 In Louisiana v. Callais, the Court further narrowed the scope and applicability of § 2 to vote dilution cases. The case involved a group of non-black voters in Louisiana who challenged the creation of a second majority-black congressional district within the state on equal protection grounds.16 The Appellees argued the creation of the challenged district was unconstitutional because it was the direct result of racial discrimination. The state did not dispute that assertion, agreeing that the challenged election map was the result of their attempt to comply with § 2 of the Act. Indeed, the challenged map was created in response to a Middle District of Louisiana decision stating the legislature’s prior map containing only one majority-black district likely violated § 2. The Court applied strict scrutiny to its analysis of Louisiana’s admittedly race-based map.17 To pass strict scrutiny, Louisiana would have to show that the use of race to draw the second black-majority district was narrowly tailored to serve a compelling governmental interest.18 It follows then, that the Court analyzed whether Louisiana’s predominant consideration, compliance with § 2, was a compelling interest that satisfied strict scrutiny. To survive strict scrutiny, the state is required to: (1) “identify the specific instances of past discrimination that it aims to remediate . . . [and] determine the precise scope of the injury it seeks to remedy[,]” and (2) have “a strong basis in evidence to conclude that [its] remedial action [is] necessary.”19 The Court then proceeded to its analysis of whether compliance with the Act “should be added to our very short list of compelling interests that can justify racial discrimination.”20 Thoroughly parsing of the language of § 2, the majority determined that, when properly construed, § 2 operates only to enforce “the Fifteenth Amendment’s prohibition on intentional racial discrimination.”21 That is to say, it can only constitutionally remedy governmental action “motivated by a discriminatory purpose.”22 Thus, states remain free to gerrymander on any other nondiscriminatory basis, including to gain or maintain partisan advantages.23 This is true even if the redistricting results in a significant and concrete disparate impact on minority communities, seemingly in opposition to the language of the 1982 Amendment and Gingles. Further, the Court also held that a plaintiff challenging a map purportedly drawn for a partisan purpose has a “special” burden to carry.24 Such a plaintiff would have to “disentangle race from politics” and show that racial discrimination, and not partisanship, was the predominant factor in creating the map.25 To that end, the Court updated the Gingles framework to prevent a plaintiff from “repackaging a partisangerrymandering claim as a racial-gerrymandering claim.”26 An illustrative map is the most common piece of evidence presented by plaintiffs in § 2 challenges. Post-Callais, the first precondition of the updated Gingles framework disallows the use of “race as a districting criterion” in the creation of such a map.27 Moreover, a proffered illustrative map must meet “all the State’s legitimate districting objectives, July/August 2026
including . . . [their] specified political goals.”28 Next, to satisfy the second and third preconditions under the updated framework, a plaintiff “must show that voters engage in racial bloc voting that cannot be explained by partisan affiliation.”29 Finally, to meet their burden under the totality of circumstances inquiry, a plaintiff must identify “current data” or “current political conditions,” rather than past discrimination or the “ongoing effects of societal discrimination,” sufficient to give rise to a strong inference of intentional discrimination.30 To be sure, this decision signals a sea change for the likely success of any challenge brought under § 2. The reaction to Callais has been sharply divided across both racial and partisan lines, with some celebrating a post-racial political climate while others see the very real prospect of racial disenfranchisement under a partisan banner. One thing is certain: the decision has removed the guardrails for redistricting and provided a legal playbook for any state engaging in gerrymandering. It has weakened the Voting Rights Act and cabined its use to only intra-party racial discrimination or for those rare circumstances when racial discrimination is clearly disclosed. For many communities, this means race and politics will remain as they have since the passage of the Fifteenth Amendment, inextricably entangled. 1
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146 S.Ct. 1131 (2026). (Originally filed by a group of non-black voters in Louisiana who challenged the creation of a second majority-black congressional district within the state on equal protection grounds.) Callais, 146 S.Ct. at 1157 (quoting Shelby Cnty. v. Holder, 570 U.S. 529, 547 (2013)). See Rucho v. Common Cause, 588 U.S. 684 (2019) (holding that partisan gerrymandering was a political question which was not justiciable by federal courts). Brnovich v. Democratic Nat’l Comm., 594 U.S. 647, 691 (2021) (Kagan, J. dissenting) (citation omitted). Passed against the background of the Civil Rights Movement of the 1960s, the Act was intended to address persistent racial discrimination in the Southern states, and, in essence, “enforce the fifteenth amendment to the Constitution.” Voting Rights Act of 1965, Pub. L. No. 89-110, 79 Stat. 437. The push to prevent racial disenfranchisement was central to the Civil Rights Movement and gained national attention and political traction due to the 1964 murders of voting-rights activists in Mississippi and white Alabama state troopers’ attack on peaceful marchers in Selma in 1965. See Mississippi Burning, Federal Bureau of Investigation, https://www. fbi.gov/history/cases-and-criminals/mississippi-burning (last visited May 19, 2026); John Lewis – March from Selma to Montgomery, “Bloody Sunday,” 1965, The National Archives, https://www.archives.gov/exhibits/eyewitness/html.php?section=2 (last visited May 19, 2026). To combat “nearly a century of ‘entrenched racial discrimination in voting,’” the Act took dead aim at voter literacy tests and racial disenfranchisement caused by barriers to free and fair voter registration in “certain parts of our country.” Callais, 146 S.Ct. at 1157 (citation omitted). Over time, the Act which was readopted and strengthened multiple times, has proven to be an effective tool to improve minority voters’ equal opportunity and access to voting and political representation. See Callais, 146 S.Ct. at 1157–58; Voting Rights Act (1965), The National Archives, https://www.archives.gov/milestone-documents/ voting-rights-act (last visited May 19, 2026). See generally Harper v. Va. State Bd. of Elections, 383 U.S. 663 (1966); South Carolina v. Katzenbach, 383 U.S. 301, 327–28 (1966); Allen v. State Bd. of Elections, 393 U.S. 544 (1969). But see City of Mobile v. Bolden, 446 U.S. 55 (1980) (abrogated by statutory amendment as stated in Thornburg v. Gingles, 478 U.S. 30, 35 (1986)). 570 U.S. at 556–57 (holding the coverage formula as enumerated in Section 4(b) of the Act is unconstitutional and unable to be used as “a basis for subjecting jurisdictions to preclearance” under Section 5). Thornburg v. Gingles, 478 U.S. 30, 47 (1986). (“The essence of a § 2 claim is that a certain electoral law, practice, or structure interacts with social and historical conditions to cause an inequality in the opportunities enjoyed by black and white voters to elect their preferred representatives.”).
