The Tennessee Supreme Court has amended Tennessee Supreme Court Rule 13, sections 2 and 3, to reflect a $10 increase in the hourly reimbursement rate for indigent representation, along with a proportionate increase in the caps on the total amount a court-appointed attorney may earn per case. The changes are effective as of July 1 and are based on the Tennessee General Assembly’s recent approval of an additional $8.6 million in recurring funding for the indigent representation program, increasing the hourly rate to $60. Read the new language. 

The Administrative Office of the Courts (AOC) had requested $26.145 million from the state legislature, which would have raised the hourly rate to $80. The TBA supported that request and remains committed to working with stakeholders to secure additional resources to fairly compensate lawyers who do this important work. To learn more about this issue and advocacy efforts on behalf of Tennessee lawyers, read the TBA's statement about the funding or visit the TBA’s Indigent Representation Resources webpage.

A petition to remove Shelby County Clerk Wanda Halbert from office was dismissed on June 18, but the effort to oust her has been revived, the Daily Memphian reports. According to the paper, the Shelby County Attorney’s Office has hired outside counsel — Robert Meyers of Glanker Brown — to continue the ouster proceedings. The previous effort, spearheaded by Hamilton County District Attorney General Coty Wamp, was unsuccessful after a court ruled that Wamp did not have legal standing to sue. Shelby County Attorney Marlinee Iverson cannot bring the case because she has recused herself from the matter. Meyers has been involved in county matters in the past, serving as former chair of the Shelby County Election Commission and producing a legal opinion on the city charter’s residency requirement for mayoral candidates.

Nashville Conflict Resolution Center CEO Shannon Wagner recently sat down with the Nashville Post to talk about her transition to the top spot at the organization. Wagner, who previously served as the center’s assistant director, took the helm in April following the retirement of Sara Figal. Wagner explains the mission of the center (offering free community mediation for a myriad of conflicts), the types of cases it accepts and her goals for increasing unrestricted giving. She also talks about her desire to see the center take more juvenile cases and expand capacity in its parenting program. Volunteer mediators need not be lawyers but must complete about 40 hours of Rule 31 training. Read more from the interview.

The U.S. Supreme Court has granted review of a range of cases for its next term, which will begin in October. The cases accepted include challenges to the Biden administration’s “ghost gun” regulations, the Food & Drug Administration’s denial of flavored vape products, and a Texas law requiring age verification for online porn sites. The court did not accept a challenge to an Illinois ban on certain semiautomatic guns, safety regulations from the Occupational Safety and Health (OSHA), or a teen sex abuse victim’s attempt to revive a lawsuit against Snapchat. Reuters has more on each of these cases.

On the final day of its term, the U.S. Supreme Court today announced the three remaining opinions in cases argued during the 2023 - 2024 term. In Trump v. United States, the court held that a former president has immunity from criminal prosecution for “official acts” but not “unofficial acts,” sending the case back to the lower court to determine the application of this principle to facts in the case. “The parties before us do not dispute that a former President can be subject to criminal prosecution for unofficial acts committed while in office,” Chief Justice John Roberts wrote for the 6-3 majority. “They also agree that some of the conduct described in the indictment includes actions taken by [President] Trump in his unofficial capacity.” The Tennessean and SCOTUSblog have more on the historic decision.

Today's other opinions include Corner Post, Inc. v. Board of Governors, where the court affords companies more time to challenge many regulations, rejecting the argument that the statute of limitations to file a lawsuit runs from when a regulation is issued and finding instead that begins when a regulation first affects a company, according to Reuters. The case was one of several this term challenging the power of executive agencies, and the ruling could amplify the effect of last week's decision to overturn the Chevron doctrine, according to the New York Times.

Finally, the court kept on hold efforts by Texas and Florida to limit how social media platforms regulate content posted by their users in a ruling that strongly defended the platforms’ free speech rights, reports AP. The court unanimously agreed to return the cases to lower courts for analysis. Writing for the court, Justice Elena Kagan said the platforms, like newspapers, deserve protection from government intrusion in determining what to include or exclude from their space. “The principle does not change because the curated compilation has gone from the physical to the virtual world,” Kagan wrote in an opinion signed by five justices.

Hamilton County lawyer Jennifer Yates Stickley was reinstated to the practice of law on June 28 after being on inactive status for more than five years. She was placed on inactive status on Jan. 31, 2006. The Board of Professional Responsibility determined that Stickley had satisfied all outstanding obligations to the Tennessee Continuing Legal Education Commission and her reinstatement petition was satisfactory.

Washington, D.C., lawyer Johnnie Daniel Bond Jr. has received a public censure from the Tennessee Supreme Court. The court found that while he was administratively suspended for failure to pay his annual fee and report on IOLTA funds, Bond was engaged in the active practice of law, including filing pleadings, appearing in court and entering agreed orders. During the suspension, Bond also advertised that he had law offices in Memphis and Nashville. These actions were determined to violate Rules of Professional Conduct 5.5 and 7.1.

Shelby County Criminal Court Judge Chris Craft has removed General Sessions Criminal Court Judge Sheila Renfroe from 28 cases she is presiding over amid allegations of bias from Melody Carlisle, an assistant public defender handling the matters. The Daily Memphian reports that Craft found that Renfroe took actions that were “clearly indicative of personal animosity," but he did not permanently ban Renfroe from presiding over other cases handled by Carlisle. Renfroe oversees General Sessions Division 9, which serves as the Shelby County Mental Health Court. She reportedly has had several tense interactions with Carlisle over the past year, including threatening to arrest her. Carlisle also has alleged that Renfroe is imbalanced and a danger to the community.

A three-judge panel of the 6th U.S. Circuit Court of Appeals has put on hold a Nashville judge’s ruling that Tennessee Secretary of State Tre Hargett and State Election Coordinator Mark Goins ran afoul of federal law by not informing thousands of individuals convicted of felonies that they may still be eligible to vote. The appeals panel said that the ruling came too late in the election cycle to go into effect this year, Tennessee Journal reports. The decision comes in a 2020 lawsuit brought by the Tennessee chapter of the NAACP, the Campaign Legal Center, Brave Hearts and Baker Donelson law firm. Nashville-based U.S. District Judge William Campbell ruled in May that the state violated federal voting law and ordered it to develop new policies and procedures for processing felony voter registrations and train election workers how to follow it. State officials then asked the appeals court to postpone the changes until after this year’s elections. 

The Federal Bureau of Investigation (FBI) has issued a new warning for lawyers and law firms to be on the lookout for cybercriminals offering fake legal services to recover digital assets. Victims have reported losses totaling nearly $10 million in the last year. In one scam, a potential victim receives notification that a criminal investigation is pending against them for failure to report possession of a cryptocurrency to an anti-money laundering regulator. The consumer is then offered a settlement to avoid a criminal conviction and sent a link to pay. Experts say most victims will pay the fine and not tell anyone about it. Read more in a public service announcement from the bureau.