TBA President Tasha Blakney has sent an email to members informing them that TBA Executive Director Joycelyn Stevenson will be resigning from her position and returning to private practice as office managing shareholder of Littler’s Nashville office. “I know I speak for the Board of Governors, the staff, and the entire TBA membership when I say that Joycelyn has been the very director we needed at the time we needed her most,” Blakney wrote. “During her five-year tenure, she ushered us through dynamic and unprecedented times — from the reinvigoration of staff and member engagement, to the navigation of a global pandemic, to the sale of our building, and so much more.” More information will follow regarding the selection process to find a new executive director. Read the email.

Joshua Smith, owner of Nashville members-only club The Standard, has agreed to plead guilty for his role in what prosecutors say was a campaign finance conspiracy benefitting state Sen. Brian Kelsey’s failed 2016 Congressional campaign. According to the Tennessean, Smith and Kelsey, R-Germantown, were indicted last fall after federal prosecutors said they illegally shuffled "soft money" from Kelsey's Tennessee state Senate campaign committee to his authorized federal campaign committee. Kelsey is not seeking reelection to his Senate seat and is scheduled to go to trial in January on the federal charges.

Newly elected Shelby County Circuit Court Judge Damita J. Dandridge will be sworn into office on Friday at 1 p.m. CDT. U.S. District Judge John T. Fowlkes Jr. will preside over the investiture ceremony, which will be held at the Shelby County Commission Chambers, 160 N. Main, Memphis. Dandridge will be sworn in by Judges Rhynette N. Hurd and Gina C. Higgins. Prior to her election, Dandridge worked as a Judicial Commissioner Judge for 20 years and also served 30 years as a professor at LeMoyne-Owen College in Memphis. Read the press release.

Retired Judge Monte Watkins has joined Nashville’s Neal & Harwell PLC as of counsel. Watkins was appointed to Division V of the 20th Judicial District Criminal Court in 2003 by former Gov. Phil Bredesen. Prior to his time as judge, Watkins practiced law for 19 years as a sole practitioner with an emphasis on criminal defense, probate law and real estate. Neal & Harwell Chief Administrator Ronald G. Harris said the firm was looking forward to working with Watkins. “We have always admired the wisdom of his judgments as well as the respect and fairness that he showed to all sides during his time on the bench,” he said. Read the press release.

The TBA Young Lawyers Division, Belmont Law, Legal Aid of Middle Tennessee and the Cumberlands, and Legal Aid of East Tennessee partnered to host a debt relief clinic on Saturday. U.S. Bankruptcy Judge for the Middle District of Tennessee Charles Walker kicked off the clinic with a presentation to the debtors about bankruptcy. Attorneys from across the state and Belmont Law students then met with clients via Zoom to give advice about bankruptcy and debt relief options. Many clients had their bankruptcy case taken pro bono. Nine debtors were served at the clinic and more than $10,000 in legal service were donated. 

The Legal Aid Society of Middle Tennessee and the Cumberlands will hold a veterans clinic tomorrow from 11 a.m. to 1 p.m. CDT at Operation Stand Down, 1125 12th Ave. S., Nashville 37203. To volunteer for the clinic, contact Kendra Cheek, 615-780-7131. See all October clinics.

Prosecutors in Baltimore today announced they have dropped charges against Adnan Syed in the 1999 murder of Hae Min Lee after additional DNA testing excluded him as a suspect, the Associated Press reports. Lee’s murder and Syed’s subsequent conviction were chronicled by the hit podcast “Serial” in 2014. “This case is over. There are no more appeals necessary,” Marilyn Mosby, the state’s attorney for the city of Baltimore said. She also said her office would continue to pursue justice for Lee. A Baltimore judge last month overturned Syed’s conviction and ordered him released to home detention. Syed spent 23 years in prison on the murder conviction.

Rep. Ron Gant, R-Rossville, has undergone “successful surgeries” to his arms and hip following a fatal car wreck he was involved in last week, the Tennessee Journal reports. Gant was traveling south on Highway 18 in Hardeman County when another SUV crossed the center line and struck him head-on. The other driver died in the crash. According to posts on Gant’s Facebook page, the representative and his family are waiting to hear if he will need additional surgeries. The posts say Gant is “resting comfortably in the ICU in stable condition.”

This year’s Juvenile Law Basics forum will take place on Nov. 8. This virtual program is designed for newer juvenile and children's Law practitioners and will feature topics such as adverse childhood experiences and secondary trauma, guardian ad litem basics and neglect actions, guardian ad litem work in termination of parental rights cases, and much more. The forum will take place via Zoom from 10 a.m. to 2:30 p.m. CST. Learn more and register for the program.

Witness an all-star lineup of women attorneys discuss resiliency in our profession during times of change, nontraditional legal careers, women supporting other women and much more during the “Raising the Bar” program on Nov. 10. Produced by the TBA Women in the Profession Committee, the in-person event will kick off with a keynote address from retired Chancellor Ellen Hobbs Lyle on withstanding career adversity, overcoming challenges and growing from those experiences. Programming will run from 9 a.m. until 4 p.m. CST at Baker Donelson’s Nashville office and will be immediately followed by a networking reception. Learn more and register for the program.