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LEGALLY WEIRD By: Wade H. Boswell II
Tennessee Department of Human Services
WHO DID YOUR COMPANY VOTE FOR? While this is not the first edition in our new bimonthly DICTA schedule, it is the first issue with an extra month between issues. A byproduct of the cost-saving change in publication schedule is the extra time to find and expound upon a “legally weird” topic. But the best laid plans of mice and men often go awry. For my own mental well-being, I took a break from the news, including legal news, as the law is often intertwined with the irrational mayhem of the day. Notwithstanding my news moratorium, I found a worthy historical topic and had enough research to construct a good article, but there are still relevant facts I want to uncover so you are not left pondering the same questions I have. So, a historical article may be in the offing. With the lifting of my news embargo, a new topic formed as the deadline for this article came and went. One of the wonderful things about the practice of law is that there is an area for every type of personality, whether you want to be on stage in a courtroom, an executive running a business, an in-house general counsel, a transactional attorney who doesn’t know where the courthouse is, or an academic with expertise in an esoteric niche area. My first 11 years as an attorney were spent as a general practitioner, providing exposure to many practice areas that allowed me to figure out what areas I liked and those where I said, “Never again.” One area of practice where I dabbled a bit is entity formation. Even as more of a realist, I understand the purpose of businesses incorporating or a mom-and-pop shop becoming an LLC. Those entities usually have a physical manifestation, so it’s tangible and my mind can accept it. The legal fiction of corporate personhood makes sense to me. But trusts, I don’t process those as well. The legal fiction of trusts is more akin to just plain fiction. As there is no physical manifestation of a trust, just assets thereof, trusts are just magical pieces of paper. Writing out the magic spell of trust creation—plus a Samantha Stevens Bewitched nose wiggle— leaves a destitute individual who has use of the corpus of the trust for support. Through Citizens United,1 corporations’ First Amendment right to political speech was recognized, and the prohibition on corporations’ electioneering communications was deemed unconstitutional. Upon hearing about this decision, I flippantly wondered, “So when are corporations going to get the right to vote?” Little did I know that they already have it. In Fenwick Island, the ACLU of Delaware filed a complaint against the Town of Fenwick Island, Delaware, seeking a declaratory judgment that “non-human artificial entity voting” in Fenwick Island’s municipal elections violated the Elections Clause of the Delaware Constitution. The ACLU sought an order permanently enjoining Fenwick Island from “counting ballots cast by non-human artificial entities” in the upcoming elections.2 As of October 8, 2025, Fenwick Island had 214 non-human artificial entities registered to vote, comprising 12% of all registered voters, and in the most recent election in 2024, 23% of all votes cast (109) were on behalf of non-human artificial entities.3 In the two preceding Town Council elections, there were more candidates than openings, and the difference between the 2024 winning candidate with the least votes and the next highest vote-getting candidate was less than the 109 non-
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human artificial entity votes.4 The margin between the 2023 winning candidate with the least votes and the next highest vote-getting candidate was even lower than 2024, such that artificial entity votes exceeded the margin of victory between candidates.5 The ACLU argued that under the Delaware Constitution, voting by an artificial entity violates the Election Clause because the elections are not free and equal.6 Judge Karsnitz begins his ruling by cutting to the chase: “What is a person? When one cuts to the heart of this case, that is the question.”7 He then quotes modern-day philosopher Diogo Joao Baptista Gomes of Brachtenbach, Luxembourg, who opines that “a person in its full sense—both theoretically and practically—is a metaphysical and moral being with legal and political recognition. The former is sufficient for theoretical personhood and the latter is sufficient for practical personhood, and both are necessary for full personhood.”8 Under Delaware’s “Home Rule” statute for municipalities, “qualified voters” means those persons authorized by municipal charter to vote in municipal elections.9 In 2008, the Delaware General Assembly amended Fenwick Island’s charter to allow domestic artificial entities to vote in municipal elections.10 In ruling against the ACLU, Judge Karsnitz held, “Visions of faceless large corporations or even HAL controlling a small town are frightening and the stuff of science fiction. However, Plaintiff has not demonstrated that this policy violates the principle of one person/entity/ one vote. Plaintiff points to no other persuasive independent authority than the Elections Clause of the Delaware Constitution itself. And matters of policy are appropriately left to the legislative bodies, not the courts.” I find it odd that interpreting part of the constitution is a policy decision. This is not the last say in the case. The ACLU has filed its Notice of Appeal with the Delaware Supreme Court.11 And though the General Assembly authorized municipalities to determine who, or what, is a qualified municipal voter, House Bill 430, introduced on May 19, 2026, begins the process of amending the constitution to forbid artificial entities from voting. So even if the Delaware Supreme Court upholds Fenwick Island, the legislature may restrict voting to humans only.
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Citizens United v. Federal Election Commission, 558 U.S. 310, 130 S. Ct. 876, 175 L.Ed.2d 753, 78 USLW 4078 (2010) American Civil Liberties Union of Delaware v. The Town of Fenwick Island, C.A. No. S25C-12-003 CAK, Memorandum Opinion and Order, at 3-4 (Del. Super. Ct. May 26, 2026), https://www.aclu-de.org/cases/aclude-v-fenwick/?document=Motion-toDismiss-Order, last visited June 12, 2026. American Civil Liberties Union of Delaware v. The Town of Fenwick Island, C.A. No. S25C-12-003 CAK, Complaint ¶¶ 15-17 (Del. Super. Ct. Dec. 4, 2025), https://www. aclu-de.org/cases/aclude-v-fenwick/?document=Fenwick-Complaint, last visited June 12, 2026. Id. at ¶¶ 19-20. Id. at ¶¶ 20-21. Id. at ¶ 24. See also, Del. Const. art.1, § 3. ACLU v. Town of Fenwick Island, Memorandum Opinion and Order, at 2. Id. at 3. Id. at 5. Id. at 6. American Civil Liberties Union of Delaware v. The Town of Fenwick Island, No. 229,2026, Notice of Appeal (Del. June 4, 2026).
July/August 2026
SCHOOLED IN ETHICS By: Paula Schaefer
Interim Dean and Art Stolnitz Distinguished Professor of Law University of Tennessee Winston College of Law
PERMISSIBLE PROVISIONS IN AN ENGAGEMENT AGREEMENT THAT MAY TRIGGER A REQUEST TO WITHDRAW UNDER TRPC 1.16(B)(5) Tennessee RPC 1.16(b)(5)— just like Model Rule 1.16(b)(5)— permits an attorney to seek a court’s permission to withdraw from a representation (or withdraw if a court’s permission is not required) if two things happen: (1) the client fails substantially to fulfill an obligation to the lawyer regarding the lawyer’s services; and (2) the client has been given reasonable warning that the lawyer will withdraw unless the obligation is fulfilled.1 ABA Formal Ethics Opinion 523 guides attorneys in understanding the provisions that can and cannot form the basis for withdrawal under Model Rule 1.16(b)(5).2 Opinion 523 acknowledges that Rule 1.16(a) and (b) provide a variety of other bases for required or permitted withdrawal beyond a client’s failure to fulfill a contractual obligation3 and that Rule 1.16(c) provides that even when a basis for withdrawal is present, an attorney still must seek court leave to withdraw when applicable law requires the attorney to do so.4 The opinion describes three categories of engagement agreement provisions that can be the basis for withdrawal under Rule 1.16(b)(5). The first is the client’s failure to fulfill a financial obligation (i.e., payment of fees or expenses) to the lawyer. 5 The second category includes implied obligations of the client (whether or not they are reduced to writing), such as the duty to cooperate with counsel in the representation.6 Third, additional client obligations that are consistent with professional conduct rules and public policy can be included in an engagement agreement and, if violated, can form a proper basis for withdrawal under Rule 1.16(b)(5). According to Opinion 523, these may include an agreement that the client will not talk to the media about the matter without consulting with counsel, will not discuss the representation in social media, or will not record conversations with the attorney.7 Formal Opinion 523 also provides examples of client obligations that are prohibited because they are inconsistent with professional conduct rules or public policy. Thus, an attorney cannot ask the client to agree that it will not pursue an ethics complaint against the lawyer, that it must accept a settlement agreement recommended by the lawyer, or that it must close a transaction recommended by the lawyer.8 The opinion also notes that a lawyer may not seek a client’s consent in the engagement agreement that the attorney may withdraw in circumstances not contemplated by Rule 1.16(a) and (b), which the opinion explains July/August 2026
are the exclusive bases for withdrawal.9 Finally, the opinion notes that an attorney cannot mischaracterize the circumstances in which the lawyer may withdraw, such as by suggesting the lawyer can withdraw without court permission (in a case in which such permission is required) or that a lawyer need not protect the client’s interests when withdrawing.10 In all three permitted categories, the opinion reminds lawyers that in order to withdraw/seek leave to withdraw under Rule 1.16(b)(5), the client’s failure to fulfill the obligation must be “substantial” and that the client must first be given reasonable warning that the lawyer will withdraw if the client’s obligation is not fulfilled.11 Further, when court consent is required (as referenced in Rule 1.16(c)), counsel should be mindful that the court may deny leave to withdraw. For example, in Kriegsman v. Kriegsman (a case that is not discussed in Formal Opinion 523) a New Jersey court refused counsel’s request to withdraw even though the divorce client had only paid $2,000 of $7,354 in fees billed.12 The court reasoned, “[w]hen a firm accepts a retainer to conduct a legal proceeding, it impliedly agrees to prosecute the matter to conclusion” and concluded, “[t]he firm should not be relieved at this stage of the litigation merely because plaintiff is unable to pay to them all of the fees they have demanded.” 13 1
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Tennessee RPC 1.16(b)(5) provides, “Except as stated in paragraph (c), a lawyer may withdraw from representing a client if . . . the client fails substantially to fulfill an obligation to the lawyer regarding the lawyer’s services and has been given reasonable warning that the lawyer will withdraw unless the obligation is fulfilled.” TRPC 1.16(c) states, “A lawyer must comply with applicable law requiring notice to or permission of a tribunal when terminating a representation. When ordered to do so by a tribunal, a lawyer shall continue representation notwithstanding good cause for terminating the representation.” ABA Formal Ethics Op. 523 Engagement Agreements Allowing a Lawyer to Withdraw When the Client Fails Substantially to Fulfill an Obligation Regarding the Lawyer’s Services (May 20, 2026). Id. at 5-6. Id. at 1-2 (noting that the ability to withdraw under Rule 1.16(b)(5) is subject to Rule 1.16(c)). ABA Formal Ethics Op. 523 at 4-5. Id. at 3-4. The opinion notes that specific cooperation obligations may be noted, such as the duty to provide discoverable documents in litigation. Id. at 3. Id. at 3-4 ABA Formal Opinion 523, at 3-4. Id. at 5-6. Id. at 6-7. Id. at 4. Kriegsman v. Kriegsman, 375 A.2d 1253 (N.J. App. 1977). Id. at 1255-56.
