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 Tennessee Supreme Court this week issued two orders suspending Tennessee-licensed attorneys who did not pay their registration fee to the Board of Professional Responsibility and/or did not file a mandatory compliance statement that eligible client funds are held in accounts participating in the Interest on Lawyers’ Trust Accounts (IOLTA) program. Lawyers who since have complied with the requirements are noted as reinstated. See the updated lists and download the orders.
On May 8, Duncan Cates Cave received a public censure from the Board of Professional Responsibility for failing to prepare an order for the court. After being personally served with a show cause order commanding him to appear and show cause why he had not submitted the order, Cave failed to attend the hearing. The court held Cave in contempt of court for continually and willfully failing to comply with an order of the court and failing to appear. Download the BPR notice.
Law schools should substantially eliminate C grades, according to University of Little Rock law professor Joshua Silverstein. In a paper set for publication in the University of San Francisco Law Review, Silverstein says U.S. law schools should set their required grade point average for good academic standing at the B- level, giving C grades only for unsatisfactory performance. Silverstein says many law schools ranked in the top tier by U.S. News have essentially eliminated the use of C grades, while fourth-tier schools award large numbers of Cs, often under policies that encourage or require it. The ABA Journal has the story.
After announcing he would not seek re-election to the Senate seat he has held since 1971, Sen. Douglas Henry told the Memphis Daily News that his health and the high cost of campaigning were major factors. Henry, who turns 87 this month, said he had been disregarding his doctor's request that he not run again but finally decided to heed his advice. He also said the amount of money he spent on his 2010 election was "obscene." Henry's first year of the recent 108th Tennessee General Assembly made him the "longest serving member of the General Assembly ever in Tennessee history," according to legislative librarian Eddie Weeks.
Attorney General Eric Holder said the FBI's criminal investigation of the Internal Revenue Service could include potential civil rights violations, false statements and potential violations of the Hatch Act, which prohibits federal employees from engaging in some partisan political activities. Holder announced that the Justice Department was investigating the IRS after the agency acknowledged that agents had singled out conservative groups for extra scrutiny when they applied for tax-exempt status. "I can assure you and the American people that we will take a dispassionate view of this," he said. "This will not be about parties, this will not be about ideological persuasions. Anybody who has broken the law will be held accountable." The Memphis Daily News has the story.
After Gov. Bill Haslam vetoed the so-called “Ag Gag” bill, sponsors Rep. Andy Holt, R-Dresden, and Sen. Dolores Gresham, R-Somerville, are planning to try again in 2014. Knoxnews reports that the two legislators issued a joint statement saying there would be no override attempt, but they plan to file a new bill with revisions aimed at meeting objections from Haslam and questions about the bill’s constitutionality raised by Attorney General Bob Cooper.
Former Memphis assistant principal Clarence Mumford was sentenced to seven years in prison for organizing a teacher cheating scheme throughout Arkansas, Mississippi and Tennessee. According to prosecutors, between 1995 and 2010, Mumford falsified identification and enlisted teachers to impersonate others for teacher license exams, collecting more than $120,000. The Memphis Business Journal has the story.
District Attorney Randall York received approval from the Putnam County Fiscal Review Committee to apply for a three-year, $80,000-per-year Family Justice Center grant that would help fund a Family Justice Center, a domestic violence center to assist victims in Putnam and surrounding counties. York cited the criminal court docket to support why a Family Justice Center should be started, the Herald Citizen reports. “When you go to a docket that’s more than 50 percent domestic-related, what we’re trying to do is break the cycle of violence, and we can only do it if we address the problems head on.” he said.
The U.S. Judicial Conference has asked the White House for emergency funding, the Blog of the Legal Times reports. Court officials said the judiciary does not have the budget flexibility to absorb the large mandatory budget cuts that have caused furloughs in the nation's federal public defender and court offices. In a letter sent yesterday to the White House Office of Management and Budget, federal court officials said the courts need an emergency appropriation of $73 million — $41 million for federal public defenders and $32 million for court operations. The money would save 550 jobs in public defender and clerk offices, and prevent 24,000 furlough days for 5,000 employees, the letter says.
The Tennessee Supreme Court is now requiring electronic submissions of all interpreter invoices as well as compensation claims for attorneys representing indigent clients. Effective July 1, the order requires that “all claims for attorney compensation and expenses shall be submitted utilizing the system established by the AOC for electronic submission.” The Administrative Office of the Courts began development of the electronic filing system in 2010. Users have been phased in over several years and the system has been used on a routine basis since early 2012.
