first I had to have the most dramatic
entrance with the table I’ve been
sitting here all afternoon and have
watched a number of you under phones and
taking pictures
maybe selfies we all love to take
instant pictures with digital cameras
these days we can check and make sure
our hair is right or our eyes are not
closed or our duck lips are just perfect
but there’s something unique and
decidedly retro about an actual
photograph most of you are too young to
remember this but back in the old days
there was this stuff called film and you
put it in the camera and you took a
photograph and you didn’t have a clue
what the photograph looked like when you
were finished with the roll you rewound
it you sent it off somewhere they
developed it and you got it back maybe a
maybe a week later and you could see
that your eyes were closed your hair was
messed up and your duck lips who are not
perfect in every photograph until
Polaroid it created the instant camera
this is what they looked like when I was
your age I don’t even know if this works
but we’re gonna try it
no it doesn’t work which is why I
brought it back up this is a newer
version of a Polaroid and I think this
one does work
Sony Leah I’m going to turn the tables
on you and I can’t get this one to work
either there it goes
so it’s taken an instant photograph but
what I want to talk to you about is how
life your life and your story is not
instant rather life takes a little bit
of developing so let me tell you a
little bit about me I grew up on a
family farm about 90 miles north of here
in Dyer County Tennessee my mother and
my grandmother were both teachers my dad
worked in an industrial plant in
Dyersburg my grandfather was a tractor
mechanic when I was 14 or 15 years old
my mother demanded that I get a job not
quite sure why she thought I should get
a job when I was only 14 or 15 but you
do what your mother tells you to do she
helped me find the job though and the
job that I got was in a law firm in
Dyersburg so I made there coffee I made
their coffees I sent faxes that was
before email and I walked papers back
and forth to the courthouse because I
wasn’t old enough to drive yet I had no
lawyers in my family at all I don’t even
think I knew a lawyer until I started
working at this law firm the folks at
the law firm were really my first
introduction to to the law my high
school also had a mock trial team I
don’t know if Arlington has a mock trial
team or not but my high school had a
mock trial team and my recollection is
that my mother asked me to join that
team
and I did as I was told I went to
Mississippi State College where I
majored in Ag business I know that
sounds a lot like pre-law or political
science doesn’t it it had nothing to do
with law my mother thought I would be a
lawyer when I grew up I wasn’t so sure
so majoring in agriculture was sort of
my rebellion I guess you can say I got
my bachelor’s degree and my master’s
degree in Ag business before deciding
that mother was right and mothers
usually are right so after I got my
master’s degree I went out to Dallas
Texas and went to law school I practiced
law out there for a little bit and then
I decided to move home to practice law
in Jackson what I want to talk to you
about though is that the Polaroid of my
life developed as the result of a few
negatives so you remember me telling you
about the role of film in old-timey
cameras well when you would get those
photographs back you would get the
negatives back as well so an instant
photo is a lot like that negative
polaroid photos are created when a
negative is displayed inside the camera
it’s pressed between a set of rollers
which is why it comes out either the
front or the top of the camera depending
on the camera but when it’s pressed and
applied there’s some pressure applied to
it there’s a chemical agent a chemical
reagent a change that takes place that
will transfer that negative to a
positive receiving sheet and that’s when
you get the photograph
so the chemical change comes about as a
result of the negative meeting the
positive and as the result of the
pressure of the rollers we can draw some
parallels between the creation of an
instant photograph and the creation of
your own story and I want to share a few
of my negatives in order for you to
understand what I’m talking about when I
was on that high school mock trial team
my coach told me that I wasn’t good
enough to be a lawyer what my teenage
brain heard was that I couldn’t be a
lawyer now that’s not what he said but
that’s what I heard so I was a witness
and when I look back on that I recognize
that he knew some of my other students
some of my teammates were much better at
thinking on their feet than I was and
they would do a better job and in
reality those people who got assign
those roles ultimately went to law
school and are now accomplished
attorneys but that you aren’t good
enough to be a lawyer it’s part of the
reason I went to college and didn’t
