The Knoxville Bar Association (KBA) has begun a search to replace longtime Executive Director Marsha Watson, who will be leaving the post in December after 33 years. As the chief executive officer for the KBA, the director is responsible for the association's day-to-day operations under the policies determined by the KBA Board of Governors. The director manages a staff of five employees, an annual operating budget of approximately $775,000, and all entities' assets. Interested applicants should email a cover letter expressing their interest in the position along with a resume and references. Please include your salary requirements. Download the full job posting.
KBA Member Survey Results Released Evaluating Candidates for City of Knoxville Municipal Judge For Immediate Release
The Knoxville Bar Association today released the results of its Candidate Survey for the City of Knoxville Municipal Judge on the ballot for the August 29 Primary Election. The Survey asked each KBA member to carefully assess whether the candidates have demonstrated the knowledge, skill, experience, training, education, professional ethics, and temperament to fulfill the duties of Municipal Court Judge. The candidates were rated according to the following options: Strongly Recommend, Recommend, Do Not Recommend, Strongly Do Not Recommend, and Do Not Know Well Enough to Rate Candidate. If an attorney did not know the candidates’ qualifications or had no opinion, they were instructed to mark “Do Not Know Well Enough to Rate Candidate.”
“The intent is not to endorse any particular candidate, but rather to inform the public of the opinions of the attorneys actively practicing in East Tennessee regarding candidates’ fitness to serve in the judicial and related offices to which they are seeking election. The Knoxville Bar Association is pleased to provide this service to members of our community who have few, if any, encounters with the court system,” said KBA President Loretta Cravens about the KBA’s Membership Survey policy. “An informed electorate is vital to the efficient administration of justice.”
The Survey was conducted electronically from June 26 until noon on July 14, 2023. Download a PDF of the results.
As a service to the community, the KBA has developed a “Get To Know Your Judicial Candidates” section on its website to provide information about the candidates running for Municipal Court Judge for the City of Knoxville. The site includes educational resources so voters will know what to look for in a judicial candidate and can make an informed decision at the ballot box. But the site's primary focus is the biographical profiles of the individual candidates to provide a convenient way for voters in Knox County to obtain non-partisan information about candidates.
The Knoxville Bar Association (KBA) is pleased to announce the release of an update to the “Legal Resource Guide – Finding Legal Assistance in Knoxville,” a directory of legal service and information providers in our community. This 22-page resource includes information about government agencies, nonprofits, pro bono organizations, and others who help to ensure that all citizens have equal access to justice.
The Legal Resource Guide is compiled from information gathered by the KBA staff from the agencies and offices listed therein. The KBA is grateful for the assistance of the many offices who responded to our requests for updated information, and their generosity in sharing information about their respective organizations with the public.
The Legal Resource Guide is available for online viewing or download from the KBA website at www.knoxbar.org/LRG. The full array of information and services provided to the public by the KBA is available at www.knoxbar.org/legalhelp.
We know that members of the public rely on quality access to appropriate legal services. The Knoxville Bar Association’s Lawyer Referral and Information Service (LRIS) can connect members of the public with a qualified attorney who is a member of the Knoxville Bar Association and can meet their legal needs with skill and care. The Knoxville Bar Association’s Lawyer Referral and Information Service may be reached online at www.knoxbar.org/findalawyer or by telephone at (865) 522-7501.
As a service to the community, the KBA has developed a Get To Know Your Judicial Candidates section on our website to provide information about candidates running for Municipal Court Judge for the City of Knoxville. All four candidates have completed profiles to share their experience and why they want to serve as City Judge. The site also offers educational resources so voters will know what to look for in a judicial candidate and can make an informed decision at the ballot box.
The KBA's Candidate Member Survey for the August 29 City of Knoxville primary will be released to the membership on Monday, June 26, and the deadline is July 14. The Survey is not a popularity contest. Instead, it is an assessment of the merits of individuals, as seen through the eyes of their peers in the legal profession. The KBA believes that this poll will provide the voting public with valuable information because of our members' day-to-day work within the judicial system and the diversity of legal practices in which our members are engaged.
KBA members will assess whether the candidates have demonstrated the knowledge, skill, experience, training, education, professional ethics, and temperament to fulfill the duties of the Municipal Court judge. The Survey will ask members to evaluate each candidate's overall suitability for the offices they were seeking according to the following options: Strongly Recommend, Recommend, Do Not Recommend, Strongly Do Not Recommend, and Do Not Know Well Enough to Rate Candidate. The intent is not to endorse any particular candidate but rather to inform the public of the opinions of attorneys actively practicing in East Tennessee of candidates' fitness to serve as City Court Judge. The larger the percentage of KBA members who participate in the survey, the more representative of our bar will be in the information provided to the public and to the candidates, and the more we prove to the public that the legal profession cares about our system of justice.
Learn more about the candidates by viewing the 2023 Judicial Election pages here.
