Bradley Arant Boult Cummings LLP’s Alé Dalton has been appointed chair of the American Health Lawyers Association’s Early Career Professionals Council (ECPC). Her two-year term will begin at the AHLA’s annual meeting in Washington, D.C. in June.

The ECPC is composed of 15 members responsible for facilitating and coordinating opportunities for engagement by students and early career AHLA professionals. Leaders of the ECPC are selected by their participation and roles in executing the AHLA’s mission, vision and strategic initiatives. Dalton previously served as vice chair of education for the ECPC.

A partner in Bradley’s health care practice group, Dalton assists clients in the health care industry with a wide range of transactional, operational and regulatory matters. Dalton is an active member of the legal community and regularly staffs community legal clinics through Bradley’s pro bono program. She serves as vice chair of the firm’s Lawyers of Color Resource Group and as a liaison for the Women’s Initiative.

Breen to receive Professionalism Award

J. Daniel Breen, a senior judge on the U.S. District Court for the Western District of Tennessee, will be honored in June with the Judge Pamela L. Reeves Tennessee Professionalism Award. The award is given jointly by the TBA and the Tennessee American Inns of Court.

Breen earned his law degree from the University of Tennessee College of Law in 1975 and joined the law firm of Waldrop and Hall in Jackson. He served there for more than 16 years before being appointed as a magistrate judge on the U.S. District Court for the Western District of Tennessee in 1991.

For the 12 years he served in that role, he was assigned to the Memphis and Jackson divisions and became an early proponent of alternative dispute resolution in the region. He presided over hundreds of judicial settlement conferences and wrote “Mediation and the Magistrate Judge,” published in the University of Memphis Law Review to help other judges interested in implementing mediation programs and inform lawyers about the value of mediation as an alternative to trial.

Breen was appointed as a U.S. district judge in 2003. He served as chief judge from 2013 until taking senior status in 2017. He now serves as senior judge with a significant case load, serves on the Civic Outreach Committee and heads the Facility Security Committee for the court’s Eastern Division. He also chairs the Pattern Criminal Jury Instruction Committee for the U.S. 6th Circuit Court of Appeals.

Breen has been an active member of several bar associations. For the TBA, he served on the Board of Governors from 1986 to 1994, as a member of the House of Delegates from 1983 to 1987, as chair of the General Practice Section, and as president of the association from 1996-1997. He also is a past president of the Jackson-Madison County Bar Association, past chair of the Tennessee Bar Foundation and past chair of the American Bar Association’s National Conference of Federal Trial Judges.

Dykes to receive Claudia Jack Award

Attorney Laura Dykes will be honored next month with the Tennessee Bar Association’s fifth annual Claudia Jack Award. Named for the late Claudia Jack, a longtime champion of the poor and underprivileged and a public defender in Maury County, the award is presented to an outstanding public defender or court-appointed private practitioner who serves the legal community and clients in an exemplary fashion.

Dykes has served as an assistant public defender for the past 35 years, working first in the Metro Davidson County office, then joining the 13th Judicial District office in Cookeville after her retirement in Nashville. In both of these positions, Dykes has been recognized for ethically and zealously defending clients.

Dykes also has served as president of the Tennessee Association of Criminal Defense Lawyers and on the faculty of the Nashville School of Law. In a letter nominating her for this award, a colleague also praised her for mentoring countless younger attorneys.

Community Resource Center welcomes 2

Lauren Scarborough and Brady Shipman have joined Community Resource Center, which provides basic, essential items to neighbors in need across seven Middle Tennessee counties.

Scarborough joins as program manager and will be coordinating the programmatic growth and strategy as the organization increases its partners in seven counties. She was previously Troop 6000 coordinator with Girl Scouts of Middle Tennessee. Originally from Waco, Texas, she is a graduate of Texas A&M University with a degree in psychology. She earned an M.Ed. in community development and action at Vanderbilt. She is an active volunteer with Open Table Nashville.

Shipman joins as office manager. He is an administrative and communications specialist with nine years of experience generating, launching and maintaining high-impact initiatives and standards for both nonprofit and for-profit entities. He was previously learning and development administrator at Wieland Group. Shipman is a graduate of the University of Arkansas and earned his MBA at Belmont University.

Studio Tenn hires development director

Studio Tenn, a professional regional theater company based in Franklin, has added Rachel Jones as development director. Jones completes Studio Tenn’s leadership team as it prepares to stage its 15th season.

Jones, a native of Richmond, Virginia, is a graduate of the University of Virginia, earning a degree in religious studies. Her career in nonprofit work includes anti-human trafficking efforts, cancer research, pediatric and family health care support and gender equity.

In her spare time, she is a co-host of the “Theater Nerds” podcast and spends her time exploring the Tennessee theater and performing arts scene.

