Justia Legal Services & Lawyers Directory

Consumer financial services practice focusing on state and federal regulatory compliance matters.

Blake Sims is a member of the firm’s Consumer Finance Group, focusing his practice on general corporate law, including consumer finance, regulatory compliance, business organizations and planning, commercial transactions and conflicts of law, electronic transactions and Internet transactions, and privacy policies.

Martin L. Pierce is a native of Memphis, Tennessee, and received his undergraduate degree, summa cum laude, from Tennessee Technological University in 1978. He received that institution's Outstanding Young Alumnus Award in 1988. Martin received his law degree, with honors, from the University of Memphis in 1981, where he was a published member of the University of Memphis Law Review. He is licensed to practice law in Tennessee and Georgia, as well as before the U.S. Tax Court and the U.S. Supreme Court.

Martin works primarily in the areas of (1) Estate Planning, Wills, Trusts, Elder Law, Probate, Conservatorships, Guardianships and Charitable Planning, (2) Business Entity Law, including Corporations, LLCs and Partnerships, with a special emphasis on work for Nonprofits, Tax-exempt organizations and Foundations, and (3) Employee Benefits, Retirement Plans, Cafeteria Plans, Health Savings Accounts, COBRA and ERISA.

He is a Certified Estate Planning Law Specialist through the ABA-accredited National Association of Estate Planners & Councils and the Tennessee Commission on Specialization. See www.cletn.com/Specialists.aspx. He is also a member of the National Academy of Elder Law Attorneys. Among other professional organizations that he is a member of are the Chattanooga Estate Planning Council (Past President, 2006-07), the Chattanooga Tax Practitioners (President, 2007-08), and the National and Chattanooga Planned Giving Councils, as well as the Georgia, Tennessee and Chattanooga Bar Associations, where he is involved with the Technology, Tax and Probate, and Trust Sections.

Martin is the co-founder of several local ministries and organizations, including First Things First and the IMPACT School at Silverdale Baptist Academy. He has served on the Boards of many ministries and nonprofits, including the Chattanooga Christian School, Chattanooga Resource Foundation (Chattanooga Matters), Bethel Bible Village, Lighthouse Counseling Center, Changing the Future, Student Venture of Chattanooga (a ministry of Campus Crusade for Christ), Big Brothers/Big Sisters of Chattanooga, and the Chattanooga Optimist Club. He currently serves on the Boards of Paraclyte Ministries Counseling Resources and the Chattanooga Generous Community Initiative. Martin is also the Chairman of the Alpha Fund, a component fund of the Chattanooga Christian Community Foundation, a member of the Christian Legal Society, and he is a Budget Coach with Crown Financial Ministries. Martin is a Qualified and a Charter Member of Kingdom Advisors (formerly Christian Financial Professionals Network, CFPN) and founded and has led the Chattanooga Area Kingdom Advisors Group since its inception in 2005. See www.KingdomAdvisors.org.

Martin is a frequent speaker to professional groups, business organizations, civic organizations, churches and other groups on Estate Planning, Elder Law, Charitable and Planned Giving, Employee Benefits, Business entities, tax-exempt entities, nonprofits, stewardship, and financial planning topics. Additionally, he has often written articles for the Chattanoogan.com online “newspaper.” See www.Chattanoogan.com.

Martin is in his 30th year of law practice in Chattanooga, where he began with Stophel, Caldwell & Heggie, P.C. in 1981. He moved to Chambliss & Bahner, PLLC in 1984 (where he became a Partner in 1987, and he was the Head of that Firm’s Tax & Estates Section for 8 years). In 1997, Stophel & Stophel, P.C. merged with Chambliss & Bahner, forming Chambliss, Bahner & Stophel, P.C., where Martin practiced until 2002, when he joined the national law firm of Husch & Eppenberger, LLC (where he was Head of the Estate Planning and Employee Benefits practice areas for the Firm’s three offices in the State of Tennessee). On January 1, 2005, Martin opened his own practice to more personally and cost-effectively serve his clients. On September 1, 2010, Jodi Reece Harris joined Mr. Pierce to form the law firm of Pierce & Harris, an association of attorneys.

Martin’s office is located at 4513 Hixson Pike, Suite 109, Hixson, Tennessee 37343. His office telephone number is (423) 648-4303, and his fax number is (423) 648-4305. He may also be reached by e-mail at mpierce@martinpiercelaw.com.

Ron Gorsline leads the Consumer Finance Group and practices in the areas of corporate business planning, consumer financial services and regulatory compliance, bankruptcy law, tax-exempt organizations and taxation law. He has taught several legal seminars on bankruptcy laws and collection laws in Tennessee. He also regularly advises loan companies, deferred presentment companies, financial institutions, and banks regarding electronic payments (ACH transactions) under NACHA - The Electronic Payments Association, federal consumer protection, and privacy law and regulations, including the Federal Arbitration Act, Federal Equal Credit Opportunity Act (Regulation B), Electronic Fund Transfer Act (Regulation E), Truth-in-Lending Act (Regulation M and Z), Gramm-Leach-Bliley Act (Regulation P), Fair Credit Reporting Act (Regulation V), Fair Debt Collection Practices Act, the Bank Secrecy Act, USA Patriot Act, and Servicemembers Civil Relief Act.

Mr. Gorsline is a regular presenter on legal topics before national audiences within the industry.

Morgan limits his practice to cases involving tractor trailers, cars, trucks, motorcycles and select other cases involving wrongful death and serious personal injury. He is able to handle cases nationally through associated counsel. Morgan gives back to the legal profession and, as a national speaker, travels around the country teaching other lawyers how to properly handle personal injury cases. He is a member of numerous invitation only organizations and has recieved multiple million plus dollar recoveries for his clients.