While we expect to be doing an overhaul of the entire website in the coming months, you may notice that there are a few new pages with information about workers compensation claims. We’re excited at the prospect of the new site but in the meantime we’re adding new information to the existing site. So, the next time you’re looking for information on workers compensation from a Nashville workers compensation attorney, you may be able to find what you’re looking for on our new pages.

When a serious automobile accident shuts down the interstate in Nashville, you may wonder just what exactly is happening. Most of the time, the accident scene is being investigated by the Tennessee Highway Patrol’s Critical Incident Response Team (CIRT) Unit.

The CIRT Unit assists in investigating and reconstructing automobile accidents. Members of the CIRT Unit have had training in auto accident investigation including motocycle accidents and pedestrian accidents. There are four teams covering the State of Tennessee. The CIRT Unit investigates both accidents that are being worked by the Highway Patrol and accidents being investigated by local and federal law enforcement agencies. CIRT also investigates all of the criminal homicides that arise from autombile accidents investigated by the Highway Patrol. The CIRT Unit investigates several hundered automobile accidents every year.

So, the next time you wonder why the interstate has been closed following an auto accident around Nashville, it may well be that members of the CIRT Unit are collecting data regarding the accident for the Highway Patrol’s investigation.

Attorney reference source M. Lee Smith Publishers will be having its Workers Comp Conference in Nashville on November 20-21 at the Maxwell House hotel in the MetroCenter area. The conference is designed for both workers compensation attorneys and non-lawyers and will provide 10 hours of CLE credit to attorneys who attend the workers compensation conference. The conference provides an ‘attorney track’ and an ‘employer track’ to address different issues encountered by these two groups. It will also address the new 6th Edition of the AMA Guidelines, which impact all new impairment ratings in workers compensation injury cases. See M. Lee Smith’s website for additional information on the workers compensation conference.

Welcome to Beverly Jenkins-Crockett, who will be assisting us with personal injury and workers compensation cases. Beverly most recentlly worked in Nashville at the Tennessean. She brings wonderful experience to the attorney’s office. If you have a personal injury case you may be hearing from Beverly as she gets helps with the Nashville area cases. Please be sure to welcome her on board!

Some of you may have noticed we’ve got some new staff members assisting our clients. We are glad to welcome Cecilia Smith to our office. Cecilia will be assisting with general office and bookkeeping functions. She has a wealth of experience in the charitable community and will be in charge of coordinating our pro bono and charitable giving. Please be sure to welcome Cecilia to our office when you meet her.

Cecilia’s daughter, Mariana, is also helping us out this summer until she goes back to college in the fall. Mariana is assisting with client files and marketing. We will hate to see her leave in August.

You don’t have to be a personal injury plaintiff lawyer to belong to the Tennessee Trial Lawyers Association, but the organization does provide a great deal of valuable information and education to personal injury attorneys in the state. Members can access a variety of information on their website including verdict data and trial transcripts. The focus of the group is on litigating attorneys, including plaintiffs’ lawyers, divorce lawyers, etc. Defense attorneys (the lawyers who are on the other side of plaintiffs’ lawyers) cannot have a full membership in the organization but they are allowed to join. The organization is having its annual review seminars in Nashville and Memphis in November. For more information see their website.

There has been a fair bit of press recently about the dangers of text messaging while driving. As a lawyer who handles personal injury cases, I’ve seen my fair share of accidents caused by inattentive driving. When it comes to texting while driving, no one is safe. Let’s take a moment and remember some of the many recent tragedies. Keep in mind, most of the time the only indication of the cause of a fatal accident is the fact that a text message was sent or received moments before the accident was reported.

Amanda Martin, 17, in a one-car accident in Charlton, Massachussetts

Bailey Goodman, Meredith McClure, Hannah Congdon, Sara Monnat and Katie Shirley, 17 and 18 year olds, New York

Maureen Waites, 64, rear-ended by a text messager, Great Britain

Ashley Miller, 18, drifted and struck the car driven by Stacey Stubbs, 40, Arizona

Jim Price, bicyclist struck by text messaging teenager

David Brown, 53, struck by Michael Smith, 43, who had been recently texting, Great Britain

You may notice that we’ve changed the website format recently. We’ve adopted a new Wordpress theme, one that really conveys the ‘life is a journey’ concept pictorially. You’ll notice the same theme even in the artwork in our office. Lawyers tend to intersect with people at fairly random, but critical, life moments. It’s our job to make sure our clients can stay on the path, so to speak.

The website changes were not too hard to make thanks to the Wordpress template/theme system. I’m also working on increasing the informational value of the website, both through blog postings and through static information pages. If you’ve never created a blog or website, that may not mean much to you at all, but you’ll probably notice that some parts of this website have static information on them (they are listed to the right under Site Map)–those are “pages”–and other parts are more conversational (like this)–this is a blog posting.

I’ll be adding more information on personal injury claims and the divorce process. There’s plenty of data and statistics regarding personal injury accidents that might be useful to someone considering pursuing a personal injury claim. And, there were several changes to divorce law recently that could be compiled for reference.

We’ve gotten comments from our clients about the website over time. If you’re familiar with both the old and new versions then I’d love to hear your feedback on the changes.