The topic of this paper is not a typical legal one, which for the most part, we are accustomed to hearing. However, it is a subject which is of concern to many members of our profession. Having practiced for what seems like 100 years (actually since 1960), I can identify with stress and the effect it can have upon you both mentally and physically.   continued...

Do you know whether “ghost-writing” is ethically permitted in Tennessee? Cases appearing increasingly in Tennessee Courts resulted in requests from the judiciary to clarify the Board of Professional Responsibility’s position on undisclosed lawyer participation in drafting pleadings.   continued...

Heavy duty stuff,” I said to myself. I was crowded into a small room at Vanderbilt Hospital listening to a doctor tell three twenty-something-year-olds that there was no hope for their father, one of my good friends. Machines were keeping him alive. They had to decide whether to pull the plug. This decision was forced on these young adults because two years earlier, cancer had claimed their mother. Now they had lost their father as well. He had succeeded in his mission. He had taken his own life. He committed suicide.   continued...

Disciplinary Actions (January - June 2007)