The Rutherford & Cannon County Bar Association held a portrait unveiling this week for longtime Rutherford County General Sessions Judge David Loughry. Friends and colleagues of Loughry attended the event, which was presided over by Judge Ben Bennett. Bennett thanked Loughry for his 24 years of service to the county and attorneys Steve Waldron and Ben Parsley shared personal stories and memories of time spent with Loughry. The portrait will hang in the courtroom for Division II of the Rutherford County General Sessions Court. Loughry served on the bench from 1990-2014. Read more from the Administrative Office of the Courts.

Metro Nashville At-Large Councilmember Sharon Hurt on Monday announced she is running for mayor of Nashville, the Tennessean reports. Her campaign will focus on job creation, workforce development and incentivizing and supporting the growth of small businesses and nonprofits, which she calls the "anchors of our neighborhoods." Hurt joins fellow Councilmember Freddie O’Connell and Nashville economic development and affordable housing veteran Matt Wiltshire in the race to unseat incumbent Mayor John Cooper, who hasn’t confirmed whether he’ll run for reelection. Hurt currently serves as the executive director of StreetWorks, a nonprofit working to eliminate the HIV/AIDS epidemic and is a longtime community advocate know for her work in North Nashville.

Applications for the TBA’s 2023 Scaling Small program are due on Dec. 15. Scaling Small Law is a three-month-long advanced program for entrepreneurial lawyers, solo practitioners and newly formed solo/small firms. This comprehensive business education and development program offers training in business planning, marketing, solo/small firm finance and budgeting, client service and experience, ethical considerations, and outsourcing and leveraging technology. To learn more, check out the syllabus and application process. The program launches on Jan. 10, 2023.

Applications for the TBA’s 2023 Scaling Small program are due on Dec. 15. Scaling Small Law is a three-month-long advanced program for entrepreneurial lawyers, solo practitioners and newly formed solo/small firms. This comprehensive business education and development program offers training in business planning, marketing, solo/small firm finance and budgeting, client service and experience, ethical considerations, and outsourcing and leveraging technology. To learn more, check out the syllabus and application process. The program launches on Jan. 10, 2023.

The TBA’s 2022 Ethics Roadshow will stop in Memphis on Dec. 14. This year's program, offered from 9 a.m. to 12:15 p.m. CST at the Hilton Memphis, is again presented by Memphis attorney Brian Faughnan, owner of Faughnan Law. The theme is “While You Were Sheltering,” because while many of us were “sheltering in place” during the last couple of years, there have been some significant changes to Tennessee's ethics rules. Each program will offer three components: an update on which rules have changed, an overview of important rules that remain unchanged and a look ahead at rules changes that may be on the horizon.

Free Legal Answers, the virtual legal advice clinic for qualifying users to post civil legal questions at no cost, last month surpassed a total of 250,000 questions answered since its launch in 2016. The program was spearheaded by former TBA President Buck Lewis, who was struck with the idea to connect pro bono lawyers with those in need of legal services after attending a series of meetings that addressed unmet civil needs around the state. “It just occurred to me that there were lawyers sitting in this hearing on BlackBerrys — they were BlackBerrys back then — emailing their clients,” says Lewis, a shareholder at Baker Donelson in Memphis. “Could we provide legal services that way for pro bono clients?” After working with his firm’s IT staff, he helped launch Free Legal Answers in 2011 and shared the code with colleagues in multiple states before working with the ABA Standing Committee on Pro Bono and Public Service to make the program available nationwide. Since it began, more than 11,000 lawyers have registered to answer questions for users in 41 jurisdictions. The ABA Journal has more on the story.

Tennessee Attorney General Jonathan Skrmetti and a coaltion of 25 states and the District of Columbia have filed an amicus brief at the U.S. Supreme Court in Gonzalez v. Google. The brief urges the high court to interpret Section 230 of the federal Communications Decency Act (1996) narrowly to ensure technology companies remain accountable to state consumer protection laws. It explains that the judicial expansion of internet “publisher” immunity under Section 230 has severely hampered their ability to remedy internet-related wrongs. The Attorney General’s Office has more on the story.  

Nashville lawyer Kenneth Roberts died on Dec. 2. He was 89. Roberts earned his law degree from Vanderbilt Law School in 1959 went on to teach and practice law for several years before pursuing politics and eventually launching his long and distinguished career in banking, business and leadership. He helped establish the Frist Art Museum in Nashville’s historic downtown post office and served as president of the museum’s Board of Trustees for more than 20 years. An article from the Tennessean credits Roberts with having championed women and people of color during his time as president of First American National Bank in the 1970s. A memorial celebration service is set for 1 p.m. CST on Dec. 10 at Westminster Presbyterian Church, 3900 West End Ave. A visitation will be held at the church immediately after the service. Donations in Roberts’ memory can be made to the Country Music Hall of Fame and Museum, the Frist Art Museum or the Nashville Jazz Workshop.

Senate Majority Leader Jack Johnson, R-Williamson, has sponsored a measure that would close public records in non-criminal death investigations, the Tennessee Lookout reports. Senate Bill 9 would conceal law enforcement investigative reports, 911 recordings, photographs and any other records connected to a death if law enforcement agencies determine it was not the result of a crime. The legislation comes after the suicide of country music legend Naomi Judd, whose family filed a complaint against the Williamson County Sheriff’s Office to stop the release of information from its investigation. The Tennessee Coalition for Open Government is lobbying against the bill, which it says could impose on the public’s right to critical information related to law enforcement investigations.

The TBA Book Club will hold its second discussion event on Jan. 11, 2023, from 4 to 5 p.m. CST via Zoom. Members chose Jodi Picoult’s “Small Great Things” as the group’s second quarter book selection. The novel focuses on a Black labor and delivery nurse who is assigned to a child of white supremacists. The TBA will welcome author, poet and African American literature and cultural history expert Darius Stewart to the meeting as a special guest who will provide context and insight into the book. Former TBA Executive Director Joycelyn Stevenson will lead the discussion. Register for the event here.