Tennessee’s authoritative adoption manual has been revised and expanded. In this 8th and final Edition, Dawn is more candid than ever, sharing the things she wished someone had taught her 35 years ago. In addition to detailed discussion of Tennessee adoption law, practice direction, and checklists, the bound law book comes with an electronic library of revised and expanded legal forms for all types of adoption cases.

 

Big statutory changes occurred in 2023. This book offers those revisions, plus policy and practice all in one volume.

You don’t need to go it alone.

 

Expect:

  • The clear, practical book that you depend on with double the pages of legal discussion,*

  • Updated practice forms for all common case types,

  • New practice forms, including discovery forms,

  • Step-by-step checklists for all the common case types, revised and expanded.

 

Table of Contents & Book Detail

 


“This is my last edition, so I tilted my head and shook out all my best stuff for you and your clients. It’s sassier too. I couldn’t help it…”

-Dawn Coppock

 

Book Review
TN Bar Journal – September/October 2024

 

April 2-4, 2025
Focus:  Adoption & Voluntary Termination

 

April 15-17, 2026
Focus: Involuntary Termination of Parental Rights

 

 

Learn Tennessee adoption law from the first client call to the new birth certificate with the lawyer who wrote the book.

Adoption Law School is Dawn Coppock’s signature class. In response to requests for even more depth and topics, the class will be presented in two “semesters” over two years. The 2025 focus is adoption and voluntary termination of parental rights. In 2026 the focus is involuntary termination of parental rights.

This popular and much-loved seminar is the only source for comprehensive training on Tennessee adoption law except to read Coppock on Tennessee Adoption Law, 8th Ed. alone. The 8th and final edition is the text for the classes, which will convene in Tennessee’s own vacation destination, Sevier County, in the Smoky Mountains.

 

What students love is closer to home:

  • Comprehensive, up-to-the-minute legal curriculum. You will leave competent.

  • Dawn’s practical, efficient, and irreverent presentation style. You won’t be bored.

  • 100% of your annual CLE (12 hours general, 3 hours dual),

  • 3 days with plenty of vacation time,

  • A yoga class for CLE credit,

  • Three included light breakfasts, one lunch, and the best CLE snacks ever.

  • The community of other good lawyers who care about families.

PLUS

  • A new two-term organization, Adoption Focus 2025 and TPR Focus 2026 permit more detailed coverage of the most important topics and the addition of some new topics.

  • A new format of 3 class days with 5 hours of CLE each day.

  • Tough technical topics are supported by materials, diagrams, and clear explanations then interspersed with panel discussions and community time to keep students’ minds fresh.

  • More time than ever before to learn about each other and socialize during the learning day and a designated local spot to meet up happy hour on Wednesday night.

  • A Central Time-sensitive 9 AM start.

  • Class is dismissed each day at 3:45 pm.

  • Class is dismissed on Friday permitting a springtime weekend in the Smokies on your own.

The 2026 session will probably be the last term of adoption law school with Dawn. This is your best chance to learn this practice from Dawn or to have a final comprehensive review. Her seminars often sell out. If you’re interested, sign up now.

 

Location:

The Sevierville Civic Center
120 Gary Wade Blvd.
Sevierville, TN 37862

 

 

Schedule

 

 

 

To learn more about developments in Tennessee Adoption Law and upcoming seminars:

PRESENTED BY

Dawn Coppock,
Attorney and Author

Dawn is the foremost trainer on adoption law in Tennessee.  For her answers to their questions, both serious and silly, see the January 2019 Tennessee Bar Journal, a publication of the Tennessee Bar Association. here.*      *Used with permission.

Good Seminars
for
Good Lawyers

Become a Competent and Confident Adoption Lawyer
  • Includes yoga and mindfullness training
  • Develop competence and confidence in the subject area
  • Learn compassionate, child-centered strategies to help you help families
  • Create and strengthen networks with other attendees
  • Work through real practice challenges with clear, current materials and practice forms
  • Stay interested and entertained

Presented by
Dawn Coppock,
Attorney and Author

Author of
Coppock on Tennessee Adoption Law, 8th Edition

 

Engaging content,
with practical exercises.

