The Tennessee Bar Association will be closed Monday in observance of Labor Day. The office will reopen on Tuesday at 8 a.m. CDT. Visit the TBA.org website for information on CLE or other TBA programs and for staff contact information.

Over the past week, the Tennessee Supreme Court has reinstated 16 lawyers who had been suspended for failing to complete annual continuing legal education requirements in 2023. See the list of those reinstated online.

The 2024 Equal Justice University (EJU) kicked off today in Murfreesboro with an opening plenary featuring longtime advocate Ashley Wiltshire speaking on the history of access to justice efforts in Tennessee. A welcome lunch featured remarks by Tennessee Supreme Court Justice Jeffrey Bivins and presentation of the New Advocate of the Year Award to Tomi Robb with the Legal Aid Society of Middle Tennessee. This afternoon, the Tennessee Supreme Court Access to Justice Commission met and held a question and answer session for attendees. The evening will conclude with the annual Access to Justice Awards Reception and Dinner, where two additional awards will be presented. The conference continues tomorrow with TBA President Ed Lanquist Jr. speaking at lunch. See photos from today.

The Tennessee Administrative Office of the Courts announced this week that 4th Judicial District Circuit Court Judge O. Duane Slone died in a traffic accident over the weekend in Jefferson County. He was 61 years old. Slone was first elected to the court in 1998, and in 2009, co-founded the district’s Drug Recovery Court. According to the AOC, he was recognized nationally as an innovator in his efforts to address the opioid-driven addiction crisis. He served as chair of the eight-state Appalachian-Midwest Regional Judicial Opioid Initiative, the Substance Misuse & Addiction Resources for Tennessee “SMART” Justice Network, and the Tennessee Judicial Conference Problem Solving Court Committee, and was a steering committee member of the National Rural Justice Collaborative and “SMART” Policy Network. Prior to taking the bench, he was in private practice in Dandridge and Sevierville and served as assistant district attorney for the 4th Judicial District. WBIR has details on the accident while WVLT 8 has reflections from the community.

The Tennessee Supreme Court on Aug. 21 suspended 17 attorneys for failure to pay the annual registration fee; nine of them also failed to file proof that client funds are held in an IOLTA-compliant account. View the fee suspension order and IOLTA suspension order. See the list of all lawyers suspended and reinstated for fee and IOLTA violations in 2024 or access all administrative suspensions dating back to 2005. Lawyers recently reinstated include nine who were suspended this year, 11 who were suspended in 2023, one who was suspended in 2019 and one who was suspended in 2012.

Florida lawyer April Elaine Rolle was reinstated to the practice of law in Tennessee effective July 25. According to the Tennessee Supreme Court, Rolle filed a petition for reinstatement demonstrating that all delinquent annual registration fees had been paid to the Board of Professional Responsibility. The court issued the order on Aug. 20.

The Tennessee Supreme Court has referred the case of Maury County lawyer Ashlyn Elizabeth Blevins to the Board of Professional Responsibility for “whatever action” it deems warranted. The court took the action after Blevins pled guilty to the Class B misdemeanor of reckless driving in the General Sessions Court for Maury County. She received judicial diversion in that case.

The Tennessee Attorney General’s Office is warning consumers about a number of QR code scams. While evolving QR code technology may be convenient, the codes can be exploited by scammers through emails, text messages, mailers, packages, charitable appeals and cryptocurrency payments — all of which take users to fake websites designed to steal personal information. Scams like these can be reported to the Federal Trade Commission at www.ftc.gov/scams if encountered. Learn more about spotting suspicious QR codes.

U.S. District Judge Samuel Mays Jr. has dismissed a lawsuit against Shelby County Sheriff Floyd Bonner Jr. and Chief Jailer Kirk Fields over the October 2023 death of an inmate. The Daily Memphian reports that the suit had been filed in January by the family of Deion Byrd, an inmate at the Shelby County Jail who died after being stabbed by another inmate, Donnie Clay, while waiting for a court hearing at the Shelby County Criminal Justice Center. Clay has been charged with first-degree murder for the death. Mays found that Byrd’s parents failed to show that Bonner and Fields violated Byrd’s constitutional rights by failing to protect him from harm.

The Nashville Banner recently lost its bid to unseal court filings related to Davidson County Criminal Court Judge Cheryl Blackburn’s competence. In a narrow decision, the Court of Criminal Appeals ruled that Blackburn’s colleague Judge Angelita Dalton did not err when she sealed affidavits made by attorneys that allegedly detailed problems with Blackburn’s performance. The court did not rule on the merits of the affidavits. The Banner notes that neither prosecutors nor defense attorneys had asked for the affidavits to be sealed and Judge Blackburn herself had not sealed the filings. It says it will appeal the ruling to the state Supreme Court. The Banner reported the news in its Aug. 19 newsletter.