Memphis Law : Spring 2015
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Transcript of Memphis Law : Spring 2015
A publication of the University of Memphis
Cecil C. Humphreys School of Law
Spring 2015 | Issue 3
The University of Memphis, a Tennessee Board of Regents institution, is an Equal Opportunity/Affirmative Action University. It is committed to education of a non-racially identifiable student body. UOM599-FY1415/5M EM Printing
To submit story ideas, alumni updates,
or for other ML related inquiries, please
contact Executive Editor Ryan Jones at
DeanPeter V. Letsou
Executive EditorRyan Jones
Contributing WritersLynda Black
Ryan Jones
Toby Sells
Faculty News EditorKatharine Schaffzin
PhotographyJustin Fox Burks
Chip Chockley
Rhonda Cosentino
Ryan Jones
Cover Designarcher>malmo
Published ByThe University of Memphis
Cecil C. Humphreys School
of Law
1 North Front Street
Memphis, TN 38103
(901) 678-2421
memphis.edu/law
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But while these programs are new, the commitment of our school and our students to Memphis is long-standing. We are among the few law schools that include pro bono activities among our graduation requirements, and I’m proud to say our students have met and far exceeded their service goals, with 2L and 3L students having provided nearly 14,000 hours of service as of this writing. Their activities range from helping elderly and low-income residents prepare advance care directives, to organizing and running a clinic to help low-income Memphians file their taxes, to assisting local firefighters and police officers with wills and durable powers of attorney.
But perhaps most impressive of the students’ pro bono efforts is the student-organized Alternative Spring Break (ASB) Program, now in its sixth year, where more than 70 law students from Memphis and around the country contribute their spring breaks to helping Memphians with legal issues, including juvenile delinquency advice, pro se divorces and immigration matters.
We’re proud of the city we call home and we’re committed to making it an even better place to live, work and learn.
Cordially,
Peter V. Letsou Dean
During the month of January, Memphis Law students engaged in a unique outreach effort: the “30 days of Guthrie,” a social media campaign designed to bring NBC’s “TODAY” show host (and lawyer), Savannah Guthrie, to Memphis to speak to the Class of 2015. The students did not send a traditional invitation to Ms. Guthrie. Instead, they posted daily social media messages with the hashtag #Guthrie4Graduation, telling Savannah, with photographs from around our city, why she should visit Memphis. There were 30 days, 30 photo messages – from St. Jude, to STAX, to the cockpit of a FedEx jet – all conveying the same sentiment: the students’ enthusiasm for their law school’s home, the city of Memphis.
With our move to downtown Memphis in 2010, Memphis Law, now more than ever, has truly become the University FOR Memphis. We are located at the zero milestone marker for Memphis, so all distances to Memphis are literally measured to our front door. We’re just blocks from attractions old and new, from Beale Street, to FedExForum®, to the soon-to-open Bass Pro Shops at the Pyramid (which I’m looking at as I write these words). And we’re committed to giving back to the city that has provided us with such a magnificent home.
I could go on about how we’re combining innovative educational programs with service to Memphis, but because of space limitations, I’ll highlight just two. In January, we announced our new Neighborhood Preservation Clinic in partnership with the Memphis City Attorney’s Office. A first-of-its-kind program, this new clinic will force owners of neglected and abandoned properties to remove the blight that mars some of our neighborhoods. Also, in January, we inaugurated our new Healthy Homes Partnership. Spearheaded by Memphis Law and LeBonheur Children’s Hospital, this partnership will allow students to work with community partners for policy and regulatory change with a goal of increasing access to healthy housing and ensuring that every child in Memphis grows up in a safe and healthy home.
The University FOR Memphis DEAN’S LETTER
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LAW & GARDEN:Urban Agriculture in MemphisBY TOBY SELLSThe seeds have been sown for the future of agriculture in Memphis. Urban
farming has become increasingly popular in America’s major metropolitan
centers. It gives cities a way to deal with vacant lots, revitalize entire
neighborhoods, and provide job skills and nutrition to city residents often
struggling with poverty and a lack of access to fresh produce. Memphis
has an impressive number of organizations at the forefront of this urban
agricultural movement, but for years, its progress was slowed by the
lack of recognition of urban agriculture as a legitimate land use under
Memphis’ city ordinances.
SHARING THE ROAD:Shifting Gears in a Ridesharing WorldBY RYAN JONES With ridesharing services Uber and Lyft entering the market with a
resounding splash, the future of urban transportation is being reshaped
in Memphis and across the country. Lawmakers are therefore faced with
trying to regulate and police an industry that is trying to set its own rules.
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CONTENTS
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FEATURES
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23 BUILDING A LEGAL HISTORYBY RYAN JONESThe buildings in Memphis tell a story about our legal community
that delves into the city’s history and takes us all the way up to the
present day. There is a progression of the legal community and its
history that can be seen through our wonderful buildings, each of
which has its own story to tell.
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TRUE BLUE INTERVIEWMichael Joiner (JD ‘09) took a number of different roads on his
way to becoming an attorney. With stops in Montreal, Quebec City,
Washington, Florida, the University of Mississippi, Frayser, and
ultimately back in Memphis, Joiner has a well-traveled and
diverse résumé with a breadth of experiences to go along with it.
SETTING THE BAR: Memphis Law Alumni Class Notes
FACULTY ACCOMPLISHMENTS
FACULTY MATTERS:A Family Concept(ion)BY LYNDA BLACKA Look at the Changing Concept of the Family and
How it is Legally Defined
DIVISIONS
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BRIEFS:News + Events
Back to School at Inns of CourtBY RYAN JONESThe Leo J. Bearman Sr. American Inns of Court recently began a unique
partnership with the Cecil C. Humphreys School of Law in order to develop
interesting and educational programming and foster collaboration between
Inn members and the law school. The result was a yearlong program with a
theme of “Back to School: A Professor’s Perspective.”
#GUTHRIE4GRADUATIONBY RYAN JONESIn November 2014, Student Bar Association (SBA) members decided to
make a concerted effort to get the attention of “TODAY” show host and
former NBC News legal analyst, Savannah Guthrie, in the hopes of having
her speak at their May 2015 graduation. The result was an in-depth, two-
monthlong social media campaign that galvanized the student body and
showcased the entire city of Memphis.
STUDENT PROFILE:20 Questions for 20 Students ML asked 20 students to answer a set
of questions about their law school
experiences, as well as their thoughts on
Memphis itself. The answers ML received
are as intelligent, unique, humorous, and
diverse as our students themselves. Read
on to get a better idea of what it means
to have the true Memphis Law experience.
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BRIEFS: NEWS + EVENTS
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HOUSING ADJUDICATION CLINIC IN THE TOP 15The Housing Adjudication Clinic was named
one of the Top 15 Most Innovative Clinics in
the nation by The National Jurist and preLaw
Magazine. This award-winning clinic places
students in the unique standpoint of an
administrative hearing officer, where they do
fieldwork involving research, investigation, and
drafting written opinion rulings on administrative
appeals in the Memphis Housing Authority’s
Housing Choice Voucher Program. With unique
clinics being nominated from over 75 different
law schools across the country, Memphis Law’s
Housing Adjudication Clinic ranked in the top
15 nationally, with a special designation in the
category of low-income assistance.
HEALTHY HOMES PARTNERSHIPThe University of Memphis Institute for
Health Law & Policy (“iHeLP Memphis”) and
Le Bonheur Children’s Hospital launched the
Healthy Homes Partnership with a special
kickoff event in January. Memphis Mayor A C
Wharton proclaimed, along with Shelby County
Mayor Mark Luttrell, Jan. 15, 2015, as “Healthy
Homes Day in Memphis.”
This partnership will help eliminate
environmental and safety hazards in housing;
promote collaboration among housing and legal
services agencies and health care providers; and
advance best practices and strategies, including
policy and regulatory changes to increase the
availability of and access to healthy housing for
all Memphis-area residents.
2015 ALTERNATIVE SPRING BREAKThe Public Action Law Society (PALS) hosted
the 2015 Alternative Spring Break Program in
March. This year’s weeklong program focused
on the theme, “Exploring the Legacy: From Civil
Rights to Human Rights.” The program featured
five specialized pro bono tracks: Family Law –
Pro Se Divorce; Immigration; Criminal Defense;
Research and Writing – LGBT Rights; and Elder
Law – Advanced Directives.
RICE, AMUNDSEN, & CAPERTON FAMILY LAW SCHOLARSHIPThe University of Memphis School of Law joined
the law firm of Rice, Amundsen & Caperton, PLLC,
in celebrating the establishment of the Rice,
Amundsen & Caperton Family Law Scholarship at
the University of Memphis. The scholarship will be
awarded yearly to students enrolled at Memphis
Law who exemplify academic merit and who have
completed the course in family law. In addition,
the recipients will be offered an intern position
with the law firm for the summer following the
awarding of the scholarship. A reception was
held at the law firm’s offices to celebrate the
establishment of the scholarship.
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TENNESSEE WESTERN SECTION COURT OF APPEALS AT MEMPHIS LAWThe Tennessee Western Section Court of
Appeals held oral arguments in the law school’s
historic courtroom for two days in late February.
BUILDING BLOCKS FOR A BETTER COMMUNITYThe University of Memphis Institute for Health
Law & Policy held its second annual symposium,
“Building Blocks for a Better Community,” in
March. The symposium focused on the critical
ties between community development and
health, joining national experts with local leaders
to learn more about the issues surrounding
how health care and policy relates to a safe and
economically strong community. The symposium
featured presentations from well-known experts
such as Sharon Z. Roerty, MCRP, senior program
officer at the Robert Wood Johnson Foundation;
Marice Ashe, JD, MPH, founder and CEO of
ChangedLab Solutions; as well as Elizabeth
Tobin-Tyler, JD, MA, assistant professor of family
medicine, Alpert Medical School and assistant
professor of health services, policy and practice
at Brown University School of Public Health.
NAHON, SAHAROVICH & TROTZ PLC LAW FIRM SCHOLARSHIPNahon Saharovich & Trotz PLC recently
completed their pledge to endow the Nahon
Saharovich & Trotz PLC Law Firm Scholarship.
Corey B. Trotz is a 1990 graduate of Memphis
Law. The award will be given to a returning
Memphis Law student who is in their third year
of law school, has demonstrated an interest or
desire to advocate for personal injury victims,
and who is in the top third of their respective
class and/or a member of the Law Review,
and/or has past, present or pending service
in a judicial office.
TENNESSEE CRIMINAL COURT OF APPEALS AT MEMPHIS LAWThe Tennessee Court of Criminal Appeals
conducted oral arguments in the law school’s
historic courtroom in February. In addition
to hearing arguments, the judges allowed a
15-minute Q&A session between students and the
attorneys immediately following each case. The
judges also had lunch with a group of Memphis
Law students while at the law school.
Memphis Law alums Tracy Alcock (Bradshaw)
(JD ‘11) and David Camp (JD ‘89) both argued
before the Court while it held session at the law
school. Ms. Alcock is an assistant attorney general
in the Criminal Justice Division of the Tennessee
Attorney General’s Office in Nashville, and Mr.
Camp is a partner at the law firm of Camp &
Camp, located in Jackson, Tenn. Mr. Camp’s son,
Alex, is currently a 2L at Memphis Law.
ELDER HEALTH LAW ADVOCACY CLINIC LAUNCHEDMemphis Law launched the Elder Health Law
Advocacy Clinic in spring 2015. The new clinic
provides students with the opportunity to focus
on substantive health law while representing
elderly clients in need of legal assistance to
address health care issues, such as execution
and administration of advance health care
directives, access to quality health care and long-
term care, eligibility for Medicare and TennCare
Choices, long-term care insurance, diminished
capacity and conservatorship, Social Security
and Supplemental Security Income Disability,
resident’s rights in long-term care facilities,
discharge planning, end of life and hospice care,
and medical futility.
