IN THE SUPREME COURT OF TENNESSEE
AT NASHVILLE

Petition for Approval of Certification Standards
For Family Law Specialist

The Tennessee Commission on Continuing Legal Education and Specialization (the "Commission") hereby petitions the Supreme Court of Tennessee to approve certification standards for Family Law Specialist pursuant to Rule 21, Rules of the Supreme Court of Tennessee. In support of this petition, the Commission would show:

  1. Rule 21 authorizes the Commission to establish programs to certify attorneys practicing in Tennessee as specialists in areas of practice deemed appropriate by the Commission (§10.01) by filing complete certification standards with the Court and upon entry by the Court of an Order approving or modifying those standards (§10.04).
  2. The Commission is required to implement this program in a manner which will minimize the administrative costs associated with the program while insuring that all such costs are covered by funds generated by applicants for certification and certified specialists (§10.02)
  3. In the past, the Commission has proposed to this Court, and this Court has approved certification programs in the following areas:
    • Civil Trial
    • Criminal Trial
    • Consumer Bankruptcy
    • Business Bankruptcy
    • Creditors Rights
    • Medical Malpractice
    • Legal Malpractice
    • Accounting Malpractice
    • Elder Law
    • Estate Planning

    Currently, approximately 200 Tennessee attorneys have been certified in these fields, with several holding dual certifications.

  4. Each of these programs has been, and continues to be, based on a national certification program offered by a private, not-for-profit certification organization accredited by the American Bar Association. The thorough nature of the application and review process conducted by the ABA Standing Committee on Specialization, coupled with the requirement that the Committee’s approval has to be endorsed by the ABA House of Delegates, has convinced the Commission that basing Tennessee’s programs on the ABA process creates the most efficient and yet thorough basis for certification programs in Tennessee.
  5. At the February, 1999, Mid-Winter ABA meeting, the House of Delegates approved the accreditation of the Family Law certification by the National Board of Trial Advocacy (NBTA). This is the third certification program run by NBTA which has been accredited. NBTA’s Civil Trial and Criminal Trial certifications are the basis for Tennessee’s certifications in those fields. A copy of the NBTA’s certification standards for Family Law is attached as Exhibit 1.
  6. Rule 21, §10, requires some things from certified specialists in Tennessee which are rarely, if ever, required by the national programs. These include malpractice insurance in a minimum amount of $500,000, an additional and sometimes more thorough ethics background check, client referral letters, and completion of a law practice management checklist. Therefore, as it has done for the other certifications it administers, the Commission has developed Certification Standards for Family Law which take the base of an NBTA certification and add to it those components required in Tennessee but not included in NBTA’s national program. A draft of those Certification Standards for Family Law is attached as Exhibit 2.

Wherefore, the Commission petitions this Court for an Order approving a certification program in Tennessee as set forth in the Commission’s Certification Standards for Family Law, Exhibit 2, attached.

Respectfully submitted,

_________________________________

/s/ Lawrence R. Ahern, III, Esq.

Chairperson

Certificate of Service

I certify that a photocopy of this Petition and Attachments was mailed, first class postage paid, to the attached list of Bar Associations and was posted on the Commission's web site, www.cletn.com, this 26thday of October, 1999, and that information concerning the filing of this Petition and its availability on the Commission's web site will be contained in the Fall 1999 Requirements to be mailed to all Tennessee attorneys by November 1, 1999.

_________________________________

/s/ David N. Shearon, Esq.

Executive Director