BOARD OF PROFESSIONAL RESPONSIBILITY (2003)
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BOARD OF PROFESSIONAL RESPONSIBILITY
of the
SUPREME COURT OF TENNESSEE
LANCE B. BRACY WILLIAM W. HUNT, III
CHIEF DISCIPLINARY COUNSEL 1101 KERMIT DRIVE, SUITE 730 CHARLES A. HIGH
NASHVILLE, TENNESSEE 37217 SANDY GARRETT
LAURA L. CHASTAIN
DEPUTY CHIEF DISCIPLINARY COUNSEL TELEPHONE: (615) 361-7500 JESSE D. JOSEPH
(800) 486-5714 JAMES A. VICK
BEVERLY P. SHARPE FAX: (615) 367-2480 THERESA M. COSTONIS
CONSUMER COUNSEL/DIRECTOR E-MAIL: ethics@tbpr.org DISCIPLINARY COUNSEL
RELEASE OF INFORMATION
RE: TARA ELENA BAZZONE, BPR #18573
CONTACT: JESSE D. JOSEPH
BOARD OF PROFESSIONAL RESPONSIBILITY
615-361-7500
February 26, 2003
TUPELO, MISSISSIPPI FORMER MEMPHIS LAWYER SUSPENDED FROM
PRACTICE OF LAW
The law license of Tara Elena Bazzone, formerly of Memphis, has been suspended for a
period of one year by Order of the Tennessee Supreme Court entered on February 20, 2003.
Ms. Bazzoneâs suspension resulted from her own self-report and from a complaint lodged against
her by attorneys of her former law firm. A Petition for Discipline was filed against Bazzone in
October of 2002. In December of 2002, Bazzone submitted a Conditional Guilty Plea to the
petition in exchange for a one-year suspension.
The Board found that Bazzone had committed several fraudulent acts between 2000 and
2001 regarding her handling of certain estate planning matters on behalf of a client. In
November 2000, Ms. Bazzone improperly back-dated the date of execution of a clientâs will and
a revocable trust and signed a false affidavit attesting that she had witnessed the execution of this
clientâs will. In March of 2001, Ms. Bazzone prepared fraudulent letters testamentary setting
forth that she and both of the clientâs daughters acted jointly as co-executrix in the clientâs
probate estate after the clientâs death in February 2001, where no petition to admit the clientâs
Last Will and Testament had been filed yet with the Shelby County Probate Court. Finally, Ms.
Bazzone provided false statements to the Shelby County Probate Judge to the effect that the
Clientâs will was properly executed in order to have the will admitted to probate in mid-April of
2001.
The Board and the Court found the following as mitigating factors: a) her self-report and
full admission of the misconduct; b) her remorse; c) her lack of any prior disciplinary history; d)
the emotional distress she experienced during the winter of 2000 and spring of 2001, given the
loss of her job at the law firm; and e) the fact that the fraud caused no loss to the heirs of the
estate (the heirs receiving exactly what they were entitled to had the will been properly
witnessed).
The Tennessee Supreme Court further ordered that Ms. Bazzone pay the costs of the
disciplinary proceedings.
Ms. Bazzone can be reinstated to the practice of law in Tennessee at the expiration of the
one-year period only upon filing a Petition for Reinstatement as required in Section 19 of
Supreme Court Rule 9, and only upon her production of clear and convincing evidence that she
should be reinstated to the practice of law.
JDJ:mw
Bazzone 1338 rel.doc