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BRIEFS: NEWS + EVENTSTHE HONORABLE JANICE HOLDER RECEIVES INAUGURAL PRO BONO PAL AWARDFormer Tennessee Supreme Court Justice
Janice Holder received the inaugural Pro Bono
PAL Award from the Public Action Law Society
at their annual Alternative Spring Break silent
auction and fundraiser.
LAW REVIEW EDITORIAL BOARD 2014-2015The incoming editorial board for volume
46 of The University of Memphis Law Review
is as follows:
Greg Wagner, Editor-in-chief
Sarah Smith, Managing editor
Ben Lewis, Senior articles editor
MK Smith, Senior notes editor
Quynh-Anh Dang, Research editor
Kelly Gray, Business editor
Kelly Masters, Symposium editor
Jordan Cash, Articles editor
Sydney Eason, Articles editor
John Floyd, Articles editor
Bill Pannell, Articles editor
Phoebe Dossett, Notes editor
Lorrie Hayes, Notes editor
Patrick Quinn, Notes editor
Matt Schwimmer, Notes editor
Jake Strawn, Notes editor
Sam Wright, Notes editor
ANNUAL FRANCIS GABOR MEMORIAL LECTUREThe Annual Francis Gabor Memorial Lecture
took place in the historic courtroom in February.
The special guest speaker was Dr. Ralph Wilde
(University College London), who gave a lecture
titled “Dilemmas in Promoting Global Economic
Justice Through Law: A Case Study of the
‘Maastricht Principles on the Extraterritorial
Obligations of States in the Area of Economic,
Social and Cultural Rights’ and Their Associated
Commentary.”
MOCK TRIAL TEAM EXCELS AT REGIONALSThe Memphis Law Mock Trial Team performed
well at the National Trial Competition Regionals.
The Mock Trial team of Josh Bradley (3L),
Brian Burns (2L), and Darius Walker (2L) won
each of their three preliminary round trials,
defeating teams from the University of Kentucky,
Washington University in St. Louis, and the
University of Arkansas-Little Rock. Advancing
undefeated to the quarterfinals as the third-
ranked team (out of 28 teams overall), the
team bested Belmont to advance to the
semifinal round.
The Mock Trial Team of Paige Munn (3L), Ethan
Page (3L), and Justin Prescott (2L) dropped a
close opening trial to the University of Kentucky.
The team then reeled off consecutive wins
against University of Louisville and University of
Arkansas-Fayetteville.
MOOT COURT TRAVEL TEAMS The Thurgood Marshall Mock Trial Team
represented the Black Law Students Association
Southern Region at the National Competition in
the spring.
After three very competitive preliminary rounds
in the regional competition, our students went
on to beat out 12 teams for second-place finalist
in the region, securing a spot at the National
Competition. Students Brittany Williams, Joe
Smith, Jana Mitchell, and Crystal Johnson were
the team members. They were coached by
Bridgett Stigger and Professor Demetria Frank.
The Fredrick Douglas Moot Court Team also
represented the law school well, finishing fourth
in the region. Law students Ariel Anthony
and Aurelia Patterson made up one team,
with students Jarrett Spence and Jerrick
Murrell composing the second. Both teams
were coached by Andre Mathis.
The Duberstein Moot Court Team of Martha
Crowder, Brad Reasonover and Ross Smith
won first place at the Duberstein Regional
Competition in Las Vegas, Nev., in February.
3L Ross Smith won Best Oral Advocate in
the regional competition. Deniger Cobb,
Meagan Jones, and Lacy Ward (brief writer)
also competed.
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CHESNEY MCAFEE JOINS CAREER SERVICES OFFICEChesney McAfee joined
the Memphis Law
Career Services Office
as a law school counselor. She is a Memphis Law
alumna who brings a great deal of experience
to the position, with legal experience in both
criminal and civil litigation and a wealth of
knowledge from running her own solo practice
for the past 13 years.
ROBERT L.J. SPENCE JR. ESTABLISHES MOOT COURT AWARDRobert L. J. Spence Jr. recently established an endowed student award to be awarded to a student
for achievement in moot court competitions. Mr. Spence is a 1986 graduate of Memphis Law and the
managing partner of the Spence Law Firm. He is also a member of the University of Memphis School
of Law dean’s advisory board.
BLSA PANELIn February 2015, the Black Law Students
Association (BLSA) held their Civil Rights
Panel. This panel focused on the struggles of
the civil rights movement and how the law
has progressed since that era. In addition, the
panelists shared their personal experiences that
they endured during that time and today as
attorneys, judges, or public figures. The panel
was moderated by the United States Attorney
for the Western District of Tennessee Edward
Stanton III, and featured Judge D’Army Bailey,
Attorney Charles E. Carpenter, Attorney David
Caywood, and former Memphis Mayor Dr. Willie
Herenton as the panelists.
MC
AFE
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HEALTH LAW SPEED NETWORKING EVENTThe Memphis Law Career Services Office and the
Institute for Health Law & Policy hosted a speed
networking event recently for those interested
in health law. Over 25 attorneys from a variety
of health law backgrounds participated in the
event in which students interacted with the
attorneys in a “speed dating” type of question
and answer format. Attorneys from St. Jude
Children’s Research Hospital, Regional One
Health (formerly the Med), and many prominent
local firms took part in the event.
LAW REVIEW ANNUAL SYMPOSIUM FOCUSES ON VETERAN’S ISSUESThe University of Memphis Law Review’s Annual
Symposium, “in re Valor: Policy and Action in
Veteran’s Legal Aid,” was held in late March
2015. The symposium focused on a variety of
policy issues surrounding veteran’s affairs, as
well as what is being done to help veterans, both
nationally and here in the Mid-South.
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BRIEFS: NEWS + EVENTS
The Inns of Court is an organization of attorneys
and judges who share the goal of promoting
professionalism, civility, and ethics in the
legal profession. The local chapter, The Leo J.
Bearman Sr. American Inns of Court, recently
began a unique partnership with the Cecil C.
Humphreys School of Law in order to develop
interesting and educational programming for
this year and foster collaboration between Inn
members and the law school. The result was
a yearlong program with a theme of “Back
to School: A Professor’s Perspective,” which
involved Inn teams collaborating with members
of the law school faculty as they addressed a
particularly relevant area of interest or case.
Each team also included two law students,
who presented a “case comment” about the
respective cases and topics being discussed,
with the participating professors delivering
more in-depth remarks about the cases and
subject matter — resulting in many riveting and
entertaining presentations and discussions.
It was a true success, connecting law school
faculty with esteemed members of the legal
community.
This year’s unique collaboration and theme were
introduced and planned by the Honorable Diane
Vescovo, this year’s programming chair for the
Memphis Chapter of Inns of Court.
The 2014-2015 season was composed of the
following programs and law school participants:
Team 1: “Reflections on the Judicial Elections,”
by Professor Steve Mulroy, with students Martha
Crowder and Alex Hall
Team 2: “To Heller or High Water: Gun Laws and
the Constitution,” by Professor Andrew McClurg,
with students Robert Clapper and Lacy Ward
Team 3: “Don’t Feed the Trolls: A Case For and
Against Patent Reform,” by Professor Jeremy
Bock, with students De’Antwaine Moye and
Lauren Winchell
Team 4: “The Impact of the O’Bannon Decision
on NCAA Recruitment,” by Professor Daniel
Schaffzin, with students Courtney Sharp and
Justin Steele
Team 5: “Probate: How to Catch a Thief,” by
Professor Ralph Brashier, with students Ross
Smith and Jarrett Spence
Team 6: “The Shifting Landscape of American
Educational Law,” by Professor Daniel Kiel, with
students Aurelia Patterson and Erica Tamariz
Team 7: “Medical/Legal Partnerships: Providing
Holistic Care for Medical and Legal Needs,” by
Professor Amy Campbell, with students Nick
Margello and Kyle Turner
BACK TO SCHOOL AT INNS OF COURT
CITY OF MEMPHIS & MEMPHIS LAW ANTI-BLIGHT CLINICMemphis Law’s new Neighborhood Preservation
Clinic was unveiled at a joint news conference
with City of Memphis Mayor A C Wharton in
January. The City of Memphis Law Division and
the University of Memphis Cecil C. Humphreys
School of Law launched the Neighborhood
Preservation Clinic to expose law students to
the complex legal issues surrounding property
abandonment, neglect, and blight.
Under the supervision of City of Memphis Staff
Attorney Steve Barlow and Professor Danny
Schaffzin, students will investigate property
ownership and conditions, communicate with
field code-enforcement professionals, prepare
civil lawsuits, and prosecute neglectful owners
seeking compliance with property maintenance
and other housing and building standards.
Partnering with the Memphis City Attorney’s
Office, the students will handle cases before the
Shelby County Environmental Court. The first-
of-its-kind experiential learning collaboration will
expose law students to the legal, economic, and
social challenges arising from blight in Memphis.
The news conference itself culminated in the
demolition of the long-blighted Executive Inn
Motel at 3222 Airways Blvd., which served as one
example of the types of blight that the clinic’s
students and attorneys will strive to eliminate
from the Memphis community as a result of this
unique partnership.
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#GUTHRIE4 GRADUATION
In November 2014, Student Bar Association (SBA) members decided to make a concerted effort to get the attention of “TODAY” show host and former NBC News legal analyst, Savannah Guthrie, in the hopes of having her speak at their May 2015 graduation. The result was an in-depth, two-monthlong social media campaign that galvanized the student body and showcased the entire city of Memphis. The students went to great lengths to show Savannah that Memphis was a tremendous city that anyone would want to visit, and one that they were extremely proud to show to her (and the world).
STAGE 1The campaign began with the “Guthrie Board,” a wall displayed in the law school student lounge where students wrote messages about why Memphis and the law school were wonderful and why she should come join them at graduation. They then pinned
those messages to the board, took a photo of it and posted it to Twitter, Instagram, and/or Facebook, tagging Savannah Guthrie in the process and using the hashtag #Guthrie4Graduation. This stage of the campaign took place the entire month of December and resulted in a quick response from Savannah and her assistant. After letting us know that she “respects the students’ hustle,” Guthrie said to keep at it.
STAGE 2As the new year started up, so did the next stage of the campaign. January saw the beginning of the “30 Days of Guthrie” project, which involved a daily photo throughout the month of January featuring a different Memphis Law student at a uniquely Memphis sight. Student participation, excitement and engagement were running at full steam. It was clear that everyone was excited for Savannah, but it was also evident that the school had
come together in a special way to showcase their enthusiasm and love for the Bluff City.
WRAP-UPUltimately, the law school heard back from Savannah in early February with the sad news that she couldn’t make it to the Class of 2015 commencement in May. However, she made a personalized video for Memphis Law students expressing her love of the campaign and including words of encouragement for these future attorneys. She even made sure our students got some national love, with a series of tweets from the official “TODAY” show account and a story about the campaign itself featured on the “TODAY” show website.
We are incredibly proud of the students involved in this social media campaign and want to share the students’ excitement about their city with our readers. Please enjoy the full experience of the #Guthrie4Graduation campaign!
BY RYAN JONES
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1. If you could choose any profession besides the law, what would it be and why?
“Wildlife biologist. After spending the last three years inside a building, an office in the middle of the woods seems like a pretty good idea.” – Rob Clapper, 3L
2. Why did you go to law school?
“I was attracted to the field of law because I have a strong passion for helping people, my peers and others less fortunate. I am strongly involved in my community, my church and the city itself, because I am committed to making Memphis a better place for current and future generations. I chose to specifically attend law school in Memphis because of my strong ties to the city and to build a strong foundation that can be used to successfully take the city to heights it could not have previously imagined reaching.” – Corbin Carpenter, 2L
TWENTY QUESTIONS FOR 20 STUDENTS
ML asked 20 students to answer a set of questions about their law school experience, as well as their thoughts on Memphis itself. The answers ML received are as intelligent, unique, humorous, and diverse as our students themselves.
Read on to get a better idea of what it means to have the true Memphis Law experience.