The Adoption Law School In The Mountains will prepare you with forms, checklists and practical advice to ensure you will be competent, confident and ready to practice adoption law.

Adoption Law School 2025
Focus:  Adoption and Voluntary Termination
April 2-4, 2025

– Ethics
– Parties
– Petitions – Relative, Step Parent, Independent, DCS, Children Born Abroad
– Termination Methods
– Finalization
– Post Adoption Contact Agreements
– ICWA
– ICPC
– Adoption Assistance


Adoption Law School 2026
Focus:  Involuntary Termination of Parental Rights
April 15-17, 2026

– Ethics
– Necessary Parties & Other People
– Petition to TPR to Default
– Pretrial Procedure
– Trial Procedure
– Best Interest
– Experts
– Grounds I
– Grounds II
– Counseling Clients

 

 

About Good Law

At Good Law we don’t produce seminars just to check a continuing education box. Your time and money and your client’s needs are too important for that. Good Law teaches you the law and skills necessary to represent clients with competence and confidence. And you will stay interested and entertained all day!

Dawn will tell you, show you and then let you try so you can ask the questions that only arise when you begin. At last, practical legal skill efficiently taught.

Good Law, Good Seminars for Good Lawyers.

 

 

About the Speaker

Author of Coppock on Tennessee Adoption Law, 8th Edition

Dawn Coppock, Attorney at Law, is a Sole Practitioner based in Strawberry Plains, Tennessee.  Her practice is limited to adoption law, including representation of both birth parents and adoptive parents in independent, agency, interstate, state agency, international, and relative adoptions, adoption record searches, contested adoptions, adoption appeals, and adoption subsidy disputes. Ms. Coppock is also a certified Juvenile-Child Welfare Specialist and a Tennessee Rule 31 mediator.

Ms. Coppock received her J.D. from the Marshall-Wythe School of Law at the College of William and Mary, in Williamsburg, Virginia, and her B.S. from Carson-Newman College, in Jefferson City, Tennessee.

Ms. Coppock is a member of the Family Law Section and Adoption Section of the Tennessee Bar Association and a member of the Family Law Section of the American Bar Association.

Ms. Coppock is AV rated by Martindale-Hubbell and has twice been listed among the best lawyers in Tennessee by Tennessee Business magazine. In 2004, she was named an Angel in Adoption by the U.S. Congressional Coalition on Adoption. In 2010, she received the Bill Williams Service Award for service to Tennessee children awaiting adoption.

 

Testimonials

Comments from past seminar attendees

 

 

" Contrary to popular belief, adoption law isn’t as cut and dry as it may seem. Adoptions and termination of parental rights can be full of nuance and pitfalls that the ill informed may not anticipate.  Dawn’s seminar goes the extra mile to fill in the gaps and provide a roadmap for a successful and adept adoption practice."
- John F. Weaver, Jr.

 

 

"This is the best CLE I have ever been to.  Dawn keeps things fun & interesting while teaching a lot of technical law.
This is invaluable if you want to practice in adoption law in TN."
-Blair Kennedy

 

 

 

"BEST CLE I have attended in 14 years of practice!!  Clear, concise, entertaining, well organized and informative.
This was worth every penny.  Thank you!"
- Andrea Rigdon

 

 

 

“Wonderful seminar.  Very informative on adoption law and also practice in general.
So glad I came.”
-Leigh Taylor White

 

 "Great seminar!  Dawn is very informative and entertaining too!"
- Daphne Moffatt

 

 

 

 

"A good, in-depth and practical seminar presented in an engaging manner and backed up with top-notch written materials."
- M.A. Birdwell

 

 

"Great command of the topic and illustrations from practical experience.  Book provides extremely useful resources for forms and templates.  Plain spoken approach is easier to follow than lecturing."
- David K. Calfee

 

 

"I had to leave but wanted to stay.  That has never happened before!"
- Bill Routh

Contact Information

Speaker’s Website:  www.dawncoppock.com

SEND US AN E-MAIL:

OR CALL US AT:

865-933-8173