Do you think you might be having a heart attack? No matter what the actual ailment is. Food poisoning. Anxiety. Indigestion. Insomnia. When you wake up at 2am, with a racing heart, and a feeling that something isn’t quite right, and get asked “Do you think you might be having a heart attack?” Well, in … Continue reading “On Lawyer Stress (a/k/a the Post I will send clients when I raise my rates for 2023)”
Where a foreign judgment is based on substantive law that is inconsistent with Tennessee law, will a Tennessee court deny domestication of that judgment in Tennessee? The short answer is “no.” A Tennessee court will only look at whether the judgment is valid in the foreign state and will not consider substantive defenses based on … Continue reading “Tennessee Courts will not consider substantive challenges to foreign judgments”
I promised a follow-up to my “Best of List,” but, since complaining is more fun, I am writing about some things I disliked in 2022. The courts system’s quick return to pre-COVID practices. You remember my rant when I caught COVID on a 5 hour docket in July. I think courts were too quick to … Continue reading “My 2022 Worst of Legal List: A Highly Biased List of Niche Things I Disliked”
Everybody’s doing “end of the year” lists, so this is my list of law-related things that I’ve enjoyed in 2022, in no particular order: Best Show About Lawyers? Extraordinary Attorney Woo: This South Korean legal dramedy follows Woo Young-woo, a new law school grad starting her career at a white shoe law firm. It debuted … Continue reading “My 2022 Best of Legal Lists (Part 1): A Highly Biased List of Niche Things I Liked This Year”
The Tennessee Rules of Civil Procedure are being updated to reflect how lawyers use e-mail in the year 2022 (well, really, how lawyers have been using email for the past 20 or so years). Lawyers email each other all day long. Constantly. It’s awful. But, when it comes to sending opposing counsel a copy of … Continue reading “Under proposed Rule 5.02, Tennessee lawyers will be able to serve pleadings via e-mail. Finally.”
In 95% of Tennessee foreclosures, the foreclosing lender has appointed a substitute trustee to conduct the sale but, of those, about 10% mess the process up and conduct a defective sale. First, some background. When a borrower grants a lien pursuant to a deed of trust, the real property is conveyed to a specific trustee … Continue reading “One Weird Trick to Avoid a Paperwork Challenge to your Tennessee Foreclosure”
The short version of today’s post is: Always pay your homeowner’s association assessments in Tennessee. In general, an HOA is created by the recording of a Master Deed for the community, and this Master Deed imposes a number of duties and responsibilities on the lots, generally via declarations and by-laws. Because the Master Deed is … Continue reading “Don’t Mess with HOAs in Tennessee”
My creditor clients are always in a hurry to get their money. When a bank levy hits a big account, most judgment creditors go nuts during that 20 day period when the Court Clerk holds garnished funds (per Tenn. Code Ann. § 26-2-407) before disbursement. Once the funds are paid out, though, I tell my … Continue reading “Recent Bankruptcy Case Offers Creditor-Friendly Holding When Calculating Preference Period”
I had a blast at the 2022 Clio Cloud Conference in Nashville. A legal conference where, at the end, you were sad that it didn’t last longer. Have you ever heard that? You’ve probably never been to ClioCon then. Clio is a cloud-based legal practice management platform. With more than a decade of constant feature … Continue reading ““Clio is a Vibe” – The 2022 ClioCon From the Eyes of a Regular Lawyer”
Three Sundays ago, I got locked out of my laptop. Neither Dell, Microsoft Support, or frantic prayers could save the day. My working laptop was somehow connected to an expired domain (my expired firm), and it was locked shut. (“A very expensive door-stop,” the nice lady at Dell Support in Texas unambiguously explained.) After spending … Continue reading “Small Law Firm Life: The Best, The Worst, and All at the Same Time”
Creditors Rights 101 