“I always wanted to use my words to make a positive difference in people’s lives. Law is a poetic dance that requires you to paint some vivid factual pictures to get your point across.” – Brandon Boykin, 2L
3. What was your most interesting job prior to law school?
“For sheer variety of challenges: assistant dean of students at the University of Virginia, where I dealt with judiciary and honors adjudication in a student-self-governance context; helped craft responses on such issues as on-campus solicitation, use and abuse of technology, and freedom of expression; performed on-call emergency duties; and did Hispanic/Latino student programming and support.” – Pablo J. Davis, 1L
4. What’s the most embarrassing moment (yours or a classmates) that you’ve witnessed in class?
Seven different students replied with the same answer to this question, so it is clear to ML that it struck a chord. The consensus is that getting asked to leave of Professor Alena Allen’s Torts class is the height of terror and embarrassment. Seeing that two of the students surveyed actually experienced this law school phenomenon, ML feels that it’s safe to say that Professor Allen’s message of preparedness and professionalism has soundly resonated with the students.
5. If you could be any local attorney or legal professional, who would it be and why?
“Maureen Holland. She’s the local attorney handling the Sixth Circuit case going before the Supreme Court of the United States right now in order to fight for marriage equality. I hope one day to create that level of change in our society.” – Sarah Smith, 2L
6. What was your favorite class?
“My externship with the city of Memphis Anti-Blight Litigation Unit. I never thought I would be interested in working with a municipality, (Property and I never really got along during my 1L year) but the externship was extremely interesting. Each week was different and I truly appreciate the experience.” – Brittany Williams, 2L
7. Who is your best-dressed classmate?
Male – Corbin Carpenter Female – Martha Crowder
Also Mentioned: “Greg Wagner. His beige slip-on, faded shoes and hooded sweatshirts are outfits no one can compete with.” – Kelly Gray, 2L
“Logan Klaus. The guy wears flip-flops with suits. He is either very brave or has just stopped caring.” – Rob Clapper, 3L
8. What/Where is your favorite spot to study in the building?
“I think they should rename the study area in the student lounge to the Eason, Dossett, Quinn, Battle, Woods, and Vaught Room, because we spent so much time in there during our 1L year. If you wanted to use that room, too bad. I’ll probably donate to make that name change happen.” – Preston Battle, 2L
9. Most amount of time you’ve spent studying for an exam and which exam was it for?
ML was overwhelmed with one particular response to this question. It’s
AURELIA PATTERSON
BRANDON BOYKIN
ROB CLAPPER
MK SMITH
COURTNEY SHARP
ERICA TAMARIZ
GRANT KEHLER
JARRETT SPENCE
JUSTIN STEELE
KELLY GRAY
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clear that Professor Brashier’s exams elicit a new level of panic for students, resulting in what we hope is subsequent expertise in time management and study skills. The term “PTSD” was mentioned once or twice, and it does not seem uncommon for students to start dreaming about Decedent’s Estates after endless hours of studying.
10. Most overwhelming moment of law school?
“Trying to read Pennoyer v. Neff for our second Civil Procedure class. I went home in tears because I couldn’t understand a word of the opinion!” – Martha Crowder, 3L
“During my Civil Procedure 1 exam, there was a group of questions in which each answer depended on the previous answer. My entire body got hot, knowing that if one answer was wrong, they were likely all going to be wrong. Tears began to form and I knew I was about to cry, but I had to pull myself together. If I started crying, there would be no way I could stop and finish the exam in time. I gave myself a quick pep talk and moved past the question. Thankfully, I passed the exam.” – Aurelia Patterson, 2L
11. Who is the most ambitious student in your class?
Multiple students believe Kimbra Ratliff to be on her way to amazing things, with several of them listing her as impressively ambitious. We’re excited to see all of the great things she accomplishes!
12. Which classmate were you most inspired by during law school and why?
“Every time I see Luke Pruett, he has a smile on his face and is supportive regardless of what you’re doing. He drives from Jackson, Tenn., every day for law school and has still managed to raise two great kids. Kudos to his wife, April, as well!” – Ross Smith, 3L
(An incredible number of students pointed to their peers who are currently raising children while also excelling at law school. It seems that the admiration for law students who are also devoted parents is widespread amongst our students.)
13. What’s your favorite Memphis bar/restaurant since you’ve been in law school?
You thought the answer would be Bardog, didn’t you? Well it’s a bit more complicated than that, according to Lacy Ward.
“Let me break it down by region:”
1. Midtown, circa 2010: Yosemite Sam’s (RIP). Current law students really missed out on my former favorite bar.
2. Downtown: Bardog.
3. Midtown, current day: Bayou. I love it. It’s such an Overton Square classic.
4. Cooper Young – Young Avenue Deli.
5. East Memphis: Hog and Hominy.
6. Edge/Medical District: High Cotton Brewery, where law and beer collide, allegedly.” - Lacy Ward, 3L
14. Who is your favorite professor?
Male – Professor Ralph Brashier Female – Professor Alena Allen
(While Professors Brashier and Allen elicit the most stress, fits of crying and night sweats for their rigorous exams and classes, it also seems that our students appreciate the hard work and high standards that they expect.)
15. Biggest purchase while in law school?
Students submitted a plethora of similar answers here, all centered on one main purchase, but ML thinks that MK Smith summed it up best:
“Books. UGH.” – MK Smith, 2L
16. What is your favorite memory (so far) of your time at Memphis Law?
“Definitely being proposed to here. My fiance and I met at Memphis Law when we were assigned to the same section our 1L year, so it was only fitting that he would propose here at the law school. He recreated my class schedule from that year, with me “attending” each class and getting a special note or gift in each classroom. We finally ended up on the second-floor terrace where there was one more book waiting for me! Once I finished reading through my tears and laughter, he got down on one knee. His parents were there and he had arranged to FaceTime with my mom so they could all watch the whole proposal. Of course I said yes and now Memphis Law is a much sweeter place to go to school!” – Courtney Sharp, 3L
17. What was the most intimidating moment of law school for you?
The submissions came down to a close race between being called on by Professor Allen during the beginning of 1L year (she apparently memorizes names and faces well in advance of the first day of classes), the freshman moot court competition, and orientation. All honorable and understandable choices.
18. What is your favorite thing about Memphis the city?
One of the great things about the students at Memphis Law is that they truly love being here. Memphis is near and dear to all of them and the pride
they show for the city was evident in these answers. The following reply says it well.
“The pride that people have in our city and the desire to make it a better place, despite any outside criticisms that the city receives. Also, the FOOD!!!” – Erica Tamariz, 3L
19. Most stressful exam of law school for you?
Far and away, Professor Brashier’s exams secured their place in our students’ collective minds as veritable institutions of stress and anxiety.
20. The funniest thing you’ve seen while at Memphis Law?
ML received a wide variety of answers to this question (many that ought to remain private), so we’ve selected two responses fit for publication and that share a similar theme: dancing.
“Seeing Professor Bock’s dance moves at Flaw Review made me laugh so hard, I am pretty sure I started crying!” – Preston Battle, 2L (Similar statements were echoed by Brandon Boykin and Sarah Smith).
“Preston Battle doing the Booker T. Washington cheer while dressed in a cheerleader outfit in evidence class on Halloween. If you haven’t seen it, a 2L will gladly show you the video.” – Kelly Gray, 2L (This video is obviously worth watching, since MK Smith also submitted the same answer).
LACY WARD MARTHA CROWDER CORBIN CARPENTER PRESTON BATTLE ROSS SMITH
LUKE PRUETT MEAGAN JONES PABLO J. DAVIS BRITTANY WILLIAMS SARAH SMITH
1313
FOR YEARS NOW, urban
farming has become increasingly popular in
America’s major metropolitan centers. It gives
cities a way to deal with vacant lots, revitalize
entire neighborhoods, and provide job skills
and nutrition to city residents often struggling
with poverty and a lack of access to fresh
produce. Memphis has an impressive number
of organizations at the forefront of this urban
agricultural movement, but for years, its progress
was slowed by the lack of recognition of urban
agriculture as a legitimate land use under
Memphis’ city ordinances. Urban farms in
Memphis operated in a gray area of uncertainty,
with no real legal recognition and assistance to
help them succeed.
However, the seeds have been sown here in the
Mid-South, which will result in a rich harvest for
years to come.
If you’ve been here long enough, you’re familiar
with the rich and fertile fields of the Mississippi
Delta. It spills south from the lobby of the
Peabody Hotel, all the way down to Catfish Row
in Vicksburg, Miss. (as the old saying goes).
The Delta has been long touted as the best place
in the world to grow cotton. Riverboats — packed
to the rafters with fluffy bales of the stuff — plied
the Mississippi River just to reach the open outcry
markets of Memphis. It had such an impact here
that some would still argue today that cotton
built this town.
But even now, drive I-55 north or south from
Memphis when the weather gets warm and
you’ll see brown-and-green plots of flat land
big enough to swallow a dozen football fields.
Farmers there still grow cotton, rice, soybeans,
corn, and much more.
You may have been here long enough, too, to
know that cutting-edge agricultural research is
conducted in the fields and hot houses inside
Shelby Farms Park (it’s where the “farms”
by Toby Sells
14
part of the name comes in), especially around
Agricenter International.
However, to many Memphians, that’s all “way
back then” or “way out there,” in the past or
beyond the bright lights and concrete of the
city limits. Agriculture doesn’t touch their lives,
except at the grocery store and that’s only if they
really think hard about it. But someday soon,
they’re likely to think twice about all of that.
Agriculture is back in the buckle of the grit-and-
grind belt, the home of the blues, booze, and
barbecue. The movement has a cadre of skilled,
vocal, powerful, and passionate supporters
who have built sophisticated organizations and
partnerships between them to ensure agriculture
and horticulture remain a part of this city’s DNA.
The Fresh Food Movement and Urban Agriculture Gardens began cropping up inside Memphis
city limits a few years ago, alongside the arrival
of the fresh food movement here. It’s a tough
time to label with an exact date, but consider as
landmarks the 2001 establishment of one of the
first community gardens here in Orange
Mound and the 2006 opening of the
Memphis Farmers Market.
The most basic tenant of the fresh
food movement is that fresh food
is best — best for your body,
best for the environment, best
for the local economy, and
best for the community. From
this movement we also got
farm-to-table restaurants and,
of course, farmers markets.
Many said Memphis was late
to the party on this fresh food
movement, as towns around it
(like St. Louis or even Fayetteville,
Ark.) had been building their fresh
food infrastructure for years in things like
farmers markets, restaurant co-ops, and more.
Once the movement arrived, though, Memphis
urbanites started looking differently at parking
lots, vacant or abandoned pieces of urban
property, their backyards, and front yards. They
started to remember there was soil — good,
fertile soil — under the grass or asphalt there.
Then, they’d scrape the earth, dig straight rows,
and plant seeds. With a little water and sunlight
(and sweat), they’d soon have vegetables, flowers,
and herbs growing a stone’s throw from a corner
store, a Superfund site, or the Pyramid.
But the fledgling movement (as many do) ran
into trouble with the law.
Law and GardensTwo things happened: The Shelby County
Land Bank was created and began to
sell off county-owned properties. Many
were interested in buying them especially
for community gardens. That’s where
their hearts and dreams ran up against the
government.
The city code simply didn’t allow the gardens,
said Josh Whitehead, Memphis Law alum and
director of the Memphis and Shelby County
Office of Planning and Development. His office
didn’t really know how to process the requests
but they kept coming.
At the same time, he and his team were working
on the new Unified Development Code (UDC),
the blanket zoning code for Memphis and
unincorporated Shelby County. To address the
issue of urban gardens, Whitehead said they
simply changed the code to allow them in every
zoning district.
“So, now you can notice little gardens
throughout the city,” Whitehead said “That’s
because they’ve gone from impossible, in this
huge zoning process to get them done, to now
being permitted.
15
“That obviously came from the community. They
wanted to do these things and we were kind of
telling them ‘no.’ Well, we were telling them ‘no’
through our regulations.”
Other changes to the city code included allowing
farmers markets, mobile food markets, and
allowing residents to raise chickens in their yards.