Jones joins managing director Todd Morgan and artistic director Patrick Cassidy on Studio Tenn’s leadership team.

Pathway Lending names Wiltshire to leadership

Pathway Lending, Tennessee’s largest non-depository community development financial institution, has hired Matt Wiltshire as senior vice president of affordable housing for Pathway Lending and president of the newly-created Pathway Affordable Housing Corporation.

Wiltshire brings years of experience in affordable housing to the position. As chief strategy and intergovernmental affairs officer for Nashville’s Metropolitan Development and Housing Agency, Wiltshire facilitated the creation of six mixed-income, affordable housing developments totaling 525-plus units. He also supported MDHA’s collaborations with the private sector to facilitate the development of an additional 3,500 units.

Before his tenure at MDHA, Wiltshire served as the director of the mayor’s office of economic and community development under three administrations. He also worked for 15 years in investment banking and venture capital.

Pathway Affordable Housing Corporation will initially focus on acquiring affordable multi-family housing units, investing in those communities and deepening their affordability. Building on Pathway’s substantial financing impact, which has exceeded $90 million, supporting affordable housing projects totaling $240 million and benefiting 2,472 units since 2014, this new initiative will extend its impact through the acquisition, rehabilitation, and development of properties in Davidson County and surrounding counties with plans to expand throughout Tennessee.

Wiltshire is a graduate of Hume-Fogg Academic High School and Dartmouth College. He has served as the president of the board of Hands On Nashville and on the executive committee of the boards of the Center for Nonprofit Management and the Tennessee Justice Center.

Buchalter adds 8 to Nashville office

Buchalter has added eight attorneys and other professional staff in its Nashville office.

Shareholders Jay Bowen, Lauren Kilgore and Lauren Spahn join from Shackelford, Bowen, McKinley and Norton LLP, along with Rebekah Shulman, Jim Zumwalt, Jacob Clabo, Aaron Steinberg and John Baxter.

The growth in Nashville follows Buchalter’s growth in key markets across the country. The firm has added more than 350 attorneys and opened eight new offices. Buchalter now has approximately 500 attorneys in Los Angeles, Napa Valley, Orange County, Portland, Sacramento, San Diego, San Francisco, Salt Lake City, Scottsdale, Seattle, Denver and Nashville.

A high-stakes litigation shareholder, Bowen has represented his clients’ interests in difficult situations and tried many cases, both jury and bench trials, on behalf of local, regional, national and international companies, as well as individuals, including many nationally and internationally known entertainers.

Bowen brings a team of seven attorneys from Shackelford, Bowen, McKinley & Norton, LLP specializing in Intellectual Property law. Joining with him, Kilgore and Spahn are Rebekah Shulman, Jim Zumwalt, Jacob Clabo, John Baxter and Aaron Steinberg.

Spahn represents the legal and business interests of recording artists, songwriters, publishers, promoters, talent buyers, executives, record labels, technology and digital media companies, and other entertainment industry clients. She was also named one of Billboard’s Top Music Lawyers for 2024 and is regularly featured in MusicRow Magazine’s “In Charge” in the entertainment business.

Kilgore has more than a decade of experience as an entertainment attorney in both transactional and dispute resolution and general business litigation matters. She was also named one of Billboard’s Top Music Lawyers for 2024.

Shulman enforces and defends intellectual property rights on behalf of clients before the United States Patent & Trademark Office, from pre-application registrability search through post-registration contest.

Clabo and Baxter specialize in business litigation matters, with a focus in intellectual property, especially in relation to clients within the music industry and entertainment sector.

Steinberg specializes in transactional intellectual property matters, especially in relation to clients within the entertainment industry and technology sector.

Zumwalt has practiced law for more than 40 years with a focus on media and entertainment law, including an emphasis on global new media and technology in the entertainment industry. He represents clients around the globe in every dimension of multimedia and entertainment, including award-winning, multi-platinum recording and performing artists, major songwriters and producers, celebrity estates, copyright terminations, authors, screenwriters, film directors and producers, and television production companies.

Buchalter established a Nashville presence in 2022 with the addition of Jason Brooks, who is now the managing shareholder of the Nashville office. Buchalter’s new additions join Shareholder Josiah Reid, as well as Jeffrey Farano, Lucas Davidson and Kaitlin White.

WeGo Public Transit announces promotion

WeGo Public Transit has promoted Patrick Hester to the position of deputy chief operating officer of assets & infrastructure. He joined WeGo as a bus operator in 2017 and rose through the ranks, serving most recently as facilities manager.

Hester is a Middle Tennessee native, graduating from Gallatin High School. He also is a graduate of the Metropolitan Transit Authority Leadership Academy and the Transit Alliance of Middle Tennessee Transit Citizen Leadership Academy.