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KBA VOLUNTEERISM By: Emma Grace Estabrooks Miranda E. Goodwin Malia & Goodwin
THE VOLUNTEER SPIRIT: HIGHLIGHTING ATTORNEY DEDICATION TO PHILANTHROPY One of the KBA’s longstanding core missions is to give back to the greater Knoxville community through our members’ collective resources. While many local attorneys volunteer by using their legal expertise, committees like the Volunteer Breakfast exist to allow attorneys to serve by simply giving what they already have—whether it be through giving, donating, or offering their time to serve those in need. The Volunteer Breakfast committee’s holistic approach to volunteerism has allowed it to expand over the last year. Not only does the committee partner with Volunteer Ministries to provide a hot meal once a month, but it now also partners with other local organizations like CareCuts and GrowFree to diversify the kind of resources it can provide those subject to poverty, marginalization, and vulnerability. The Volunteer Breakfast committee would like to start using its quarterly article to highlight attorneys in Knoxville who are examples of the holistic approach to volunteerism that the Volunteer Breakfast committee would like to advance within the KBA. These attorneys have dedicated much time and effort to volunteering and have expanded the ways the KBA can engage with the community beyond legal services. There are many local attorneys whose philanthropy goes unnoticed, and this article hopes to shine a light on some of them to express gratitude for their commitment to volunteerism and using what they have to uplift the greater Knoxville community in new or creative ways. The first attorney the Volunteer Breakfast committee would like to highlight is Grant Williamson. Grant Williamson is an associate attorney at Bradley Arant Boult Cummings LLC and a member of the Knoxville Barristers. Grant and his wife, Jessica, have been in Knoxville for over a decade and have two children under the age of six. Their roots here in Knoxville began when Grant was a Knoxville Fellow. The Knoxville Fellows selects a handful of college-aged students from around the country each year to participate in the program while earning a Master of Arts in Ethics and Leadership. The program is dedicated to teaching its participants leadership skills, ethical volunteerism, and sustainable fellowship. After his time as a fellow, Grant attended law school at the University of Tennessee and graduated in the class of 2019. His first job was at Realty Trust Group, and from there he transitioned to the real estate practice group at Bradley here in Knoxville. Grant Williamson is currently a co-chair of the Barristers diversity committee. Along with his co-chair, Mariel Bough, Grant is responsible for spearheading the Barristers diversity committee scholarship fund. The scholarship fund is dedicated to promulgating inclusivity within the Knoxville legal community by supporting diverse students that are interested in becoming attorneys in Knoxville. It is clear from Grant’s background as a fellow, Barristers cochair, and local attorney that Grant is passionate about using his skills and resources to effect real change in Knoxville. Commenting on this
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sentiment Grant stated: [B]ecoming an attorney has reinforced my commitment to giving back where I can; I recognize that I am unbelievably fortunate and privileged to be in a place where giving back is even an option, and I take that responsibility seriously. Unique to being an attorney, at least in my opinion, is the responsibility to volunteer both in a professional capacity and a non-professional capacity: in other words, volunteering with a local soup kitchen, for example, should be seen as just as much of an attorney’s responsibility to give back as participating in pro bono is. Of course, one of the largest constraints attorneys face when it comes to volunteering is availability and time management. Attorney schedules are demanding, and many attorneys, like Grant, have many obligations outside of their professional lives. He commented that he felt lucky that his commitment to service is one his firm shares, which had allowed for him to feel supported as he volunteers: “Bradley is unique in that despite its large size, it is incredibly supportive as a firm of its Attorneys taking on pro bono matters and being involved in pro bono work generally, even giving its attorneys billable credit for its pro bono work up to a certain threshold.” Grant shared tremendous gratitude for his firm’s support but also stated that volunteering is something that he considers to be fun and a break from his daily routine. He shared this piece of advice to his fellow attorneys: “Identify something that you love to do or that you care about, even if it has nothing to do with the type of work that you do day-to-day and find a way that you can volunteer and be involved.” Grant was also asked for his advice on how to start volunteering as an attorney. He emphasized the importance of connecting with our local law schools to mentor and volunteer alongside the new generation of attorneys. Indeed, these schools are integral to finding the diversity that Grant’s committee is dedicated to creating. Grant said that in five years, he would like the KBA to look like “a much more diverse and inclusive place.” His reasoning is this: “The legal community, and Knoxville’s legal community is no exception, is better off when it has attorneys from a variety of backgrounds, viewpoints, political affiliations, and lifestyles collaborating together and working amicably across the aisle with each other to serve the community.” Grant Williamson is one of many local attorneys who are an example of a holistic approach to volunteerism. An attorney’s dedication to philanthropy can take many forms, whether it be related to legal expertise or not. The Volunteer Breakfast Committee looks forward to continuing to highlight ways KBA members can volunteer that are not purely legal in nature and encourages its members to consider ways they could volunteer that is most meaningful to them. If you know someone you think should be interviewed and highlighted in this article for future editions, please contact Emma Grace Estabrooks at emmagestabrooks@ gmail.com.
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July/August 2026
MANAGEMENT COUNSEL: LAW PRACTICE 101 By: Jimmy Snodgrass Bass, Berry & Sims
ANALYZING TENNESSEE’S NEW NON-COMPETE LEGISLATION AND ITS EFFECT ON EMPLOYERS On May 7, 2026, Governor Lee signed House Bill 1034 (HB 1034) into law, with an effective date of July 1, 2026. This legislation significantly reforms Tennessee’s approach to restrictive covenants in two key ways: (1) establishing rebuttable presumptions for the duration of such covenants, and (2) adopting a $70,000 annual income threshold for non-compete agreements. This new legislation applies to agreements entered into after July 1, 2026. First, HB 1034 adds a new section to Title 50 of the Tennessee Code, governing Employers and Employees, in Tenn. Code Ann. § 50-1-210. This new section establishes several rebuttable presumptions regarding any “restraint” or “restrictive covenant”1 and states that courts shall presume that a time restraint greater than the rebuttable presumption set forth in this section is unreasonable. The rebuttable presumptions include a sliding-scale dependent on the nature of the restrictive covenants: •
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Five Years (or the time during which payments are made to the owner or seller): for “restraints” tied to the sale of a business, shares of a corporation, partnership interest, membership in an LLC, or any other similar equity interest, courts must presume reasonable a five-year period.
$70,000.00 annually. “Annual compensation” is defined as the “total compensation an employee earns from the employer, including wages, salary, commissions, nondiscretionary bonuses, and other forms of remuneration, calculated on an annualized basis.” Notably, the $70,000.00 annual compensation requirement is set forth only in Section 211, which states that “noncompete agreement[s]” in violation of this section are void, rather than non-solicitation or confidentiality agreements. Employers, practitioners, and commentators are now evaluating the practical effects of this legislation on restrictive covenants in Tennessee. Importantly, HB 1034 had bipartisan support, although there were several amendments to the legislation. A fiscal note for an earlier version of the bill in March 8, 2025, summarized that it would “prohibit[ ] non-compete agreements for employers and contractors in the state, except where explicitly permitted by law” and “[r]emove most statutory provisions that previously allowed such restrictions for healthcare providers.”2 Further, the income threshold for non-compete agreements matches a growing trend nationwide, including Colorado, Illinois, Virginia, and several other states. HB 1034 also presents several key takeaways for employers (and their counsel):
Three Years: in the absence of any of the transactions detailed in the five-year rebuttable presumption, a three-year period (measured from the date of termination of the business relationship) will be presumed to be reasonable when applied to a current or former distributor, dealer, franchisee, lessee of real or personal property, or licensee of a trademark, trade dress, or service mark. Two Years (measured from the date of termination of the employment or business relationship): in the absence of any of the transactions detailed in the five-year rebuttable presumption period, a two-year restraint is presumed to be reasonable in the case of any restrictive covenant against a former employee.
Significantly, HB 1034 makes clear that courts may modify (or blue pencil) a restrictive covenant to render it enforceable (Tenn. Code Ann. § 50-1-210(d). Additionally, Section 50-1-210 does not prohibit employers from enforcing: 1) confidentiality or nondisclosure agreements, 2) client or customer non-solicitation agreements, or 3) employee non-solicitation agreements. The second major provision—and the one that has attracted considerable attention—inserts Tenn. Code Ann. § 50-1-211, which prohibits noncompete agreements for employees earning less than
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Employers should review the additional requirements set forth in Tenn. Code Ann. §§ 50-1-210 and 211 and ensure that all subsequent agreements comply with these new rebuttable presumptions and income thresholds. Practitioners will be closely watching the first wave of cases to apply these rebuttable presumptions following the July 1st effective date.
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Companies and organizations should avoid renewing agreements (such as distributor or licensing agreements) which would be in violation of the new legislation.