As reported in TBAToday on Friday, the Tennessee Supreme Court last week turned back a proposal to broaden the application of the prohibition on manifestations of individual bias and prejudice in the rules of professional conduct. Commenting on the action, Lt. Gov. Ron Ramsey today said, “Rules already in place prevent lawyers from engaging in discrimination. The proposed rule was merely an attempt to write political correctness into professional codes of conduct. I congratulate the Bar Association for fighting against this unnecessary rule.” Read the story from TBAToday including the TBA comment.
The Williamson County Bar Association, in conjunction with the National Law Day, recognized the Franklin High School Mock Trial team as local champions. Five students were recognized and awarded scholarships. Local attorneys and citizens received awards, as well as the General Sessions and Circuit Court deputy clerks. The association also voted in the 2013-2014 slate of officers including Craig Brent, president; Neil Campbell, vice president; Christina Ferrell Daugherty, secretary; Shauna Billingsley, treasurer; and Elaine Beeler, immediate past president. Read more about the award winners.
Lt. Gov. Ron Ramsey joined with Gov. Bill Haslam Thursday to encourage congressional Republicans to support the Marketplace Fairness Act, which would allow states to collect sales tax on Internet purchases. Ramsey said traditional retailers are disadvantaged by having to collect state and local sales taxes while many online retailers don’t. The bill passed the U.S. Senate yesterday, but faces an uncertain future in the U.S. House. U.S. Sens. Lamar Alexander, R-Tenn., and Bob Corker, R-Tenn., supported the bill, however U.S. Rep. Marsha Blackburn, R-Tenn., told the Chattanooga Times Free Press last week, “There’s nothing fair about the Marketplace Fairness Act.”
The City of Brentwood will ask the Tennessee Supreme Court to hear its appeal in a lawsuit with the Williamson County Election Commission, the Brentwood Homepage reports. Last year, the Brentwood library refused an election commission request to hold early voting during the Republican primary in 2012, citing interference with previously scheduled community group events. The Williamson County Election Commission sued the city of Brentwood to clarify the issue. After the state Appeals Court overturned the decision by Chancery Court Judge Tim Easter that the local Election Commission cannot demand use of a public building, city commissioners voted to continue the lawsuit.
Justice Ruth Bader Ginsburg told several hundred University of Chicago School of Law students of her continuing disenchantment with the legacy of Roe v. Wade as the featured guest for a program on “Roe v Wade at 40.” In the discussion moderated by constitutional scholar Geoffrey Stone, Ginsburg said the court could have, and should have, avoided a broad-based decision. The 80-year-old justice said the sheer sweep of the controversial 1972 decision short-circuited the development of a political groundswell that was building at the state and local level—not only on the issue of abortion—but on all phases of women’s rights. The ABA Journal has the story.
Coffee County officials are looking to repair and update the 141-year old courthouse, the Chattanooga Times Free Press reports. Rebuilt after a fire in 1870, the courthouse now houses Coffee County Circuit Court, a Tennessee Highway Patrol Criminal Investigation Division office, the Coffee County Historical Society and a University of Tennessee Agricultural Extension law enforcement office. "This is a treasure," Circuit Court Judge Vanessa Jackson said. "It could be magnificent. There's a lot of community interest in trying to raise some funds for it."
Robert F. Kennedy Jr. challenged the 122 graduates of the University of Memphis’ Cecil B. Humphreys School of Law to use their law degrees to fight corporate corruption and protect the environment, the Commercial Appeal reports. Law is “a sacred profession,” Kennedy told the law school graduates Sunday afternoon at the Cannon Center for the Performing Arts. “More than ever, it’s attorneys who are raising their hand or manning the barricades ... to make sure we retain the value of our nation. I hope some of you students will spend at least some of your time if not all of it taking up this battle, recognizing that democracy and the environment are intertwined.”
Baker, Donelson, Bearman, Caldwell & Berkowitz PC has renewed and expanded its lease at the First Tennessee Building in downtown Memphis. According to the Memphis Business Journal, it is the largest law firm in the city and is now taking 27 percent of the 415,658-square-foot office tower.
A fifth trucking company has filed suit against Pilot Flying J in the wake of a federal investigation into charges that the travel center chain cheated truckers out of promised rebates. Filing in U.S. District Court in Alabama, Osborn Transportation of Gasden accused Knoxville company of breach of contract, unjust enrichment fraud and violations of consumer protection statues. Pilot CEO James Haslam has begun to reimburse trucking firms for rebates that were improperly reduced. The Tennessean has more.
Authorities recently seized 19 Tennessee Walking Horses that may have been subjected to cruelty, the Tennessean reports. Trainer Larry Wheelon has not entered a plea on his one count of aggravated cruelty to livestock on suspicion of soring, but vigorously disputed the charges in a statement to a trade magazine. Wheelon’s case echoes last year’s soring scandal involving famed trainer Jackie McConnell whose arrest spurred the Department of Agriculture to release new rules over horse industry groups that handle show inspections.
