The Tennessee Justice Center hosted a celebration on Nov. 12 to mark its 20 years of service and to induct the organization’s founders into the “TJC Hall of Fame.” James Martin, whose son benefitted from representation by TJC, addresses the nearly 400 guests at the event at the Musicians Hall of Fame in Nashville. The honored founders included: Margaret Behm, Mike Cody, Harlan Dodson, Harris Gilbert, Riney Green, David Herbert, Lowry Kline, Howard Vogel and Ashley Wiltshire. Photo at right by Liz Todaro.

ABA Adopts Tennessee Model for National Pro Bono Site
A recommendation by the American Bar Association Pro Bono and Public Service Committee to create a new national pro bono web site based upon OnlineTNJustice.org was unanimously approved by the organization’s Board of Governors in November. Since May, about 40 states have signed on to participate, including Texas, Pennsylvania and New York.

“The final hurdle to clear is funding. We are seeking sponsors inside and outside of Tennessee to help make this a reality in 2016,” Buck Lewis, chair of the committee’s Technology Subcommittee, said. “We are asking for all Tennessee lawyers to help with the effort to recruit sponsors.”

OnlineTNJustice is a website that allows low-income Tennesseans to seek free help with their civil legal problems. It is a joint project of the Tennessee Alliance for Legal Services, the Tennessee Bar Association and Baker, Donelson, Bearman, Caldwell & Berkowitz PC. In October, the site reached 10,000 questions posted and having more than 475 Tennessee volunteer lawyers registered to answer those questions.

Courts

Court Adopts Revisions on E-Filing  
A revised Tennessee Supreme Court Rule 46, which covers technical and logistical issues in electronic filing of cases in the state appellate courts, was adopted Nov. 6 by the Tennessee Supreme Court. The amended rule has a delayed effective date to be determined in the future.

The rule permits the appellate clerk to reject filings, makes no definitive provision for system outages and makes no provision for public access to the documents filed. The revisions do include descriptions of who is authorized to use the system, timing, deadlines, format of documents and fees.

Supreme Court Weighs Rules for Attorney Licensure
The Tennessee Board of Examiners asked the Tennessee Supreme Court in November to consider allowing experienced attorneys who move to Tennessee to begin practicing law immediately, rather than waiting six to 12 months to get licensed before they can practice.The TBA filed comments in July regarding the new admission rules.

Decison on Supreme Court Judge Could Be Made by Year-end
Gov. Bill Haslam said  in November that he hopes to appoint a new Supreme Court judge by the end of this year, the Knoxville News Sentinel reported. The Governor's Council for Judicial Appointments chose the three nominees —- Thomas Radcliffe “Skip” Frierson of Morristown, Robert H. Montgomery Jr. of Kingsport and Roger Amos Page of Medina — at the end of October.

"Obviously these folks are going to have a lot of weighty decisions so we’re going to see their legal knowledge, their judicial temperament and their judicial philosophy to make certain that they fit,” Haslam said. The Supreme Court seat was vacated by the September retirement of Justice Gary R. Wade.

Knoxville Buys Former State Supreme Court Site  
The city of Knoxville closed on its $2.47 million purchase of the former State Supreme Court site in November. The Knoxville News Sentinel reported the city plans on using a market study to determine how to use the site, including possible retail, residential and hotel space.

Criminal Law

More States Halt Executions 
Ohio and Arkansas have become the latest in a string of states putting the death penalty on hold because of issues with the drugs needed to carry out the lethal injections. Ohio Gov. John Kasich has delayed executions until at least 2017, while prison officials try to secure supplies of lethal injection drugs. The Arkansas Supreme Court ruled that a lower-court judge overstepped his jurisdiction by halting the executions of eight death row inmates, but the high court immediately granted its own stay to give the inmates time to challenge a new state law that bars Arkansas from disclosing its execution-drug supplier, according to the Associated Press.

Scalia Predicts Death of Death Penalty 
In an address at the University of Minnesota Law School, Justice Antonin Scalia said recently that it “wouldn't surprise” him to see the U.S. Supreme Court invalidate the death penalty after moving in recent years to restrict its application.

Government

Tennessee Blue Book to be Dedicated to Sen. Baker 
The 2015-2016 edition of the Tennessee Blue Book will be dedicated to the late U.S. Sen. Howard H. Baker Jr.  After being elected to the Senate in 1966, Baker served as Senate majority leader and later served as President Reagan’s chief of staff. At the time of his death in 2014, he was senior counsel at Baker, Donelson, Bearman, Caldwell & Berkowitz PC.

Family Law

Shortened Surrender Revocation Period Is in Effect: Was 10 Days But Is Now 3
By Dawn Coppock

Effective April 10, 2015, the revocation period for a parent after surrendering parental rights to a child in Tennessee was reduced from 10 days to three days.

The language of the changes was not entirely consistent with T.R.C.P. 6.01 on the computation of time. Ambiguity in this context is highly undesirable so the Tennessee members of the American Academy of Adoption Attorneys[1] and the General Counsel for the Tennessee Department of Children’s Services[2] came to a consensus and offer their interpretation for uniform use by the Tennessee bench and bar pending clarification by the legislature.

The question is does T.R.C.P. 6.01 on computation of time apply to calculation of the revocation period? The consensus is that T.R.C.P. does and should apply to Pub. Chapter No. 113, amending 36-1-112(a)(1)(A), (C) and (F). Therefore weekends and legal holidays are not counted in the three-day period. If the final day is on a weekend or legal holiday the last day is the next following business day.

A chart of revocation period calculations for surrenders on all weekdays, and without holidays and the text of T.R.C.P. 6.01 are provided below.

The link to the new surrender forms prepared by DCS is http://share.tn.gov/sos/rules_all/2015/0250-07-13.20150911.pdf. The forms leave a blank for the last day to revoke and no direction is given for the computation of time. If you frequently prepare or witness surrenders you are encouraged to print the chart for future reference to make is easier to complete that important blank in compliance with T.R.C.P. 6.01.

By sharing collective thinking and acting in concert we can avoid confusion that could harm parents and children.

Notes

1. American Academy of Adoption Attorneys Fellows: Dawn Coppock, Lisa Collins, Michael Jennings, Theodore Kern, Sharon Massey, Julia Tate, Robert Tuke and Kevin Weaver.
2. Douglas Dimond, General Counsel, Tennessee Department of Children’s Services.

Dawn Coppock practices adoption law from Strawberry Plains, Tennessee.