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Larger employers may want to evaluate Tennessee as a forum in applicable choice of law provisions in their agreements.
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Companies and Management may want to evaluate which roles actually have a protectable business interest that requires a non-compete agreement, versus a non-solicitation or non-disclosure agreement that would accomplish the same goals.
Notably, the statute uses both terms without defined meanings. SB 995-HB 1034 Fiscal Note, Tennessee General Assembly Fiscal Review Committee (March 8, 2025), available at https://www.capitol.tn.gov/Bills/114/ Fiscal/SB0995.pdf.
About this column: “The cobbler’s children have no shoes.” This old expression refers to the fact that a busy cobbler will be so busy making shoes for his customers that he has no time to make some for his own children. This syndrome can also apply to lawyers who are so busy providing good service to their clients that they neglect management issues in their own offices. The goal of this column is to provide timely information on management issues. If you have an idea for a future column, please contact Jimmy Snodgrass at jimmy.snodgrass@bassberry.com. July/August 2026
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BUILDING THE RECORD By: Bob Pryor Pryor, Priest & Harber
THE ADVENTURES OF A YANKEE DOODLE DANDY It was his first day in Knoxville. When he stepped out of the Andrew Johnson Hotel that chilly Monday morning, January 1, 1951, he headed north on Gay Street in his black frayed Chuck Taylor tennis shoes. Louis Woolf was in search of a youth pickup basketball game in his newly adopted city and was told at the hotel that his best chance would be the Arnstein Jewish Community Center on West Vine Street behind what is now the LMU School of Law. Only 16 years old, Louis had moved to Knoxville the day before from Brooklyn, New York, with his parents and younger sister because his father was to become the manager of the new Stein clothing store to open in the Emporium Building at the corner of Gay Street and Jackson Avenue. As Lou walked the street that morning, he had no idea he was taking himself on a tour of destiny, what would ultimately be an incredible career and remarkable life. He passed the site of the future Riverview Tower, where he would conclude his law career in 2012 as a founding member of the prestigious Woolf-McClane law firm. Moving by the Lyric and Bijou Theatres he passed the Burwell Building where he would cut his teeth in 1962 as a new lawyer with the firm of Baker, Young, Young & Baker, which included Howard Baker, Sr., and his son, Howard Baker, Jr. Finally, he passed the Farragut Hotel, which was later converted into an office building in 1977 where Lou spent most of his practice years overseeing the expansion of the Baker-Worthington law firm (now Baker-Donelson). His future was actually passing before his eyes on his very first day in Knoxville. At the Jewish Community Center, Lou was brazen enough to invite himself into a basketball game with strangers near his age and older. As an interloper, and true to his nature, he held his own in the game and made life-long friends in the process. The personality that made him friends in basketball would also serve him well in his yet-to-beconsidered professional career. Lou enrolled as a junior in Knoxville High School his first week in town. January 1951 was a milestone period for Knoxville City Schools, as preparations were made to close Knoxville High in lieu of necessary expenditures to renovate the 40-year-old building. New York Lou attended Knoxville High as a member of its last junior class. Contemporaneous with the closing of Knoxville High, four new high schools - East, South, West, Fulton opened in the fall of 1951. Lou would attend East his senior year; however, there was a distressing issue regarding summer school. Our hero ran into a little trouble in the final days of his junior year. His English teacher, apparently uncomfortable with Lou’s brash selfconfidence, graded him on a curve . . . a curve to the bottom, that is. Lou was given an F, and he mustered up quite a protest. Lou’s opposition to his English grade ended in a conference in the school principal’s office, which quickly became Lou’s first courtroom. In his first trial for justice, Lou explained he could not possibly warrant an F because he never made below a D on any paper or test. The principal delivered the judgment that Lou had made a good case for himself and would be given the option of taking a D and advancing to his senior year or attending
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summer school to possibly earn a higher grade. Lou opted for the D, but his father overruled him and sentenced him to summer school scheduled at the new Fulton High School yet to be opened. Don’t feel sorry for Lou, however, as he has always had a knack for coming out ahead. Seems the older boy who lived across the street from Lou, Norbert Slovis, was dating the best looking 17-year-old girl in town, who consoled him with the news that she also was attending summer school and would be happy to give him a ride every day in her new banana yellow 1950 Chevrolet Styleline convertible. With the top down and a gorgeous chauffeur, Lou never enjoyed school more than the summer of 1951. To top it off, he drew the best English teacher of his high school years resulting in a replacement grade of A. As a senior at East High, Lou made friends easily. For a smallish Yankee Doodle kid from New York, he was validated and popular except for one big guy who sucker punched him in the eye in the boy’s locker room. In retaliation, Lou walked up to the boy at the school assembly and commanded him to stand up. Well, the boy stood up, and he kept on standing up until he towered over Lou by at least a foot. At that point, Lou courageously instructed, “Thank you, sir. Now, you may sit back down.” Another intelligent decision suggesting he might survive later as a lawyer. It would be fair to say that Lou was often short on academics, but long on oratory. He was not the valedictorian of his East High senior class, but he was the commencement speaker. He recalls when his application for law school was declined because his college transcript was deficient, he simply walked to the U.T. College of Law and talked his way in by promising he would “make the school proud.” He now concedes, however, that the groundwork for his admission required a recommendation from his friend, Francis “Snake” Cain, who regularly shot pool with the law school dean. Lou used those same skills of persuasion to get a date with and eventually marry Janice “Babe” Curtis of Fountain City. They still make a striking couple today. Lou’s favorite memories of practicing law in Knoxville largely revolve around his law school pals, John Lockridge, Ray Lee Jenkins, and Jimmy Jarvis. The four first met in law school at U.T. and formed a friendship built on a foundation of mutual respect and a dare-to-begreat anticipation of successful careers as lawyers. After their law school graduation, all four entered the practice of law in downtown Knoxville where they remained close friends as they built individual reputations for aggressive advocacy and extremely active social lives. In December 1965, the four carousing counselors planned a road trip to the Tennessee vs. UCLA football game in Memphis. The game will be remembered as one of the truly great victories in Vol history. Tennessee prevailed 37-34 on a late goal-line run by QB Dewey Warren. The back-and-forth battle helped establish the new coach, Doug Dickey, and was highlighted by Warren’s passing to Johnny Mills and Hal Wantland. Notwithstanding the greatness of the game, the significant memory became the hitchhike home when their car broke down leaving the four young and drunk lawyers high, but not all together, dry. The great UCLA game resulted in the formation of a secret society of the
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PRO BONO SPOTLIGHT By: Matt Sharp
Pro Bono Coordinating Attorney/Staff Attorney Legal Aid of East Tennessee
HEADING EAST FROM THE CUMBERLAND GAP On a clear day, standing at an overlook on Buffalo Mountain, it feels like you can see forever. The curves and dips of the hills and ridges stretch up and meet the horizon in a green-to-blue gradient. Below, if you look closely, you can see the patches in the landscape that the people of this region have carved out for homes, farms, schools, and businesses. I took in that view for the first time while I was an undergrad student at East Tennessee State University in Johnson City. And since returning to the Johnson City area to practice after law school, I have gained a better understanding about what I see when I look out over it all. Behind every ridge and around every bend are workers, families, seniors, and people from all walks of life who sometimes find themselves facing problems they cannot solve alone. And when the problem is a legal issue, that presents a unique kind of stress. For organizations like Legal Aid of East Tennessee, one of our greatest challenges and responsibilities is ensuring that those individuals can access legal assistance regardless of where they live. When people think about barriers to justice, financial hardship is often the first obstacle that comes to mind. When the going rate for legal fees is hundreds of dollars per hour, affording the help of an attorney can feel totally out of reach for so many. And that is unfortunately a reality across much of our state and country. Offering free legal help is essential for the struggle to bring justice to every community. And staff at legal aid organizations could not do this alone; the sacrifice, generosity, and expertise of volunteers from the private bar are crucial to our reach and impact. But in a place like rural East Tennessee, affordability and attorney availability are not the only barriers. The same geography that makes for a peaceful home can also create challenges in making access to justice a reality for all residents. Outside of our cities, population density is low, communities are dispersed, and residents may live a considerable distance from courts, attorneys, and service providers. A legal clinic that successfully serves dozens of people in a city might be far less effective when potential clients are spread across multiple counties and hundreds of square miles. Even when legal resources are available, residents may not always know they exist. Information often travels differently in rural communities, and individuals who live farther from population centers can find themselves disconnected from services that could help them resolve legal issues before they become crises. These realities make rural residents particularly vulnerable. The relief the members of our community often need, like getting expungements to move on from past issues or seeking conservatorships to better care for loved ones, can become even harder to access when they live farther from where services exist. Many people attempt to navigate complex legal systems on their own, not because they want to, but because they are unsure where to find help. Distance also creates practical burdens that can be difficult to appreciate unless you have experienced them firsthand. In Knoxville, July/August 2026
attending court may require a short drive across town. In Eidson, a court appearance can mean taking an entire day off work, arranging childcare, and traveling substantial distances over mountain roads. What appears to be a routine hearing on paper may represent a major logistical challenge for a client. The same geographic realities affect our Pro Bono Project and volunteer attorneys as well. Reaching clients often requires extensive travel, creative outreach efforts, and strong community partnerships. Libraries, social service agencies, courts, and nonprofit organizations frequently play an important role in connecting residents with legal resources and helping us reach communities that might otherwise be overlooked. Technology allowing for innovations like remote consultations and electronic filings has certainly helped expand access to justice in its own way. But technology is not a complete solution, and access to reliable internet and phone service remains uneven in some parts. And as many of us realize, not every client has the equipment, connectivity, or digital savvy needed to fully benefit from these virtual services. So while technology has helped narrow the gap, it has not eliminated it. Fortunately, one of the greatest strengths of our region is its legal community. Many volunteer attorneys in East Tennessee already understand the realities of practicing in a rural area. Many are already accustomed to traveling significant distances to meet clients, appear in courts across multiple counties, and serve communities that stretch across mountains and hollers. They understand that serving clients here often requires flexibility, patience, and a willingness to go both the literal and figurative extra mile. That is why pro bono service is so important. When attorneys accept pro bono matters, they do more than provide legal representation. They help bridge the distances that separate vulnerable people from legal help. They make it possible for a custodian to adopt the child they love and care for. They help heirs receive the legacy their family left behind. They assist clients in navigating some of the most difficult moments of their lives. Although the challenges of delivering pro bono legal services to rural communities in East Tennessee are several, we address these challenges with the help of our volunteers. Our volunteer attorneys from the private bar understand the importance of cooperation, and of neighbors helping neighbors, as well as anyone. That spirit has always been one of our region’s greatest strengths. If you ever get a chance to peer out from a mountain like Lookout Mountain, Buffalo Mountain, or Kuwohi, take in the beauty of everything you can see. And understand that everywhere you are looking, that land is home to people whose lives you can change through your work. Through partnerships, innovation, and the continued commitment of volunteer attorneys, we can continue moving closer to bringing justice and legal services everywhere—one client, one case, and one community at a time.