All of these changes were “cutting edge,” said
Maura Black Sullivan, another Memphis Law
alum and the deputy chief administrative officer
for the city of Memphis, and put the city out in
front of the “fresh food wave.”
“To be able to have urban gardens set up on
vacant pieces of land throughout the city,
it’s important,” Sullivan said.
“It’s important in these
neighborhoods where
kids have never seen
beans grow. Now
they can actually
walk down to
that once-vacant
land or that
once-dilapidated
home and see
beans growing and
tomatoes growing and
know what that’s about.”
An Organized FrontMore people entered the fresh food movement
here and they brought more ideas.
The Mid-South Peace and Justice Center founded
GrowMemphis in 2007 to help coordinate
the efforts of anyone wanting to produce a
community garden. These gardens now number
in the double-digits and are spread across
Memphis from Central Station and Whitehaven,
to Binghampton and Rhodes College.
Markets came quickly, too. The Memphis
Farmers Market opened in 2006. The Cooper
Young Community Farmers Market opened
in 2010. The South Memphis Farmers Market
opened just last year. More than 15 are now in
operation, stretching from Hernando, Miss., to
Millington, Tenn. and from Collierville, Tenn. to
West Memphis, Ark.
In short, the fresh food scene exploded here.
But, Caitlin Dupuigrenet, manager of the Cooper
Young Community Farmers Market, said while
the farmers market movement in Memphis was
new, the idea had thrived in smaller towns all
around Tennessee.
This notion is backed up with a 2006 study by
the state-run Center for Profitable Agriculture.
The report found that nearly 40 percent of
the 55 farmers markets it sampled had been in
operation for 20 years or more.
In addition, Dupuigrenet said the new movement
is like a step back, not forward, to a time when
people bought peaches at the roadside stand and
tomatoes directly from the farmer. And there is a
reason for it, she said — the recession.
“The economic hardships that have occurred
made people spend more time at home and work
more on the local economy,” said Dupuigrenet.
“Farmers markets are a great way to do that. You
know where your money is going and you get to
see and interact with the person your money is
supporting.”
But more ideas came for the fresh food
movement, beyond gardens and farmers markets.
Others started thinking about applying the new
but existing fresh food infrastructure to address
food security (or ensuring Memphis had enough
to eat), food deserts, economic development,
and sustainable living.
The efforts were a patchwork, only because it
was new. But the creation of the Food Advisory
Council for Memphis and Shelby County
(FACMSC) sought to sew the patches into a quilt.
“All these different efforts started in all these
different parts of town,” said Sullivan, a member
of the Food Advisory Council. “So, the FACMSC
came together to ensure everyone had a forum,
to be able to talk to each other and to find the
holes in what was being provided.
“We wanted to make sure of what we were doing
and make sure we were doing it on a citywide
level and to position us to be able to advocate at
the state.”
The council has done just that. It is also a part
of the Tennessee Food Policy Council, which
coordinates the efforts of all food councils across
the state to advocate for fresh food policy.
The Hidden Commerce of Local Agriculture America has a secret romance with farming.
The independence of it, the aesthetic, planting
with hope, and then literally harvesting the fruits
Maura Black
Sullivan
16
of our labors — it all has an allure. But at its core,
(and it doesn’t get more American than this),
farming is a business.
Its lifeblood is money. Its veins are the crossroads
of commerce. For many local farmers, these
crossroads are, of course, the public farmers
markets spanning the city. But there’s a huge,
hidden marketplace for local farmers: the
backdoors of some of Memphis’ best restaurants.
On Saturday mornings, Felicia Willett’s
Pathfinder SUV used to look like a “clown
car.” Willett, the owner and executive chef of
downtown’s Felicia Suzanne restaurant, would
stuff the car with a week’s worth of produce from
the just-opened Memphis Farmers Market.
She had grown used to farmers selling their food
at the backdoors of the New Orleans restaurants
where she’d earned her stripes. But they just
didn’t come in Memphis. So, it was either rely
on wholesalers like Sysco or U.S. Foods, or load
up her clown car on Saturday mornings. But no
more.
“Finally the farmers asked if they could sell me
more food if they came to me on a Tuesday and
I said, absolutely,” Willett said. “And now the
farmers have gotten better organized with the
restaurants.”
She said she still goes to the farmers markets to
see what is available for the next week. But to get
the food physically to her restaurant, she uses
her cellphone, not her Pathfinder. Fresh, local
food for her customers is but a text message away
and more local growers are showing up at the
backdoor of her restaurant to help her put food
on the table.
“It’s been amazing to see in the last 13 years
where this area has evolved as far as the farmers
being a huge part of the restaurant,” Willett said.
One of those farms here is True Vine Farm
in Rossville, Tenn., where Lisa Hart and her
husband, Frank, grow about four acres of
specialty vegetables. She said restaurant sales
are now about half of their sales and the rest
come from farmers markets, and a Community
Supported Agriculture (CSA) Program.
She prefers selling to restaurants, she said, but
there’s a finesse to it.
“I go to the backdoor and cold call them all the
time,” she said. “But you have to be able to read
when they’re busy and when they’re not busy. If
they’re having a personal bad day, you don’t want
to try to sell them something different. You want
to drop off their order and get out of their hair
because they’re running their business, too.”
Local farming has long been on the mind of Ben
Smith, the owner and chef of Cooper Young’s
Tsunami restaurant, ever since he got two free
cases of heirloom tomatoes from a Ripley farmer.
He told Smith he “couldn’t give them away”
because everyone wanted that famous, perfectly
round Ripley tomato.
Smith hauled the tomatoes — Mexican Midgets
or Zebra Stripes, maybe — promptly back to his
Cooper Young kitchen and got to work. He sliced
them up, put them on a plate and drizzled them
with olive oil, basil, and cracked black pepper. He
sold out of the tomatoes in a couple of days, “and
everyone thought I was the genius.”
“To me, it’s always seemed evident that the
hardest working people in the whole food
distribution chain are the farmers, the people out
there every day, getting their hands dirty, fighting
the weather, out in the cold, and out in the heat,”
Smith said. “The whole other end of that chain
is the chefs. We slice up a few tomatoes and put
them on a plate and we’re geniuses. We get all
the credit. I don’t think that’s fair.”
Farmers of the FutureWes Riddle pointed to a huge plot of brown land.
“We can go all the way back to that house out
there,” Riddle said, pointing up to a white,
clapboard structure in the distance. “So, we
probably have about 10 acres out here for us.”
The way Riddle looks at it, that 10 acres is a
classroom. He’s a co-founder of Roots Memphis
Farm Academy, which seeks to train farmers not
only in growing crops, but in growing a business
— a good and sustainable business.
His classroom is that 10-acre tract of farmland
Cont’d on pg 31
Mary Phillips Riddle, co-
founder and co-executive
director of Roots Memphis.
Roots seeks to train farmers
not only in growing crops, but
in growing a business - a good
and sustainable business.
17
technology, sleek marketing, and competitively
affordable services. But because of the quick
and enthusiastic acceptance of these companies,
lawmakers are faced with trying to regulate and
police an industry that is trying to set its own rules.
Uber and Lyft state that they are not like
taxi companies. Rather, they contend they
are technology companies that contract with
independent “partners” to do the driving, with
SHARING the ROADShifting Gears
in a Ridesharing World
IN MEMPHIS, it is nearly
impossible to get from one place to another
without hitting traffic. Despite recent strides
in bike lanes and new visionary leadership at
Memphis Area Transit Authority (MATA), we still
are not a city known for efficient or easy-to-use
public transportation. It’s not surprising, then,
that many have been looking for an easier means
of transportation. With ridesharing services Uber
and Lyft entering the market with a resounding
splash, the future of urban transportation is
being reshaped in Memphis and across the
country.
Uber and Lyft are finding quick success due to
a lack of existing or desirable services from the
taxicab industry, and their ability to appeal to
a younger demographic with their app-based
By Ryan Jones
18
well-designed and secure apps as the interface a
consumer uses to find one of these partners for a
ridesharing transaction. Accordingly, both Uber
and Lyft feel they should not have to follow the
same rules and regulations as traditional taxicab
companies.
It’s been a fast start and successful strategy for
both companies, especially Uber. San Francisco-
based Uber, less than six years old, has expanded
to 54 countries and 250 cities around the world,
according to its website. The Wall Street Journal
reported in December that Uber was valued at
more than $40 billion.
Lyft operates in 60 American cities, but none
overseas. It has been in talks to raise about
$250 million in new financing, putting a $2
billion valuation on the three-year-old start-up.
This represents a 100-percent increase in value
over the last year for the smaller of the two
ridesharing services.
How It WorksDrivers sign up to be independent partners
with both Uber and Lyft. They access customers
through a smartphone app, already uploaded
on customer phones or mobile devices, which
provides the partner with the customer’s location
and credit card information for payment. The
customer logs into the app and requests a ride
from the nearest available driver, the company
takes approximately 20 percent of the charge
off the top, and the driver keeps the rest.
This arrangement has the added benefit of
eliminating both the need to carry cash and the
surprise of a high fare. It’s safer for the drivers
and more convenient for customers.
Drivers themselves are responsible for all of
the upkeep and operational expenses of their
vehicles. But few drivers carry commercial
insurance for their vehicles, raising the possibility
of insurance fraud for not disclosing the
innovative and easy-to-use rating system to parse
out the bad drivers from their systems. Customers
can see the ratings of these drivers before
agreeing on a pickup or fare and can then rate
the drivers after their ride is over. At the same
time, drivers can select what fares they want to
accept, what areas of town they want to serve, and
what hours they want to work.
A Roadmap of IssuesTaxis are one of the most iconic and easily
recognizable symbols of city life. Successfully
hailing a cab in a big city is one of the ways to
show you’ve “made it” as a true urbanite. Yet for
all of their stature in America’s urban lore, the
taxicab industry is being quickly outpaced and
overwhelmed by these new competitors and their
fans, particularly in cities like Memphis that have
been underserved by taxis and other forms of
public transit.
Many of the complaints lodged against
ridesharing services pertain to safety, permits,
background checks, insurance, and registration
fees. Taxicab drivers in Memphis must comply
with all of those details and fees. But taxi industry
representatives here say that Uber and Lyft have
gotten a free pass, by operating beyond the reach
of the city’s traditional rules and regulators, like
the Memphis Transportation Commission, which
has oversight over the rest of taxi industry.
In Memphis as of this writing, a taxi driver would
have to undergo a fingerprint-based background
check, carry a commercial insurance, and pay
a number of expensive registration fees before
being permitted to operate. Uber and Lyft
drivers, however, are not required to register
their vehicles with the city, pay traditional
registration fees, or go through city-led
background and safety checks. The companies
themselves conduct their own background
checks, which they claim are more rigorous than
commercial use of their vehicles.
Both Uber and Lyft drivers are required to have
a valid driver’s license, up-to-date insurance, and
a DMV background check, criminal background
check, and car inspection. For Uber, drivers must
be at least 23 years old and have a four-door
car, 2003 or newer. For Lyft, drivers must be at
least 21 years old and have a four-door car, 2001
or newer. Additionally, both companies use an
Uber customers log into the app and request a ride from the nearest available driver; the company takes approximately 2 percent of the charge off the top and the driver keeps the rest.
19
most cities’ efforts, and drivers carry their own
insurance on their vehicles.
The ridesharing industry got off to a bumpy
start in Memphis. In the summer of 2014, the
Memphis International Airport informed Uber
and Lyft that their drivers would not be allowed
to pickup or dropoff customers at the airport
and issued cease and desist letters to Uber and
Lyft, which both companies ignored. Talks and
negotiations finally began, but as in other cities
across the nation, it has not been as fast or easy to
adapt existing policies and regulations to the new
ridesharing industry.
Memphis City Councilman Kemp Conrad has
been a key figure in the local efforts to find a
middle ground. Conrad worked for months to
finalize the details of a proposed ordinance and
amendment that would update taxi and limousine
regulation for the new transportation era.
“It would be an absolute travesty if we lose
these services here,” said Councilman Conrad.
