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 McKellar Law Firm is hosting a Spanish-language pro bono legal clinic in Knoxville on June 6. The event will run from 5 to 9 p.m. at Holy Ghost Church, 1041 N. Central Street, Knoxville 37917. For more information call (865) 637-0484 ext. 1524, or visit the firm’s Facebook page or Twitter page for details.
Need a few CLE hours fast? The TBA is offering 11 hours of dual credit tomorrow, May 31. Programs will run from 7 a.m. to 7 p.m. There is no need to pre-register; the registration desk will be open all day. May 31 is the deadline for meeting 2011 CLE requirements. Avoid paying late fees to the CLE Commission and get your hours in tomorrow! Learn more here
The Jackson-Madison County Bar Association Young Lawyers Division raised money for the local CASA agency with a wine tasting event last week. The event drew about 100 people to support CASA, which advocates for neglected and abused children in the court system. The Jackson Sun covered the event, which sponsors hoped would raise $3,000 for the agency.
Questions have been raised about the voting records of some 500 Shelby County voters after a blogger accused the election commission of altering the records to make it look like those individuals had not voted in recent elections. According to WMCTV, among those allegedly affected is a state representative and former city councilman. U.S. Rep. Steve Cohen, who represents Memphis, weighed in on the issue, saying there have been problems with record keeping at the county election commission since December 2011. According to WREG.com, he has asked the U.S. Justice Department to investigate. Commission officials deny any alteration to the records and have opened their database to Memphis-area media for review.
The Tennessee Justice Center recently named seven women as its 2012 Mothers of the Year. Two of those women reside in Rutherford County, and an article in The Tennessean looked at their lives this week. The first award recipient, Felicia Burk, is the adoptive mom of three children who all have been diagnosed with autism as well as developmental disabilities, ADHD, bipolar disorder and sleep disorder. The TJC says it honored her for fighting tirelessly to ensure those children have access to the services they need to grow and function to their fullest capacity. A second mom, Deborah Balthrop, was recognized for persevering through 20 denials of coverage for her own prenatal care.
Court officials looked at how best to provide spoken language interpreter services for court hearings during an Interpreters Issues Summit hosted by the Administrative Office of the Courts and the National Center for State Courts. Tennessee Supreme Court Chief Justice Cornelia A. Clark opened the summit noting the importance of interpretive services to the judicial system and thanking the governor and legislature for recognizing that. Of particular focus was how best to spend an additional $2 million included in the state's 2012-2013 budget.
Fire damage to the Public Defender’s Office in Nashville has forced a temporary move to a satellite location inside the Justice A.A. Birch Building. Metropolitan Public Defender Dawn Deaner said the Adult Services Division is working out of the satellite office until the Parkway Towers building where it is housed is again open to the public. The building was damaged by fire late Monday night. The Public Defender is continuing to staff all criminal dockets in Nashville courts. Individuals can also reach the office during this time at 615-862-5692. Download the full statement
U.S. Supreme Court justices' summer travel schedules are a clue that blockbuster health care and immigration cases will be decided by the end of June. Several of the justices have teaching gigs that begin in July, including Chief Justice John Roberts who will be in the Mediterranean island nation of Malta; Antonin Scalia who will teach in Innsbruck, Austria; Samuel Alito is teaching in Florence; and Ruth Bader Ginsburg will take part in programs in Venice and Vienna. Justices can accept roughly $25,000 in additional income for teaching and speaking, beyond their salary of $213,900 a year. The chief justice earns about $10,000 a year more. TriCities.com has the AP story
Hundreds of people gathered Sunday at the Alabama state Capitol to protest the recent passage and signing of a bill that makes some changes to Alabama's tough law targeting illegal immigration. WKRN carried the AP story
Five new cases were granted review by the Tennessee Supreme Court last week. This includes four criminal cases addressing constructive possession of drugs, pretrial diversion, the failure of trial court to inform jury of judgments of acquittal, and suppression of statements. The civil case concerns invalidation of a marriage for want of sufficient mental capacity. The Raybin-Perky Hot List details the cases and offers predictions of how the Supreme Court may act.
