The firm’s Pro Bono Fellow Program is part of our longstanding commitment to pro bono work with systemic impact. The Pro Bono Fellow program allows attorneys to be paid their full compensation and benefits while working full-time for up to six months in a pro bono capacity within the community. Below is a summary of the impact of our Pro Bono Fellows.

As a Fellow with Choosing Justice Initiative, Angie Bergman worked with multiple stakeholders litigating issues relating to money bail in Davidson County and filing a federal court, pre-trial habeas corpus petition to challenge the constitutionality of setting bail outside a defendant’s ability to pay. Angie also represented the Nashville Community Bail Fund in ongoing litigation in the Davidson County Criminal Courts. Read a recap of Angie’s fellowship experience here.

Bass, Berry & Sims alumna Danielle Dudding Irvine spent six months as a Pro Bono Fellow with the Tennessee Innocence Project (TIP) where she served as co-counsel with TIP’s Executive Director on a Shelby County claim of wrongful identification and actual innocence for Artis Whitehead. Danielle was also responsible for developing relationships with experts and attorneys across the country and establishing support for TIP at the University of Memphis Cecil C. Humphreys School of Law and Vanderbilt Law School. Read a recap of Danielle’s fellowship experience here.

Building on Danielle’s work, Ashleigh Karnell spent a six-month fellowship with TIP, working on the wrongful conviction case for Artis Whitehead who was exonerated in 2023 and helping TIP work through a backlog of case files. Those included the application of Wayne Burgess where Ashleigh co-counseled with TIP Executive Director to bring Mr. Burgess’s claims to court resulting in his exoneration in 2023. Read more about these exonerations here.

Bass, Berry & Sims alumnus Marc Tahiry completed a three-month pro bono fellowship with the General Sessions Court of Metropolitan Nashville & Davidson County that arose in direct response to the surge of eviction filings caused by the loss of jobs resulting from the COVID-19 pandemic. Initially a resource for judges navigating the CARES Act and its application to state evictions, Marc’s position evolved as new federal moratoria on evictions became effective and rent relief assistance became available to litigants. Read more about Marc’s fellowship experience here.