“It would be devastating to Memphis and our
citizens. These services have just become a basic
expectation amongst business travelers, young
people, and tourists when visiting or considering
relocating to a major city like Memphis.”
One problem area involves the submission of
drivers’ personal information to the city. Both
Conrad and the ridesharing representatives
have said it’s unrealistic to expect Uber and Lyft
drivers to meet the same standards as taxi and
limousine drivers, because they are often just
part-time employees with other full-time jobs.
Chelsea Wilson, a spokeswoman for Lyft, said
they worked with the city to help draft the
ordinance.
"We're not opposed to regulation. We want to
make sure that any regulations recognize the
difference in our model and understand that our
drivers are not professional drivers," Wilson said
in a recent interview with the Memphis Flyer.
"They're everyday residents who are able to, after
passing our rigorous background checks, drive
when they have the time, to make ends meet."
Uber and Lyft already require more stringent
background checks than the city requires,
according to company representatives. The city
would prefer to use fingerprints to check for
criminal records, but Uber and Lyft’s current
method of using credit checks lets the company
know both criminal records and pending crimes.
“We are not anti-regulation in any capacity,” said
Billy Guernier, GM for Regional Expansion at
Uber. “We are simply for regulation that makes
sense. In a lot of cities, it is just a case of the
laws having to adapt to transportation network
companies as a new entity that does not make
sense in the old structure of their regulations.”
As the ordinance currently stands at the time
of this writing, ridesharing providers would be
required to certify under oath that they had
performed background checks, and would
also make personnel records available to the
city on request, according to Conrad. The new
ordinance would also set up a standard insurance
model that all ridesharing services must follow
and would ban the drivers from accepting on-
the-street hailing, meaning that all fares must
come through the companies’ smartphone-based
apps. Additionally, to operate in Memphis, Uber,
Lyft and other ridesharing companies will have
to pay a $15,000 registration fee every calendar
year except the first, which will be pro-rated.
Ridesharing companies also will have to “provide
for and require” the annual inspection of their
drivers’ vehicles and give the city annual reports
showing rider pickup and dropoff patterns, cost
of trip and length of trip.
In addition to being a popular service for young
professionals and law students, ridesharing
services also serve as an easy way to supplement
income for those with spare time. However,
Memphis City Councilman Kemp Conrad has been a key figure in the local efforts to find a middle ground with ridesharing services.
20
Cont’d on pg 30
stricter regulations and increased costs could
bring about a decrease in the amount of drivers
locally. “If Memphis enacts laws and fees that
make my costs increase, or cause Lyft to pay me
less, then I might not drive for them anymore,”
said Memphis Law 1L and part-time Lyft driver,
Charlesa Stoglin. “Drivers pay for their own gas
and car maintenance, so the lower I can keep my
overhead costs, the better.”
Catching a Ride in Other CitiesLocal and state governments across the nation
are attempting to grapple with the same
issues. Some, such as St. Louis and Ann Arbor,
Mich., have taken a stance similar to Memphis,
issuing cease and desist orders, impounding or
towing vehicles, and issuing fines to the drivers
themselves. Others have taken the decidedly
opposite approach and made concerted efforts
to provide Uber and Lyft free rein to operate as
they see fit. For instance, North Carolina recently
passed a law prohibiting cities and municipalities
from regulating “digital dispatch” services,
thereby permitting the new ridesharing services
to freely operate anywhere in the state without
adhering to existing taxicab ordinances. Other
cities fall somewhere in the middle.
ChattanoogaAs in Memphis, Uber took Chattanooga by storm
with no regard for existing laws and regulations,
with the familiar argument that they did not
fall into the traditional category of taxi services.
The local police department decided to delay
citing drivers until the local City Council could
consider legislation.
The Chattanooga City Council approved new
rules for both taxis and ridesharing companies.
That legislation created new guidelines for
companies like Uber and Lyft, while adapting
and loosening some existing rules that apply to
taxicab companies. Under the new legislation,
ridesharing services must now adhere to 22
different guidelines for operation, such as
displaying a decal or logo, and the companies will
be required to pay an initial $5,000 application
fee, then a $3,500 fee per year after that,
substantially higher than what taxi companies
pay.
Chattanooga also formed a Passenger Vehicles
For Hire Board to regularly audit a sample of the
ridesharing company’s records and to inspect
drivers’ insurance records, background checks,
and vehicle inspection reports. The board also
has the authority to investigate complaints
against individual drivers. The Chattanooga City
Council plans to review this new ordinance after
six months and again after a year.
PortlandOn paper, Portland and Uber seem like a perfect
match. The city is tech-savvy, trendy and popular
amongst a younger and creative demographic,
while not being quite dense enough to need
or support citywide, blanket, taxi coverage.
Residents, and city leaders, often praise the new
“sharing economy,” with Portland Mayor Charlie
Hales even writing an op-ed for the Oregonian
touting the city’s support for the idea. “Portland's
sharing economy began more than 100 years
ago. From our renowned library system to our
pioneering of open source code, Portlanders
have lived the ethos of the sharing economy
for decades. Our values reflect our love of
community and our neighbors, our progressive
nature and our willingness to try new things,” says
Hales in his Oregonian editorial. “The sharing
economy is rooted in those same old values,
married to new technology.”
It is therefore surprising that Uber has found
Portland to be its most challenging market.
Uber and Portland first started discussions
in the summer of 2013, but their contact was
still very limited more than a year later. After
initial attempts at legislative change stalled
in September 2013, Uber moved on to easier
markets nearby, such as Vancouver, Washington,
just across the Columbia River from Portland.
In fall 2014 however, Uber began to take a
renewed interest in Portland. Beginning with the
launch of their services in four Portland suburbs
– Beaverton, Tigard, Gresham, and Hillsboro
– Uber’s presence in and around the Rose City
began to bloom. The most popular destination
for these suburban rides was metro Portland,
meaning that riders could get into the city via
Uber, but not back out. This led suburban and
Vancouver residents to turn up the pressure on
Portland officials to allow Uber to operate within
the city itself. Portland was surrounded.
In early December 2014, Uber used this
groundswell of citizen support as a catalyst for
announcing that it was going forward with a
launch of its full Uber service in Portland on
Dec. 5. Uber, however, encountered especially
strong opposition from Portland officials. The
city announced that Uber drivers would be fined
at amounts starting at $2,250 for the first offense,
with the company itself facing a $1,500 fine for
each driver the city catches in the act of breaking
the law.
Only a few days after Uber’s Portland launch,
the city formally sued the company, asking a
Multnomah County judge to order the company
to stop operating until City Hall granted Uber
permission. Rather than mounting an offensive
while continuing operations, however, Uber
opted to negotiate a truce. In a first-of-its-kind
outcome, Uber agreed to remove its services
from Portland for three months to give city
officials time to rewrite rules that would govern
the new ridesharing and the traditional taxi
21
Beginning with stints at the University of Florida
and Alcorn State for baseball, Joiner completed
his undergraduate degree in Memphis at
Lemoyne-Owen College and then transitioned
into a job as a French teacher at Frayser High
School while he worked on his master’s degree
in education leadership at Ole Miss. Soon after
graduating from Ole Miss with a 4.0 GPA, baseball
once again beckoned to him and he moved to
Washington to work as an athletic director.
After several years as an athletic director and
teaching in the Pacific Northwest, Joiner was
presented with an opportunity to travel across
the United States and Canada, with a particular
emphasis on the French-speaking provinces of
Canada. Working as a long-haul truck driver
for a trucking and transportation company, his
French would serve him well — traveling to the
smaller towns outside of Montreal and Quebec
City. During these commutes, he had much time
to contemplate his future and realized he had a
true passion for settling arguments and disputes
and the law itself. He decided to head back
to the Mid-South and attend law school at the
University of Memphis. Here, he excelled both
academically and extracurricularly, receiving
a number of prestigious scholarships, being a
member of the Law Review, and serving as the
Chief Justice of the Moot Court Board.
Since 2009, Joiner has worked for the law firm
of Rainey, Kizer, Reviere & Bell in the areas of
litigation, employment law, insurance coverage and
general insurance defense. He’s also an involved
board member of the University of Memphis
School of Law Alumni Chapter and on the regional
board of directors for his fraternity, Kappa Alpha
Psi. Perhaps most important of all, he’s a devoted
father to his 15-year-old daughter, Jamya.
TRUE BLUEINTERVIEW
MICHAEL JOINER (JD ‘09) took a number of different roads on his way to becoming an attorney. With stops in Montreal, Quebec City, Washington, Florida, the University of Mississippi in Oxford (Ole Miss), Frayser, and ultimately back in Memphis, Joiner has a well-traveled and diverse résumé with a breadth of experiences to go along with it.
MICHAEL JOINER
(JD ’09)A
B
C
22
Family is an important part of Joiner’s life.
His daughter, Jamya, is very active in a
variety of extracurricular activities that keep
them both very busy.
Michael is currently an active member of seven
bars: Tennessee, Mississippi, Arkansas, Missouri,
Kentucky, Alabama, and Washington, D.C. He
took and passed all of the bar exams within a
two-year period after law school.
A proud member of Kappa Alpha Psi
fraternity, he is member of the Southwestern
Province board of directors and represents
the state of Arkansas for Kappa Alpha Psi.
While in law school, he was a member of the
Student Bar Association (SBA), of which he
served as VP during his 2L year, was the chief
justice of the Moot Court Board and a member
of Law Review. He also won the freshman moot
court competition during his 1L year.
He excelled both academically and
extracurricularly, and was recognized during
his 3L year for his hard work, winning the
Outstanding Pupil Award from the Leo
Bearman Jr. American Inns of Court.
A great deal of his work at Rainey Kizer focuses
on workers’ compensation issues in Mississippi
and Tennessee. It’s the kind of work that Joiner
finds fascinating and always evolving.
A
B
C
23
BY RYAN JONESThe buildings in Memphis tell a story about our legal community that delves into the city’s history and takes us all the way up to the present-day. From imposing historical structures like the Shelby County Courthouse and the former U.S. Customs House and Federal Courthouse, to Burch Porter’s renovation of the Tennessee Club Building, the law school’s new home downtown, and the recent eastern migration of firms like Butler Snow into modern offices in areas that were once far-flung suburbs of Memphis — there is a progression of the legal community and its history that can be seen through our wonderful buildings, each of which has its own story to tell.
This building opened in 1925 as the Criminal Courts Building, housing two divisions of Criminal Court, a 300-bed county jail, and various offices. The limestone exterior features several design elements of the Renaissance, including massive scrolls at the setback for the upper floors modeled on those at the Church of Santa Maria Della Salute in Venice. Interior hallways and central staircase are faced with pink-and-dark-cedar Tennessee marble. Notorious criminals incarcerated here include “Machine Gun” Kelly, the FBI’s 1933 “Public Enemy No. l” and James Earl Ray, convicted assassin of Dr. Martin Luther King Jr. After the Shelby County Criminal Courts and jail moved from here in 1982, this National Register Historic District building stood empty until 1998, when extensive renovations were completed and it reopened as the Shelby County Archives and Hall of Records.
Designed by Architect James Gamble Rogers and dedicated on Jan. 1, 1910, the Shelby County Courthouse is the largest and most ornate in Tennessee. Until 1966, this Neoclassical building housed the executive and legislative chambers of Memphis and Shelby County Government, as well as state and local courts. Beginning in 1984, an eight-year renovation resulted in refurbished courtrooms and offices for Circuit, Probate, and Chancery Courts and the Civil Division of General Sessions Court. Many fine details were preserved and augmented, including mahogany doors and paneling, brass door knobs embossed with the County seal, and walls, pilasters, and flooring comprised of seven varieties of marble.
BUILDINGA LEGAL HISTORYPHOTOS BY CHIP CHOCKLEY AND RYAN JONES
ORIGINAL SHELBY COUNTY CRIMINAL COURT (NOW SHELBY COUNTY ARCHIVES)
SHELBY COUNTY COURTHOUSE
24
Before 201 Poplar, there was 128 Adams.