major in pre-law and I didn’t major in
political science because I took what he
said as truth when in reality it wasn’t
the truth but that negative combined
with a change agent like in that instant
photograph and that change agent was my
mother’s pressure created a positive
result for me
after I have been practicing law here in
Tennessee for a few years I was
nominated to I was nominated to apply
for a leadership program that the
Tennessee Bar Association puts on the
Tennessee Bar Association is the
statewide group of lawyers so I filled
out my application and I was rejected
they sent me a very kind letter that
said no thank you
well after I got over my disappointment
and to be perfectly honest mild anger I
looked at my application and I suddenly
realized why they had said no the reason
they said no was because all I did was
work that’s all I did
I didn’t contribute to my community
and I wasn’t advocating for our
profession or trying to make our
profession any better I was flat I was
not well rounded I just worked so it was
a good wake-up call I was able to take
that rejection realize that I needed to
change some things so I found some
causes that cared about
I found some things that played to my
strengths and I got involved in some
things both in my community and in my
profession I swore I would never apply
again a few years later a dear friend
called and said please apply please
apply so I did and I got into that
program probably because of the changes
I had made that change in that rejection
was one of the best professional events
of my life because it completely changed
my trajectory and what I was able to do
so the rejection turned into a really
good experience after I had been
practicing law for a number of years one
of those lawyers I worked for when I was
14 or 15 called me and told me that one
of the judges
on the Tennessee Court of Appeals had
decided to retire and he thought I
should apply after telling him all the
reasons I didn’t think I should apply I
filled out the application it’s about a
15 page application you pour your life
and your soul into these pieces of paper
that are available on the internet
forever then you appear in front of this
group of 15 people who ask you all kinds
of questions including things like are
you sure you’re old enough to do this
job and they pick three names of the of
the group that applies they pick three
names to send to the governor’s office I
was one of the three names that was
selected along with two judges from
Shelby County who were extraordinarily
well-qualified so I get to go to
Nashville get a parking spot at the
Capitol I get to interview with the
governor’s lawyers and then spend 30
minutes in the governor’s office just
sitting and chatting with him about my
work experience in my education I can
promise you that my high school Mock
Trial self never saw that coming
it was a wonderful experience but
completely unexpected about six weeks
later I got the phone call that the
governor had decided to appoint one of
the other two applicants to the job
rejection a week or so later that same
lawyer that I had dealt with when I was
fifteen
called me and said there’s another judge
who’s decided he also is going to retire
you have a second chance I had to think
about it for a little while because
rejection sometimes stings
but I decided to apply same process 15
people answering questions I was one of
the three names selected when again to
the governor’s office wondered what they
could ask me this time that they didn’t
ask me the last time I came up with a
few questions spend some time with the
governor’s lawyers spent some time with
the governor again that time the day
after Christmas 2013 I got a phone call
as I was driving down i-40 that the
governor had decided to appoint me to
the Tennessee Court of Appeals that
experience over the last two and a half
years now has been one of the biggest
joys of my life to serve this state in a
way that I feel I’m uniquely qualified
to do it I would have missed out on that
joy if I had taken that rejection to
heart and had not reapplied so my story
is a lot like this Polaroid yours will
be as well our stories there are process
much like there’s a process to the
creation of a Polaroid picture is there
something you’d like to do having that
thought it’s the first thing so that’s
the first thing to do is have some
thought what you want to do the second
thing you’ve got to do is you’ve got to
actually do something you can’t just sit
around and think about it if you sit
around and think about it you probably
are going to think it to death do you
think anybody who went skydiving spent a
lot of time thinking about whether it
was something they wanted to do no they
just got out there and they did it maybe
when you do something you’ll be
successful maybe you want and that’s
where the last thing comes into play
you’ve got to be willing if you’re not
successful to change something or you
