Justices OK felon blood samples
In the first ruling of its kind in Tennessee, the state Supreme Court has upheld the constitutionality of a law authorizing felons’ blood to be drawn, analyzed and stored in a database. In a unanimous opinion drafted by Justice Cornelia A. Clark, the high court stated, “We hold that the taking of a blood sample from a convicted and incarcerated felon pursuant to Tennessee’s DNA collection statute is a search, but that it does not violate the U.S. Constitution when it is reasonable under the totality of the circumstances.”

Download the decision, State of Tennessee v. Bruce Warren Scarborough, at http://www.tba2.org/tbatoday/news/2006/scarborough082806.pdf

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TBA says keep courses in Rule 31 program
The Tennessee Bar Association has commented on changes in the court-annexed dispute resolution program, which had been proposed by the Alternative Dispute Resolution Commission earlier this year. The comments support clarification of the rule to restrict neutrals from presiding over procedures other than mediation and to require that general dispute resolution directives be accomplished by local rules rather than standing orders of reference. The TBA opposes a change removing the requirement that Rule 31 family law mediators must take courses in family law every two years to continue to be listed. Read the rule at http://www.tba2.org/tbatoday/news/2006/rule31comment_082106.pdf

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Tipton elected presiding judge
The 12-member Tennessee Court of Criminal Appeals elected Judge Joseph M. Tipton of Knoxville as its presiding judge. As presiding judge, Tipton will be responsible for setting court dockets, including determining who will serve on the court’s three-member panels, where they will sit and when.

Tipton will preside over court meetings, serve on various court-related commissions and committees and assign other members of the court to serve.

Tipton, 59, succeeds Justice Gary R. Wade as presiding judge. Wade was recently appointed to the Tennessee Supreme Court.

The new presiding judge was appointed to the Court of Criminal Appeals in 1990. He was elected in 1992 and was reelected to eight-year terms in 1998 and 2006. He is a graduate of the University of Tennessee and the University of Tennessee College of Law, where he was Order of the Coif and later served as an adjunct professor.

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New Zealand firm offers naps, flex time
Nashville firms hit six figures for starting lawyers
Nashville’s largest law firms have cracked the six-figure barrier on the amount they’ll pay new associates, the Nashville Business Journal reported recently. The city’s four largest firms — Waller Lansden Dortch & Davis, Bass Berry & Sims, Boult Cummings Conners & Berry and Baker Donelson Bearman Caldwell & Berkowitz — all have increased their starting salaries by $15,000 to $100,000 the paper reports. Figures are based on reports by the National Association for Legal Career Professionals and interviews with firm members.

And not to be outdone ...
A law firm that encourages its workers to take naps has won New Zealand’s top award for helping employees balance work and personal lives. The Auckland firm of Meredith Connell was awarded the honor for offering employees flexible work hours to take care of personal commitments. The firm credits the scheme with cutting its professional staff turnover by five percent in the past year, reports the Associated Press.

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Coalition forms to support Mediation Day
The Tennessee Bar Association joined with 15 other organizations in the state recently to announce the formation of the Tennessee Coalition for Mediation Awareness and to applaud Gov. Phil Bredesen for designating Oct. 19 as “Mediation Day” in the state. The coalition, spearheaded by Margaret Huff, chair of the TBA’s Dispute Resolution Section, was created to educate the public and the legal profession on the benefits of mediation and other forms of conflict resolution.

Find out more at http://www.tba2.org/tbatoday/news/2006/mediationpress_091206.pdf

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Rein in incursions on attorney-client privilege, ABA prez tells Senate committee
American Bar Association President Karen J. Mathis this week urged the Senate Judiciary Committee “to send a strong message to the Department of Justice that the attorney-client privilege and the work product doctrine are fundamental principles of our legal system that must be protected.” Mathis told committee members that Justice Department directives to federal prosecutors are “improperly undermining those fundamental rights,” in testimony at a hearing on “The Thompson Memorandum’s Effect on the Right to Counsel in Corporate Investigations.”

Read the full report from the ABA at http://www.abanet.org/media/releases/news091206.html

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Knoxville lawyer honors suffrage
The Tennessee Woman's Suffrage Memorial, a life-size bronze statue of three leaders of the movement, was unveiled in Knoxville last month. “This is to honor what they did,” Wanda Sobieski, a Knoxville lawyer who led fund-raising efforts for the memorial, told the Knoxville News Sentinel. The campaign to erect the statue took a decade, and about $100,000 was raised privately for the public work of art.

Read more about it at http://www.knoxnews.com/kns/local_news/article/0,1406,KNS_347_4948756,00.html

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Ethics Commission hires new executive director
The Tennessee Ethics Commission has named Bruce Androphy, general counsel of the New York State Ethics Commission, as its new executive director. Ethics Commission chair Tom Garland said, “Mr. Androphy brings a wealth of talent as well as practical experience in the area of ethics to Tennessee’s Ethics Commission. We are very fortunate to have an individual of his abilities to provide leadership during this critical start-up phase of the Commission’s operations.”