The TBA has added Laura J. Labenberg, Ed.D, as its new Young Lawyers Division & Law Student Development Coordinator. In her new role, Labenberg will work with the YLD to plan programs, meetings and special projects like pro bono clinics, the annual Tennessee High School Mock Trial Competition and the award-winning Diversity Leadership Institute. Prior to joining the TBA, Labenberg served as a professor of rhetoric at Hofstra University and the executive director of an educational nonprofit in New York. Earlier in her career in higher education, she served as a grants coordinator and conference coordinator. Labenberg earned her doctorate in educational leadership and policy studies at Hofstra University.

The man accused of abducting and murdering Memphis school teacher Eliza Fletcher previously served more than 20 years for kidnapping a prominent Memphis attorney, the Commercial Appeal reports. Fletcher was jogging before dawn on Friday morning when police say she was violently forced into an SUV and later killed. Cleotha Abston, 38, faces multiple charges relating to the crime, including kidnapping and first-degree murder. When he was 16, Abston and another man kidnapped Memphis-based lawyer Kemper Durand at gunpoint, forcing him into the trunk of his car and driving to gas stations to withdraw money from ATMs. Durand was able to escape while at one station. Abston was sentenced to 24 years in prison for the crime and was released in November 2020. Durand died in 2013. In an obituary, Lewis Thomason attorney Bill Haltom wrote of Durand’s response to the kidnapping.

The Legal Aid Society has an immediate opening for a staff attorney in its Clarksville office. The attorney will provide legal representation to income-eligible clients with a focus on home retention including landlord-tenant issues and homeowner issues, federal income tax issues and fair housing discrimination issues. The position is grant-funded and subsequent renewal may result in modification of job duties and responsibilities. Read more on the opening and how to apply or view a full list of available positions on the TBA’s JobLink site.

The City of Franklin’s Board of Mayor and Alderman has appointed Jessica Borne as its new Municipal Court judge, Williamson Source reports. In her new role, Borne will preside over city ordinance, building code and traffic violations at the court, which is held every second and fourth Tuesday and second Thursday at City Hall. Nineteen applied for municipal judge, with Borne advancing to the final five applicants based on scores from her interviews and a writing assignment. Borne is an attorney at Fort, Holloway & Rogers and previously spent 12 years with the Tennessee Office of the District Attorney General 21st Judicial District. She has dedicated the last 10 years of her career working with domestic abuse victims and their families by prosecuting and trying criminal cases involving domestic partners.

TBA CLE will present “Dispute Resolution 2022: Recent Developments in the Law of Arbitration” on Oct. 26 from 11 a.m. until noon CDT. The webcast program will cover recent federal legislation affecting arbitration, as well as selected cases from the past year, with emphasis on the U.S. Supreme Court, the 6th Circuit Court of Appeals and the Tennessee state courts. Presenters will discuss strategies for litigators and drafters in response to these decisions. Learn more and register for the course here.

Jonathan Skrmetti was sworn in as Tennessee’s 28th Attorney General at a private ceremony this morning. Skrmetti was appointed attorney general by the Tennessee Supreme Court last month. He will serve an eight-year term. Prior to his appointment, Attorney General Skrmetti served as Chief Counsel to Gov. Bill Lee and as Chief Deputy Attorney General. Prior to his time with the state, Skrmetti was a partner at Butler Snow LLP in Memphis and served as a federal prosecutor for almost a decade, first at the Civil Rights Division and then as an Assistant U.S. Attorney in Memphis. He also taught cyberlaw as an adjunct professor at the University of Memphis. Skrmetti earned his law degree from Harvard Law School and afterward clerked for Judge Steven Colloton on the U.S. Court of Appeals for the 8th Circuit.

The TBA Young Lawyers Division will present “You’re a Lawyer, Right?” Estate Planning and Probate 101 to Avoid Committing Malpractice on Sept. 15 from 4 to 5 p.m. EDT at The Liberty Room, 605 Chestnut St., 3rd Floor, Chattanooga. This CLE will cover the fundamentals of estate planning, including wills, powers of attorney and advance directives, as well as common questions that lawyers — and their family members and friends — may have to be better prepared to address basic estate planning questions and avoid committing malpractice. The program will be followed by a networking reception co-sponsored by the Chattanooga Bar Association Young Lawyers Division from 5 to 6 p.m. EDT.

The Tennessee Supreme Court today suspended Thomas Allen Tansil Jr. from the practice of law for five years, with one year served as an active suspension and the remainder to be served on probation after the competition of evaluation by the Tennessee Lawyers Assistance Program and compliance with a recommended monitoring agreement. Tansil was convicted of theft of property, tampering with government records and computer offenses in Carroll County. He is credited with the period of suspension served since the entry of the Order of Enforcement on Sept. 15, 2021, with the exclusion of the 60 days he was incarcerated.

Memphis attorney Aftan Strong has been named chief magistrate of the Memphis-Shelby County Juvenile Court, the Daily Memphian reports. Strong, a Memphis native with a master’s in counseling and forensic psychology, was appointed to the position by Juvenile Court Judge Tarik Sugarmon. Strong’s career has included counseling children at a juvenile detention center in Boston, working as a mental health counselor in an after-school program and working as a public defender in Nashville. She also worked in restorative justice practices in the Davidson County District Attorney’s office. Prior to joining Juvenile Court, Strong was managing partner of The Family Law Firm PLLC. Her appointment is the first step in Sugarmon’s determination of how many magistrates there should be and who he will appoint to those positions.

James Reynolds Cunningham of Mosheim died on June 30. He was 76. Cunningham earned his law degree from Florida State University College of Law in 1969 and was admitted to practice in Florida, New York and Tennessee. He practiced for 34 years in Orlando, focusing on general civil trial practice in state and federal courts. Cunningham was a member of the Republican Presidential Task Force Advisory Committee to President Ronald Reagan and the Republican Leadership Council under George W. Bush. Memorials may be sent to Amedisys Hospice Care, 127 Serral Drive, Greeneville, TN 37745 or the First Presbyterian Church of Greeneville, 110 N. Main St., Greeneville, TN 37743.