The YWCA of Nashville and Middle Tennessee recently recognized Davidson County Criminal Court Judge Angelita Blackshear Dalton for her work empowering other women and serving as a role model. Dalton was honored at the group’s inaugural Academy for Women of Achievement Awards. She has served as criminal court judge since 2017. She also is a member of the Domestic Violence State Coordinating Council. Dalton previously served as a general sessions judge and assistant district attorney in the county. She says it was her assignment to the DA’s domestic violence prosecution team that lead to her passion for helping women. Read more from the Administrative Office of the Courts.

Bass, Berry & Sims has made several changes to its leadership team. In the Memphis office, Richard Spore has been appointed chair of the Real Estate & Debt Finance Practice Group. In the Nashville office, Lara Flatau has been named to the Working Parents Committee, Lauren Gaffney has been named entry level hiring partner and Paul Jennings has been elected to the firm’s executive committee. Read more in the firm’s announcement.

U.S. Supreme Court Justice Brett Kavanaugh has joined the growing chorus of U.S. News & World Report law school rankings critics, Reuters reports. During a recent talk at the University of Notre Dame Law School he said, "I think they’re based on things, from what I understand, that are very amorphous, very subjective, very word-of-mouth factors that don't correlate well with the education that you’re actually receiving, and I find them highly problematic." He also said that he does not consider law school ranking when hiring clerks.

Effective last week, Judge Sheryl H. Lipman assumed the duties of chief judge of the U.S. District Court for the Western District of Tennessee. She replaced District Judge S. Thomas Anderson, who served for six years as chief judge and completed his tenure. The court announced the news Monday.

Attorney volunteers are being sought for multiple mock trial competitions across the state. Next week, on Feb. 3-5, the University of Memphis School of Law will be hosting the Region 8 National Mock Trial Regional Competition and is looking for attorneys to serve as judges. Sign up here to help. Later in February, the Memphis Bar Association is looking for volunteers for its local high school competition, which will take place Feb. 17-19. Sign up here. Finally, the Tennessee State High School Competition, hosted by the TBA Young Lawyers Division, is seeking judges, lawyers and law students to serve in various roles. That event will take place March 17-18 in Nashville. Click here to volunteer.

At the 125th Annual Meeting of the Chattanooga Bar Association this week, Juvenile Court Judge Rob Philyaw was sworn in as the new president. Senior Judge Curtis L. Collier of the U.S. District Court for the Eastern District of Tennessee administered the oath of office. The association also presented six awards and recognized lawyers who have been in practice for 50 years or more, as well as new sustaining fellows of the Chattanooga Bar Foundation. Award recipients were: Hugh J. Moore Jr., Jac Chambliss Lifetime Achievement Award; Rosemarie L. Hill, Ralph H. Kelley Humanitarian Award; Clerk & Master Robin L. Miller, Harry Weill Zealous Practice of Law Award; former judge Jackie Bolton, Albert L. Hodge Volunteer Award; Sam D. Elliott, President’s Award; and Alexis Crutchfield, Young Lawyers Division Volunteer Award. Read more about event in the meeting program.

The TBA Young Lawyers Division, Tennessee Alliance for Legal Services and Belmont University College of Law kicked off the new year by hosting a “TN Free Legal Answers” clinic on campus last week. Students and volunteer attorneys worked together to answer client questions submitted on the Free Legal Answers site, donating more than $3,000 in pro bono time!

Opinions issued by Tennessee state courts late Wednesday and yesterday were not included in Thursday's TBA Today newsletter due to a technical error. The four opinions — In Re Ethan W. Et Al, Darryl Robinson v. State of Tennessee, State of Tennessee v. Shannon Leigh Smith and Newmon Winton v. State of Tennessee — are included today.

A story in the Jan. 25 issue of TBA Today contained incorrect information about the death of Memphis motorist Tyre Nichols. According to noted civil rights attorney Ben Crump, who is representing Nichols' family, the 29-year old died as a result of “multiple uses of force.” The Daily Memphian has more of his comments.

Memphis Bar Association President Jennifer Sink released a statement today responding to the death of Tyre Nichols and the arrest of five Memphis police officers. She applauds the upcoming public release of body camera footage of the incident but says while the video will show what happened, it will not explain why it happened. “There will likely never be a satisfactory explanation for why,” she writes. “These officers did not act in a way consistent with their training ... But more importantly, their actions defied our expectations for basic human decency.” She concludes by saying she intends to facilitate an open dialogue this year about the “many serious issues implicated by this tragic event.”