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.
Cleveland lawyer Sherman Ames III was suspended by the Tennessee Supreme Court on Feb. 14 for engaging in the unauthorized practice of law based upon complaints from the Washington Attorney General’s office and an investigator for the unauthorized practice of law unit in Montana. He is not licensed to practice law in Washington or Montana, and was suspended in Tennessee at the time. His suspension is for six months, with credit for 21 days. Download the BPR release.
Nashville Democrat Janis Sontany says she won’t run for re-election. She’s the fourth Democrat in the state legislature to step down rather than run in newly redrawn districts. WPLN reports.
A candidate in the race for the Knox County law director’s job, Richard "Bud" Armstrong, is saying in a telephone message to Republican voters that he is the only candidate who has passed the Tennessee Bar exam and trained in Tennessee law. His opponent and incumbent, Joe Jarret, has been licensed to practice law in Tennessee since 2007 through reciprocity with Florida, where he was licensed in 1990. A spokesperson for the Board of Professional Responsibility of the Tennessee Supreme Court points out that with reciprocity, licenses “are identical in all other ways." The News Sentinel explains in this column
The Napier-Looby Bar Foundation Thursday night recognized community leaders, law firms and lawyers during its 8th Annual Barristers' Banquet. Former ABA President Dennis Archer was keynote speaker at the event.
Hamilton County Circuit Court Clerk Paula Thompson reports that a local payday loan company is sending delinquent customers to court using bogus documents for cases that don't exist. More than 20 customers of Cash Express have called or showed up at the courthouse concerned that they might be arrested. Thompson says the fake documents bear her name and are similar to official forms. Judge Clarence Shattuck reportedly has contacted the attorney for Cash Express to get to the bottom of the issue.
Jackson attorney Jonathan Steen will be Tennessee Bar Association president in 2014-2015, according to election-qualifying results released today. No other candidate filed for the vice president position by the Feb. 15 deadline. After serving a year as vice president, Steen will ascend to president-elect in 2013-2014 before taking over the organization's leadership in June 2014.
Others who will be elected without opposition are:
• Grand Division Governor, West Tennessee (one-year term): Michelle Sellers, Jackson.
Lawyers step up to offer online advice to those with civil legal problems
NASHVILLE, Feb. 17, 2012 — More than 100 low-income Tennesseans are receiving free legal assistance every month through the OnlineTNJustice.org website, but backers of the project want to serve more.
Bradley County Juvenile Judge Dan Swafford and Sarah Anderson of Bradley County's Court Appointed Special Advocates spoke to the Cleveland Kiwanis Club recently to explain the important roles CASA volunteers play in the lives of many children and teens. Anderson was also promoting CASA's fundraiser, the Red Shoe Gala, which is scheduled for 6 p.m., Feb. 11, at Cleveland's Old Woolen Mill.
According to a panel of legal educators who gathered during the Association of American Law Schools (AALS) annual meeting in January, enrollment in part-time programs is declining. The group cited as contributing factors lagging employer support, workers' fears about losing their jobs, the growing popularity of Master of Business Administration programs, rising tuition and the tough legal job market. Even with the decline, law schools have continued to create part-time programs.
New York City lawyer James R. Silkenat, a partner in the national law firm of Sullivan & Worcester, was nominated today to become president-elect of the American Bar Association. The ABA House of Delegates will vote on the nomination in August. If elected, Silkenat will serve a one-year term as ABA president-elect before taking office as president of the association in August 2013 at the ABA Annual Meeting in San Francisco.
A Bradley County man has said he spent more than two days locked up in the county jail last fall with no bond, no phone calls and no attorney contact. The day before Greg Workman was jailed, Bradley County General Sessions Court Judge Sheridan Randolph signed the warrant for his arrest based on a claim that Workman had been seen with one of Randolph's guns that was taken during a late summer burglary of the judge's office.
Judge Derek Smith, a former deputy district attorney in Williamson County, was sworn in as 21st Judicial Circuit Court judge by Gov. Bill Haslam this morning at the Capitol. Smith replaced Judge Jeff Bivins, and is running for the seat in the March 6 primary against attorneys Mike Binkley and Judy Oxford. The Tennessean reported.
Nashville criminal defense lawyer and death penalty opponent William P. Redick died Feb. 4 after a long battle with cancer. He was 68. A 1970 graduate of the University of Tennessee College of Law, he worked on death penalty cases from the early 1980s and served as the director of the Capital Case Resource Center of Tennessee (CCRC) from its founding in 1988 until its closing.
A reception honoring Memphis Judge Robert L. Childers, immediate past chair of the American Bar Association Commission on Lawyer Assistance Programs, was held during the recent ABA Mid-Year Meeting in New Orleans. The reception was hosted by the Tennessee Bar Association with generous support from the University of Tennessee College of Law, the University of Memphis Cecil C. Humphreys School of Law, Vanderbilt University Law School and Belmont University College of Law. Download the invitation
At its January meeting, the Tennessee Bar Association Board of Governors approved a bylaws change that adds additional seats and rezones districts. Since the 1980s when the districts were drawn, there has been a tremendous growth of the number of lawyers and concentration of lawyers in certain areas, which resulted in some districts in the association containing as few as 150 members and other districts containing as many as 2,700 members.
U.S. Attorney for the Middle District of Tennessee Jerry Martin pledged to be tough on hate crime last week at a forum on the topic. In attendance was the family of Matthew Shepard, whose murder inspired new federal hate crime laws. President Obama signed the legislation in 2009 that gives new authority to pursue hate crimes based on gender, sexual orientation and religion. Martin says he's on the lookout for hate crimes in Middle Tennessee, particularly against Muslims.
In an editorial, the Commercial Appeal praises "the efforts by the leadership team at Shelby County Juvenile Court to change the face of juvenile justice in Memphis and Shelby County continues to garner national recognition."
The TBA has created this appellate practice section devoted to enhancing the skills necessary to navigate what some believe to be the “rarified atmosphere” of the higher courts. Our section executive council consists of a number of appellate practitioners who are developing resources to assist section members in perfecting appeals and achieving a higher level of advocacy.
Raymond M. Wood of Manchester has been named the 2012 CASA Volunteer of the Year by the Tennessee Bar Association Young Lawyers Division (YLD). The award recognizes Wood's 11 years of service as a volunteer for CASA Works Inc., which serves children in Bedford and Coffee counties.Knoxville lawyer Katrina Atchley, chair of the YLD Children's Issues Committee, presented the award and a cash gift to Wood at a dinner in Nashville on Jan. 13.