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cc/45YZ-2UTA. Tasha Tsiaperas, Hypnotized witness helped put dog’s killer on death row - but grandma’s killer goes free, Dallas Morning News (Oct. 19, 2017), https://perma. cc/8APU-BUKS. Flores v. Thaler, No. 3-07-CV-0413-M-BD, 2011 U.S. Dist. LEXIS 158338, at *24 (N.D. Tex. Mar. 3, 2011). See Ariel Ramchandani, False witness: why is the US still using hypnosis to convict criminals? Guardian (Oct. 4, 2019), https://perma.cc/85HU-C7FM. Marco Poggio, The Hypnosis That Helped Send A Man To Death Row, Law360 (Mar. 20, 2026), https://perma.cc/M3DL-4K3M. Brief for The Innocence Project as Amici Curiae Supporting Petitioner at 11, Flores v. Texas, No. 20-5923 (U.S. Oct. 20, 2020). See Fusion Staff, Meth, Hypnosis, and Murder: An Incredible True Story of Race and Punishment on Texas’ Death Row, Jezebel (May 10, 2016), https://perma.cc/CK6U6ASJ. Lauren McGaughy, Texas Rangers stop using hypnosis after Dallas Morning News investigation reveals dubious science, Dallas Morning News (Mar. 11, 2021), https:// perma.cc/4NWJ-WYP8. Nat’l Registry of Exonerations, Post 1989 Exonerations, Nat’l Registry of Exonerations, https://exonerationregistry.org/cases?search_api_ fulltext=hypno&f%5B0%5D=n_pre_1989%3A0 (last visited June 5, 2026). Brief for Penn & Teller as Amici Curiae Supporting Petitioner, Flores v. Texas, No. 256774 (U.S. Mar. 12, 2026).
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2021), https://newsleaderonline.com/stories/grand-jury-indicts-78,40978, last visited June 7, 2026. Ridgeway, No. W2025-01052-CCA-R3-CD, at 2. Id. Id. at p. 4, n.1. Id. Id. at p. 4. Id. Tenn. Code Ann. §§ 40-35-103; -35-303(b). Ridgeway, No. W2025-01052-CCA-R3-CD, at pp. 5-6; see also Tenn. Code Ann. § 40-35-311(d)(1); State v. Otten, 721 S.W.3d 14, 18 (Tenn. Crim. App. 2025). Tenn. Code Ann. § 40-35-311(d)(1). Tenn. Code Ann. § 40-35-311(d)(2). See Ridgeway, No. W2025-01052-CCA-R3-CD at p. 8; Oral Argument, State v. Michele Lee Ridgeway, No. W2025-01052-CCA-R3-CD (Tenn. Crim. App. May 5, 2026), available at https://www.tncourts.gov/courts/court-criminal-appeals/ arguments/2026/05/05/state-tennessee-v-michele-lee-ridgeway; see also State v. Ross, 49 S.W.3d 833, 846 (Tenn. 2001); Tenn. Code Ann. § 39-17-425(a)(1). Ridgeway, No. W2025-01052-CCA-R3-CD at p. 8. Oral Argument, Ridgeway, at 17:52. Ridgeway, No. W2025-01052-CCA-R3-CD at p. 10. Id. at pp. 10-11. Oral Argument at 22:00. Ridgeway, No. W2025-01052-CCA-R3-CD at p. 11. Id. Id. at p. 15.
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Id. at 50–51. City of Mobile v. Bolden, 100 S.Ct. 1490 (1980) (requiring a showing of purposeful discrimination and holding “disproportionate effects alone are insufficient to establish a claim of unconstitutional racial vote dilution”). Id. at 83–84 (O’Connor, J. concurring). Id. at 84 (O’Connor, J. concurring). See Brnovich, 594 U.S. 647. Id. at 673. Id. at 674. See Callais, 146 S.Ct. at 1142–43. Id. at 1147 (citation omitted) (stating that in “[racial] gerrymandering cases a challenger must show that race was the government’s predominant consideration,” which, here, Louisiana openly admitted). Id.; City of Richmond v. J.A. Croson Co., 488 U.S. 459, 493 (1989) (describing the narrowly tailored analysis as “ensur[ing] that the means chosen ‘fit’ [the] compelling goal so closely that there is little or no possibility that the motive for the classification was illegitimate racial prejudice or stereotype”). See Callais, 146 S.Ct. at 1153 (citations and internal quotation marks omitted). Id. Id. at 1155. Id. at 1155–56 (“While that interpretation does not demand a finding of intentional discrimination, it imposes liability only when the circumstances give rise to a strong inference that intentional discrimination occurred.”). Id. at 1156. Id. Id. at 1157 (“If either politics or race could explain a district’s contours, the plaintiff has not cleared its bar.”). Id. at 1158. Id. at 1159. Id. Id. (described as “critical for ‘disentangl[ing] race and politics’”). Id. at 1160.
four self-titled “Order of the Orange.” The Honorable Ray Lee Jenkins became a successful litigator and eventually a Knox County Criminal Court judge (1982-2007); John Lockridge was an active lawyer in Knoxville for over 60 years and best known for his skill and tenacity in the trial of divorce cases; and the Honorable James Jarvis was a litigator, Blount County Circuit judge, and was appointed by President Ronald Reagan as judge of the U. S. District Court for the Eastern District of Tennessee (1984-2007). Lou remembers the Order of the Orange ate lunch together at least once a week at the S&W Cafeteria (a downtown tradition), Frank’s Brass Rail (fish on Friday), Blaufeld’s (mett and beans), or Harold’s Deli (an alltime classic). The brotherhood remained close over the years with Friday afternoons dedicated to large Italian meals, multiple bottles of wine, and cigars at Alberti’s Italian Restaurant and New Year’s Eve formal dinners at Blackberry Farm ( Jarvis’s family home). When Judge Jarvis went on the bench, the Order gave him a black judicial robe with “Order of the Orange” stitched in the lining in orange thread. Lou, now 92, succeeded in making the U.T. College of Law proud as he distinguished himself as a premier Knoxville lawyer while trying cases in 37 jurisdictions across the U. S. during a law career that spanned 51 glorious years. Now, in retirement, Lou confirms that of all the cities and courts where he has appeared, none was more welcoming or favored with more skilled lawyers than his own hometown of Knoxville. He is now considered the unofficial greeter at Colonel’s Deli where he lectures daily on his legal ventures and the importance of friendship in a life well lived. In many ways, Lou is still that 16-year-old boy making his way up the street in search of a new adventure.
