Knoxville attorney and University of Tennessee (UT) College of Law Dean Emeritus and Professor Emeritus Douglas A. Blaze was honored last week with the prestigious William M. Leech Jr. Public Service Award. Named for former Attorney General William M. Leech and presented by the Fellows of the TBA Young Lawyers Division, the award is given to a Tennessee lawyer who has been of outstanding service to the profession, legal system and the community. Blaze joined the UT Law faculty in 1993 as the director of clinical programs. He also served as director of the Center for Advocacy and Dispute Resolution and interim associate dean for academic affairs. He was named dean of the law school twice and served from 2008-2015 and then again from 2020-2022. Blaze helped found the college’s Institute for Professional Leadership and served as its first director. He retired from full-time teaching in July 2022. The Leech Award was presented at the TBA Annual Convention in Knoxville during the Lawyers’ Luncheon. Read the TBA's full press release on the award.

The Tennessee Supreme Court today placed four lawyers on disability inactive status. They are Davidson County lawyer Ronald André Stewart, Madison County lawyer James H. Wallace, Virginia lawyer Hannah Andrea Gribble and Mississippi lawyer Rhett R. Russell. They may not practice law while on inactive status but may petition the court for reinstatement to active status after showing their disability has been removed.

Belmont University will host the first televised Nashville mayoral debate tomorrow at 5:30 p.m. CDT at the Fisher Center for the Performing Arts. Nine candidates will join co-moderator David Plazas from The Tennessean and Carrie Sharp from NewsChannel 5 for a 90-minute question and answer session. The event will air on NewsChannel 5. The debate series is sponsored by The Tennessean, NewsChannel 5 and the League of Women Voters of Nashville. Future events will take place on June 22, July 6 and Aug. 24. Read more from the school.

Tennessee Gov. Bill Lee continues to sign legislative proposals into law, recently approving new regulations on Delta 8 products, protecting gun manufacturers from lawsuits and reorganizing Nashville’s Music City Center convention board. Three members of the governor’s cabinet now have automatic non-voting seats on board, WPLN reports. One bill the governor has not yet signed is a measure restructuring local police oversight boards, according to News Channel 5.

A federal judge in Virginia has ruled that a law banning licensed federal firearms dealers from selling handguns to young adults under 21 violates the Second Amendment and is unconstitutional. The ruling, if not overturned, would allow dealers to sell handguns to 18, 19 and 20-year-olds, the Associated Press reports. The judge stated that many of the rights and responsibilities of citizenship are granted at the age of 18 and gun ownership should not be any different.

Lewis Brisbois Bisgaard & Smith has named New York attorney Gregory Katz as the firm’s new managing partner, Bloomberg Law reports. Katz replaces firm founding partner Robert Lewis, who stepped down last week after 110 lawyers left to join a new venture launched by two former practice chairs. Lewis Brisbois has offices throughout the U.S. including Nashville. In January, 32 cybersecurity lawyers left the firm to join Constangy, Brooks, Smith & Prophete, which also has offices in Nashville.

The Memphis Police Department is beginning a town hall series, relaunching a podcast and working on what the department calls "a special project" to make Memphians more aware of department initiatives, the Commercial Appeal reports. The projects are meant to "foster more open lines of communication” to address crime issues and encourage discussion of solutions to move the city forward. The efforts follow a commitment by department leaders to communicate more consistently with the Memphis community after the death of Tyre Nichols. 

The Covenant School in Nashville is asking a Davidson County court not to release some of the writings of a shooter who killed six at the school last month, NewsChannel 5 reports. Attorneys for the school filed motions in two of the three lawsuits requesting that the assailant's writings not be released. The filings suggest the documents may include sensitive information, including schematics of the facility and confidential information about school employees and students.

Former Memphis attorney Leigh M. Chiles pled guilty in connection with a scheme to defraud an estate over which she was appointed to serve as executrix, U.S. Attorney Kevin G. Ritz recently announced. Chiles was appointed executrix in 2018 and was responsible for collecting estate assets and distributing them to heirs and beneficiaries. In violation of her fiduciary duty, Chiles used approximately $124,000 in estate funds to write checks to herself and to pay her personal credit card. The ABA Journal reports that Chiles had worked at Baker Donelson in Memphis but was no longer with the firm when the criminal activity occurred. She was suspended from practicing law in July 2018. Chiles, currently of Little Rock, will face sentencing before Memphis-based federal judge John T. Fowlkes on July 17.

Knoxville attorney and University of Tennessee (UT) College of Law Dean Emeritus and Professor Emeritus Douglas A. Blaze will be honored next month with the prestigious William M. Leech Jr. Public Service Award. Named for former Attorney General William M. Leech and presented by the Fellows of the TBA Young Lawyers Division, the award is given to a Tennessee lawyer who has been of outstanding service to the profession, legal system and the community. Blaze joined the UT Law faculty in 1993 as the director of clinical programs. He also served as director of the Center for Advocacy and Dispute Resolution and interim associate dean for academic affairs. He was named dean of the law school twice and served from 2008-2015 and then again from 2020-2022. Blaze helped found the college’s Institute for Professional Leadership and served as its first director. He retired from full-time teaching in July 2022. The Leech Award will be presented at the TBA Annual Convention in Knoxville on June 16 during the Lawyers’ Luncheon. Read the TBA's full press release on the award.