Judge Robert Corlew III ruled today that construction of a controversial Murfreesboro mosque must cease immediately because not enough notice was given about a May 2010 public meeting. Corlew ruled in favor of Kevin Fisher and other Rutherford County residents who sued claiming adequate notice wasn't given when the site plan was approved for the new Islamic center. The opinion does not prevent the Rutherford County Planning Commission from reconsidering the issue and approving the mosque site plan again. Construction of the mosque is well under way. WSMV has more
A newspaper columnist published the phone number for U.S. District Judge Harry S. Mattice Jr., suggesting readers call to influence him about the decision he will make in September regarding Tennessee Walking Horse trainer who pleaded guilty last week for violating the federal Horse Protection Act. Gail Kerr also gave information on how to contact representatives and to sign a petition. Regarding Mattice's number she said, "Judges are not supposed to be influenced by public opinion, though obviously some are." Read the column
Tennessee House Majority Leader Gerald McCormick has come right out and said it: "We need more attorneys in the House of Representatives. We need more attorneys in our (Republican) Caucus." It's a non-partisan feeling, with Phillip North, a Democratic lawyer who is running for the state Senate in Nashville, making a similar point in recent fund-raising materials. A century or so ago, columnist Tom Humphrey writes, "close to half of our citizen legislators were lawyers. More importantly, the committees that control bills dealing with the legal system were completely dominated by lawyers." In the just-completed 107th General Assembly, he points out that there were only three lawyers among the nine members of the Senate Judiciary Committee and just three among the 16 members of the House Judiciary Committee. The chairmen of the judiciary committees were almost always lawyers in recent decades. Today, they are nonlawyers — former court reporter Sen. Mae Beavers in the Senate and former deputy sheriff Rep. Eric Watson in the House.
The Greene County Bar Association recently elected new officers. They are President Lindsey Wise Lane with Leonard, Kershaw & Hensley LLP; Vice President J. Bradley Mercer; and Secretary/Treasurer Brandy M. Burnette with Milligan & Coleman. All are from Greeneville.
The Tennessee Supreme Court clarified on Friday the procedures an inmate must follow to dispute the determination of parole eligibility for consecutive sentences, clarifying that the Tennessee Department of Correction (TDOC) and the Tennessee Board of Probation and Parole (BOPP) are separate entities with distinct roles. TDOC is responsible for calculating release eligibility dates, the court said in the case, and BOPP decides whether to release inmates on parole. Inmates may obtain judicial review of these decisions, but the procedure differs. Chattanoogan.com has more
Tennessee Supreme Court Justice Sharon Lee has spoken often of her father's experience as a World War II POW, but it was some time before she learned he had been held in the same camp at the same time as a fellow Tennessee jurist's father. Staff Sgt. Charles James Lee of Tellico Plains and Lt. Harold Leibowitz -- the father of Criminal Court Judge Mary Beth Leibowitz and also of Knoxville lawyer Larry Leibowitz -- both ended up in a prison of war camp in Barth, Germany before being liberated on May 13, 1945. The judges talk about their fathers experiences in this News Sentinel story. When Lee recounts these events in speeches, she also tells about others who served, including Hugh Ross, father of Criminal Court Judge Carroll Ross of Athens; David Goldin, father of Shelby County Chancellor Arnold Goldin, and E. Bruce Foster Sr., father of Knoxville lawyer Bruce Foster Jr.
William P. Kratzke has been named interim dean of the Cecil C. Humphreys School of Law at the University of Memphis. He will begin June 1, 2012, and will succeed Kevin Smith, who is returning full-time to teaching and research. Kratzke has taught at the U of M law school since 1979. He served as associate dean from 1989 to 1991, and in 1995 he was named Cecil C. Humphreys Professor of Law. Kratzke’s areas of expertise are in business law and he has taught torts, civil procedure, administrative law and environmental law. He received his degree from Valparaiso University School of Law, and an LL.M. centered on labor law from Georgetown University.
The Humane Society of the United States asked Tennessee Attorney General Bob Cooper in a letter received Thursday to investigate the role horse show management plays in allowing sored horses to compete. Soring, an abusive practice aimed at producing a higher gait among Tennessee Walking Horses, is illegal under federal and state law. The letter said the case of trainer Jackie L. McConnell proves the need for more action. McConnell was secretly filmed by the Humane Association abusing several horses, which led to his guilty plea in federal court this week to felony conspiracy to violating the federal Horse Protection Act. A spokesperson for Cooper said the office will review the Humane Society’s letter and determine what actions to take. The Tennessean has more
The Supreme Court of Tennessee temporarily suspended the law license of Mark Kelley Braswell on May 22 for his failure to respond to a complaint of ethical misconduct. Braswell is licensed in Tennessee but maintains an office in Washington, D.C. The suspension remains in effect until dissolution or modification by the court. Download the BPR release
Nashville lawyer Colin Michael Daly was publicly censured by the Tennessee Supreme Court on May 22 for practicing law while his license was administratively suspended for failing to timely pay his annual registration fees. The court determined that his actions violated Rule 5.5 of the Rules of Professional Conduct. Download the BPR release