The old Memphis Police Station — a six-story, marble-clad monolith — housed courts, police offices and the city jail from 1911 until 1982 when consolidation moved city and county services under the roof of the Criminal Justice Center at 201 Poplar. The historic building, with parts constructed in 1911, 1954, and 1961, now sits empty and awaits an enterprising and innovative individual or entity to return the northwest corner of Adams and Second to its former glory.
The two-story Greek Revival home was built in 1852 by C.G. Richardson. General Gideon Johnson Pillow, a general in the Mexican War and the Civil War, purchased the house in 1873. In 1880, Peter McIntyre, founder of the first glucose refinery in Memphis, purchased the home. The home has served as a law office for various Memphis attorneys and firms for many years.
The firm of Burch Porter & Johnson is located in what some might consider two of the most architecturally and historically significant buildings in the South. The Tennessee Club Building (130 North Court) was built in 1890, having been chartered 15 years earlier to establish a library and art gallery, foster scientific debates, and act as a social club. It was visited by many of the most prominent people of the time, including Presidents William H. Taft and Theodore Roosevelt. From the front steps, Carrie Nation made a speech condemning alcohol, and political boss E.H. Crump is said to have controlled the city from the dining room.
The Goodbar Building (128 North Court) also was constructed in 1890. In addition to its builder, Colonel William F. Taylor, past tenants have included the Overton and Overton real estate brokerage firm, whose principal, John Overton Jr., was the grandson of Judge John Overton, co-founder of the city of Memphis.
It has been home to Burch, Porter & Johnson since 1970.
Cont’d on pg 33
MEMPHIS CENTRAL POLICE STATION
THE PILLOW MCINTYRE HOUSE AT 707 ADAMS AVENUE
TENNESSEE CLUB/BURCH PORTER JOHNSON BUILDING
25
David C. Porteous was selected by his peers for inclusion in The Best Lawyers in America 2015 for real estate law. This is his third year for inclusion.
Richard Glassman has been admitted to the Litigation Counsel of America as a fellow. The Litigation Counsel of America is the trial lawyer honorary society, composed of less than one-half of one percent of American lawyers.
Hayden Lait has been named 2014-2015 Memphis Mediation Lawyer of the Year by Best Lawyers. Only a single lawyer in each practice area, in each community is honored as Lawyer of the Year.
David J. Harris, of the law firm Burch, Porter & Johnson, was selected for inclusion on the 2014 Mid-South Super Lawyers list in business administration.
The American Institute of Family Law Attorneys honored Larry Rice of Rice, Amundsen & Caperton, PLLC, as One of the Ten Best for Client Satisfaction for the second year in a row.
Dale H. Tuttle, shareholder in Glassman, Wyatt, Tuttle and Cox, P.C., has been selected for inclusion in the 2015 The Best Lawyers in America for his work in the practice area of insurance law. Mr. Tuttle practices primarily in the area of insurance law, insurance defense and products liability.
A. Wilson Wages and co-counsel received a unanimous decision from the Tennessee Supreme Court in West v. Shelby County Healthcare Center, successfully arguing that hospitals cannot maintain liens after bills are paid in full.
Pauline Weaver has been elected secretary of the Government and Public Sector Lawyers Division of the American Bar Association. Additionally, she was recently named as co-chair of the Women in Criminal Justice Committee for the Criminal Justice Section and chair of the Public Education Committee for the Individual Rights and Responsibilities Section, both of the ABA.
W. Kerby Bowling was selected by his peers for inclusion in The Best Lawyers in America 2015 in the fields of administrative/regulatory law. This is his third year for inclusion. He is also on the board of the National Foundation for Transplants.
Jim Miller was recently included among Top Lawyers by 5280, the city magazine in Denver. He currently maintains an ADR practice arbitrating and mediating nationally and internationally through the JAMS Denver, Colo., office.
Frank N. Stockdale Carney was selected by his peers for inclusion in The Best Lawyers in America 2015 in the area of employee benefits. This is his fifth year for inclusion.
Russell J. Hensley was selected to serve on the board of trustees for Christian Brothers University; selected by his peers for inclusion in The Best Lawyers in America 2015 in the fields of corporate law as well as mergers/acquisitions law. This is his eighth year for inclusion.
The Association of Women Attorneys (AWA) selected Tennessee Supreme Court Justice Holly M. Kirby as the 26th recipient of the Marion Griffin-Frances Loring Award for outstanding achievement in the legal profession.
Danny Kail has been appointed the chief administrative officer of the Shelby County Criminal Court Clerk’s Office.
Barry Staubus was re-elected as district attorney general for the 2nd Judicial District of Tennessee (Sullivan County).
Joseph T. Getz was selected by his peers for inclusion in The Best Lawyers in America 2015 in the fields of construction law and construction litigation. This is his fifth year for inclusion. He was named a 2014 Mid-South Super Lawyer in the field of construction law.
LeeAnne Marshall Cox, with Burch, Porter & Johnson, was selected for inclusion on the 2014 Mid-South Super Lawyers list in banking.
Russell Fowler has been named as associate director of legal aid of East Tennessee (LAET) and also currently serves as an adjunct professor of political science at the University of Tennessee at Chattanooga.
Elizabeth (Beth) Stengel is currently serving as the 2014-2015 secretary of the Tennessee Association of Construction Counsel. As the immediate past chairman of the Tennessee Bar Association Construction Law Section, she is on the executive committee for the section; and selected as a 2014 Super Lawyer in field of construction law.
Les Jones, of the law firm Burch, Porter & Johnson, was named to the 2014 Top 50 Memphis Super Lawyers list, the 2014 Mid-South Super Lawyers Top 100 list, and the 2014 Mid-South Super Lawyers list in personal injury medical malpractice: plaintiff.
Lisa Rivera, former assistant U.S. attorney with the United States Attorney’s Office for the Middle District of Tennessee, has joined Bass, Berry & Sims as a member in the firm’s health care fraud practice.
Caren Beth Nichol was selected by her peers for inclusion in The Best Lawyers in America 2015 in the field of commercial litigation. This is her third year for inclusion. She was named a 2014 Mid-South Super Lawyer in the field of family law and a Family Law Power Player in MBQ magazine.
Joe Leibovich, a member of and employment law chair with Shuttleworth Williams, PLLC, has been appointed to the mediation panel for the United States District Court for the Western District of Tennessee. Mr. Leibovich was also recently selected to serve as easurer of the Labor and Employment Section of the Memphis Bar Association.
ALUMNI: SETTING THE BAR
1971
1972
1975 1983
1987
1989
1984
1988
1976
1977
1978
1980
1979
1981
1982
1995
1993
26
Michael J. Mills has joined Nashville metro area HALO Realty as a realtor broker specializing in sales of properties from couples divorcing or properties being probated in estates. Michael continues his law practice as general legal counsel for Brentwood-based Athens Title & Escrow.
Kevin Snider, founding attorney of Snider & Horner, PLLC, was recognized for the second year in a row, as one of the top trial attorneys in the United States by being selected for membership into The National Trial Lawyers: Top 100 Trial Lawyers. Also, Mr. Snider was selected for the sixth year in a row, for inclusion and listing in the highly esteemed Mid-South Super Lawyers magazine as a Super Lawyer. In addition, he has been awarded the highest attorney rating achievable (“AV”) by the Martindale-Hubbell Legal Directory which has recognized him as a highly respected and ethical member of the bar.
Tanja L. Thompson has been appointed as office managing shareholder of the Memphis office of the Littler Mendelson law firm.
Ronald T. Catelli became president-elect of the Monmouth Bar Association, and will become president in May 2015.
Jacob C. Zweig, of Evans Petree, was named Bankruptcy Counsel of the Year by TD Auto Finance, LLC, as part of the firm’s Creditor Rights/Insolvency Group. The award was given for superior overall performance and strategic bankruptcy litigation victories.
Kyle Cannon, of the law firm Glassman, Wyatt, Tuttle & Cox, P.C., was selected as a Rising Star in the area of workers’ compensation by Mid-South Super Lawyers for 2014.
Robert J. Fehse, of Evans Petree, was named Bankruptcy Counsel of the Year by TD Auto Finance, LLC, as part of the firm’s Creditor Rights/Insolvency Group. The award was given for superior overall performance and strategic bankruptcy litigation victories.
The American Institute of Family Law Attorneys honored Nick Rice of Rice, Amundsen & Caperton, PLLC, as one of the Ten Best Under 40 for client satisfaction for the second year in a row.
Kandace C. Stewart, of Evans Petree, was named Bankruptcy Counsel of the Year by TD Auto Finance, LLC, as part of the firm’s Creditor Rights/Insolvency Group. The award was given for superior overall performance and strategic bankruptcy litigation victories.
Keith P. Allen has joined the Schuerenberg Law Firm in Sikeston, Missouri.
Beth Buffington was selected by Super Lawyers magazine as a Rising Star in the field of family law in 2014.
L. Clayton Culpepper III was selected by Super Lawyers magazine as a Rising Star in the field of litigation in 2014.
Bert A. Echols, III, of Evans Petree, was named Bankruptcy Counsel of the Year by TD Auto Finance, LLC, as part of the firm’s Creditor Rights/Insolvency Group. The award was given for superior overall performance and strategic bankruptcy litigation victories.
Greg Pease, a member of Sherrard & Roe, PLC, in Nashville, was honored as a 2014 Mid-South Rising Star by Super Lawyers magazine in the areas of business/corporate law.
Lewis W. Lyons, of Glassman, Wyatt, Tuttle & Cox, P.C., was named a Rising Star in general civil litigation for the third consecutive year by Mid-South Super Lawyers and Memphis magazine.
Aaron J. Nash was named a shareholder at Evans Petree in September 2014 and named Bankruptcy Counsel of the Year by TD Auto Finance, LLC, as part of the firm’s Creditor Rights/Insolvency Group. The award was given for superior overall performance and strategic bankruptcy litigation victories.
Brian L. Yoakum was selected by Super Lawyers magazine as a Rising Star in the field of litigation in 2014; member of the board of directors of the Touchdown Club of Memphis, the executive leadership team of the Memphis Chapter of the American Heart Association, and the board of directors and the executive committee of Mid-South Spay & Neuter Services.
George V. “Harley” Steffens, IV was named a shareholder at Evans Petree in September 2014. He was appointed to the board of directors for the Mid-South Food Bank in January 2014.
Melisa Moore, of the law firm Burch, Porter & Johnson, was named as one of the Top 40 Under 40 for 2014 by the Memphis Business Journal.
Chase Fisher, as of fall 2014, has been working as in-house counsel for Community Health Systems.
Rachelle Gallimore-Scruggs has been named as the director of the Metro Office of Conservatorship Management for the department of the State Trial Courts for Nashville and Davidson County.
Roger Scruggs has joined the firm of Littler Mendelson as an associate attorney in their Nashville office.
Shea B. Oliver, of the law firm Burch, Porter & Johnson, was selected for inclusion on the 2014 Mid-South Rising Stars list in intellectual property litigation.
Steven Medlock and Drew Plunk recently founded the law firm of Beaty, Medlock & Plunk in Memphis, Tenn.
Tamara Davis Mills has been named as in-house counsel and compliance specialist for RINtrust.
As of September 2014, Chase Teeples has been serving as a judicial law clerk to the Hon. William O. Bertelsman, senior district judge at the United States District Court for the Eastern District of Kentucky.
Jennifer Mayham was awarded the Law Student Volunteer of the Year Award, the state’s top award for law student pro bono work by the Tennessee Bar Association, at the 2015 Public Service Luncheon at the War Memorial Auditorium in Nashville.
2013
2010
2014
2006
1996
1997
2003
2005
2009
2012
2001
2004
1998
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JEREMY BOCKProfessor Bock attended the second annual Roundtable on Empirical Methods in Intellectual Property at IIT Chicago-Kent College of Law. He was also a panelist at the Leo Bearman Sr. American Inn of Court program, “A Case For and Against Patent Reform.” Professor Bock also published an article in the University of Richmond Law Review, entitled “Does the Presumption of Validity Matter? An Experimental Assessment.”