might just have to wait and you might
have to be patient a Polaroid doesn’t
develop instantly
you have to wait a little while
sometimes people think if they shake it
it’ll develop faster sometimes you just
have to wait for the color of your story
to be displayed do what has to be done
but wait when you need to sometimes
you’ll get knocked down or you’ll get
told no I could have decided not to
apply for the Court of Appeals again I
could have gotten disappointed and quit
but failure really is an opportunity to
create something wonderful it’s an
opportunity to take that negative apply
some kind of change agent and let the
negative be passed into a positive as
much as you’ve got to change the way you
look at the negatives in your life
you’ve also got to be willing to have
your eyes open to the change agents that
are all around you for a Polaroid it’s a
chemical that’s there that helps
transfer that negative to a positive in
my life it’s been a variety of things
number one it’s been people my mother
was a huge change agent for me because
she knew when to push me and how to push
me she’s the one who continued to push
me toward law because she saw in me
something that she knew and her wisdom
would fit the people of the law firm
that I worked for when I was fifteen
years old
they were change agents too they
mentored me for years and then when an
opportunity came my way they were there
to help me and support me although it
had been 20 years since I had last
worked for them
finally be willing to listen to someone
tell you the truth even when it’s
something you don’t necessarily want to
hear every time I’ve been told I was
wrong and that’s pretty often I’ve grown
in some way you’ve got to be willing to
be uncomfortable in order to grow don’t
surround yourself with yes men or women
who only tell you how great you are and
how wonderful you are make sure that you
are surrounding yourself with people who
support you but also with people who
will challenge you I have the benefit of
perspective I know what the last 25
years of my development has resulted in
you’re probably sitting there still
wondering what is the next 25 years hold
for me you may be wondering what the
next five years hold for you as your
story begins to develop remember that
perceived negatives in your life can
combine with a change agent and really
create something wonderful and when you
look back on the Polaroid that you
created I hope you’ll see that your
story is a masterpiece thank you
entrance with the table I’ve been
sitting here all afternoon and have
watched a number of you under phones and
taking pictures
maybe selfies we all love to take
instant pictures with digital cameras
these days we can check and make sure
our hair is right or our eyes are not
closed or our duck lips are just perfect
but there’s something unique and
decidedly retro about an actual
photograph most of you are too young to
remember this but back in the old days
there was this stuff called film and you
put it in the camera and you took a
photograph and you didn’t have a clue
what the photograph looked like when you
were finished with the roll you rewound
it you sent it off somewhere they
developed it and you got it back maybe a
maybe a week later and you could see
that your eyes were closed your hair was
messed up and your duck lips who are not
perfect in every photograph until
Polaroid it created the instant camera
this is what they looked like when I was
your age I don’t even know if this works
but we’re gonna try it
no it doesn’t work which is why I
brought it back up this is a newer
version of a Polaroid and I think this
one does work
Sony Leah I’m going to turn the tables
on you and I can’t get this one to work
either there it goes
so it’s taken an instant photograph but
what I want to talk to you about is how
life your life and your story is not
instant rather life takes a little bit
of developing so let me tell you a
little bit about me I grew up on a
family farm about 90 miles north of here
in Dyer County Tennessee my mother and
my grandmother were both teachers my dad
worked in an industrial plant in
Dyersburg my grandfather was a tractor
mechanic when I was 14 or 15 years old
my mother demanded that I get a job not
quite sure why she thought I should get
a job when I was only 14 or 15 but you
do what your mother tells you to do she
helped me find the job though and the
job that I got was in a law firm in
Dyersburg so I made there coffee I made
their coffees I sent faxes that was
before email and I walked papers back
and forth to the courthouse because I
wasn’t old enough to drive yet I had no
lawyers in my family at all I don’t even
think I knew a lawyer until I started
working at this law firm the folks at
the law firm were really my first
introduction to to the law my high
school also had a mock trial team I
don’t know if Arlington has a mock trial
team or not but my high school had a
mock trial team and my recollection is
