ACC Tennessee 2024 Q1 Newsletter

ACC TN Q1 Newsletter | April 2024

Message from the President

For our ACC-TN Chapter, 2024 is shaping up to be an exceptional year. Nashville will host ACC Global's Annual Meeting in October, a significant recognition of our Chapter's stature, growth and continued development. While many deserve credit for the honor of serving as host city, we are especially appreciative of the support from you (our members) and our sponsors. It is exciting to see our long-term vision come to fruition. We hope to see many of you next fall to celebrate in Nashville.

Our first 2024 CLE opportunity was an incredible success. We were honored to hear from Professor Don Cochran at Belmont School of Law on his important and successful prosecution of the final defendant charged with the historic 1963 Sixteenth Street Baptist Church bombing in Birmingham (AL). Our team looks forward to partnering again with Belmont School of Law in the future.

Earlier this month, New to In House program Sponsor Bradley hosted our combined New to In House and MBA Half Day Program in their beautiful Nashville office space. We had a full slate of engaging speakers, panelists and moderators. I specifically want to thank Neale Bedrock (Metropolitan Nashville Airport Authority), April Berman (Asurion), Louise Brock (Bridgestone Americas), and Justin Pitt (Community Health Systems) for their time on the CLO/GC panel presentation. Our team recorded the sessions and will look to make these available to our statewide membership later this year.

The rest of the year promises to be full of engagement and learning opportunities for our members. Please be sure to check out our LinkedIn Page and watch for ACC Tennessee emails on upcoming programs and events, as well as the Upcoming Events section later in this newsletter.

Message from the Executive Director

I am excited to share with our members, sponsors and friends that ACC Tennessee is one of six chapters awarded the Gold Chapter of Distinction Award for its work in 2023. We could not have achieved this exciting accomplishment without the leadership of our Board and the support of all of you. Visit the ACC Global Awards page for more information on this award.

Have you signed up for the Annual Meeting yet? There are still opportunities for our members and our sponsors to get involved. April 30 is the last day to apply to be a speaker and inspire the in-house legal community with your insights. You will continue to hear from us on our LinkedIn page and in our newsletter about this incredible event taking place in our backyard this year. Join your fellow members for a record turnout from Tennessee in 2024!

Member News & Updates

Do you love ACC and all the benefits of being a part of this global community? Now is your chance to invite your in-house friends and colleagues to become a member. Share the knowledge of ACC's resources, free CLE opportunities, and how being a member has helped advance your career and connections! Invite your community to join - they get a discounted membership and you get prizes! Scan the QR code to learn more.

Shane Mulrooney Founder and General Counsel

New Era ADR

How long have you been in-house?

I started my in-house career as the VP-Legal of Home Chef in 2016, but I took a break from 2019-2022 to do some traveling and then to co-found a legal technology startup as the Head of Growth. But in 2022 I found my way back to the GC role at the startup as we grew and we needed somebody to lead the legal function (and I needed actual Sales/Marketing folks to take over from me!). So, about 5 years total.

How long have you been a member of ACC?

I originally joined in 2017 when I was at Home Chef and was in ACC Chicago, and then again took a break for a few years and joined again in 2022 when I moved back to the GC role. So, 4 to 5 years total, which is basically my entire in-house career. The only reason it took me a few month to join ACC when I first moved in-house is because I didn't know it exsisted. I was thrilled when I found out about it, let me tell you.

Tell us about a recent trip you've taken.

My wife and I went on our honeymoon to New Zealand a little over a year ago, which although it isn't very recent, it's by far the most exciting traveling I've done over the last several years. We also traveled together on our career break for about 6 months to many different places around the world, but that was 5 years ago now. Since then we moved to Chattanooga ~2.5 years ago and are trying to spend more time exploring the Southeast, even though my wife is from here there's still so much she hasn't seen.

As for most recent, last weekend I went mountain biking at Oak Mountain State Park and Coldwater Mountain in Alabama, and this weekend we're doing the BRAG Spring Tune-Up in Georgia (which is a road biking thing). Even if these aren't big trips and not quite to the level as what we used to do, I love having these options. It's so nice being so close to so much amazing nature, and it's a real treat for me especially, having grown up in Chicago.

Thank you to our members statewide who have joined us for the terrific events and programming we have hosted so far in 2024. We are excited for all of our other upcoming events for the remainder of the year. We could not do it without the partnership from all of our wonderful sponsors.

ACC Tennessee & Belmont University College of Law

"16th Street Baptist Church Bombing Prosecution" - CLE Program in Nashville & Virtual

Gold Sponsor Nelson Mullins

Artificial Intelligence: Updated Issues After the Initial Surge - CLE Program in Nashville

New to In House Sponsor Bradley

New to In House & Half Day MBA - CLE Program in Nashville

A new year can bring new professional changes! Do you have a new job, new title, or new e-mail address? We want to hear from you and get our list updated so you do not miss out on upcoming opportunities. Please send any updates to Tennessee@accglobal.com.

A new year can also bring new colleagues. If you have a new colleague or new-to-in-house member of your professional network, please encourage them to become a member or reach out to Tennessee@accglobal.com to get more information and be added to our prospect list for invites that include non-members.

Members on the Move

April Berman - SVP, Deputy General Counsel at Asurion & Emily Warth - Senior Assistant General Counsel at Asurion were selected in the Dynamic Duo catefory of the 2024 NBJ Women of Influence Awards.

Shane Mulrooney - Co Founder and General Counsel at New Era ADR (and an ACC TN N2i Committee Member) had an article published in the November edition of the ACC Docket titled, "When It's Time for Alerternative Dispute Resolution"

Ann Parker - was recently promoted to the position of Manging Director, Litigation & Risk Managment at CoreCivic.

Margaret Smith - was recently promoted to the position of Assistant General Counsel Operations as CoreCivic. In addition, Margaret recently was recognized by the Catholic Business League for her service as its president for the past three years.