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| Wednesday, September 14, 2011 |
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Senate to vote on LSC funding Thursday
On Thursday (Sept. 15), the Senate Appropriations Subcommittee on Commerce, Justice, Science and Related Agencies will meet to vote on its Commerce-Justice-Science Subcommittee bill, which contains funding for the Legal Services Corporation.
The subcommittee today approved $396 million in Fiscal Year 2012 funding for the Legal Services Corporation (LSC), a reduction of $8 million from the current level, according to the LSC.
The U.S. Census Bureau released its official 2010 statistics on poverty this morning, and the data show that nearly one in five Americans qualifies for civil legal assistance at the legal aid offices funded by the Legal Services Corporation (LSC). The number of Americans now eligible for legal services
is more than 60.4 million, up 3.6 million from the prior year.
In a letter to Sen. Lamar Alexander, Tennessee Bar Association President Danny Van Horn urges support for LSC funding, saying that already one in two eligible clients seeking assistance from LSC-funded legal aid programs is turned away because of lack of resources.
The American Bar Association asks lawyers to contact their senators about why LSC funding and civil legal aid is so important.
Learn more about Legal Services Corporation funding from ABA President Wm. T. (Bill) Robinson III
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TODAY'S OPINIONS
Click on the category of your choice to view summaries of today’s opinions from that court, or other body. A link at the end of each case summary will let you download the full opinion in PDF format. To search all opinions in the TBALink database or to obtain a text version of each opinion, go to our OpinionSearch page. If you have forgotten your password or need to obtain a password, you can look it up on TBALink at the TBA's Membership Central.
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and save a plain-text version of the opinion.
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MICHAEL D. WILLIAMS v. GEORGE M. LITTLE ET AL.
Court: TCA
Attorneys:
Michael D. Williams, Whiteville, Tennessee, Pro Se.
Robert E. Cooper, Jr., Attorney General and Reporter; Bill Young, Solicitor General; and Arthur Crownover II, Senior Counsel; for the appellees, Tennessee Department of
Correction, George Little, James Fortner, Nicky Jordan, Tony Parker, Roger Hemby, Mark Turney, Scott Miller, Jerry Cotham, Gregory Addington, Sgt. Woods and Capt. Toole.
Judge: BENNETT
Inmate filed a petition for writ of certiorari challenging his conviction of the prison disciplinary offense of conspiracy to violate state law. The chancery court considered the merits of the inmate's petition and granted the defendants' motion to dismiss. We affirm.
http://www.tba2.org/tba_files/TCA/2011/williamsm_091411.pdf
STATE OF TENNESSEE v. LARRY WAYNE WEBB
Court: TCCA
Attorneys:
Christopher M. Rodgers, Knoxville, Tennessee, for the appellant, Larry Wayne Webb.
Robert E. Cooper, Jr., Attorney General and Reporter; Sophia S. Lee, Assistant Attorney General; Randall Eugene Nichols, District Attorney General; and Jason Lee Hunnicutt, Assistant District Attorney General, for the appellee, State of Tennessee.
Judge: WILLIAMS
The defendant, Larry Wayne Webb, was convicted by a Knox County jury of attempted theft, a Class E felony, and vandalism less than $500, a Class A misdemeanor. He was
subsequently sentenced by the trial court to concurrent sentences of six years and eleven months and twenty-nine days. On appeal, he raises the single issue of sufficiency of the
evidence. Specifically, he contends that the State failed to establish his identity as the perpetrator of the crimes beyond a reasonable doubt. Following a careful review of the record, we affirm the attempted theft judgment of conviction as entered but remand the vandalism judgment to be completed by the trial court as it is presently incomplete.
http://www.tba2.org/tba_files/TCCA/2011/webbl_091411.pdf
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| TODAY'S NEWS |
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Passages
Legal News
General Assembly News
Upcoming
TBA Member Services
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| Passages |
| Services Thursday and Friday for Pressnell |
| Services have been set for Ben Pressnell, an assistant public defender for the 8th Judicial District, who died Sunday.