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PRIVILEGED TO BE IN THE LAW By: Thomas M. Hale Kramer Rayson, LLP
HELPING OTHERS WHILE HELPING ONESELF I am high on the practice of law as a vocation and have been reflecting on reasons this profession has meant so much to me. As is probably true for most of us, influences I was exposed to in my upbringing provide some clues. Raised in a large extended family, I grew up in a small East Tennessee town. The people around me – coaches, teachers, neighbors – regardless of age, gender or race, lived classic American values as far as I could tell. Our family was entrepreneurial. My maternal grandfather’s family founded a chain of retail shoe stores, and my paternal grandfather and his brother founded a wholesale food distribution business. I witnessed the next generation manage and grow these enterprises, dealing with the everpresent challenges inherent in the business world. I spent summers of my teenage years delivering produce and other food to grocery stores and restaurants, both large and small, in places like Harlan, KY, Wytheville, VA, and Harriman, TN. My parents strove to impart to my four brothers and me (it is debatable how well it took) lessons about decency, kindness, faith, and generosity—lessons they had learned from the examples set by their parents. These qualities fit well in a small-town environment filled with family, friends and neighbors always there to help one another. The magnitude of my parents’ influence on my understanding of human nature, and why people do what they do, cannot be overstated. My mother’s displays of empathy and kindness to everyone she encountered were powerful examples. My father’s unwavering example of doing the “right thing” with honesty and integrity, regardless of the personal consequences, was front and center. No matter the situation, they often knew what us five boys were thinking before we even figured out what to think. They were always there and engaged with us. From these influences, I subconsciously absorbed the belief that with hard work I could pretty much do anything if I really put my mind to it. I internalized the precepts that being responsible for myself and my actions was critically important and that helping and encouraging others bearing burdens they could not handle on their own was how one observed the Golden Rule. Not an earth-shattering thought, but I came to view the practice of law as a business where one could use their legal knowledge and their own wits to assist people to find solutions to their problems, whatever those problems might be. By reason of the influences previously mentioned, I find great personal satisfaction helping clients successfully solve problems, or in helping them understand why the law may not provide the solution they seek. For me it is not just helping solve problems that is so satisfying,
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but it is doing so using one’s own creativity and hard work. That hard work often finds itself in settings that are complex and unique, those that involve interesting fact patterns and settings, the likes of which, as the saying goes, “one could not make up!” I am constantly amazed at the interesting and contorted situations in which some clients seem to find themselves. But, it is not just the odd situations that I enjoy. The variety of personalities of clients, opposing parties, and counsel who grace our work can be entertaining. We might never have experienced these people and situations were it not for the fact that, as lawyers, we were sought out to provide help that only we could provide. The level of satisfaction for me varies depending on the degree of challenge involved. It is an undeniable fact that what we do as lawyers is hard, and often it is very hard. The practice of pushing through difficult situations and struggling with the nuances of hard-tounderstand legal principles requires and brings out one’s best and most concentrated effort. When we do this, and our efforts are rewarded with a good result, there is no better feeling. It’s hard to believe that through such satisfying, challenging, and sometimes entertaining work, we can also earn a good living in order to sustain ourselves and our families. Also hard to believe, which is contrary to other vocations, is that a lawyer’s living hinges more on the lawyer’s determination and resourcefulness than on any amount of capital investment. If we choose, we can do this work without answering to anyone else so long as we carry out the duties we owe as professionals to our clients, the Courts, and opposing parties. In the Knoxville legal community, we get an added bonus. Not only do we get to engage in this satisfying, interesting, and challenging way of making a living, but we get to do it on a day-to-day basis working with and against the many intelligent and friendly members of our local bar and judiciary. Sometimes it feels as if we take for granted the collegiality of this legal community. We have all heard the stories about how acrimonious and hostile the practice of law can be in other places. The way lawyers relate in this community is a tribute not only to the respectful way most East Tennesseans treat each other, but it reflects the strong influence of the KBA in providing the encouragement and numerous opportunities for lawyers to come to know one another better. All of these positive things about the practice of law could be overshadowed were we doing it in a legal community where integrity, civility, and respectful relations were not important. It is incumbent on all of us to do our part to ensure we do not lose this remarkable culture that reduces the stress often accompanying this difficult work we have chosen to do.
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July/August 2026
HOW TO THRIVE By: Emily Heird
Vantage View Coaching
WHEN CONFIDENCE BECOMES A LIABILITY There is a moment in every high-stakes performance—athletic or professional—when confidence stops being an asset and starts being a problem. The athlete who has won so many times that they stop studying film. The surgeon whose complication rate quietly climbs while their certainty stays high. The attorney who has tried enough cases, closed enough deals, or run enough meetings that they no longer prepare the way they once did. Confidence is necessary. It is also corruptible. Sports psychology has a name for one version of this: the overconfidence effect. Researchers have documented it across domains— pilots, physicians, military commanders—and the pattern is consistent. As competence grows, confidence tends to grow faster. The gap between what we believe we know and what we actually know widens, often invisibly. This is not arrogance. It is something quieter and, in some ways, harder to catch. For attorneys, this gap has real consequences, and it shows up differently depending on the role you are playing. In the Courtroom and the Client Relationship Trial lawyers are trained to project certainty. Juries reward confidence. Judges respond to it. The problem is that the same quality that serves you in front of a panel can work against you in preparation and, less obviously, in how you manage the person sitting across from you in your own conference room. Experienced litigators sometimes over-rely on instinct and pattern recognition, particularly when a case resembles ones they have won before. They stop questioning their read of the jury. They underinvest in voir dire. They trust their cross-examination will land because it always has. What they are often less aware of is that this same confidence shapes how they communicate with clients, and not always in the client’s favor. Overconfident attorneys tend to under-explain. When you are certain about how a case will unfold, the nuance feels unnecessary. Why walk a client through the risks of a particular strategy when you have navigated it successfully a dozen times? The answer is that the client has not. To them, this is not a familiar pattern. It is the most consequential legal matter they may ever face. When that gap in communication becomes visible—when the outcome surprises them, even if it should not have—confidence that was never shared becomes something that looks, from the client’s perspective, like arrogance or worse, negligence. Client satisfaction research in legal services consistently finds that communication quality outweighs case outcomes as a driver of client loyalty and referrals. Clients will accept a difficult result if they felt informed, consulted, and prepared for the range of possibilities. What they struggle to accept is being surprised and that overconfident attorneys create the conditions for surprise by assuming their own certainty is sufficient. Sports psychologists call the underlying mechanism automaticity bias: when a skill becomes so ingrained that it runs on autopilot, the practitioner stops consciously monitoring it. That is useful for free throws. July/August 2026
It is dangerous for closing arguments, where the details of this case, this client, and this jury require fresh attention every time. At the Negotiating Table Transactional attorneys and in-house counsel face a different version of the same trap. Confidence in negotiation is a legitimate tool. Research consistently shows that confident negotiators extract better outcomes. But overconfident negotiators often misread leverage, dismiss signals that the other side is walking, and fail to adequately stress-test their assumptions. In-house counsel especially can fall into the trap of confusing organizational authority with expertise. The longer you hold a seat, the more your confidence is reinforced by the room deferring to you. That deference is not the same as being right. In Leadership This is where the liability is perhaps most costly and least visible. Attorney-leaders—managing partners, general counsel, department heads—operate in an environment that actively suppresses the feedback mechanisms that keep confidence calibrated. Direct reports do not tell you when your decision was wrong. Peers are hesitant to challenge publicly. The information that reaches you has been filtered. In high-performance sport, coaches use what is called an accuracy feedback loop—deliberate, systematic collection of information about outcomes, separate from subjective perception. Elite athletes do not simply feel that training is working; they measure it. They watch the film, even after a win. Attorney-leaders rarely build equivalent systems. They rely on gut, on the absence of complaint, and on the confidence that got them to their current position—which is precisely the confidence most in need of examination. What Recalibration Looks Like The goal is not to undermine confidence. Confidence rooted in accurate self-assessment is still one of the most predictive variables in high-stakes performance. The goal is calibration, closing the gap between perceived and actual competence. Practically, this means building in deliberate reflection after key performances, not just before them. A litigator who reviews what actually happened in a deposition—not what they think happened—is doing the same work an elite pitcher does when they sit with a coach after a start to review pitch selection, not just outcomes. It means seeking disconfirming information. The most confident performers in any high-stakes field have learned to specifically ask: where am I wrong about this? That question, posed seriously and regularly, is not a sign of doubt. It is the cognitive habit that keeps confidence from becoming blind certainty. And it means understanding that the internal experience of confidence is not evidence of competence. It is a feeling—sometimes accurate, sometimes not. The preparation habits that made you good early in your career—are they still in place, or has overconfidence quietly replaced them?