that my mother asked me to join that
team
and I did as I was told I went to
Mississippi State College where I
majored in Ag business I know that
sounds a lot like pre-law or political
science doesn’t it it had nothing to do
with law my mother thought I would be a
lawyer when I grew up I wasn’t so sure
so majoring in agriculture was sort of
my rebellion I guess you can say I got
my bachelor’s degree and my master’s
degree in Ag business before deciding
that mother was right and mothers
usually are right so after I got my
master’s degree I went out to Dallas
Texas and went to law school I practiced
law out there for a little bit and then
I decided to move home to practice law
in Jackson what I want to talk to you
about though is that the Polaroid of my
life developed as the result of a few
negatives so you remember me telling you
about the role of film in old-timey
cameras well when you would get those
photographs back you would get the
negatives back as well so an instant
photo is a lot like that negative
polaroid photos are created when a
negative is displayed inside the camera
it’s pressed between a set of rollers
which is why it comes out either the
front or the top of the camera depending
on the camera but when it’s pressed and
applied there’s some pressure applied to
it there’s a chemical agent a chemical
reagent a change that takes place that
will transfer that negative to a
positive receiving sheet and that’s when
you get the photograph
so the chemical change comes about as a
result of the negative meeting the
positive and as the result of the
pressure of the rollers we can draw some
parallels between the creation of an
instant photograph and the creation of
your own story and I want to share a few
of my negatives in order for you to
understand what I’m talking about when I
was on that high school mock trial team
my coach told me that I wasn’t good
enough to be a lawyer what my teenage
brain heard was that I couldn’t be a
lawyer now that’s not what he said but
that’s what I heard so I was a witness
and when I look back on that I recognize
that he knew some of my other students
some of my teammates were much better at
thinking on their feet than I was and
they would do a better job and in
reality those people who got assign
those roles ultimately went to law
school and are now accomplished
attorneys but that you aren’t good
enough to be a lawyer it’s part of the
reason I went to college and didn’t
major in pre-law and I didn’t major in
political science because I took what he
said as truth when in reality it wasn’t
the truth but that negative combined
with a change agent like in that instant
photograph and that change agent was my
mother’s pressure created a positive
result for me
after I have been practicing law here in
Tennessee for a few years I was
nominated to I was nominated to apply
for a leadership program that the
Tennessee Bar Association puts on the
Tennessee Bar Association is the
statewide group of lawyers so I filled
out my application and I was rejected
they sent me a very kind letter that
said no thank you
well after I got over my disappointment
and to be perfectly honest mild anger I
looked at my application and I suddenly
realized why they had said no the reason
they said no was because all I did was
work that’s all I did
I didn’t contribute to my community
and I wasn’t advocating for our
profession or trying to make our
profession any better I was flat I was
not well rounded I just worked so it was
a good wake-up call I was able to take
that rejection realize that I needed to
change some things so I found some
causes that cared about
I found some things that played to my
strengths and I got involved in some
things both in my community and in my
profession I swore I would never apply
again a few years later a dear friend
called and said please apply please
apply so I did and I got into that
program probably because of the changes
I had made that change in that rejection
was one of the best professional events
of my life because it completely changed
my trajectory and what I was able to do
so the rejection turned into a really
good experience after I had been
practicing law for a number of years one
of those lawyers I worked for when I was
14 or 15 called me and told me that one
of the judges
on the Tennessee Court of Appeals had
decided to retire and he thought I
should apply after telling him all the
reasons I didn’t think I should apply I
filled out the application it’s about a
15 page application you pour your life
and your soul into these pieces of paper
that are available on the internet
forever then you appear in front of this
group of 15 people who ask you all kinds
of questions including things like are
you sure you’re old enough to do this
job and they pick three names of the of
the group that applies they pick three
names to send to the governor’s office I
was one of the three names that was
selected along with two judges from
Shelby County who were extraordinarily
