Davidson County lawyer Mark Christopher Scruggs was today censured by the Tennessee Supreme Court. Scruggs represented a client against criminal charges alleging rape of a child. The victim in the case had been removed from the home and removed from the mother’s custodial rights. Scruggs arranged with the mother for the victim to be interviewed by a private investigator but failed to seek and obtain permission from the court-appointed custodian prior to the interview. A public censure is a rebuke and warning to the attorney, but it does not affect the attorney’s ability to practice law.

U.S. District Judge Travis McDonough in Knoxville has denied a temporary restraining order that would have stopped the priority status for restaurants and bars owned by women and certain minorities in President Joe Biden’s COVID-19 relief package, the Associated Press reports. The complaint targets the three-week period from May 3 until Monday when only funding requests from businesses owned by women, veterans or socially and economically disadvantaged individuals will be processed. The Wisconsin Institute for Law & Liberty brought the lawsuit for a restaurant owner in Harriman, Tennessee. It claims the program pushes white males “to the back of the line” and puts them “at significant risk” of missing out on funding. McDonough was not swayed by the argument, citing data from the federal government that shows how businesses owned by women and some minorities “have suffered more severely” than others during the pandemic.

Gov. Bill Lee this week signed two criminal justice reform bills into law, predicting that the measures would break cycles of crime and punishment and keep families intact, the Tennessean reports. The new laws are intended to divert more people away from state prisons and to expand support services for people who are leaving prisons after serving their sentences. The administration is expected to push for broader sentencing reform next year. Lee is also expected to sign legislation that creates harsher penalties for several crimes, including drag racing, farm vandalism and reckless endangerment with a deadly weapon. After the bill signing, Lee told reporters that his criminal justice work would pair “smart” reforms with some tougher penalties.

The Administrative Office of the Court, in partnership with the Department of Children’s Services, Metro Nashville Public Schools and the Davidson County Juvenile Court, has created a pilot program with the goal of increasing on-time graduation rates for students in foster care. Project Wrap Around hopes to achieve its goal by facilitating improved communication among stakeholders like DCS and MNPS and through Wrap Around Meetings, which will be attended by students in foster care, school administrators, counselors, teachers, MNPS and DCS, guardians ad litem and CASA advocates when appropriate. The project’s stakeholders hope to have conversations about expanding beyond Davidson County after the next school year. The AOC’s website has more on its efforts to make Project Wrap Around successful.

Tennessee Attorney General Herbert H. Slatery III has joined 47 attorneys general in calling on congressional leaders to pass the Fraud and Scam Reduction Act —a resolution aimed at fighting scams that target seniors. The act would establish an advisory group to collect data from retailers, financial services and wire-transfer companies and use it to educate employees on how to identify and prevent scams against seniors. It would also create the Office for the Prevention of Fraud Targeting Seniors to help monitor emerging scams, disseminate information on common fraud schemes and more. Read more from the AG’s office.  

Save the date for this year’s Animal Law Forum, taking place live and in-person at the Nashville Zoo on Sept. 24. Programming will run from 8:30 a.m. until 5 p.m. CDT and will provide attendees with a unique opportunity to brush up on trends and advancements in animal law, while networking and enjoying the fun and activities the zoo offers. The zoo’s president and CEO and the board’s general counsel will discuss conservation efforts and laws affecting procurement and care for zoo animals. Other topics include ethical considerations for animals and the law, legislative updates, laws governing farm animals and more. Zoo admission, breakfast and lunch are included with the program.

The TBA Litigation Law Section will host a roundtable discussion tomorrow, featuring panelists who will provide present-day insights of judicial independence in the shadows of our separation-of-powers history. In the Shadow of History: Separation of Powers and Tennessee Courts will take place on May 26 from 3 until 4 p.m. CDT. Todd Presnell of Bradley Arant Boult Cummings will moderate a panel that will include Nashville School of Law Dean William C. Koch Jr., University of Memphis Cecil C. Humphreys School of Law professor Steven J. Mulroy and former Tennessee Supreme Court Justice and University of Tennessee College of Law professor Penny J. White. The roundtable is free and open to the public, with optional CLE credit for a fee of $45.

The TBA Mentoring Committee will host a free virtual program on ethics in the mentoring relationship from 11:30 a.m. until 12:30 p.m. CDT on June 8. The session is open to all current mentors and mentees or anyone interested in joining the Mentoring Program. Guest speakers Brian Faughnan of Lewis Thomason, Sandy Garrett with the Board of Professional Responsibility and Knoxville Law Director Charles Swanson will discuss identifying clear ethical violations in a mentoring relationship and setting and maintaining healthy expectations and boundaries in today’s setting. To RSVP for the event, email Stephanie Vonnahme.

The Nashville Business Journal has released its annual “Best of the Bar” honorees. As part of the awards, the publication has also named Gail Vaughn Ashworth of Wiseman | Ashworth Law Group PLC as the 2021 Lifetime Achievement winner. Ashworth is a former president of the TBA and a founding member of Wiseman | Ashworth, where she practices at the civil and administrative trial and appellate levels as both defense and plaintiff’s counsel. She has practiced civil litigation for nearly four decades in Nashville and is a Tennessee Rule 31 Listed General Civil Mediator. She is currently a member of the TBA’s Dispute Resolution and Tort and Insurance Law sections and is a founder of the TBA Leadership Law program.

Tennessee Attorney General Herbert Slatery today announced that he has filed a motion to intervene in the Tennessee Justice Center’s (TJC) lawsuit that seeks to undo the approval of the state’s Medicaid block grant. TJC filed the complaint last month against the U.S. Department of Health and Human Services (HHS), arguing, among other things, that the department had exceeded its authority when it approved the project as a Section 1115 experimental waiver. Slatery said his office is intervening in the case “to make sure Tennessee’s unique healthcare infrastructure is appropriately defended.”