The formal investiture ceremony for U.S. Magistrate Judge Cynthia Richardson Wyrick will be held May 19 at 1:30 p.m. EDT in the James H. Quillen U.S. Courthouse, 220 West Depot St. in Greeneville. Wyrick, a former TBA president, was named a federal magistrate judge for the Eastern District of Tennessee in 2019, but her investiture ceremony was twice delayed because of the COVID-19 pandemic. You can RSVP for the ceremony using this form.
The Knox County Election Commission conducts five (5) elections every two (2) years, and for an election to be successful, hundreds of individuals are needed to staff Knox County’s 78 Election Day polling places. These individuals come from all walks of life and all corners of the county. They perform the vital work of checking in voters, providing the correct ballot, and helping voters cast their ballot. Democracy depends on these workers and their commitment to fair and secure elections.
There is a myth among many individuals in our community that an election worker must be retired or of a certain age to be an election worker. However, many of our best election workers have full-time employment and take off the two to three days a year needed to work an election. Please don’t let the fact you have a full-time job be a deterrent to considering election work.
Whether you are interested in the process and want to perform election work as a civic duty, you want something to add to your resume, you want to make a couple hundred dollars for a day’s work at the polls, or a combination of these reasons, Knox County‘s Election Commission is interested in talking to you.
Poll workers work all day on Election Day, from before the polls open at 8 a.m. until after the polls close at 8 p.m. In addition, they will need to attend a training session before the election. Poll workers are paid for their time on Election Day and for the training class.
More information on elections in Knox County can be found at www.knoxvotes.org. If you think you might be interested in working, or just want to find out more information about being a poll worker, email us at election.central@knoxcounty.org.
Knox County - 2023 and 2024 Elections
The Chancellors are implementing interim procedures so that they can help to reduce the backlog in opening estates in the Probate Division. The Chancellors have decided to temporarily conduct hearings on their dockets for opening estates, effective immediately. Please review the memorandum, and if you have any questions, contact Scott Griswold, Clerk and Master of Knox County Chancery Court.
For Immediate Release Knoxville Bar Foundation Announces 2023 Fellows
The Knoxville Bar Foundation will recognize twelve esteemed members of Knoxville’s legal community at their Annual Reception on Tuesday, June 20, 2023.
Each year the Foundation inducts a new Fellows Class which is less than one percent of the active bar association. The Fellows represent quality men and women practitioners in our community who have distinguished themselves in the practice of law and service.
The Foundation's Board of Directors reviews numerous nominations and determines the inductees who have demonstrated superior legal skills and high ethical standards and service to the community.
Lonnie T. Brown, Jr., U.T. College of Law
Karen G. Crutchfield, Bernstein, Stair & McAdams LLP
Francis M. Hamilton, III, U.S. Attorney's Office
Carol Anne Long, U.T. College of Law
Elizabeth K.B. Meadows, Elizabeth Meadows, Attorney at Law
J. Randolph Miller, Long, Ragsdale & Waters, P.C.
R. Brad Morgan, U.T. College of Law
Beverly D. Nelms, Frantz, McConnell & Seymour, LLP
H. Douglas Nichol, Nichol & Associates
Courtney Epps Read, Watson, Roach, Batson & Lauderback, P.L.C.
Mabern E. Wall, Hodges, Doughty & Carson, PLLC
Taylor A. Williams, Paine | Tarwater | Bickers, LLP
The Knoxville Bar Foundation is a not-for-profit foundation established to improve public awareness of the legal system in Knoxville, the administration of justice and the delivery of legal services through the distribution of its funds.
The judges for the Knox County Criminal Court have released the revised local rules now in effect.
View the revised local rules online.
For more than 60 years, the KBA Lawyer Referral and Information Service has been assisting the general public in finding an attorney. For many KBA members, it's a key tool for growing their practice. Some members have found LRIS so useful, they have continuously participated for years after their practice is well established. Panel members earned nearly $1.2 million in LRIS-referred cases in 2022 alone.
The LRIS new fiscal year will start on July 1, 2023 - join now to benefit from a full 12 months of quality client leads at one low price. Discounts are available for those practicing less than 5 years. For more details about the LRIS, visit www.knoxbar.org/joinLRIS.
The LRIS staff works hard to identify those clients who will benefit from referral and makes referrals to nonprofit agencies such as Legal Aid, government websites such as TN.gov and consumerfinance.gov, as well as local resources such as 311 and 211 for those whom we are unable to refer. The LRIS receives over 8,000 calls each year from potential clients and completes over 3,000 referrals annually. Potential clients who contact the LRIS are informed that participating attorneys provide a phone or office consultation at no charge, but that panel members independently set their own fees.
LRIS currently has 71 panel member attorneys in 26 practice areas. The average LRIS member has practiced for 20 years. We have attorneys in their first few years of practice all the way to 56 years in practice. LRIS Panel Membership Application FY 2023-24 LRIS Policies & Procedures
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