well-qualified so I get to go to
Nashville get a parking spot at the
Capitol I get to interview with the
governor’s lawyers and then spend 30
minutes in the governor’s office just
sitting and chatting with him about my
work experience in my education I can
promise you that my high school Mock
Trial self never saw that coming
it was a wonderful experience but
completely unexpected about six weeks
later I got the phone call that the
governor had decided to appoint one of
the other two applicants to the job
rejection a week or so later that same
lawyer that I had dealt with when I was
fifteen
called me and said there’s another judge
who’s decided he also is going to retire
you have a second chance I had to think
about it for a little while because
rejection sometimes stings
but I decided to apply same process 15
people answering questions I was one of
the three names selected when again to
the governor’s office wondered what they
could ask me this time that they didn’t
ask me the last time I came up with a
few questions spend some time with the
governor’s lawyers spent some time with
the governor again that time the day
after Christmas 2013 I got a phone call
as I was driving down i-40 that the
governor had decided to appoint me to
the Tennessee Court of Appeals that
experience over the last two and a half
years now has been one of the biggest
joys of my life to serve this state in a
way that I feel I’m uniquely qualified
to do it I would have missed out on that
joy if I had taken that rejection to
heart and had not reapplied so my story
is a lot like this Polaroid yours will
be as well our stories there are process
much like there’s a process to the
creation of a Polaroid picture is there
something you’d like to do having that
thought it’s the first thing so that’s
the first thing to do is have some
thought what you want to do the second
thing you’ve got to do is you’ve got to
actually do something you can’t just sit
around and think about it if you sit
around and think about it you probably
are going to think it to death do you
think anybody who went skydiving spent a
lot of time thinking about whether it
was something they wanted to do no they
just got out there and they did it maybe
when you do something you’ll be
successful maybe you want and that’s
where the last thing comes into play
you’ve got to be willing if you’re not
successful to change something or you
might just have to wait and you might
have to be patient a Polaroid doesn’t
develop instantly
you have to wait a little while
sometimes people think if they shake it
it’ll develop faster sometimes you just
have to wait for the color of your story
to be displayed do what has to be done
but wait when you need to sometimes
you’ll get knocked down or you’ll get
told no I could have decided not to
apply for the Court of Appeals again I
could have gotten disappointed and quit
but failure really is an opportunity to
create something wonderful it’s an
opportunity to take that negative apply
some kind of change agent and let the
negative be passed into a positive as
much as you’ve got to change the way you
look at the negatives in your life
you’ve also got to be willing to have
your eyes open to the change agents that
are all around you for a Polaroid it’s a
chemical that’s there that helps
transfer that negative to a positive in
my life it’s been a variety of things
number one it’s been people my mother
was a huge change agent for me because
she knew when to push me and how to push
me she’s the one who continued to push
me toward law because she saw in me
something that she knew and her wisdom
would fit the people of the law firm
that I worked for when I was fifteen
years old
they were change agents too they
mentored me for years and then when an
opportunity came my way they were there
to help me and support me although it
had been 20 years since I had last
worked for them
finally be willing to listen to someone
tell you the truth even when it’s
something you don’t necessarily want to
hear every time I’ve been told I was
wrong and that’s pretty often I’ve grown
in some way you’ve got to be willing to
be uncomfortable in order to grow don’t
surround yourself with yes men or women
who only tell you how great you are and
how wonderful you are make sure that you
are surrounding yourself with people who
support you but also with people who
will challenge you I have the benefit of
perspective I know what the last 25
years of my development has resulted in
you’re probably sitting there still
wondering what is the next 25 years hold
for me you may be wondering what the
next five years hold for you as your
story begins to develop remember that
perceived negatives in your life can
combine with a change agent and really
create something wonderful and when you
look back on the Polaroid that you
created I hope you’ll see that your
story is a masterpiece thank you
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