Equal Justice University 2026: Full Schedule

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8:30am PDT

Hidden In Plain Sight: Practical Issue Spotting Across Practice Areas

Thursday August 27, 2026 8:30am - 10:00am PDT

This session will focus on effectively triaging client issues across multiple areas of law. It will explore common issues, key red flags, potential remedies, and available resources and referral options in a variety of practice areas, including family, housing, consumer, and immigration. Recognizing that clients often have multiple, overlapping legal concerns, the session will equip legal advocates with strategies to identify additional underlying issues. The session will also cover effective strategies for working with clients who may be indigent, have experienced trauma, be unfamiliar with the legal system, face systemic barriers, or have immigration-related concerns, with an emphasis on trauma-informed and culturally competent advocacy.

Speakers

Jake Old

Jake Old is the Consumer Unit Manager at West Tennessee Legal Services in Jackson, Tennessee. He also helps oversee the day-of-court clinics at WTLS in which attorneys are available in some general sessions courts to provide advice or representation to clients. Jake received his... Read More →

Colleen Ryan

Colleen Ryan (she/her) is an attorney with the Eviction Right to Counsel program of the Legal Aid Society of Middle Tennessee and the Cumberlands. A 2022 graduate of Belmont University College of Law, Colleen is passionate about helping tenants assert their rights through counterclaims... Read More →

Kerry Krauch

Kerry Krauch is a 2012 graduate of the University of Memphis School of Law. She currently serves as a Counsel and Advice Attorney at West Tennessee Legal Services, where she provides guidance to clients across a broad range of legal matters. Prior to this role, she practiced with... Read More →

Amber Vargas

Amber Vargas’s calling is to advocate for victims of domestic violence.  Amber obtained a BA in psychology from Maryville College and a JD from the University of Tennessee College of Law.  While getting her degrees, Amber worked at a domestic violence safe house including manning the... Read More →

Emily Stotts

Emily Stotts is the Legal Director at Tennessee Justice for Our Neighbors, a non-profit law firm based in Nashville, Tennessee. She represents individuals seeking immigration benefits before U.S. Citizenship and Immigration Services and those defending themselves against deportation... Read More →

830 10 Krauch Hidden In Plain pptx

Thursday August 27, 2026 8:30am - 10:00am PDT
Embassy Suites- Broadlands B

10:15am PDT

Advocating for Veterans: VA Benefits 101

Thursday August 27, 2026 10:15am - 11:45am PDT

Embassy Suites- Broadlands B

Survey and introduction to VA benefits for new advocates and for those outside the practice area to best advise their clients on too. Overview includes service-connected disability payments, VA covered medical services, and service discharge upgrades. Also covered will be the basic how-tos for advocacy with the VA and issue spotting VA benefits issues along with other public benefits areas and legal issues.

Speakers

Cole Adams

Staff Attorney, West Tennessee Legal Services

Cole Adams (he/him) is a Staff Attorney in the Public Benefits Unit in the Memphis Office of West Tennessee Legal Services. In his practice, he represents and advises clients on Social Security, Medicaid, SNAP, Families First, and Unemployment Compensation issues. Previously, Cole... Read More →

1015 1145 Handouts HowtoApplyforAccreditationVA pdf

1015 1145 VA Benefits 101 pptx

Thursday August 27, 2026 10:15am - 11:45am PDT
Embassy Suites- Broadlands B

1:15pm PDT

A Practical Look at Tennessee Statute of Limitations

Thursday August 27, 2026 1:15pm - 2:15pm PDT

Embassy Suites- Broadlands B

This program provides a practical, risk-focused overview of statutes of limitations under Tennessee law, with an emphasis on avoiding missed deadlines that can jeopardize client interests and expose firms to malpractice risk. Designed for attorneys, paralegals, and support staff alike, the program explains key statute of limitations concepts, highlights commonly encountered Tennessee deadlines, and addresses frequent pitfalls such as accrual errors, incorrect tolling assumptions, and calendar mistakes. Through real-world examples and interactive hypotheticals, participants will gain a clearer understanding of how statutes of limitations affect daily practice and how effective teamwork, intake procedures, and docketing systems can help prevent costly errors.