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WELCOME NEW MEMBERS
THE KNOXVILLE BAR ASSOCIATION IS PLEASED TO WELCOME THE FOLLOWING NEW MEMBERS:
NEW ATTORNEY MEMBERS
NEW LEGAL ASSOCIATE MEMBERS Jessica Haun Knox County Chancery Court Danielle Ravitch Dedicated Estate Support Ned Willard Paine, Bickers, Elder, King & Williams, LLP
Sarah Elaine Marlow Samano Family Law David E. McNish Attorney at Law Andrea B. Morgan Hancock Fox Farley Willis & Burnette Alyssa N. Nix Attorney at Law
Terri E. Abel Abel Legacy Law, PLLC Hon. Ben Burton Administrative Law Judge, Social Security Administration Elizabeth K. Collier-Pittman Collier Development Creshelle Douglas Kimsey Defense Tia Florean Freshour Garza Law Firm PLLC
Timothy F. Frost U.S. Bank N.A. Samir G. Harb, Jr. Peterson White, LLP Zachary Henson Henson Employment Law Firm PLLC Aaron Jabaay Breeding and Carter PC Briana A. Lay TNDAGC
Address Changes
Timothy L. Baldridge BPR #: 015777 Progressive P. O. Box 674027 Marietta, GA 30006 Ph: (865) 291-6962 tim_baldridge@progressive.com
Jordan H. Meddings BPR #: 041496 Bradley Arant Boult Cummings LLP 2095 Lakeside Centre Way, Suite 110 Knoxville, TN 37922-6647 Ph: (865) 564-7660 jmeddings@bradley.com
Bryce E. Fitzgerald BPR #: 033289 Pilot Travel Centers 5508 Lonas Dr. Knoxville, TN 37909-3221 Ph: (865) 393-1953 bryce.fitzgerald@pilottravelcenters.com
Geran E. Minor BPR #: 042530 Mandy Hancock Law, PLLC 625 Market Street, 5th Floor Knoxville, TN 37902-2212 Ph: (865) 215-2515 geran@mandyhancocklaw.com
Please note the following changes in your KBA Attorneys’ Directory and other office records:
NEW LAW STUDENT MEMBERS Samuel Johnson Jacob King Noah D. Mooney
Brock Mullins Jordyn Velez
Matthew Birk Morris BPR #: 038761 Marsh Atkinson & Brantley, LLC Ph: (404) 600-0718 Kimberly Seals BPR #: 032461 Kizer, Gammeltoft, & Brown, PC 110 Cogdill Rd. Knoxville, TN 37922 Ph: (865) 692-8777 kimberly@kgbestatelaw.com
Rusty Harmon NMLS #673950 Senior Vice President, Private Banker M: 865.719.9677 rusty.harmon@smartbank.com
Our dedicated private banking team offers exclusive services to attorneys and their practices, providing a deep understanding of your financial ambitions and a collaborative partnership. We invite you to experience banking
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July/August 2026
BARRISTER BITES By: Angelia Nystrom East Tennessee Foundation
LADIES WHO LUNCH….AND LIKE GOOD FOOD I have always loved flowers: looking at them, arranging them, and, most of all, receiving them. I loved to grow vegetables as a child, and my mom’s flower boxes were generally filled with Tommy Toe tomatoes. As you can imagine, I was delighted when I was asked to join the Knoxville Garden Club over a decade ago. I was especially excited for all of the programming, the floral arranging workshops, and learning more about horticulture. It was going to be fun, and I was “in” for all of it. Knoxville Garden Club meetings are serious business. Ideas emanating from these meetings have literally changed the look of Knoxville. KGC members have tended the gardens at Blount Mansion since 1934 (you will frequently find me there pulling weeds), conceived the Dogwood Trails, laid the groundwork for Knox Heritage, spearheaded the establishment of Ijams Nature Center, and much, much more. Sure, lots of business has been transacted over the years… and countless flowers have found their way into exquisite arrangements. But the real star of the meetings for me has been the food. What began with KGC members bringing their own sandwiches to meetings evolved into the hostesses adding sumptuous food served for all to share. Members get to enjoy the snacks each month. While not all of the ladies partake in the goodies, I always make sure that I go hungry. Garden Club ladies love to entertain, and I love to eat. It really is a match made in Heaven. A number of years ago, the Garden Club published a cookbook, Stay for Lunch, which was a collection of recipes from past KGC Presidents, many of which are still served at KGC meetings. This year, the Garden Club decided to republish the cookbook and then sell copies as a fundraiser for KGC’s beautification grants and public flower shows. I am a collector of cookbooks (to the point that Hugh has said “no more”), and my dream is to write my own cookbook. When the KGC book was offered for sale, I was more than happy to purchase one. The book arrived in February, and, while I read it cover to cover, I had not tried any of the recipes. Thankfully, my friend Melissa was in charge of selling cookbooks at the Talahi Plant Sale. To entice purchasers, she made samples of three of the cookies that are featured in the book. In a stroke of great luck for me, she set up across from where I was selling perennials, which meant that I was able to easily—and frequently—sample her wares. The cookies were so good that I feel compelled to share the recipes. They include Rosemary Lemon Cookies, The World’s Best Cookie, and Apricot Bars. The Rosemary Lemon Cookies are, by far, the easiest of the recipes. With the combination of rosemary and lemon, they have an unusual, albeit amazing, flavor. To make them, you will need 1 box lemon cake mix, 1 egg, ⅓ cup of oil, 2 tablespoons water, ⅓ cup chopped pecans, and 1 teaspoon dried crushed rosemary. July/August 2026
To prepare, mix all ingredients together until they have a stiff consistency. Roll into small 1-inch balls and place on non-stick cookie sheet. Press dough ball down slightly to flatten. Bake at 350° until golden brown, about 15 minutes. They require a glaze, which is made with ½ cup powdered sugar and 2 tablespoons lemon juice. Mix together and brush on warm cookies. And that’s all that you do . . . . Easy and delicious. Melissa also made The World’s Best Cookies. With a name that ostentatious, they have to be good. To make them, you need 2 sticks butter, 1 cup sugar, 1 cup brown sugar (firmly packed), 1 egg, 1 cup oil, 1 cup rolled oats, 1 cup crushed Corn Flakes, ½ cup shredded coconut, ½ cup chopped walnuts, 3½ cups sifted all-purpose flour, ½ teaspoon baking soda, 1 teaspoon salt, and 1 teaspoon vanilla. Preheat oven to 325°. Cream together butter and sugar until light and fluffy. Add egg, mixing well, then oil, mixing well. Add oats, Corn Flakes, coconut, and walnuts, stirring well. Then add flour, soda, and salt. Mix well and form into balls the size of small walnuts. Place on ungreased cookie sheet. Flatten with a fork dipped in water. Bake for 12 minutes. Allow to cool on a cookie sheet for a few minutes before removing. These are called the “World’s Best Cookies” for several reasons. They stay moist, keep beautifully, and are the perfect gift. The recipe makes a huge batch. For extra sweetness, sprinkle the warm cookies with granulated sugar. Then watch them disappear. While I’m not completely sure they live up to their name, these cookies are quite tasty. My favorite of Melissa’s creations was the Apricot Bars. They are a multi-step dessert, but trust me when I tell you they are worth it. To prepare, you will need 1¼ cup flour, ⅓ cup brown sugar, 5 tablespoons unsalted butter (softened), and ¾ cup apricot preserves. Mix first three ingredients and press into 9” square pan. Bake at 350° for 15-20 minutes. Spread apricot preserves to within ½ inch of the edge of the bars. The topping requires ¾ cup flour, ½ cup brown sugar, 4 tablespoons butter, ½ teaspoon salt, and ½ teaspoon almond extract. To prepare, melt butter and mix with remaining topping ingredients. Crumble topping over preserves. Bake at 350° for 20-25 minutes. When this step is complete, you need to prepare the glaze, which is made with ¾ cup powdered sugar, 1 tablespoon milk, and 1 teaspoon almond extract. Mix together and drizzle glaze over bars. They take some time to make, but they are worth it. If you like these cookies and want to see what else the cookbook has to offer, let me know. It includes salads, soups, casseroles and other main courses, bread and other goodies, and desserts. I’m happy to share my favorites . . . and even hook you up if you want a cookbook!