Visitation will be from 3 p.m. to 8 p.m. on Sept. 15, at Coffey Funeral Home in New Tazewell, with a celebration of life at 8 p.m. Burial will take place at 10 a.m. Sept. 16, at Irish Memorial Gardens in Tazewell. Those attending the burial are encouraged to wear their "having fun clothes" in honor of Ben. In lieu of flowers, contributions may be made to the Harper Claire Pressnell account at Citizens Bank in Harrogate to help fund his two-year-old daughter Harper's college education. |
Read his obituary in the News Sentinel
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| Legal News |
| Scholarship fund will help with law school debt |
| The average graduating senior from the University of Tennessee College of Law, according to Dean Doug Blaze, has accumulated student loans in excess of $65,000. The addition of the scholarship fund honoring former Tennessee Bar Association president Larry Wilks at the school, will help.
"Since Larry's death, there has been an absolutely remarkable outpouring of affection demonstrated by gifts to the Foundation," says Suzanne Keith, treasurer of the Tennessee Judicial Conference Foundation. "Larry was so well respected by his peers. The Foundation is grateful to former TBA Presidents Charles Swanson, Pam Reeves and Buck Lewis, who conceived of the idea to honor Larry in this way."
Memorial gifts may be made to the Tennessee Judicial Conference Foundation, Larry D. Wilks Memorial Fund, 1903 Division Street, Nashville, Tennessee 37203.
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Get more information
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| Ginsberg, other passengers evacuated from plane |
| Supreme Court Justice Ruth Bader Ginsburg was "safely evacuated" through emergency chutes from a United Airlines flight at Dulles International Airport in Virginia earlier today. She was one of
178 other passengers evacuated after the pilot noticed something was wrong with the engines before it took off. |
The Blog of Legal Times reports
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| Court to decide fate of 9/11 victims' list |
| Sept. 11 victims' relatives went to court Wednesday to press for access to a city-maintained list of the next of kin for all the nearly 2,800 people killed at the World Trade Center, information the relatives say they need to gauge opinion on where remains of unidentified victims' should go.
In a hearing that was technically about public-records law but overlaid with an emotionally charged debate over the future of 9,000 pieces of unidentified remains, relatives' lawyers said they needed the list to poll families. But a city lawyer said releasing it would invade the privacy of people whose identities became the government's business only through tragedy. |
WKRN.com carried this AP story
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| General Assembly News |
| Harwell: Don't 'trample on states' rights' |
| State House Speaker Beth Harwell is hitting back at congressional Democrats who criticized a new Tennessee law requiring a photo ID to vote.
U.S. Sen. Dick Durbin of Illinois joined U.S. Rep. Jim Cooper in his Nashville district on Monday to raise concerns that the photo ID law could hamper ballot access.
Harwell, a Nashville Republican, in a statement Tuesday said the two Democrats should focus on pressing federal issues and not "come to Tennessee to trample on states' rights." |
The News Sentinel's Tom Humphrey has Harwell's statement
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| Upcoming |
| Learn how to get into law firm rankings |
| A law firm marketing seminar, "Capturing the Marketing Potential of Legal Rankings," will be Sept. 26 from 11:30 a.m. to 1 p.m.
at the Nashville offices of
Baker Donelson.
The speaker is Kathy O'Brien, vice president at Jaffe PR and director of the firm's RankingsForLawyers service.
Contact Leslie Starr at lstarr@babc.com by Sept. 22 to attend. |
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| TBA Member Services |
| Health savings accounts now available |
| The TBA has partnered with First Horizon Msaver Inc. to offer Health Savings Accounts (HSAs) and HSA-qualified health plans for individuals and groups to members. HSAs are tax-advantaged accounts that let you set aside money to pay for current and future medical expenses. For more information, or to obtain an instant quote for an HSA-qualified health plan, call the TBA's dedicated toll-free customer care line at (866) 257-2659 or visit the TBA member web site.
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Questions, comments: Email us at TBAToday@tnbar.org
About this publication: Today's News is a compilation of digests of news reports of interest to Tennessee lawyers compiled by TBA staff, links to digested press releases, and occasional stories about the TBA and other activities written by the TBA staff or members. Statements or opinions herein are those of the authors and do not necessarily reflect those of the Tennessee Bar Association, its officers, board or staff.
© Copyright 2011 Tennessee Bar Association
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