The Tennessee Judicial Conference has announced its new officers who were elected during the group’s June meeting. Seventeenth Judicial District Chancellor J.B. Cox will serve as president, 11th Judicial District Chancellor Pamela A. Fleenor will move into the role of president-elect, Judge Valerie L. Smith from the 30th Judicial District was elected as moving vice president, Court of Appeals Middle Section Judge W. Neal McBrayer is the new vice president, 16th Judicial District Judge Darrell Scarlett is the group’s new secretary and 19th Judicial District Judge Kathryn Wall Olita will serve as treasurer. Three judges from each of the state’s three grand divisions were also elected to serve on the TJC executive committee. Representing West Tennessee are: Court of Appeals Judge Carma McGee; 30th Judicial District Judge Jennifer Johnson Mitchell; and 26th Judicial District Chancellor Tony Childress. The Middle Tennessee representatives are: 23rd Judicial District Judge Larry J. Wallace; Court of Criminal Appeals Judge Jill Bartee Ayers; and 12th Judicial District Chancellor Melissa Blevins. Representing Eastern Tennessee are: 4th Judicial District Judge James Gass; 11th Judicial District Judge Barry Steelman; and 6th Judicial District Judge Kyle Hedrick. Sixteenth Judicial District Judge Barry Tidwell and 13th Judicial District Judge Gary McKenzie will serve as TJC convention co-chairs. Hospitality co-chairs will be 6th Judicial District Judge Kyle Hixson and 13th Judicial District Judge Jimmie Turner. Read more from the Administrative Office of the Courts.

The TBA Criminal Justice Section will host Criminal Law Basics 2021 tomorrow from 10 a.m. until 2:30 p.m. CDT. This year’s program will focus on sentencing practices and procedures, including an intro to sentencing, alternative sentencing measures and a diverse panel of judges, prosecutors and defense lawyers discussing different perspectives on these important issues. Among those panelists is Cyntoia Brown, a juvenile offender ordered to serve life in prison for murder before ultimately being granted clemency by former Gov. Bill Haslam. Register for the program here.

Former Shelby County Criminal Court Judge Terry Lafferty died Friday. He was 89. Lafferty served as criminal court judge from 1977 until his retirement in 1997, when he moved to become a senior judge. After earning his law degree from the Southern University Law Center, Lafferty worked in the district attorney’s office from 1963 until 1977. Lafferty’s family will receive friends this evening from 5 to 8 p.m. CDT at Memphis Funeral Home and Memorial Gardens, 3700 N. Germantown Parkway, Bartlett 38133. A funeral mass will be held at 10 a.m. CDT tomorrow at The Church of the Nativity, 5955 St. Elmo, Bartlett 38135. In lieu of flowers, the family asks that memorials be made to the Wounded Warrior Project. Read more on funeral services from the Administrative Office of the Courts.

As corporate transactions return to, or surpass, pre-pandemic levels, some local legal insiders are reporting a “high demand” for junior attorneys in the field, the Nashville Post reports. Candice Reed, executive vice president at Latitude, a company that provides contract attorneys to law firms and businesses, says she’s seeing “an extremely high demand for junior attorneys in transactional fields.” Reed also notes that national firms are moving into Nashville, which is adding to the labor crunch. Am Law 50 firm, K&L Gates, recently launched a Nashville office, and other national firms are recruiting Nashville attorneys to work for their existing clients remotely, without establishing a physical office in Nashville. While salaries at some firms have increased, Reed says in-house positions generally have not, which “could impact the flow of attorneys moving from law firms to in house.” Brian Holmes, managing partner at Cornelius & Collins, didn’t see many drastic changes, but his firm did see an uptick in employment work. “People keep suing even when times are bad,” Holmes said.

The Administrative Office of the Courts has compiled a list of new state laws that will have an impact on Tennessee’s court system. The list includes laws dealing with data collection in state and juvenile courts, victims rights, sentencing and reentry and more. Several laws were passed to create new courts and dockets, including the creation of the state’s 32nd Judicial District that will cover Lewis, Perry and Hickman counties. Another law extends the Board of Judicial Conduct through June 30, 2025. Browse the full list on the AOC’s website.

Legal Aid Society of Middle Tennessee & the Cumberlands will host three in-person legal advice clinics and one phone clinic next week for members of the public with questions about housing and renters’ rights, bankruptcy, medical bills, debt collection, domestic violence, SNAP benefits and unemployment benefits. The in-person clinics will take place Wednesday from 11 a.m. to 1 p.m., Thursday from 3 to 4:30 p.m. and Saturday from 8:30 to 10:30 a.m. CDT. The phone clinic will be held Wednesday from 4:30 to 6 p.m. CDT. To volunteer, contact Andrae Crismon or Kendra Cheek or call 615-780-7131.

This month’s episode of BarBuzz was recorded live from The Peabody in Memphis during the TBA’s Annual Convention last week. TBA Board of Governors member Trey Thacher of Burch, Porter & Johnson in Memphis co-hosts the episode, which covers important legal news from the last month and gives a rundown of events and award recipients from the convention. BarBuzz is part of the TBA Podcast Network and can be found on the TBA’s website or wherever you listen to podcasts.

The Appellate Division of the New York Supreme Court today announced that it is suspending Rudy Giuliani’s law license, The Hill reports. The court concluded in its 33-page decision that Giuliani made “demonstrably false and misleading statements” to courts, lawmakers and the public while representing former President Donald Trump and his campaign in an effort to overturn the 2020 election results. His license will remain suspended while disciplinary action continues to be considered which, the court added, will “likely result in substantial permanent sanctions.”  

Murfreesboro assistant city attorney Elizabeth Taylor was chosen as the recipient of this year’s Larry Dean Wilks Leadership Award by fellow members of the TBA Leadership Law (TBALL) class. All 33 members of the leadership training program met for one final session last week during the TBA’s Annual Convention in Memphis. Taylor was presented with the award during the group’s graduation ceremony on Friday. The award is named for former TBA president Larry D. Wilks and recognizes a TBALL class member who exhibits exceptional leadership qualities.

The new Tennessee State Library and Archives (TSLA) building has made available more than 10,000 boxes of full state Supreme Court case files, some that date back to the early 19th century. The high court’s opinions in those cases have long been available to the public, but the associated case files have not. According to the Administrative Office of the Courts, TSLA staff worked for roughly 15 years to painstakingly clean and index the records—a massive undertaking led by Court of Appeals Judge Andy Bennett. “If you really want to go behind the opinion, these documents are great,” Bennett said. The TSLA also houses a legislative history collection containing old volumes of state codes and recordings of legislative hearings. The new building opened in April and is located at 1001 Rep. John Lewis Way N. in Nashville.