Shellie Handelsman is an attorney in the areas of civil litigation and estate planning. Shellie earned her law degree cum laude from Belmont University College of Law, where she was a founding member of both the Belmont Law Review and Board of Advocates and participated in the Willem C. Vis International Commercial Arbitration Moot, Belmont University College of Law’s American Inn of Court, the Entertainment Law Society, the Legal Aid Society, and the Women’s Law Student Organization.

Shellie has previously worked as an Associate Attorney with the Law Office of John Cobb Rochford; an Unemployment Appeals Hearing Officer for the Tennessee Department of Labor Appeals Tribunal; a Research Assistant to the Honorable Alberto Gonzales; and as an intern for the Nashville Predators, the Volunteer Lawyers and Professionals for the Arts, the Everhart Law Firm, and the Law Offices of George B. Handelsman.

Originally from Pittsburgh, Pennsylvania, Shellie received her undergraduate degree summa cum laude from Berklee College of Music in Boston, Massachusetts.

Shellie is licensed to practice law in Tennessee, Pennsylvania, and the United States District Court for the Middle District of Tennessee.

She is a member of the Tennessee Bar Association (including the Entertainment and Sports Law Section and the Young Lawyers Division), the Nashville Bar Association (including the Entertainment, Sports & Media Committee and the Young Lawyers Division), the American Bar Association, the Tennessee Lawyers’ Association for Women, the Lawyers’ Association for Women, and the Pennsylvania Bar Association.

In her spare time, Shellie plays softball on several teams (including the Nashville Bar Association’s Lawyers’ League); sings in the Vox Grata choir; and spends time with her golden retriever, Dakota.

Welcome aboard, Shellie!

Reprinted with Permission.

This originally appeared in the Tennessee Defense Lawyers Association’s publication, The Ledger (Issue 1, Volume 1)

IOLTA Grant Review Update by Bruce Williams, Member – Shuttleworth PLLC

The IOLTA (Interest On Lawyers’ Trust Accounts) program was established by the Tennessee Supreme Court in 1984, and the responsibility for its administration was assigned to the Tennessee Bar Foundation. The purpose of the program is to raise funds to be distributed, in the form of grants, to organizations in Tennessee that provide direct legal services to the indigent and to organizations that seek to improve the administration of justice. IOLTA has granted over $20,390,060 to providers of these services in the state.

TDLA selects one of its members to serve on the Tennessee Bar Foundation’s Grant Review Committee, which assesses the merits of those various grant applications for awards. The Committee members are assigned individual responsibility for investigating and vetting up to three applications. Each Member reports to the full Committee at its annual meeting each November. The Committee then recommends awards to the Foundation’s Board of Trustees for final decision.

For 2015, the Committee proposed awards totaling $465,825 to providers of direct legal services such as The Legal Aid Society of Middle Tennessee and the Cumberlands and Memphis Area Legal Services. In addition, grants were made totaling much less to organizations that seek to improve the administration of justice, such as domestic violence prevention organizations and Tennessee CASA Association. The TBF Board of Trustees adopted the committee’s recommendations as proposed.

We resume our work in October, vetting applications for calendar year 2016. This process is time well spent working with top lawyers and judges from across the state. I appreciate the opportunity to serve TDLA in this role.

IOLTA Grant Update Bruce Williams