The Trial Court Vacancy Commission is accepting applications for a criminal court judge in the 11th Judicial District, which covers Hamilton County. The vacancy was created by the appointment of Judge Tom Greenholtz to the Court of Criminal Appeals, Eastern Section. Applicants must be licensed attorneys, at least 30 years of age, residents of the state for five years and residents of the judicial district. The deadline to apply for consideration is July 12. Complete application instructions are on the Administrative Office of the Courts website. The commission will hold a public hearing on Aug. 5 at 9 a.m. EDT to interview candidates.

Civil rights attorney Fred Gray will receive the nation’s highest honor — the Presidential Medal of Freedom — on July 7, the National Bar Association announced today. The Alabama native became a global icon for Black American jurists, lawyers and law students during his long career, driving some of the country's most significant court decisions impacting the lives of Black Americans and other underserved communities. His accomplishments include representing Rosa Parks, and serving as the attorney for Rev. Dr. Martin Luther King Jr., legal counsel for the infamous Tuskegee Syphilis Study victims, and president of the Alabama State Bar and National Bar Association. In 2006, Gray spoke at the Tennessee Bar Association’s Diversity Summit. In 2016, Lipscomb University renamed its Institute for Law, Justice & Society for Gray. Randall Spivey, academic director for the institute, wrote about Gray’s legacy in the October 2016 issue of the Tennessee Bar Journal.

The Tennessee Attorney General’s Office Division of Consumer Affairs is warning homeowners about a home warranty scam. Letters received by Tennessee homeowners urge them to purchase a home warranty, claiming the current home warranty “may be expiring or may have already expired.” Each letter contains the same claim, even if the homeowner has never purchased a home warranty. The letter also heavily implies an affiliation with the homeowner’s mortgage company and the “county deed records” office. The people responsible for these letters are in no way affiliated with the homeowner’s mortgage company or the Register of Deeds, the office says. Anyone who has received such a letter can file a complaint here.

An attorney who passed the Uniform Bar Exam and is licensed to practice in New York is asking the Tennessee Supreme Court to step in after the Tennessee Board of Law Examiner denied her request to transfer her bar score to Tennessee, the Nashville Post reports. Violaine Panasci moved to Nashville in 2021 after being hired by Chattanooga-based Rockridge Venture Law. She previously earned a master of laws degree at Pace University in New York, where she passed the bar and was licensed to practice. Panasci attended college and law school in Canada. The board determined that her Canadian education was not “substantially equivalent” to an American legal education. In legal filings, Panasci notes that more than 100 similarly situated attorneys have been admitted to practice in Tennessee. She is represented by former U.S. Attorney Bill Killian. The Goldwater Institute, the Beacon Center of Tennessee and the Southeastern Legal Foundation have filed a brief arguing Panasci has a constitutional right to earn a living. Read the group’s arguments in this article from Attorney at Law magazine. Read Panasci's petition and brief, the state's response, petition to file an amicus brief and docket information.

Law firm Thompson Burton, with offices in Nashville and Franklin, has launched an estate and wills practice with the addition of Dave Mayer, who joins the firm as a partner. Mayer was an associate at Bass Berry & Sims since 2015 and, before law school, was an accountant at Ernst & Young. His focus is on estate planning, trust instruments and wealth transfers, the Nashville Post reports.

Community Corrections groups across the state are “reeling” after the Tennessee Department of Correction has changed the way it contracts for intensive felony supervision, Tennessee Lookout reports. Michael Walton, president of the Tennessee Community Corrections Association, says the move will force reductions in staff and services Community Corrections programs offer to the courts. Lawmakers last year rejected an attempt by Gov. Bill Lee to eliminate the program. This year, the state’s request for grant proposals changed the services sought to “virtually” eliminate the program, opponents of the change say. Given those changes, some groups, including Madison County Community Corrections and Knox County Community Corrections, opted not to bid on a new contract. Those kinds of decisions could lead to issues with probation services according to some judges, district attorneys and public defenders.

The Tennessee Bar Association’s Real Estate Essentials program will be presented virtually on July 26 from 10 a.m. to 1:15 p.m. CDT. The event will focus on the intangibles every lawyer should add to their practice. Sessions include an update from the Tennessee Housing Development Agency (THDA) on fair housing, and 10 practice tips for non-real estate attorneys handling real estate cases. Thanks to Joseph Kirkland Jr. with CloseTrak in Memphis and Ryan McNally with Croley, Davidson & Huie in Knoxville for helping make this program possible.

Registered voters in Davidson County may be entitled to a portion of a federal lawsuit settlement over unsolicited robocalls that went out in 2020, Axios Nashville reports. Voters were encouraged in the robocalls to support the recall of Mayor John Cooper and some members of the Metro Council. Unsolicited robocalls to cell phones are illegal in most instances under federal law. A federal judge certified the class of individuals entitled to a part of the $1 million settlement agreement against recall champions Michelle Foreman and Karen Moore. School board member Rachael Anne Elrod was among the citizens who raised the issue and filed the lawsuit. She is represented by Nashville lawyer John Spragens.

New data from the National Center for Health Statistics indicates that more than a quarter of adults do not meet the American Academy of Sleep Medicine (AASM) and the Sleep Research Society’s (SRS) recommendation of seven hours of sleep per day. The study also found that 14.5% percent had trouble falling asleep almost every night and 17.8% had trouble staying asleep. Among the group’s other findings: (1) with increasing age, adults are less likely to have trouble falling asleep but more likely to have trouble staying asleep; (2) women are more likely than men to have trouble falling and staying asleep; (3) non-Hispanic white adults had the most trouble staying asleep of all ethnicities studied; and (4) sleep difficulties decreased as income, education levels and urbanization increased. AASM has a number of tools to increase the duration and quality of sleep. Check out their bedtime calculator and sleep diary, among other resources.

The Tennessee Bar Association offices will be closing at 2 p.m. CDT tomorrow and will remain closed on Friday and Monday for the July 4th holiday. The office will reopen at 8 a.m. CDT on Tuesday. Need to reach a staff member? All staff emails and direct lines are posted online.