RALPH BRASHIERProfessor Brashier’s article, “Conservatorships, Capacity, and Crystal Balls,” was the lead article in the first issue of volume 87 of the Temple Law Review (fall 2014). The second edition of Professor Brashier’s book, “Mastering Elder Law,” was published by Carolina Academic Press in January 2015. In February, Professor Brashier and Shelby County Probate Judge Kathleen Gomes headed a legal-musical presentation on elder financial abuse, entitled “Probate: How to Catch a Thief,” before the Leo Bearman Sr. American Inns of Court.
AMY CAMPBELLProfessor Campbell published a chapter in the Handbook of Community Sentiment. Her chapter was entitled “Is There a Therapeutic Way to Balance Community Sentiment, Student Mental Health, and Student Safety to Address Campus-Related Violence?” She also made a presentation, entitled “Embedding a Longitudinal Experience in Public Health Law/Policy in the Academy & Community,” at the APHA 2014 annual meeting in New Orleans, Louisiana in fall 2014.
DONNA HARKNESSProfessor Harkness’s article, entitled “Bridging the Uncompensated Caregiver Gap: Does Technology Provide an Ethically and Legally Viable Answer,” was published in the spring 2015 edition of The Elder Law Journal.
D.R. JONESProfessor Jones was invited to be a speaker on copyright law at the Wake Forest School of Law Intellectual Property in the Digital Age Symposium. The symposium was in February 2015. Professor Jones discussed fair use issues and issues concerning the resale of digital works. Professor Jones’ article entitled “Law Firm Copying: An Examination of Different Purpose and Fair Use Markets” will be published in the winter issue of the South Texas Law Review. In February 2015, Professor Jones presented a paper topic, “Libraries, Contracts and Copyright” at the 2015 Works-in-Progress Intellectual Property Colloquium (WIPIP) held in Alexandria, Va., at the U.S. Patent and Trademark Office.
DANIEL KIELProfessor Kiel recently had a chapter published in a book entitled “Law & Educational Inequality: Removing Barriers to Educational Opportunities.” His chapter, “Equity Through Differentiation,” examines the foundation and merits of
the claim that equity can be achieved by providing more individualized educational opportunities by granting greater autonomy to individual school leaders. The book was published in spring 2015.
BARBARA KRITCHEVSKYProfessor Kritchevsky gave a presentation entitled “Moot Court Judging: The Good, the Bad, and the Ugly,” at the Moot Court Conference held at Marquette Law School. She was also a panelist at the same Moot Court Conference, serving on a panel entitled “Teaching Brief-Writing: Some Successful Approaches.” Professor Kritchevsky gave a talk on “Section 1983: The First 120 Years” at the Memphis Law CLE “Under Color of Law: Excessive Force and 42 U.S.C. Section 1983” held at Memphis Law School in the fall.
ERNEST LIDGEProfessor Lidge’s article, “The Necessity of Expanding Protection from Retaliation for Employees Who Complain about Hostile Environment Harassment,” was published in the Louisville Law Review. Professor Lidge also served as a presenter on a panel at the ABA Practice and Procedure Under the National Labor Relations Act Committee Meeting, Region VIII. The panel topic was “NLRB Rulemaking: Proposed Amendments to Election Procedures.” Professor Lidge was also a presenter at the Association of Administrative Law Judges Annual Conference, where he spoke on the topic, “Legal Ethics for Administrative Law Judges.”
ANDREW JAY MCCLURGProfessor McClurg’s article, “In Search of the Golden Mean in the Gun Debate,” will be published in volume 58 of the Howard Law Journal as part of a symposium, “Rights vs. Control: America’s Perennial Debate on Guns.” In fall 2014, Professor McClurg gave a presentation entitled, “To Heller High Water: Gun Laws and the Constitution,” to the Memphis Chapter of the Inns of Court.
STEVE MULROYProfessor Mulroy has an upcoming article being published in the Willamette Law Review, entitled “Sunshine’s Shadow: Overbroad Open Meetings Laws as Content-Based Speech Restrictions Distinct From Disclosure Requirements.” Professor Mulroy presented a paper in March at the Sorbonne in Paris, as part of the International Symposium on Freedom of Information & Governmental Transparency in the Open Government Era, University of Paris 1 Pantheon-Sorbonne. His paper, “Sunshine’s Chill: Overbroad American Open Meetings Laws and the Limits of Disclosure,” which takes a comparative approach, will be published in the book produced as part of the symposium.
IN THESE HALLS: FACULTY ACCOMPLISHMENTS
27
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DANIEL SCHAFFZINProfessor Schaffzin’s essay, “So Why Not An Experiential Law School ... Starting With Reflection In The First Year,” was published in volume 7 of The Elon Law Review (winter 2014-15). Professor Schaffzin served on the Planning Committee for the Southern Clinical Conference at William & Mary Law School. At the conference he co-presented a concurrent session entitled “Is Subjective Assessment an Indispensable Cornerstone of Clinical Legal Education? Exploring the Role that Subjectivity Should Play in the Evaluation of Law Clinic Students.” Professor Schaffzin co-presented a concurrent session entitled “Excellent Public Housing Authority Approaches to Conducting Informal Hearings and Making Cost-Effective Use of Legal Services” at the National Association of Housing and Rental Organizations’ 2014 national conference & exhibition in Baltimore, Md. In October 2014, Professor Schaffzin co-presented a CLE entitled “Medical-Legal Partnership in Memphis.”
KATHERINE T. SCHAFFZINProfessor Schaffzin’s article, entitled “Beyond Bobby Jo Clary: The Unavailability of Same-Sex Marital Privileges Infringes the Rights of So Many More than Criminal Defendants,” was published in the University of Kansas Law Review. Professor Schaffzin was cited very prominently by the Supreme Court of New Jersey in the case O’Boyle v. Borough of Longport, as it broadly adopted the common interest doctrine. Professor Schaffzin was also elected as treasurer of the American Association of Law Schools (AALS) Section on Litigation and is serving as Provost’s Fellow for the University of Memphis during the spring semester.
CHRISTINA ZAWISZAProfessor Zawisza presented a session on “Children in the Courtroom” at the 40th annual meeting and conference of the National Association of Administrative Law Judiciary, held in Memphis last fall.
LEE HARRISProfessor Harris was
promoted to full professor in 2014.
DANIEL KIELProfessor Kiel was
awarded tenure in 2014.
FACULTY PROMOTIONS
*PreLaw, 2014
WHICH LAW SCHOOL BOASTS THE #1 RANKED
FACILITY?
Just five years after relocation, we’re proud that our Cecil C. Humphreys School of Law was named top facility in the nation.* But ask any U of M law student or graduate and they’ll tell you that here, an education is measured in more than world-class facilities. It’s measured in the kind of practical, real-world opportunities and experiences only Memphis provides.
Driven by doing.of
of
ALENA ALLENProfessor Allen was
promoted to associate professor in 2014.
29
FAMILYA
FAMILYCONCEPT(ION)
for adoption. For some, family creation is limited
by infertility, by the legal restrictions on marriage,
or by the absence of an available, adoptable
child.
Thanks to ART, family creation now requires
neither the cooperation of two fertile parents
nor an existing adoptable child. While a single
infertile individual may orchestrate the making
of a child using ART, ironically the number
of participants in the procreative process
has increased from the biologically required
minimum of two to as many as six. So which ones
of these various participants are family? Good
question. The law’s ability to allocate parental
rights and responsibilities is hampered by the
existing legal framework for parentage, which
is rooted in a two-parent paradigm of one mom
and one dad. With ART, the two-parent paradigm
is shattered.
When advances in science outpace revisions to
the domestic relations laws, strict application
of the law to novel facts may yield unfortunate
judicial decisions. One example is in the
determination of maternal parentage rights. Two
glaring flaws present in the parentage statutes of
most states have created, albeit unintentionally, a
statutory structure that fails to acknowledge the
parentage of the biological mother of a child who
used ART and surrogacy to create her family. The
first defect is the false conflict artificially created
between gestational mother and genetic mother.
Under the common law, a birth mother holds the
exclusive maternal rights. This rule makes sense
as long as we are comparing the rights of a birth
mother to strangers, but when we compare the
birth mother’s rights to those of the biological
mother of that same child, the inadequacy of the
rule demands scrutiny. The second defect is the
unequal legal status of male and female genetic
parents created by gender-specific paternity
statutes. Because there is no parallel to giving
birth for men, the law provides several routes
to parentage for men that are not available to
women. Together, these two imperfections have
mounted difficult legal obstacles for an intended,
genetic mother to secure her legal rights as
parent of her child unless she also gave birth to
the child.
Arguably, neither childbirth nor a genetic
link to the child should determine maternity
conclusively. ART requires that parentage laws
be modified to recognize the intent to parent.
One might assume that the deference to the
gestational mother would be revoked by a
surrogacy contract which clearly sets forth the
gestational mother’s role as birthing agent to
someone else’s child. However, in a recent case,
the Tennessee Supreme Court awarded shared
custody of a child created through ART to the
surrogate mother and the biological father
(whose sperm was used to fertilize the surrogate’s
egg). The Court did not recognize the parentage
of the intended mother (who with her partner
had hired the services of the surrogate). For
surrogacy to become a viable option for family
creation in Tennessee, the law must be modified
to permit the surrogate’s pre-birth waiver of
parental rights. Whether the Tennessee General
Assembly chooses to redefine parentage using an
intent test, a genetic test or a hybrid of the two,
what is clear is that comprehensive legislative
change is needed to clarify parentage in the case
of technologically assisted human reproduction.
FAMILY CREATION is certainly not what
it used to be. Assisted reproductive technology
(ART) has assisted not only the infertile couple
but also same-sex couples, singles, and older
individuals. What was once attributable to
exactly two individuals, scientifically required
to be one male and one female, parentage has
evolved scientifically (and must evolve legally) to
encompass a plethora of individuals claiming the
title of parent.
The essence of each of us may be captured by
various titles: friend, volunteer, lawyer, professor,
and author are a few titles that describe me.
But, when I am asked to describe myself, most
of the titles that come to mind relate to my
position in my family. I am a daughter, a wife,
and a mother. Being part of a family is extremely
important to me. The law controls who your
family is by delineating one’s blood relations, the
requirements for marriage, and the conditions
A Look at the Changing Concept of the Family and How It is Legally Defined
By Professor Lynda Black
Professor Lynda Black’s recent work in the Nebraska Law Review draws upon many of these issues and the impact the law will have on future definitions of family.
30
Cont’d from pg 20
industries. This was the first time Uber had
voluntarily left a market.
Uber and Portland city officials are currently
drafting these new regulations, with leadership
on both sides stating that Uber will be operating
in Portland by late spring.
Industry ResponseUber and Lyft have traditionally called upon
their loyal customers to serve as their loudest
voices, staunchest advocates, and most powerful
lobbyists. Their constantly expanding list of
smartphone-enabled customers provides an ever-
ready source of power for the companies when
they are in need of citizen support. But behind
the scenes, Uber and Lyft also employ highly-
paid and highly-powered professional lobbyists
to press their case in city halls and state capitals
across the nation.
Uber has hired an impressive team of former
state legislators, upper-level political operatives,
former political aides, and other well-connected
political movers and shakers. According to The
Washington Post, Uber has hired no fewer than
161 private lobbyists in at least 50 U.S. cities
and states, all in the last two years alone. This is
on top of the company’s already existing, and
growing, policy office.
Uber hired former White House adviser David
Plouffe to lead its lobbying efforts in the fall
of 2014. Plouffe has powerful connections in
Washington, D.C., the White House, and within
the national Democratic Party and is widely
regarded as the main engineer of President
Obama’s first presidential campaign.
Various states have already felt the impact of
Uber and Lyft’s lobbying efforts. Last summer,
the Illinois legislature passed a measure
requiring drivers who worked more than 36
hours every two weeks for the company to get an
official chauffeur’s license and commercial auto
insurance.
