The holidays have arrived, and with them the telltale signs of the season: the lights have been hung on Market Street Bridge with care, Santa Claus is making his rounds, and the Chattanooga Bar Association (CBA) is presenting its annual employment law seminar: “John Bode & Friends: An Employment Law Update.”
Once again, attorney John Bode, longtime chair of Miller & Martin’s Labor & Employment Department, will host. With three decades of experience representing local and national companies, Bode is well positioned to update his fellow lawyers on the latest developments in labor and employment law. But he knows he’s not the main draw; the holiday cookies baked by CBA Executive Director Lynda Hood are. “They alone are worth the price of admission,” he says.
This year’s program will take place Thursday, Dec. 11 from 2:45 to 5 p.m. in Miller & Martin’s J. Guy Beatty Jr. conference room, located on the fifth floor of the Volunteer Building. Participants will receive advanced instruction on labor and employment law issues from Bode and guest speakers representing different perspectives within the legal profession.
Bode is excited about the panel of presenters. “Each year, we’ve been able to secure the best and brightest in their practice areas, and this year’s group is no exception,” Bode said.
Chancellor W. Frank Brown III will present “Views from the Bench,” while Frank Pinchak of Burnette, Dobson & Pinchak will discuss “Views from the Plaintiff Bar.” Bode will be discussing labor and employment issues from the perspective of the defense bar. “We want want to provide experienced practitioners with updates they might have missed as a result of their busy law practice,” Bode says.
Additional speakers will include Chris Crevasse of Miller & Martin and Maury Nicely of Evans Harrison Hackett.
Bode says the seminar will also serve as an introduction for attorneys who only “dabble” in labor and employment issues or have an interest in pursuing them.
Those attending the seminar will earn two hours of general CLE credit approved for Tennessee. They will also have access to an open bar. “The open bar is my hook,” Bode says. “I mean no disrespect to the participants, but since it’s the holiday season, I believe the open bar might bring one or two attorneys who otherwise wouldn’t have come.”
Bode concentrates his practice on labor relations and employment law. Over the last three decades, he’s served as lead trial counsel on numerous cases before state and federal agencies and courts and the National Labor Relations Board. He has extensive experience representing prominent national, regional, and Tennessee employers in union organizing campaigns, collective bargaining, arbitrations, strikes, decertification petitions, and wage and hour and other state and federal audits.
Bode received his Bachelor of Science in commerce, with a concentration in finance and human resources management, from the University of Virginia and his Juris Doctor from the University of Richmond. He’s a member of the Associated General Contractors Labor and Employment Law Council, serves on the Executive Counsel to the labor and employment law section of the Tennessee Bar Association, and has served on the board of governors of the CBA. Bode has been listed in Best Lawyers in America for Labor and Employment Law since 2007, and was named “Lawyer of the Year” for Labor and Employment Law for 2013-14.
According to Hood, the CBA’s annual employment law seminar is always one of the association’s biggest draws. To register for “John Bode & Friends: An Employment Law Update” using Visa or MasterCard, visit the CBA website at www.chattanoogabar.org. With the event having sold out the last few years, the association is urging attorneys to sign up now.