News - Friday, January 1, 2016

The Chattanooga Bar Association (CBA) was as busy as ever in 2015 serving its members through events, seminars, and more – and the Hamilton County Herald captured every highlight in photographs.

To see more photos, pick up a copy of this week's Hamilton County Herald.

BlueCross BlueShield of Tennessee has promoted Jennifer Flowers to deputy general counsel. In this role, Flowers is responsible for the strategic direction and oversight of the legal division, and supports the general counsel in providing oversight and monitoring for all activities.

Chambliss, Bahner & Stophel attorney Mark Cunningham has received a 2015 Leading Lawyer award for being a top healthcare transactional attorney. Cunningham was selected by The Ambulatory M&A Advisor publication.

The Leading Lawyer award honors “healthcare transactional attorneys who have achieved a high degree of recognition and success within the field,” according to The Ambulatory M&A Advisor.

Miller & Martin recently teamed up with eight other local Chattanooga businesses to participate in a holiday food drive benefiting the Chattanooga Area Food Bank (CAFB).

Coordinated by the Junior Board of the CAFB, employees, family, and friends were encouraged to contribute as many canned goods as they were able for one week in December.

Baker Donelson last week announced the addition of Kathleen Harrison to its Chattanooga office. She is one of 22 new associates to join Baker Donelson.

Harrison joins the firm as a member of the Advocacy Department. She is a 2015 honors graduate of the Emory University School of Law, where she served as the notes and comments editor of the Emory Law Journal and was a recipient of the State Bar of Georgia’s Labor Law Section Award for Outstanding Achievement in Labor Law.

With the New Year comes a new address for Olsen Law Firm. Attorney Terry Olsen and his staff have completed their relocation to suite 708 in the historic James Building, located at 735 Broad Street.

Olsen Law Firm is an immigration and international law firm focused on assisting families and businesses. Olsen, who is pictured, said the new space will allow his firm to continue to provide its clients and the community with quality service. 

The Tennessee Supreme Court has approved extensive changes to the rule regulating the licensing of lawyers to practice in the state, including easing provisions for attorneys that may have practiced elsewhere.

The Tennessee Board of Law Examiners (BLE), which administers the licensing process for attorneys in Tennessee, petitioned the Court earlier this year requesting changes be made throughout the detailed rule. In its petition, the BLE recognized the need for Tennessee to accommodate the increased mobility of lawyers between states. Each state has different regulations regarding how attorneys obtain licenses.

Legal Aid of East Tennessee (LAET) has won the second place award for Legal Aid and Pro Bono Programs in the American Bar Association’s 7th Annual National Celebration of Pro Bono competition. The competition seeks to recognize legal aid programs from across the country for their exemplary work during National Pro Bono Month in October.

The Greater Chattanooga Association of Realtors (GCAR) repeatedly demonstrated its strength and significance as an organization in 2015 as it reached important milestones, made community contributions, and saw its members go from success to success.

Throughout my year as GCAR president, I often was asked about the purpose of the association. In response, I shared about the services GCAR provides to aide in the success of our members. But more importantly, I focused on the association’s advocacy efforts on behalf of consumers to protect and promote private property rights. With each of these conversations, I found that many are unaware of all that the association does. GCAR is much more than a social club for Realtors; GCAR is a player in the Greater Chattanooga community. As we close out the year, let’s recap the highlights of 2015.

If you’re in the market for a new home, you might be wondering about the factors that contribute to the total cost of the home. The National Association of Home Builders recently published a Cost of Construction Survey, which details the various costs of building a typical new single-family home. Many of the results show that costs have remained consistent in recent years.

I’m not even going to pretend to understand most of the things the characters in “The Big Short,” a drama about the recent subprime mortgage crisis, discuss. Although the filmmakers did everything they could to make the material easy to digest, there’s only so much one can do to dumb down the causes of a global economic collapse. Still, in a testament to the exceptional work of the cast and crew, the film is great fun and a solid piece of social commentary.

The movie-going experience in Chattanooga will change for good in two days as the city’s last film projector is decommissioned.

The Tennessee Aquarium IMAX 3D Theater is making a leap from the 70mm film format to laser projection technology.

I’m a word fanatic. Always have been. And the first of the year is never a bad time to reflect on what’s going on in the world of dictionarization. To set the stage, let’s first look at a progression of new dictionary entries—decade by decade—over the past 75 years. 

The celebration of New Year’s Day is the oldest of all holidays – first observed in ancient Babylon about 4000 years ago. In the years around 2000 BC, the Babylonian New Year originally began with the first New Moon, after the Vernal Equinox, or first day of spring. However, with the Roman Senate’s constant tampering and changing of the early calendars, the celebration of New Year’s Day changed also.

The day after the day after Christmas – It was a dark and stormy day. I had played golf with Fred the day before; we both wore shorts and I soon shed the sweater vest I had chosen more for style than comfort. It was 79, the hottest Dec. 26 on record for the area.

Three students from Boyd Buchanan School won top honors in the State Fire Marshal’s Office (SFMO) 2015 Fire Prevention Poster Contest.

Jillian White, a ninth grader, earned the top prize, winning the Commissioner’s Choice Award.

Saturday, Jan. 1, 1966

A $100,000 remodeling project will begin Monday on the fifth floor of Loveman’s, Inc., according to R.L. Moore, Jr., president. The new project is the continuation of work which began on the building in 1962.

Saturday, Jan. 1, 1916

Oscar Seagle, well-known Chattanooga vocal artist, entertained an appreciative audience Friday night at a concert in the courthouse auditorium. Frank Bibb was his accompanist.

Wauhatchie Valley and all points west of Lookout Mountain were cut off from the city last night because of backwaters from the Tennessee River. This is the second time in three weeks that high waters have cut off residents of the valley from the city.

If you are currently reading this fine article then I do not have to ask if you are one of the amazing people that still enjoy grey paper with the smudgy black ink that it is printed on. There is something more appealing about having a physical newspaper in the morning when you fire up the coffee pot instead of turning on a computer. 

The Photographic Society of Chattanooga has opened its 7th Annual Scenic City International Photo Exhibition for submissions. The exhibition has two categories: Color Open and Color Creative (Altered Reality).

Entrants can submit up to four images for each category. The Photographic Society will accept only digital images, which entrants can submit at chattanoogaphoto.org/scipe.