Member Appreciation Program and Holiday Mixer

For our annual Member Appreciation CLE and Holiday Mixer, LAW is excited to present, “Second Chances: Women, Sentencing Reform, and the Path to Parole in Tennessee” with Special Guest, Cyntoia Brown Long

3:30 PM-4:30 PM            The Incarceration of Women and Girls in Tennessee: Legal, Human, and Advocacy Perspectives (1 hour, General CLE credit)

4:30 PM-5:30 PM            The Changing Landscape of Life with Parole in Tennessee and How to Help (1 hour, General CLE credit)

5:30 PM-7:00 PM            Holiday Networking Mixer

Location: Bass, Berry & Sims at Nashville Yards, 21 Platform Way S, Nashville, TN 37203 (FREE PARKING provided by Bass, Berry & Sims!)

The program goals for this CLE offering are to educate attendees on the evolution of Tennessee’s life with parole sentencing framework and key appellate decisions that now result in a substantial increase in those eligible for parole. Our panels will humanize the impact of these rulings through lived experiences and advocacy perspectives. We will introduce LAW’s new Parole Assistance Project, pairing lawyers and law students to assist women preparing for parole hearings. We hope to inspire member engagement and collaboration through stories of transformation and reform and show that through pro bono opportunities like this one, attorneys develop increased capacity to strive for and to achieve the highest, aspirational levels of professionalism, and have better well-being, optimism, resilience, relationship skills, and energy and engagement in their practices.

One 60-minute panel moderated by Jenny Charles will include Cyntoia Brown Long, Kathy Sinback, and Sparkle Johnson to share personal stories of incarceration and working through the clemency and parole processes.

Then, Angie Bergman will moderate a 60-minute panel that will provide the background on the legal evolution of life with parole sentencing in Tennessee, focusing on how landmark cases have shifted the legal and moral understanding of long-term incarceration, especially for women and youth offenders. The discussion will also provide a basic overview of the parole process, a view of current community partners in the movement to help vulnerable incarcerated people, and information on how LAW members can help. Panelists include Ben Raybin (Raybin & Weissman), Dawn Harrington (FreeHearts), Erica Duggan (Choosing Justice Initiative), and Eric Alexander (Campaign for the Fair Sentencing of Youth).

LAW’s annual Holiday Mixer will immediately follow the CLE programming, at 5:30pm.

Please join us for all or any portion of this exciting event!

FREE PARKING provided by Bass, Berry & Sims!