ASL Grad Overcomes Adversity to Take Tennessee Bar

Recent Appalachian School of Law (ASL) graduate Brennan Baxter felt she was on the threshold of accomplishing her ambition to be an attorney. She had completed three challenging years at ASL, fulfilled the requirements of the Tennessee Bar Examiners, and applied to the Bar well in advance of the deadline. As she approached the midway point of two and a half months of Bar prep classes, an overlooked email from the Tennessee Bar nearly derailed her plans.

            Her application was considered incomplete because the letters of recommendation she filed were not originals. In order for her to sit for the exam, the Tennessee Board of Bar Examiners required that she submit signed originals by the close of business the following day, less than 24 hours from the time she read the email. Fighting panic and getting a pep talk from her roommate, a fellow ASL alumna, she pulled herself together to solve the problem. One of her references was a judge who lived within an hour’s drive. She contacted him, and her mother was able to bring the signed letter to her.

            The other reference was an attorney in Atlanta, Georgia, too far from Nashville for a round trip in the allotted time. The only other accepted references, besides judges and attorneys under whom she had worked, were law professors. Professor Stewart Harris was in nearby Knoxville teaching a summer class; unfortunately, when Brennan reached his wife, Professor Priscilla Harris, she learned that both were out of town. They did, however, help her by calling colleagues who were in East Tennessee. None were available. Meanwhile, Brennan tried contacting professors who remained in Grundy, Virginia, for the summer. She reached Professor Paula Young via Facebook at 11 p.m.

            She and her roommate drove through the night to find two signed letters in a sealed plastic bag on Professor Young’s porch. They also found popcorn, two apples, two sodas, peanuts, and napkins that had been prepared at 1 a.m. They slept a few hours and then headed to Nashville. At 2:30 in the afternoon, Brennan delivered the letters to Tennessee Bar Examiner’s Office.

            “Despite some of the most stressful 17 hours of my life,” Brennan said, “I realized that I am very lucky to have gone to a school like ASL. I’ve graduated, and the professors still have an interest in my success. Several professors dropped what they were doing during their summer break to help me, and I know that students at other schools would not have had the same luxury. Not only does this make me proud to be an ASL graduate, but also it motivates me to succeed in order to make ASL proud of me.”