The bill overwhelmingly passed with bipartisan
support, as well as that of the taxi industry and
insurance company representatives, achieving
a veto-proof majority. Faced with losing the
lucrative Chicago market though, Uber brought
forth its lobbying team. After organizing a
successful email campaign aimed at Governor
Pat Quinn, as well as an 80,000-signature online
petition, Uber got involved in the gubernatorial
campaign, backing the Republican challenger,
Bruce Rauner (who eventually won the race),
and who publicly backed Uber. The lobbying
team included an attorney who represented
Chicago Mayor Rahm Emmanuel and other top
Democratic leaders, a former Illinois Republican
Party chairman, and the former chief of staff of
then current Governor Pat Quinn. Uber’s efforts
succeeded, when in August, Governor Quinn
vetoed the bill. Uber lobbyists scored another
victory when, instead of overriding the governor’s
veto, the legislature adopted a less severe (and
more favorable to ridesharing services) measure.
The new bill passed in late December.
Though it has less capital than its larger rival,
Lyft has not been standing idly by in the lobbying
efforts. On the federal level, Lyft has hired
two well-known Washington, D.C. lobbying
firms to help fight an upcoming battle with
Congress and the executive branch over how
ridesharing services and the taxicab industry will
be regulated. By pushing for federal legislation
to protect their business models, Lyft and Uber
could bypass local governments and avoid
expensive, repeated local-level political fights.
Uber and Lyft may also end up saving lives. A
Mothers Against Drunk Driving (MADD) report
reveals that increased ridesharing services can
save lives. According to the report, nearly four
in five (78 percent) respondents said friends
are less likely to drive after drinking when
ridesharing services like Uber operate in their
cities. Additionally, 93 percent of people would
recommend Uber as a safer way home to a
friend who had been drinking. In Miami, Uber
ridership is peaking at the same time of night
that historically has been the worst for drunken
driving. In Pittsburgh, demand for Uber spikes at
closing time for bars. In Chicago, three-fourths
of Uber trips on New Year’s Eve were requested
within one-eighth mile of establishments with
liquor licenses.
The Road AheadMemphis has a chance to take a forward-thinking
approach on the modern transportation debate,
a debate that is a much bigger issue than Uber or
Lyft. “Transportation is a critical issue here and
this is a very innovative way to address that issue,”
said Conrad. “Ridesharing services like these are
really helping to make car-pooling the norm.
It’s a huge opportunity to improve our public
transportation and gives us a unique alternative
to our public transportation system here, while
adding improved layers of safety as well.”
The rapid growth of ridesharing services
provided by companies such as Uber and Lyft
has been a clear signal to cities across the nation
that their citizens are not completely happy with
their existing taxi and public transportation
services. There will be a great deal of ongoing
discussion surrounding the ridesharing industry
as it continues to develop. Cities and their
leadership will continue to examine their existing
laws surrounding the transportation industry and
update and modernize them accordingly.
31
close to Agricenter International. Located on the
property is a barn for large equipment, a shed for
smaller equipment, and a long, steel-and-plastic
greenhouse that resembles huge, half-buried
pipe.
Inside the greenhouse were long tables topped
with thousands of black planting cells, some
sprouting tiny, four-leafed sprouts of chard, kale,
collards, and arugula. All of it was covered in
long sheets of frost cloths to keep out the cold
howling just outside the greenhouse.
In the back stood Liam Boyd, tall, young, and
bright-eyed. He was pushing tiny seeds of sorrel,
into tiny cups of black soil. He’s in his second
growing season as a Roots Memphis student with
sights on turning his grandfather’s land near
Eads into a working, profitable farm.
“As a kid, I just wished I didn’t have to go to
school and I just could do this,” Liam said,
nodding his head toward the work before him.
“I wouldn’t have to go to school and I wouldn’t
have to leave the farm. I’d just be able to stay on
the farm and make that my job.”
In its second year, Roots Memphis now has
eight students. Though maybe 20 students have
tried the program, some are cut. Before the
student-farmers ever hit the fields, they hit the
books. They first have to devise a sustainable
business model before they ever get their hands
in the dirt.
“We tell them, ‘you have to pencil a profit before
you can plow one’,” said Mary Phillips Riddle,
a Roots Memphis co-founder and co-executive
director. “They have to know what their farm is
going to look like and how it will support the
lifestyle that they want.”
Riddle called the business curriculum a “crash
course in small business planning,” but the
“number one indicator of success” in the Roots
Memphis program. It’s a deliberate move to
weed out potential students who just want to
grow, Riddle said, because the school’s goal is to
produce economically sustainable farms.
“It’s a really romantic movement because it’s
all based on ethics and values and a new way of
doing things that is healthier for everybody,”
Riddle said. “But making it work in terms of the
dollars and cents of the movement, there’s a
serious need for advancement and sophistication.
That’s what we’re trying to contribute.”
Also, he said, while the number of local growers
is increasing, a relatively small amount of the
food in Memphis is actually produced here.
Local food, he said, is better for the environment
because it’s not trucked in from far away, is
better for the economy because food dollars are
kept locally, and it’s better for the city because
consumers support locals and get to know their
food and farm practices.
And Roots Memphis student-farmer Liam Boyd
gets all that.
“I want to bring general prosperity to the area I
grew up in,” Boyd said. “It’s in the country, so if
you have a good job you have to drive to it … or
you go to college and try to get out of the whole
area.
“I want to prove, at least to myself, that you
can stay in that area and still make something
constructive.”
Food Deserts in the Fresh Food WorldThe 2008 Farm Bill defined a “food desert” as:
“an area in the United States with limited access
to affordable and nutritious food, particularly
such an area composed of predominantly lower-
income neighborhoods and communities.”
Anyone driving around Memphis has seen one.
There are usually dozens of houses, connected
with streets and sidewalks, a corner store and
a liquor store, and not much else. Your mental
map takes you to the closest grocery store and
you know that bananas (not banana Popsicles)
are pretty far away.
Back in 2011, the federal government sought to
map these areas across the country using 2000
census data and a 2006 directory of supermarkets
and large grocery stores. Looking at this data,
the western part of Shelby County is pocked with
food deserts. The desert farthest east was a swatch
of land bordered basically by I-40, the Wolf River,
and Whitten Road.
But let’s consider a Midtown tract bounded by
Cont’d from pg 16
32
McLean to the east, Watkins to the west, North
Parkway to the south, and Vollintine Avenue
to the north. The area scored points in the
report for low income, limited access to
a grocery store within a half-mile of
homes, and limited access to a vehicle.
Lots of children lived there at the time
and lots of seniors, too. This area is
right in the middle of our city but, if
you wanted fresh food in the area, you
really had to work for it.
Much has been done since the report
to quench food deserts here. Farmers
markets have opened in key areas. (The
South Memphis Farmers Market cut the
ribbon on a beautiful new facility in 2013.)
Another example is the Green Machine Mobile
Food Market, a farmers market on wheels that
brings fresh foods to food deserts around the city.
But how are we doing on the issue? It’s hard to
know. People come and go, so do some markets.
But it’s a question that fits into discussions of
what’s ahead for the fresh food movement and
urban agriculture in Memphis.
What’s Ahead?Well, when it comes to food deserts, Maura Black
Sullivan wants a map, much like the government
map from 2011, but better.
“I want a kind of heat map that shows you where
those holes are,” she said. “Cities now have
‘walkability scores.’ How cool would it be to get
your fresh food availability score? Well, there’s
got to be some cool way to say that.”
As for more farmers connecting with more
restaurants, the state government just recently
unveiled its Pick Tennessee Products Farm and
Restaurant Certification Program.
It will help those farmers find bigger, more local
markets and allow restaurants to serve fresher
food and market the Pick Tennessee Products
brand on their menus, signs, and more.
So far, Whitehead said current city codes are
serving the needs of urban growers. But new or
unforeseen needs are always in the offing, he
said.
“When it comes to agriculture and farming,
we have a pretty laissez faire, hands-off kind of
code,” he said. “But that doesn’t mean we can’t
further our code in the future.”
As far as the Memphis local food system is
concerned, Riddle said the infrastructure is
largely in place but consumers need to take a
leap of faith.
“We need folks to behave conscientiously and
choose what kind of city and community they
want to be,” Riddle said. “You can talk all day
about values and ethics and where you buy local.
But if your city is full of people who just want
to go to Chik-Fil-A all the time … that’s an an
actual choice about the kind of city they want
to live in.”
A Fresh Food Trend?The fresh food trend seemed to
(as trends do) come almost out of
nowhere. The volume is high on the
trend now. But will it get louder? Will
it fade away?
To almost everyone interviewed for this
story, the answer was, of course, fresh
foods (and farmers markets and farm-to-
table restaurants) are here to stay.
“It’s absolutely staying,” said Dupuigrenet, of
the Cooper Young Community Farmers Market,
“especially as people get used to this kind of
eating and for their children. It becomes a part
of life, not just a novelty of how we do things.”
Sullivan, with the city of Memphis and the local
food council, said if it lasts anywhere, it’ll be in
the South.
“We have the agricultural roots here and it’s so
close to us,” Sullivan said. “Just about everyone
in the South is a generation away from somebody
who either had a farm or had a huge garden at
their house. I don’t think people want to lose
that.”
Agriculture is in Memphis’ DNA. Make no
mistake about that. Though it went dormant
for a season, it was always there. It bloomed and
yielded fruit. Let’s watch this band of urban
pioneers turn over their fields and beds; watch
them produce fresh food for all of us, season
after season.
Local residents can
now get fresh fruits and
vegetables from locally
grown farms at the South
Memphis Farmers Market.
33
Our historic home. The building at 1 North Front Street in downtown Memphis has quite the legal and governmental pedigree. It has served as a U.S. Customs House, Federal Court House and central facility for the United States Post Office over the course of its lengthy history. Built in the early 1880s, with over 140,000 square feet, the Italianate Revival-style building was considered one of the most beautiful buildings in the South upon its construction.
In January 2010, Memphis Law relocated from the University of Memphis main campus to the building overlooking the Mississippi River in the heart of downtown. The extensive renovation retained much of the historic structure and architectural details: original Pony Express emblems, etched glass, brass window cages, wood beams with intricate hand-stenciled designs, door knobs engraved with the scales of justice, crown molding and Tennessee marble floors and columns. This attention to historical detail is coupled with the addition of innovative technology features installed throughout the building, as well as first-class library facilities and devoted legal clinic space.
UNIVERSITY OF MEMPHIS CECIL C. HUMPHREYS SCHOOL OF LAW
Built in 1963 and located on Civic Plaza, along with City Hall and other government buildings, the Clifford Davis and Odell Horton Federal Building is not as highly regarded architecturally as other buildings in the city, but it is a prime example of architecture of the 1960s and has long been a key piece of the legal infrastructure in the Mid-South. The building itself is named after former U.S. Congressman Clifford Davis and former U.S. District Judge Odell Horton, who practiced law in Memphis and eventually became a state Criminal Court judge and a Federal Bankruptcy Court judge, becoming chief judge of the U.S. District Court for the Western District of Tennessee from 1987 to 1993.
As the Memphis community has grown over the years, it has steadily progressed eastward along Poplar Avenue. The legal community is no exception to this trend, with more law offices opening in East Memphis and beyond. Butler Snow is an example of one of the larger, modern offices here in Memphis, with an expansive footprint in the prominent East Memphis office complex, the Crescent Center. Butler Snow encompasses an impressive amount of both the fourth and fifth floors at the Crescent Center, with offices for over 60 attorneys, making it the second-largest law firm in the city. Sleek lines, impressive views, expansive boardrooms, and modern amenities abound at the firms Memphis home, an example not only of the city’s eastward growth, but also the legal community’s expansion beyond downtown.
CLIFFORD DAVIS AND ODELL HORTON FEDERAL BUILDING
BUTLER SNOW LLPCont’d from pg 24
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1 North Front Street Memphis, TN 38103-2189
PRESORTED Non-Profit Org
U.S. POSTAGE PAIDMEMPHIS, TN
PERMIT NO. 207