Speakers

Jonathan Steen

Jonathan Steen is the Medical-Legal Partnership / Litigation Supervising Attorney at West Tennessee Legal Services, where he leads efforts to integrate legal aid into healthcare settings to address social and legal barriers to health. With over 30 years of experience in civil litigation... Read More →

115 215 Steen SOL Presentation Slides (jos EJU) pptx

115 215 Steen Handout Range v. Sowell 2009 Tenn. App. LEXIS 723 (good description of SOL and statute of repose docx

Thursday August 27, 2026 1:15pm - 2:15pm PDT
Embassy Suites- Broadlands B

2:30pm PDT

From Data to Impact: Strengthening Financial Outcomes Reporting Across Programs

Thursday August 27, 2026 2:30pm - 3:30pm PDT

Embassy Suites- Broadlands B

This session introduces a standardized approach to financial outcomes of reporting, improving consistency, accuracy, and usability for grant reporting, advocacy, and storytelling. Participants will learn how to categorize benefits obtained and amounts avoided using a practical, easy-to-apply framework. The session will also show how clear financial outcomes data demonstrates impact and helps funders and donors understand the return on their investment. Participants will leave with a consistent, replicable approach to entering outcomes that is meaningful for reporting and funding.

Speakers

Zac Oswald

Zac Oswald is Senior Deputy Director of Client Services at the Legal Aid Society of Middle Tennessee & the Cumberlands, where he combines front-line advocacy with emerging technology. His team’s AI-driven ExpungeMate tool has helped clear thousands of non-convictions, expanding... Read More →

Vince Morris

Vince Morris joined the Legal Aid Society in 2023 as Director of Compliance and Legal Technology after relocating to Nashville from Little Rock, Arkansas, where he practiced criminal defense and domestic relations law. He began his career in legal aid as an intern and spent over... Read More →

Vanessa Bullock

Vanessa Bullock is West Tennessee Legal Services’ Director of Special Projects, where she oversees grants providing holistic legal services to special populations, including the elderly and veterans. She also supervises several HUD-funded initiatives, including the Mid-South Housing... Read More →

Caitlin Hakim

Caitlin worked as a staff attorney for WTLS from 2017-2018 and then joined WTLS as a managing attorney in 2019. She earned her J.D. magna cum laude, Order of the Coif, from the University of Tennessee College of Law in 2014. She previously worked as a law clerk for Judge D. Kelly... Read More →

230 330 Oswald Economic Benefits Grid pptx

Thursday August 27, 2026 2:30pm - 3:30pm PDT
Embassy Suites- Broadlands B

3:45pm PDT

What to Know: Resources and Public Benefits

Thursday August 27, 2026 3:45pm - 4:45pm PDT

Embassy Suites- Broadlands B

This practical session will cover what people need to know about resources and three public benefits programs: Supplemental Security Income (SSI), food stamps (SNAP), and TennCare. This session will educate participants about what counts as a resource for each of these benefits programs, when a resource counts, what counts as a resource versus what counts as income, and how to advise clients to stay under these resource limits to maintain eligibility.

Speakers

Emma Sholl

Emma Sholl is the Lead Health and Benefits attorney in the Nashville office of Legal Aid Society of Middle Tennessee and the Cumberlands. She supervises a team of two attorneys and three support staff that work on public benefits cases. She handles Medicaid, Medicare, Social... Read More →

345 445 Sholl Resources and Public Benefits PPT pptx

Thursday August 27, 2026 3:45pm - 4:45pm PDT
Embassy Suites- Broadlands B

8:30am PDT

10:15am PDT

1:15pm PDT

2:30pm PDT

3:45pm PDT

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