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 U.S. law firm Skadden, Arps, Slate, Meagher & Flom has found that former Ukrainian prime minister Yulia Tymoshenko may have been unfairly imprisoned before her conviction and faced other rights violations, but that there was no proven evidence of political motivation behind Tymoshenko’s arrest on charges of abuse of office. WRCP Chattanooga Channel 3 reports that the firm had been commissioned by the Ukrainian Justice Ministry to look into allegations that Tymoshenko was prosecuted for political reasons.
Chattanooga City Judge Sherry Paty said she and Judge Russell Bean were left out of the loop by city officials during the process of revising a section of the city charter on the city court, the Chattanoogan reports. The section will be altered significantly since the city judges no longer have “Sessions Court jurisdiction,” according to city attorney Mike McMahan . He said the judges were asked for input, but they did not respond.
At least 50 lawsuits in nine states have been filed against the New England Compounding Center, (NECC) the Massachusetts pharmacy that supplied tainted steroid injections resulting in more than 500 illnesses and 37 deaths from fungal meningitis. To streamline the process, attorneys on both sides are asking for multidistrict legislation in which a single judge will preside over the pretrial and discovery phases for all of the federal lawsuits, but the each suit would eventually be returned to judges in their original district for trial. The Jackson Sun has the story.
Knox County Trustee John Duncan III said he has accepted the resignations of his Chief of Staff Josh Burnett and Delinquent Tax Attorney Chad Tindell after both entered guilty please to facilitation of official misconduct, a “Class A” misdemeanor. The decision follows an investigation into bonuses that Duncan gave himself and six other employees in 2010 and 2011 for online courses they did not complete. Tindell and Burnett’s attorneys have applied for judicial diversion, and will be sentenced in the upcoming months. WATE News Channel 6 has the story.
Although the number of women attorneys and doctors has risen significantly within the last 40 years, the percentage of female associates in law firms has fallen slightly for the third year in a row, according to the NALP. The ABA Journal reports that women make up 40.05 percent of associates, an incremental but steady decrease from 45.66 percent in 2009. The percentage of women partners decreased from 19.54 percent in 2011 to 19.91 percent in 2012. Minority women are the most dramatically underrepresented group at the partner level, comprising just 2.16 percent of law firm partners in 2012.
Mississippi-based government relations and lobbying firm Capitol Resources is opening an office in Nashville, the Nashville Post reports. Established in 2001, the firm has a strong foothold in the South with offices in Alabama, Louisiana, Florida, and Washington D.C. Former Tennessee Republican Party Executive Director Adam Nickas has been hired to oversee operations.
U.S. Bankruptcy Judge Paulette Delk will receive the Marion Griffin-Frances Loring Award for outstanding achievement in the legal profession at the Association for Women Attorneys’ annual banquet. The event will be held on Jan. 17 and will include a silent auction, cocktail reception, dinner and program. The Memphis Daily News has more.
(Includes information from the American Bar Association News Service)
The Senate gave final approval on Tuesday to H.R. 4014, legislation supported by the American Bar Association and the Tennessee Bar Association that would create a single standard for the treatment of privileged information submitted to all federal agencies that supervise banks and other financial institutions, including the Consumer Financial Protection Bureau (CFPB).
The jury in former Unicoi County sheriff Kent Harris’ retrial was set Monday in Unucoi Criminal Court, the Johnson City Press reports. The jury consists of 12 members with two alternates. Harris’s first trial in August on charges of theft over $4,500 and criminal simulation was declared a mistrial after the jury was unable to reach a unanimous verdict.
The Arizona Supreme Court has approved an experimental proposal allowing third-year law students to take the bar exam in the middle of their final year, making it the only state to allow students to take the exam before they graduate. Law school officials hope it will give students a leg up in the job market. The proposal was approved as a temporary pilot program from Jan. 2013 to Dec. 2015. The National Law Journal has the story.
The Administrative Office of the Courts is now accepting applications for a seat on the Judicial Nominating Commission as a result of the retirement of commission member Theresa Lee. Applicants may either be an attorney or non-attorney, but must have lived in East Tennessee for one year prior to the appointment, and have been a citizen of the state of Tennessee for at least five years prior to the appointment. Applications must be received by the Administrative Office of the Courts by Jan. 3
The Williamson County DUI Court received a glowing report from a recent review by the Justice Programs Office at American University. The review team consisted of Judge John Parnham, a retired Circuit Court judge, and Dr. Richard Grimm, a DUI court evaluator, who spent two days in Franklin meeting with DUI Court Judge Denise Andre, Mayor Rogers Anderson, DUI Court team members, participants and graduates. The Williamson County General Sessions DUI Court was founded in 2010 by Judge Andre.
The Nashville Pro Bono Program named Perry Happell as its “Volunteer of the Year” and Stites & Harbison PLLC as its “Leadership Award” winner at the Nashville Bar Association's recent annual banquet. “These awards reflect the work done and legal contributions made individually by Perry and collectively by Stites & Harbison to the Nashville Pro Bono Program,” Lucinda Smith, the program's director said. “Their efforts make a world of difference in the free legal help we are able to provide the Nashville community.” Download this press release to learn more.
Two BP rig supervisors charged with manslaughter in the 2010 Gulf oil spill have asked a federal judge to postpone their trials, WDEF News Channel 12 reports. Defense lawyers asked for more time to prepare and stated Justice Department prosecutors are not opposed to the delay. U. S District Judge Stanwood Duval Jr. didn’t immediately rule on their request.
Despite regular opposition to expanding the role of the federal government, most Tennessee Republicans support Gov. Haslam’s decision to reject a state-run health insurance exchange in favor of a federally-run program, the Chattanooga Times Free press reports. After Haslam’s announcement Monday, there were no recriminations for his deference to the federal government. However, a statewide poll conducted by Vanderbilt University found that 53 percent of the 829 respondents favored a state-run exchange versus the 33 percent who did not.
The Knoxville Bar Association will host a reception to honor the career of Circuit Court Judge Wheeler A. Rosenbalm on Dec. 21 from 11 a.m. to noon. The event will be held in the Knox County Circuit Court Division III courtroom. Contact the KBA at (865) 522-6522 for more information.
Belmont University College of Law today announced the appointment of two new faculty members: Melissa Alexander and Abbie DeBlasis. Both will join the school in January after working in the Nashville office of Bradley Arant Boult Cummings. Alexander, a graduate of the University of Virginia School of Law, is a new assistant professor of law. She will teach pretrial litigation, global healthcare and human rights, biomedical ethics and trademark law. While in private practice, she has focused on intellectual property, healthcare, banking, environmental and entertainment law. DeBlasis is the school’s new assistant professor of legal practice and will teach classes on legal information and communications. She earned her law degree from Wake Forest University School of Law. She currently handles regulatory and operational matters for health care clients.
Tennessee jails have more inmates than beds, and there's no solution in sight, reports The Tennessean. According to the paper, nearly half of the state’s 109 jails have more inmates than beds, with some housing two or three times as many inmates as they are certified to hold. Detainees in these counties find themselves sleeping on floors in common areas, using portable showers and toilets, or being moved around to other facilities. Counties with jail overcrowding also have troubles since they are more vulnerable to lawsuits, higher insurance policies and increased costs to house inmates elsewhere.
At a recent meeting of the 15th Judicial District Bar Association, Judge Clara Byrd congratulated attorneys in the area for their diligent efforts and positive working relationship with the courts, which resulted in successful collection of child support payments in the district. Byrd reported that the local district attorney general’s office collected a higher percentage of child support obligations over the last 12 months than any other judicial district in the state.
