Register now for the “Bankruptcy Webcast: Cases, COVID, Cares and CAA” on Nov. 8 from noon until 1 p.m. CDT. This seminar will discuss recent cases of interest as well as options for debtors impacted by COVID under the CARES Act and the Consolidated Appropriations Act, including options for repaying mortgage forbearances and escrow shortages as a result of forbearances. Bankruptcy Section members will receive a discount on the program. Not a section member? Join today.  

Nashville law firm MTR Family Law has announced it will merge with Gullett Sanford Robinson & Martin effective Jan. 1, 2022, the Nashville Post reports. The Gullett Sanford team will consist of 33 practicing attorneys once the deal is complete. MTR's six attorneys will establish Gullett Sanford’s new Family Law Practice Group. “We feel privileged to combine two long-standing, Nashville-based law firms who share similar values, commitment to client service and investment in the Nashville community,” managing member Phil Welty said in a statement. The firm will operate from its two current locations: GSRM Law Downtown at The Pinnacle at Symphony Place and GSRM Law West at 23rd Avenue North.

Nashville Vice Mayor Jim Shulman yesterday announced his recommendation that veteran Metro attorney Margaret Darby take over as legal counsel for the Metro Council, the Nashville Post reports. Darby, the assistant Metropolitan attorney, currently leads a legal team dealing with fiscal administration issues for Metro Council and supervises Metro’s property tax litigation. She would replace attorney Jon Cooper, who left Metro Council for Bone McAllester Norton earlier this year. In an email to Metro councilmembers, Shulman said Darby “brings a wealth of information to this role and the history and knowledge of how Metro has operated, specifically from a financial standpoint.” 

Knoxville attorney Stephen Ross Johnson was sworn in as treasurer of the National Association of Criminal Defense Lawyers (NACDL) earlier this month. According to a NACDL press release, Johnson has held a variety of leadership positions within the organization, including multiple terms on the board of directors and as a member of the group’s Budget, Technology Advisory, White Collar Crime, Sentencing, Strike Force and Investment committees. Johnson is a criminal defense trial and appellate attorney with Ritchie, Davies, Johnson & Stovall. He is a past chair of the TBA’s Criminal Justice Section and former TBA general counsel. 

A bipartisan committee assembled by President Joe Biden to study potential reforms to the high court released its preliminary findings yesterday, The Hill reports. The committee noted “considerable” risks to court expansion, including the potential to undermine the high court’s legitimacy. The lengthy “discussion materials,” which are broken up into five sections, explore the arguments for and against adding justices to the high court, as well as other potential reforms. The committee met again today to discuss the preliminary findings, which were criticized by some liberal members for its treatment of the court expansion proposal. Two conservative members today resigned from the committee, but did not publicly give a reason for their departure.

The federal judiciary is reviewing its conflict screening process following a Wall Street Journal report that 131 judges failed to recuse themselves from cases involving companies in which they or their family members owned stock, Reuters reports. According to a memo from U.S. District Judge Roslynn Mauskopf, who serves as director of the Administrative Office of the U.S. Courts, committee staff for the Judicial Conference, the judiciary's policymaking body, will be directed to eview the judiciary's processes to submit recommendations on ways to "clarify or improve" the conflict screening process. Mauskopf also reiterated the importance of complying with existing financial conflict of interest policies.

Attorneys for death row inmate Pervis Payne are asking a judge to disqualify the Shelby County District Attorney General’s Office from working their client’s case due to a conflict of interest, the Commercial Appeal reports. Payne’s attorney, Kelly Henry, claimed that Assistant District Attorney Steve Jones worked as a capital case staff attorney from 1996 through 1998, providing legal guidance to judges regarding death penalty matters at the same time as Payne's post-conviction and other proceedings were pending in the court. Jones said he did not work on the Payne case as a capital case attorney. The District Attorney General’s Office asked the court to deny the motion to disqualify it. An evidentiary hearing in Payne’s case is set for Dec. 13 to determine whether he is intellectually disabled, which would make him ineligible for the death penalty.

Lawyers Bobby Bramhall and Melia Jones are hoping to help college athletes secure endorsement deals with their new Nashville firm Athlete Licensing Company. The venture comes after changes to NCAA rules, which now allow college athletes to monetize their name, image and likeness (NIL). Bramhall, who serves as president of the company, played baseball professionally for seven years and later served as an assistant athletic director at Texas A&M University. Jones, the group’s executive vice president and general counsel, most recently worked in the Texas A&M University System Office of General Counsel and advised the Texas legislature on the state’s own NIL legislation. Other firms in the NIL space include Burr & Forman, which also launched an NIL practice group that includes two attorneys in Nashville.

Following a report by WPLN and ProPublica, the office of Gov. Bill Lee says judicial authorities should review the actions of Rutherford County Juvenile Court Judge Donna Scott Davenport. “We are concerned about the recent reports and believe the appropriate judicial authorities should issue a full review,” Lee’s press secretary, Casey Black, said in an email. The report, published last week, found that under Davenport’s lead, Rutherford County jailed nearly half of the children whose cases were referred to the juvenile court. It further claimed that many of the kids had been jailed illegally. WPLN has more on the story.

The Sports Wagering Advisory Council has tapped Nashville attorney Mary Beth Thomas as its new executive director, the Tennessee Journal reports. Thomas has served as general counsel in Secretary of State Tre Hargett’s office since 2013. Prior to that, she spent seven years with Nashville’s Waller law firm. The 2019 law legalizing sports betting in Tennessee placed the panel within the Tennessee Education Lottery Corp, but an amendment to the law made it an independent entity in January. The panel voted 9-0 in Thomas’ favor. The other finalists were Scott Sloan, the chief of staff and general counsel to the Tennessee Higher Education Commission, and Roger Guillemette, the director of sports betting and casino compliance for the Rhode Island Lottery.