The Arts & Business Council's Volunteer Lawyers and Professionals for the Arts is joining the law firm of Bradley Arant Boult Cummings to provide free legal services for nonprofits and Black-owned small businesses in Nashville on Dec. 21. Advice will cover business formation, corporate governance, contracts and navigating local ordinances and state regulations. Eligible entities may receive up to one hour of assistance. Clients should sign up online. Attorneys should email vlpa@abcnashville.org to volunteer.

The former women presidents of the TBA have joined together to celebrate 25 years of leadership with a sponsorship for the upcoming Raising the Bar CLE. The group, coordinated by 2007-2008 president Marcy Eason, will sponsor the lunch and reception for the Nov. 30 program, which this year focuses on being an advocate for oneself and others. Thank you to these leaders: Kathryn Reed Edge, who served as TBA president from 2000-2001; Marcy Eason; Gail Vaughn Ashworth, who served from 2009-2010; Jacqueline Dixon, who served from 2012-2013; Cynthia Richardson Wyrick, who served from 2013-2014; Sarah Sheppeard, who served from 2019-2020; Michelle Greenway Sellers, who served from 2020-2021; Sherie Edwards, who served from 2021-2022; and Tasha Blakney, who served from 2022-2023. TBA’s first woman president, Pamela Reeves, who served from 1998-1999, was included in the group through the generous donation of her husband Charles Swanson. Reeves died in 2020.

Still need to get continuing legal education hours before the end of the year? Then you will not want to miss the TBA's “Gobble Up the Savings” CLE sale! Just in time for Thanksgiving, the sale starts today and runs through Monday. TBA members can purchase packages of premium content at a 60% discount! Choose from a three-hour package, 10-hour package or 15-hour package. Buy now and watch at your convenience. All programs will remain available to view through Dec. 31.

Still need to get continuing legal education hours before the end of the year? Then you will not want to miss the TBA's “Gobble Up the Savings” CLE sale! Just in time for Thanksgiving, the sale starts today and runs through Monday. TBA members can purchase packages of premium content at a 60% discount! Choose from a three-hour package, 10-hour package or 15-hour package. Buy now and watch at your convenience. All programs will remain available to view through Dec. 31.

The TBA Young Lawyers Division will launch its inaugural statewide Diversity Law Week March 11-16 and is looking for attorneys and judges to provide high school students with a unique opportunity to learn firsthand from professionals. Students will shadow legal professionals during the week as well as engage in an immersive experience at a college or law school campus and observe a court proceeding. The goal of the program is to give high school students early exposure to the legal world and resources for a career in law. Those interested in volunteering to help the program are asked to register online. Contact TBA Young Lawyers Division & Law Student Development Coordinator Laura Labenberg with any questions.

Tennessee Gov. Bill Lee today announced two judicial appointments to state courts. Murfreesboro lawyer Terry Fann has been named to the 16th Judicial District Circuit Court. An attorney at Waldron, Fann & Parsley, Fann earned his law degree from the University of Memphis School of Law. The vacancy on the court, which serves Rutherford and Cannon counties, was due to the retirement of Judge J. Mark Rogers. In addition, Brentwood lawyer Erin Nations has been named to the 21st Judicial District Circuit Court. Nations currently serves as an attorney at Beal, Nations & Crutcher. She earned her law degree from the Nashville School of Law. The vacancy on this court, which serves Williamson County, was due to the retirement of Judge Michael W. Binkley.

The manhunt continues for Johnson City businessman Sean Williams, who is accused of sexually assaulting more than 50 unconscious women and two young children. While being transported to a federal court appearance in Greeneville on child rape charges, Williams escaped and remains a fugitive. His apprehension is now a top priority for federal law enforcement, WJHL reports. Willams’ arrest is at the center of multiple lawsuits, including one from a former federal prosecutor who claims police failed to investigate him for years and one from a group of alleged victims who says police knowingly failed to investigate multiple complaints and dissuaded women from pursuing charges. The city is also dealing with a “scathing audit” from an outside auditing firm that “exposed systemic failures in the way police investigated sexual assaults,” according to the Tennessean, which has released a lengthy report on the case.

Tennessee family law attorney Anne Hamer has released a new book “Fearless Freedom, A Divorced Lawyer’s Guide to Divorce.” As a seasoned divorce attorney who has navigated the legal complexities and emotional turbulence of divorce both professionally and personally, Hamer says she wrote the book as a guide for readers to embrace change, face the challenges of divorce with courage and resilience, and achieve empowerment in their lives. Hamer currently practices law in Memphis and Nashville. She graduated from University of Tennessee at Knoxville and the New York University School of Law in 1996. Read more in a release. Contact Hamer at 901-818-8600, 615-723-5650 or through her website.

Knoxville lawyer and former TBA President Tasha Blakney has been named the next executive director of the Knoxville Bar Association (KBA), the association announced today. She will join the KBA as its full-time director in mid-January, following the retirement of long-time director Marsha Watson, who served in the role for more than 30 years. Blakney has practiced law in Knoxville since graduating from the University of Tennessee College of Law in 1999. She is a co-founding member of the law firm of Eldridge & Blakney PC, where she has practiced as a litigator for more than 20 years. She has served as president of the KBA and in leadership positions with other local, state and national bar associations. She was TBA’s 143rd president from 2022 to 2023 and currently serves on the TBA Board of Governors as immediate past president. Blakney said she looks “forward to continuing the KBA’s long legacy of service to the bar and the community.” Read more in a release from the group.

The White House recently sent a supplemental funding request to Congress that includes $21 million in disaster relief funds for the Legal Services Corporation (LSC). The agency reports this is the first time that such funding has been included in a disaster relief request. Following natural disasters, the LSC works with state partners to provide resources and information vital for communities to respond and recover. Among its initiatives, the agency hosts a Disaster Task Force and recently launched a new website designed to provide real-time disaster risk assessments, details on recent disasters, recovery guidance, connections to local aid organizations and comprehensive information for each disaster type. The group also recently featured a conversation about the role civil legal aid plays in recovery efforts in its podcast “Talk Justice.”