Background Check

BACKGROUND CHECK Mike Abelow | Bart Pickett

The end of 2020 saw our successful—albeit virtual—Annual Banquet introduce many of us to our 2021 NBA president, Mike Abelow. Following in the footsteps of recent past presidents (including his three partners who previously held the same role), Mike excitedly took the reins.

The son of computer programmers (back before computers were popular), Mike spent his formative years growing up in Lincoln, Nebraska. When he was 14, his family moved to Baltimore, Maryland, where his maternal family lived. While in high school, Mike excelled in debate and earned a scholarship to James Madison University (JMU) in Virginia.

Reminiscing on his time at JMU, he looks back at himself as a total nerd. In addition to the debate team, he was a member of a service fraternity, which at the time, fancied themselves quite the party animals. During his junior year, he headed off to France to study for a semester program where he met his future wife, Cynthia.

After graduating college in 1996, Mike took a job working construction to fill the void. Eventually, Mike and Cynthia headed to Lexington, Virginia, so he could attend Washington & Lee University School of Law. During their time in Lexington, the couple got married and Mike discovered meaning in the law, helping inmates at the Alderson WV Federal Prison for Women. He enjoyed being a real lawyer and helping them with real civil and criminal legal issues.

Following graduation, Mike headed north to clerk for a US Court of Appeals Judge in Rochester, New York. After completion of the one-year clerkship, Mike moved to DC where he took a job with a large litigation firm, and Cynthia started at Georgetown Law. Mike practiced government contracts and insurance coverage litigation. He later landed at the Federal Trade Commission’s Bureau of Consumer Protection as a litigator where he had planned to work for the remainder of his career.

Not long after, in what he thought was more of a joke, Mike got a call from his best friend, Phil Cramer, who he knew from Baltimore and who was a partner at Sherrard & Roe. Phil told him of a younger litigation partner who had left to go in-house and thus a potential opening. When Mike and Cynthia discussed the idea of leaving DC, it seemed more and more enticing, particularly since the couple had three young children. After coming to Nashville and meeting all the people at Sherrard, Mike and Cynthia packed up and moved the family to the South in 2007. Since then, Cynthia’s parents and Mike’s uncle have also seen the great things Nashville has to offer and also moved to Nashville.

Mike started as an associate at Sherrard but became partner a few years later. He started out practicing mostly business litigation, but over time he has added bankruptcy to account for about 50% of his practice.

Inspired by his firm’s encouragement to be involved in the bar and community, Mike dove into NBA involvement. The Francophile particularly enjoyed the Sister City Committee and its connection to Caan, France. He has been on three of the bar trips to France and has chaired the committee. He also is a former chair of the Federal Court Committee. Outside of the bar, he has chaired the Tennessee Justice Center Board, and is a board member of the Nashville Urban Debate League.

The Abelows live in Oak Hill with their four children (three girls and one boy) ranging in age from 21 to 10 years old, a dog, three cats, and their quarantine-inspired pet chickens. Since the chickens’ favorite treat is mealworms, Mike has started a mealworm farm to raise them from larvae. When not tending to the chickens, you might also find him playing his new favorite sport of pickleball, along with other bar members, including Phil Cramer and Brian Roark. n

BART PICKETT is an attorney at the Law Offices of Julie Bhattacharya Peak where he represents Liberty Mutual Group, Inc.’s insureds and customers of its affiliated groups in litigation throughout Middle Tennessee. Prior to practicing, Pickett worked as a law clerk for the Honorable Judge Thomas W. Brothers of the Sixth Circuit Court of Davidson County and the Honorable Joseph P. Binkley, Jr. of the Fifth Circuit Court of Davidson County.

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Original Thinking. Unique Protection.® Tennessee) were all elected to the US House of Representatives. For the presidential election, Tennessee’s 11 electoral votes went for President Donald Trump.

Many states saw an overwhelming increase in the number of voters who utilized absentee or mail-in voting options due to the spread of the novel coronavirus, COVID-19.1 In the days immediately after the election, the Trump campaign quickly filed lawsuits in many states, including Michigan, Wisconsin, Georgia, and Pennsylvania.2 The majority of the suits were eventually dismissed.3

Despite the high drama, a winner was declared in Democratic nominee Joe Biden and on December 14, the members of the Electoral College met in the various state capitols and awarded 305 votes to Vice President Biden.4 On January 6, members of the US Senate and House of Representatives gathered to formalize the results of the Electoral College.5 Some members of the Senate and House planned to object to the results of certain state elections.6 However, a protest in support of President Trump became riotous and some individuals physically breached the Capitol building.7 As Senator Ted Cruz objected to Arizona’s election results, the Senate was forced to recess.8 After Capitol police regained control of the Capitol complex and the Senate and House resumed their sessions, many of the legislators withdrew their objections to the Electoral College results. Vice President Mike Pence, as the President of the Senate, confirmed the results of the Electoral College around 3:40am on Thursday, January 7, 2021.9

The high drama and deep divide of America seen through the presidential election of 2020 will be remembered and studied by many for years to come. Some will remember it as the election of the first woman, first African American, and first Asian American becoming Vice President of the United States in the same year as the 100th anniversary of the ratification of the Nineteenth Amendment. All will remember the turbulence and unrest. The silver lining of this tumultuous time in American history is that voter turnout for the November 2020 election was the highest in 120 years. Now that is something to celebrate.10 n

This article represents the opinions of the author and not necessarily those of the Office of the Tennessee Attorney General and Reporter.

Endnotes

1 Michael Wines, As Trump Disputes Election Results, Republicans Target Voting by Mail, The New York Times (Dec. 10, 2020).

2 Brett Samuels, Trump campaign sues to halt vote counting in Michigan, The hill (Nov. 4, 2020); Scott Bauer, Biden narrowly wins Wisconsin; Trump to call for recount, sTar TribuNe (Nov. 5, 2020); Alison Durkee, Judge Says Trump Campaign Has ‘No Evidence’ To Support Georgia Mail-In Ballot Claims, Forbes (Nov. 5, 2020); Josh Gerstein, Trump campaign revises Pennsylvania suit, again, PoliTico (Nov. 18, 2020).

3 Alison Durkee, Trump And The GOP Have Now Lost More Than 50 Post-Election Lawsuits, Forbes (Dec. 9, 2020).

4 Jeremy Herb, Electoral College affirms Biden win, shaking loose fresh Republican recognition, CNN (Dec. 14, 2020).

5 Nicholas Wu & Camille Caldera, What to expect when Congress meets to count Electoral College votes and Republicans object, usa TodaY (Jan. 6, 2021).

6 Natalie Allison, Marsha Blackburn, Bill Hagerty reverse course, vote to uphold presidential election, TeNNesseaN (Jan. 6, 2021).

7 Capitol building breached by pro-Trump mob, The washiNgToN PosT (Jan. 6, 2021).

8 Caroline Linton & Melissa Quinn, Key Republican senators withdraw objections to Electoral College count after Capitol siege, CBS News (Jan. 7, 2021).

9 Melissa Quinn, et al., Pence announces Biden’s victory after Congress completes electoral count, CBS News (Jan. 7, 2021).

10 Kevin Schaul, et al., 2020 turnout is the highest in over a century, The washiNgToN PosT (Nov. 5, 2020).

SAMANTHA SIMPSON is an Assistant Attorney General at the TN Attorney General, Criminal Appeals Division. She serves as an Arts Immersion co-chair in the NBA YLD, as an Archivist for LAW, and on the Executive Council for the Criminal Justice Section of the TBA. She also serves on the Membership Committee of the American Inn of Court at Belmont University College of Law.