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WELL READ By: Summer McMillan Jennifer Morton Law, PLLC
THE LAND OF SWEET FOREVER: STORIES AND ESSAYS BY HARPER LEE When I received this book for Christmas from my son (also a lawyer and fan of Harper Lee), I was excited to read it but not sure what to expect from a book of “stories and essays” discovered in Harper Lee’s New York City apartment after she died. The introduction not only includes common knowledge about Lee’s life but also leads the reader into the book with useful and interesting biographical context for the stories and essays. It reveals that this book is the result of finding “piles of [Harper Lee’s] correspondence and practically every pay stub, telephone bill, and canceled check ever issued to her,” among which “were her notebooks and manuscripts, including the eight stories and eight non-fiction pieces collected” in the book.1 The eight short stories come next. Some I enjoyed more than others—and a couple not at all (I feel like I should probably not admit this in writing about something written by Harper Lee, but there it is). A few of them are so good, however, that they make up for the other ones that I tried to like. “A Room Full of Kibble,” “This is Show Business?”, “The Cat’s Meow,” and “The Land of Sweet Forever” were my favorites—all for different reasons. The highlight of this book for me, however, was the “essays and miscellaneous pieces,” all of which previously appeared in various publications between 1961 and 2006. These range from a humorous one-page recipe for “Crackling Bread” that was published in The Artists’ & Writers’ Cookbook in 1961 to a letter written by Lee to Oprah Winfrey in 2006 about the irreplaceable beauty of paper books in an age of everpresent electronics—“some things should happen on soft pages, not cold metal.”2 Most Harper Lee fans already know the story of how, one Christmas, her friends gifted her a year off work to write anything she wanted. This year of unlimited time to concentrate on her writing yielded her masterpiece, To Kill a Mockingbird. Her firsthand account of that Christmas and that tremendous gift was originally published in McCall’s in December 1961, entitled, “Christmas to Me.” She describes that Christmas as a time when she was living in New York and working for an airline, so she never got home to Alabama for Christmas. For her, Christmas had become “only a memory of old loves and empty rooms, something I buried with the past that underwent a vague, aching resurrection once every year.”3 Each year, since she could not visit Alabama, she would spend Christmas Day with her closest friends in Manhattan, whom she describes as “a young family in periodically well-to-do circumstances.”4 They had a tradition of buying gifts for each other that were “limited . . . to pennies and wits and all-out competition. Who would come up with the most outrageous for the least?”5 But that year, in place of a clever gift that cost pennies, she received a note that said, “You have one year off from your job to write whatever you please. Merry Christmas.”6 Over her many objections, her friends insisted she accept this gift. “It’s a fantastic gamble,” she told them, and, “It’s such a great risk.”7 Her friend and fellow writer “looked at [her] and said softly,
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‘No, honey. It’s not a risk. It’s a sure thing.”8 She describes next that she went to the window, looking out at a rare Christmas snow falling on New York: “Brownstone roofs gradually whitened. Lights in distant skyscrapers shone with yellow symbols of a road’s lonely end, and as I stood at the window, looking at the lights and the snow, the ache of an old memory left me forever.”9 My other favorite of these essays is about Lee’s visit to the set during the filming of the beloved film version of To Kill a Mockingbird. She describes walking around, looking at the movie set that perfectly captured Maycomb, Alabama, and wondering, “[W]hat about Atticus?”10 Then Atticus Finch appeared on set: “A light summer suit, watch-chain across vest, a straw hat and horn-rimmed glasses, a lithe, still-youthful Gregory Peck had somehow grown heavier and solidly into his fifties. The illusion was complete.”11 She also expresses her immense relief that the “non-natives in the cast had made no special attempt at Southern accents” because “[n] othing empties out a Southern movie house faster than tin-eared actors.”12 She concludes with this: Later in the year when I saw the completed film, I got a surprise that remains one of the high points of my life. I watched an inspired performance. In some mysterious way, Gregory Peck’s Atticus Finch transcended illusion. Actors are reluctant to give away their trade secrets. With the passage of time, with more than twenty-five years of his friendship, the mystery of that performance has steadily unfolded, to my great reward and on-going delight. I know what Gregory Peck, gifted and consummate professional, brought to the part—he included himself.13 There are so many good things in this book, and I believe each reader will come away with a favorite one (or more) for different reasons. Whatever your favorite(s), each piece is unique and well worth the read. 1 2 3 4
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Harper Lee, The Land of Sweet Forever, xxvi (HarperCollins Publishers 2025). Id. at 187. Id. at 145. Id. at 143. It was “periodically” because the husband was a “writer” as described by Lee. The introduction to the book discloses that this writer was Michael Brown, a “celebrated lyricist and composer . . . who had first introduced Lee to her literary agents . . . .” Id. at xxx. Id. at 145. Id. at 146. Id. at 147. Id. at 148. Id. Id. at 152. Id. Id. Id. at 153.
July/August 2026
OUTSIDE MY OFFICE WINDOW By: Sarah M. Booher
Tennessee Department of Human Services
RESPITE FOR A TRANSITIONING SOJOURNER He leapt into the car without the slightest hesitation. He was not expected; all I had asked for was dinner. On Thursday I was in the home stretch of a medical issue that had been plaguing me for nearly three weeks. It involved multiple trips to various doctors around town, a couple of procedures, three rounds of different antibiotics, and naps. So many naps. I had neither the energy for, nor interest in, making us any kind of dinner anymore. Since we’d just had Szechuan Garden1 the week before (although I didn’t see a problem here), J decided tacos on a patio were the solution. That portion of the evening went as planned. On the drive home, we saw a figure before us in the road. While we were catching up to it, it cruised with great gusto down the middle of our busy collector road. I screamed, as we have already established that this is what I do when sudden utterances are necessary to a situation. We passed the bounding barrel in the road, pulled over to safety, threw the door open, and in jumped the most darling beagle you’ve ever seen in your life. A consummate gentleman, this dog has obviously never known a stranger in his one- to two-year life. He was a very tired, very thirsty, very enthusiastic gentleman. With him in the safety of our vehicle, J and I locked eyes and the unspoken question hung between us. NOW WHAT?!?! We started knocking on doors. Much like I did in private practice when I needed answers in maybe slightly unsafe situations, I put on a big smile and a clueless persona and made the sweetest inquiries about “this little dog I just found.” No one knew him. We took him home and posted him on social media. No one claimed him. It’s ironic. For months I’ve been angling for another dog: small, 3-4 years old, and it’s probably a girl, although I have a name for each already picked out. Every time I see a precious pup on Knox Vintage Pet Project that I just can’t live without, I forward the post to J. He hearts it and, at best, we say a few sentences about the dog to each other and that’s the end of it. None of them have captured our hearts and attention to the point that we knew it was meant to be. I really wanted this canine angel to be him—to be the dog that was fated to find me. But I soon knew he wasn’t mine. Primarily, our property abuts the busy road we found him on, and we don’t have a fenced yard. My senior dog was being patient with the young whipper snapper, but I know him. I suspected that patience would soon wear thin. And I know this is strange, but I looked at that dog and had no idea what his name was. I still tried to make it work in my head. I contemplated tweaks to our household budget. I thought about how quickly Miss Susie could July/August 2026
get him in for training and how much a rush fence would cost after we moved it to the top of the Big Expenses Implementation Plan. I thought about the trips we have planned through the end of the year and if Aunt Sandy would object to dogsitting two instead of one. Ultimately, we accepted reality, and he began his three-day stray legal hold at Young Williams. At any moment now, he will be eligible to start the next chapter of his little life. I’m grateful to the people who shared our numerous social media posts, for Officer Garcia who broke into a grin when she picked him up because she instantly saw what a good boy he is, and for SOS Beagle Rescue who went out of their way to help us. Knoxville is incredibly lucky to have Young Williams Animal Center. Reaching no-kill status was a huge win for our pet community, and I have adopted many a beloved pet from them in my 21 years here. Why am I sharing this story with you? I guess because this experience drove home a point for me in a very real way. It’s not just that the right thing to do is often the hardest thing to do; we leave a very important word out of the sentence. It’s that the right thing is frequently the emotionally hardest of all the options. We could have just as easily continued driving, and I could have gone straight to bed like I’d intended, leaving him to his own devices. Likewise, we could have saved ourselves the short-term heartache and tears and forced him to fit into our lives at great, but easily parted with, financial expense. However, operating from gut instinct— the thing you just know—we were not his people. We were not his best destiny. We were just an overnight respite for a transitioning sojourner. We live in a society that tells us everything can be ours. We can have it all. If we just put our minds to it. If we just work hard enough for it. If we want it badly enough. But that doesn’t mean we should have it all. Amid our daily information overload, in the face of competing priorities and every type of media incessantly screaming at us, we must silence the noise, take a breath, and figure out the best course of action in unexpected situations. Is it truly for the best, or are we being selfish? Have we examined the situation from any perspective besides our own? Oftentimes, that best case scenario is letting go of something and accepting that it is not for us, it is not ours, and we are not ideal for it. Some things in life are not meant to include us. It might only be ours for a reason, or a season, or a moment, but not forever. Maybe it’s a job, or a friendship, or a dog. It’s okay not to have it all. It’s okay to cherish it while you have it and be thankful it was in your life. It’s also okay to mourn it anyway. 1
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