Stay current with legal news in Tennessee. This page features the latest news for and about the Tennessee legal community, either produced by the Tennessee Bar Association or collected from news sources.
The TBA will hold civility initiative events in Memphis, Nashville and Knoxville over the next several months, beginning with a Memphis program on Sept. 18 from 7 to 8:30 p.m. at the University of Memphis Cecil C. Humphreys School of Law. The program, sponsored by the TBA and the law school, will focus on civility in the public square, where policy debates -- especially those with cross-cultural implications -- can quickly become contentious. It will use the current effort to consolidate city and county schools in Memphis as a case study in how to bring civility into a divisive debate. The second forum, set for Nashville on Oct. 16, will focus on civility in interacting with the courts, as well as issues affecting the access to and delivery of justice. The final forum will be held in Knoxville on Feb. 21. It will focus on civility and effective governance, using the model emulated by former U.S. Senator and Ambassador to Japan Howard H. Baker Jr. The TBA's Balancing Civility and Free Expression Initiative is designed to encourage a public conversation about the tensions between civility and free speech, the state of our public square and the challenges of maintaining civil discourse in a democracy.
Portland City Judge Steven Glaser has stepped down from the post to focus on his race against William Lamberth for the 44th District state House seat, the Tennessean reports. To fill the position, the Portland City Council has appointed Jane Wheatcraft as interim city judge. "I am not prohibited by law from seeking a state office while holding a municipal post, but I would like to avoid any appearance of impropriety which might arise,” Glaser wrote in an Aug. 6 letter.
Longtime Memphis attorney and civic leader Roane Waring Jr. died Tuesday (Aug. 28) at Methodist University Hospital. He was 95. A Memphis native, Mr. Waring earned his law degree from the University of Virginia after serving as a captain of the 24th Infantry during World War II. He practiced law for more than 50 years in Memphis and served in a variety of civic organizations, including the Memphis Urban League, Health and Welfare Planning Council, Family Service of Memphis, Junior Chamber of Commerce, Military Order of World Wars, Les Passes Treatment Center, and the vestry of Grace St. Luke's Episcopal Church, the Commercial Appeal reports. He was also a past president of the Memphis Bar Association and a fellow of the American College of Trial Lawyers. The family will receive friends at 10 a.m. Tuesday in St. Edward Chapel at Trezevant Manor with services at 11 a.m. A reception will follow.
Three of the five justices appointed to a Special Supreme Court have stepped down from the body, following a motion filed by John Jay Hooker questioning their impartiality. William M. Barker, George H. Brown Jr. and Robert L. Echols filed the order of recusal today, the Nashville Post reports. Gov. Bill Haslam appointed the trio, along with Special Justice Andree S. Blumstein and Special Justice W. Morris Kizer, to hear an appeal of Hooker’s suit challenging the constitutionality of Tennessee’s method of selecting and retaining appellate court judges. All five members of the Tennessee Supreme Court had earlier recused themselves from hearing the case.
Laura Rule, who managed the Blount County office of Legal Aid of East Tennessee, died this morning (Aug. 31). She was 65. Ms. Rule was a graduate of the University of Tennessee College of Law, where she was a member of the nationally ranked Labor Law Moot Court Team. After completing a judicial clerkship for the Hon. Samuel L. Lewis on the Tennessee Court of Appeals, she became an associate at Reid & Priest in Manhattan. In 1993, she returned to Tennessee to work with the Blount County Public Defender. She joined Legal Aid in 2001. The family will receive friends from 3 to 5 p.m. on Monday at McCammon-Ammons-Click Funeral Home, 220 W. Broadway Ave. in Maryville. The funeral will be held at 11 a.m. Tuesday at Our Lady of Fatima Catholic Church, 858 Louisville Road in Alcoa. Burial will follow at Grandview Cemetary, 2304 Tuckaleechee Pike in Maryville. LAET’s Knoxville and Maryville offices will be closed on Tuesday. Memorial donations may be made to the LAET Blount County Office, 307 Ellis Ave., Maryville, TN 37801.
American Bar Association YLD -- The ABA held its annual meeting in Chicago from Aug. 2 to 7. The ABA-YLD also met and began its assembly with an invocation by Tennessee's own Lee Bowles, General Sessions Court judge in Marshall County. Read about the resolutions argued, awards received and other updates here
Members of the new ABA-YLD leadership also took office. Chris Rogers of Dallas replaced Michael Bergman of Chicago as ABA-YLD Chair. Mario Sullivan of Chicago began serving his one-year term as YLD chair-elect. And Jennifer Daugherty of Minneapolis began serving her one-year term as YLD Assembly Speaker.
The ABA-YLD's next meeting will be the fall conference in Charleston, S.C., Oct. 18 to 20. For information about the ABA-YLD contact Matt Potempa at matt@potempafirm.com or (615) 255-5007.
