A Salute to ‘Short-Building’ Lawyers

Lawyers, like kids, say the darndest things. During one of our TBA House of Delegates meetings, one of the House members explained to me that country lawyers call city lawyers like me, “tall building lawyers,” meaning of course, that we practice law in tall buildings and implying, quite accurately, that we tall-building lawyers have gaps the size of Humvees in our understanding of the everyday life of small-town lawyers.

For example, the night after the

President’s column and ‘Byrd’ article very helpful

The following letter was written to Andrée Blumstein about her article, “Bye, Bye Byrd? Summary Judgment After Hannan and Martin: Which Way to Go?” which appeared in the February Tennessee Bar Journal.

I really enjoyed your article on summary judgment in the recent Tennessee Bar Journal. It was very well-written. I particularly liked how you laid out the way the new decisions may be used in practice. Sometimes the articles in the Journ...
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Public Service Luncheon Honors Firms, Individuals for Pro Bono

Nearly 40 law firms were honored for adopting pro bono polices during the 2009 TBA Public Service Luncheon Jan. 17. Three individual attorneys were also honored during the program, which featured a keynote address from Chief Justice Janice Holder. Holder urged attorneys across Tennessee to take part in the April 4 public service effort supported by the TBA.

The Ashley T. Wiltshire Public Service Attorney of the Year Award was presente

Lauren Brittain Patten and Emily B. Warth have joined the Nashville law firm of Walker, Tipps & Malone as associate attorneys. Patten earned her law degree in 2008 from the Vanderbilt University Law School, where she was senior notes editor of the Journal of Entertainment and Technology. Warth has been a practicing trial lawyer for several years, handling general business and tort litigation in state and federal courts. She graduated from Vanderbilt University Law School in 2006.

The Knoxville la...
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Reinstated

Tennessee Legal History: Buying and Selling Public Office

The Illinois governor’s alleged offer to sell President Obama’s former Senate seat to the highest bidder has outraged citizens all over the country. We would hope such a scandal is a rare event.

Actually it is not. During the period of reconstruction following the Civil War the buying and selling of political offices was rampant in the South. One of the most outrageous cases occurred in Tennessee in 1873.

The controversy began when Gov

Specificity Requirements in Pleadings and Motions

When I was a baby law professor in the ’60s, specificity reigned. But adoption of the Tennessee Rules of Civil Procedure changed things effective Jan. 1, 1971. Following the federal model, our Rules allowed generalities. For example, a plaintiff only need plead a short and plain statement of the claim. The defendant can respond
with a short and plain statement of defenses.

Yet specificity requirements remain. Let us take a look. If you represent

A Time to Bring Back Law Suits … and Shoe Shines

Long-time readers of this silly column (and you know who you are) know how I feel about how we lawyers should dress. I believe that every problem now faced by the American legal profession — tort reform, the decline in civility, Alberto Gonzales — has been caused by the advent of “casual day” at law firms throughout our once well-dressed nation.

When I started practicing law back during the Carter administration, lawyers knew how to dress.