The Chattanooga Bar Association (CBA) is seeking nominations for the next recipient of its Ralph H. Kelley Humanitarian Award. The CBA presents the award to a member of the legal profession who, in the opinion of its board of governors, has excelled in community service. Nominees must be members in good standing of the CBA or a judicial officer with a minimum of 15 years tenure in the Chattanooga legal community and a demonstrated history of performing community service that places an emphasis on social service. Nominations may be submitted by both bar members and the community at large. CBA Executive Director Lynda Hood is requesting nominations be sent to her email at lhood@chattanoogabar.org. The award will be presented at the CBA's annual meeting at The Westin Chattanooga on Feb. 12, 2025. Hamilton County Herald has more information.

The Montgomery County Veterans Treatment Court celebrated recent graduates of their Phase V Veterans Treatment Court (VTC) Program last month. Sixteen veterans and active-duty soldiers completed the program, which supports veterans with criminal justice involvement. The program provides necessary treatment and services, under judicial supervision. Tennessee Department of Mental Health and Substance Abuse Services Commissioner Marie Williams spoke at the event, addressing key issues such as youth mental health and the opioid crisis. Main Street Clarksville News has more on the event.

The Tennessee Department of Labor and Workforce Development announced yesterday that 91 of the state's 95 counties reported unemployment rates of less than 5% for November, with rates decreasing in 17 counties. Unemployment rates held steady in 30 counties, while they increased in 48 counties from October to November. According to the report, Tennessee’s seasonally adjusted unemployment rate for November was 3.5%. The rate rose two-tenths of a percentage point from the previous month, but it remains seven-tenths of a percentage point below the national rate of 4.2%.

The NCAA admitted defeat — for now — in Vanderbilt quarterback Diego Pavia’s bid for additional eligibility. In response to an injunction handed down last week, the NCAA agreed to a waiver that grants an additional year or more of competition to all student-athletes who, like Pavia, previously spent time at a junior college and otherwise would have exhausted their NCAA eligibility this academic year. The Tennessean also reports that the NCAA submitted an appeal to the 6th Circuit Court of Appeals seeking to overturn the injunction from U.S. District Judge William L. Campbell. In that ruling, Campbell found that counting time spent at junior college against collegiate eligibility likely violates U.S. antitrust laws. The Associated Press has more on that decision.

The next legal clinic for veterans in Knoxville will take place Jan. 8, 2025, from 12-1 p.m. EST at the Knox County Public Defender's Community Law Office, 1101 Liberty St., Knoxville 37919. This is a general advice clinic sponsored by the Knoxville Bar Association, KBA Barristers, Legal Aid of East Tennessee, Lincoln Memorial University Duncan School of Law, the University of Tennessee College of Law, the Knox County Public Defender’s Community Law Office and the local Veterans Affairs office. Attorneys and law students are needed. Sign up to volunteer here.

A number of lawyers have been reinstated after being suspended for not paying their annual registration fee to the Board of Professional Responsibility. They include three who did not pay their fee in 2023, one in 2022, one in 2021, one in 2019 and one in 2014. The TBA has records of all administrative suspensions and reinstatements going back to 2005. See all lists here.

The Tennessee Supreme Court recently reinstated 26 lawyers who had been suspended for failing to complete annual continuing legal education requirements, including 16 suspended this year, four in 2023, two in 2022, one in 2020, one in 2019, one in 2017 and one in 2015.

The U.S. Justice Department (DOJ) has found that two Tennessee agencies — the Tennessee Board of Law Examiners and the Tennessee Lawyers Assistance Program — discriminated against a lawyer who was denied his law license for nearly three years and forced to pay thousands of dollars for evaluations because he was using a medication to treat his opioid use disorder. According to NBC, the detailed public letter lays out how the organizations violated the Americans with Disabilities Act with “burdensome” actions based on “speculation and stigma” when they “forced [Derek Scott] to choose between his law license or continued treatment as prescribed as necessary by his treating physician.” Scott, who first passed the bar exam in 2021, was sworn into the Tennessee bar in January. The DOJ also found the agencies discriminated against another lawyer, identified as C.B., who had undergone addiction treatment more than 10 years before he passed the bar exam. NBC has been reporting on the stigma surrounding medication-assisted treatment. 

President Joe Biden vetoed legislation that would have expanded U.S. trial courts for the first time in decades, despite pleas by federal judges that their courts are short staffed, Bloomberg Law reports. The legislation, known as the JUDGES Act, would have added 66 federal trial court judgeships in courts across the U.S., in stages over the next decade. In comments explaining the veto, Biden cited the U.S. House’s “hurried action” on the legislation, which he said “seeks to hastily add judgeships with just a few weeks left in the 118th Congress.” The director of the Administrative Office of the Courts criticized the veto, saying the bill was “the product of careful and detailed analysis."

The Tennessee Board of Parole once again granted parole to a smaller percentage of people who came before it this year than the year before, continuing a trend of lengthier sentences of incarceration with fewer chances for early release. A new analysis by the Tennessean found that the board granted parole in just 22.3% of hearings in the 2023-2024 fiscal year, which ended June 30. It also held fewer hearings than the previous year. The number of prisoners granted parole in Tennessee has been declining since 2019. The board attributes the decline in part to normal fluctuation over time, saying it, “Remains committed to minimizing public risk and the prudent, orderly release of adult offenders into the community when they become parole eligible ...”. Wanda Bertram, spokesperson for the Prison Policy Initiative, says the drop is more likely explained by changing attitudes toward parole.