Jackson Madison County Bar Association YLD -- The Jackson-Madison County YLD will host a joint reception with the Federal Bar Association at Charlie Bulldogs on Aug. 30 beginning at 4 p.m. For more information about the event or the YLD contact President Terica Smith at terica@wtls.org or (731) 426-1337.
Knoxville Bar Association Barristers -- The Barristers Hunger and Poverty Relief Committee recently concluded its School Supply Drive, which provided supplies for 35 foster children through Childhelp Foster Family Agency of East Tennessee.
Among the Barrister's upcoming events are the monthly meeting Sept. 12 at 5 p.m. at the Bistro by the Bijou and a happy hour Sept 27 at 5:30 p.m. at the Bearden Beer Market. On Oct. 12, the Barristers team up with the KBA for the annual golf tournament. This year's event will be held at the Avalon Landmark Golf Club. Registration, practice range privileges and box lunches will be available from 11:30 a.m. to 12:30 p.m. A shotgun start will take place at 1 p.m. Following the tournament, players are invited to a BBQ dinner. Participants may sign up as individuals or teams, but each team must include at least one lawyer. The entry fee of $100 per player includes green fees, cart, range balls, box lunch, a commemorative tournament gift, two tickets for beverages during the tournament, prizes and cook-out following the tournament. All entries and payments must be received by Oct. 5. Is your law firm interested in sponsoring? Check out options. Learn more or register for the tournament here
Finally, the Barristers are recruiting volunteers for area Saturday Bar clinics. Knox County clinics will be held at Legal Aid of East Tennessee. Dates include Sept. 8, Oct. 13, Oct. 27, Nov. 10 and Dec. 1. Blount County events will take place Sept.15, Oct. 27, Nov. 10 and Dec. 1 at New Hope Blount County Children's Advocacy Center in Maryville. All clinics run from 9 a.m. to 12 noon.
Contact Barristers President Josh Bond at jbond@hdclaw.com for more information about any of these events.
Memphis Bar Association YLD -- The MBA YLD will host its annual golf tournament Sept. 28 at Glen Eagle Golf Course in Millington with a shotgun start at 1 p.m. Registration is $65 per person with proceeds benefiting the Downtown Porter Boys and Girls Club. Prizes will be awarded to the top finishers, as well as for the longest drive and closet to the pin. Sponsors of this year's tournament are Alpha Reporting Corp., BankTennessee, IPSCO - Insurance Service & Planning Co., and The Marston Group. Register online
The group also announced it will hold its annual meeting Nov. 15. Watch for more details to come. For more information about the MBA YLD contact President Abby Webb at awebb@shuttleworthwilliams.com or (901) 328-8223.
District 7 YLD Representative Aimee Luna is hosting a book drive for the Veterans Nursing Home in Murfreesboro. Anyone interested in donating books, bookshelves (preferably three foot in height) or monetary assistance should contact Luna at aluna@las.org or (615) 890-0905.
First of 3 programs across the state to focus on civility in public policy debates, especially those with cross-cultural implications
NASHVILLE, Aug. 31, 2012 -- The Tennessee Bar Association and the University of Memphis Cecil C. Humphreys School of Law will hold a public forum on the issue of free speech and civility in public policy debates on Sept. 18 from 7 to 8:30 p.m. in the law school's Wade Auditorium.
Programs across Tennessee will explore balancing civility and free expression in three segments of society: the public square, the courts and government
NASHVILLE, Aug. 31, 2012 -- Can civility co-exist with free speech in today's world? That's just one topic that will be explored in a series of public conversations presented across the state this fall by the Tennessee Bar Association.
The TBA recently hired two new staff members to handle key programs run by the bar and its committees.
Leadership Law
Brittany Sims will join the TBA next week as coordinator of the Leadership Law program. She replaces long time staff member Monica Mackie who is pursuing other opportunities. Sims, a Nashville native, graduated from Hampton University in Hampton, Va., then returned to Nashville to work as a VISTA volunteer with AmeriCorp. While pursuing a graduate degree at Tennessee State University, Sims worked with the TSU Center for Service Learning and Civic Engagement and then moved on to become a program coordinator there. She also serves as assistant volleyball coach at Fisk University. Her degree is in public administration, with a certificate in nonprofit management. In addition to coordinating the TBALL program, Sims also will join the team that gathers news for the daily TBAToday newsletter and TBA website. You can reach her at bsims@tnbar.org.
Access to Justice and Public Education
Elizabeth "Liz" Slagle Todaro joined the TBA staff this week to begin training as the new Access to Justice and Public Education Coordinator. She will take over later this fall when Sarah Hayman, who currently fills those roles, departs to have her first child. Todaro, a graduate of the City University of New York Law School, most recently led Nashville Debate - a comprehensive debate program for high school students. She also has served in a consulting role with the YWCA as a community educator and outreach coordinator for the agency's Domestic Violence Center, and as program director for the Family and Children's Service Crisis Center. A native of Nashville, Todaro graduated from Hume-Fogg High School. She earned her undergraduate degree from Emory University and worked in Atlanta and Washington, D.C., prior to attending law school. You can reach her at ltodaro@tnbar.org.
The Tennessee Bar Association will be closed on Monday for the Labor Day holiday. The office will reopen on Tuesday at 8 a.m. As always, our website has plenty of continuing legal education options and other information available to you 24/7.
The Oath of Office ceremony for Nathan B. Pride, newly elected judge for the 26th Judicial District, Division III, of the Circuit Court will be Tuesday at 10 a.m. The event, which is open to the public, will be at the J. Alex Leech Criminal Justice Complex in Jackson.
On the heels of Nashville law enforcement deciding to withdraw from the federal 287(g) program, Knoxville Sheriff J.J. Jones reportedly is considering adopting the program, which checks the immigration status of those booked into local jails. Jones said he would meet with a group opposed to the program before making a final decision about whether to adopt it. WBIR.com reports on the program and protest that took place there this week.
U.S. District Judge Amy Berman Jackson is asking an assistant to Attorney General Eric Holder to explain why the government is fighting so hard to keep informant records of Memphis civil rights era photographer Ernest Withers sealed. Jackson reproved Justice Department lawyers in her Washington courtroom this week, questioning why they're protecting decades-old material involving a now-deceased informant. While Jackson would not reveal the contents of the file, she said she was "deeply, deeply troubled by it.'' The Memphis Commercial Appeal -- which is seeking access to the materials -- reports.
District Attorney General Steve Bebb, the subject of a recent investigative series in the Chattanooga Times Free Press, is speaking out, defending his record and calling allegations of wrongdoing unfounded and politically motivated, telling the Advocate and Democrat that "I have not broken any laws or violated any rules of ethics." He said he is proud of his 10th Judicial District staff, which prosecutes cases in Monroe, McMinn, Polk and Bradley counties. The Chattanooga paper has raised allegations of prosecutorial misconduct and misuse of public money by Bebb and his staff.
In an opinion piece in the Tennessean today, former state attorney general Paul Summers writes that those supporting direct election of appellate judges have forgotten the state’s past experience with that system. “Back when we had partisan elections for the judges of the Supreme Court, Court of Criminal Appeals and Court of Appeals, they were in theory elected by hundreds of thousands of Tennesseans. In truth, they were selected by a handful of party officials in Nashville...” Summers writes. He reminds readers that in those days, Democrats were in charge and often Republicans didn’t even put up a slate of judges. Today, under merit selection, he argues, the appellate courts are more evenly balanced.
Tennessee will get $1.2 million from a settlement over e-book price fixing, according to the Nashville Business Journal. The agreement with the attorneys general for 54 states and territories was reached with three major publishers: Hachette, Harper Collins and Simon & Schuster. The publishers agreed to a total fine of $69 million. Macmillan, Penguin and Apple declined to participate in the settlement. A federal lawsuit against them is pending.
U.S. Sen. Bob Corker announced Wednesday that veteran Senate aide Rob Strayer will serve as his new legislative director and general counsel. A 2000 graduate of Vanderbilt Law School, Strayer most recently worked at the Bipartisan Policy Center in Washington, D.C., where he served as director of the Homeland Security Project. He previously served as deputy staff director of the Senate Homeland Security and Government Affairs Committee. Strayer replaces Ryan Berger who will remain on staff as a policy advisor. The office also announced that John Lipsey has been promoted to chief counsel. The Chattanoogan reported the news
Potential law school applicants are invited to attend an admission workshop and recruitment fair on Sept. 5 from 11:30 a.m. to 4 p.m. at the University of Tennessee College of Law. The workshop is free and no preregistration is necessary. Scheduled activities include seminars on preparing for law school, understanding the admission process, tips for taking the LSAT and options for financing a legal education. Sessions include several panel presentations as well as a Q & A time with admissions officers from a variety of law schools in the southeast and a recruitment fair featuring representatives from 21 law schools. Learn more here
A select group of Tennessee attorneys will soon experience the honor of being admitted to practice before the U.S. Supreme Court during the 29th Annual TBA Academy Nov. 26-27 in Washington, D.C. This year's program includes a welcome reception with TBA President Jackie Dixon, group lunch and dinner, breakfast and tour of the court and private admission ceremony. The group will stay at the Mayflower Renaissance Hotel and will have the opportunity to network with some of the nation’s leading appellate practitioners. Registration is open through Oct. 15. Get details and directions on how to apply
