Nationwide litigation firm Freeman Mathis & Gary LLP today announced it will add five attorneys to its Nashville office. Jason Pannu, former TBA president, will join the firm as partner and office chair. Associates will include Lorne Hiller and Jacob Jones. Additionally, two attorneys from the firm’s Los Angeles office, Marc Shrake and Jordan Meeks, will relocate to the Nashville office. “I am excited to join FMG and gain access to its resources and national platform,” Pannu said. “We have already assembled a great team in Nashville and look forward to growing the office in the near future.”

The Lincoln Memorial University Duncan School of Law is seeking to hire up to three faculty members to begin on or around July 1, 2023. The director of bar success, a non-tenure-track position, will teach bar preparation courses, coordinate LMU Law’s supplemental bar preparation programming for its graduates, work collaboratively with other faculty, including the three other full-time academic and bar success faculty, and mentor students and graduates. The law school is also seeking to hire up to two tenure-track faculty members. Areas of greatest curricular need include civil procedure, constitutional law, criminal law and criminal procedure and evidence. Find more job postings on the TBA’s JobLink site.

The TBA YLD, in partnership with the Legal Aid Society of Middle Tennessee and the Cumberlands and Legal Aid of East Tennessee, hosted a virtual name change clinic on Saturday. Fifteen attorneys and eight law students met on Zoom for a training, and then assisted clients in filling out name change petitions and giving counsel and advice on pro se representation. Thirty clients were served at the clinic and $7,500 in legal services were donated. The name change clinic is a new signature project of the TBA YLD aimed at making Tennessee a more welcoming place.

The city of Knoxville is asking the court to prevent the Knoxville News Sentinel from obtaining any documents created by a private firm during the city’s process of hiring a new police chief. The city also doesn't want to turn over documents related to the search, despite having previously said none were created. That response comes after the Sentinel sued the city in July after it refused to release documents related to the police chief search. Knoxville also moved to dismiss the lawsuit, arguing the Sentinel is “weaponizing” the state's open record laws, and requiring the city’s search firm to turn over documents that would have a “chilling” effect on the city. The Knoxville News Sentinel has more on the story.

Former House Speaker Glen Casada and his one-time Chief of Staff Cade Cothren were indicted Tuesday on 20 federal charges ranging from money laundering to bribery, the Tennessean reports. The pair pleaded not guilty this morning during a hearing in federal court. Casada and Cothren stand accused of running a shadowy political consulting firm under a fake name to solicit General Assembly business and siphon off kickbacks for personal gain. Charges include theft from programs receiving federal funds, bribery and kickbacks, honest services wire fraud, conspiracy to commit money laundering, using a fictitious name to carry out a fraud and money laundering. The charges could carry up to 20 years in prison. The Tennessee Journal has the entire federal indictment.

Mark your calendars for Litigation 2022: Perspectives from the Bench, a webcast taking place on Oct. 27 from 11:30 a.m. to 1 p.m. CDT. The webcast is worth 1.5 general CLE credits. Check back on the program’s webpage for more information as it becomes available.

Graveside services were held earlier this month for retired Jackson defense attorney Roger Alan Staton. Staton passed away on Aug. 10. He was 68. Staton earned his law degree from Stetson University College of Law and became licensed in Tennessee in 1988.  

Knoxville attorney Lawrence McLean House Sr. passed away on Aug. 12 after an extended illness. He was 81. A graduate of the University of Tennessee College of Law, House began practicing law in Knoxville in 1967. A celebration of House’s life is scheduled for Aug. 28 at 5 p.m. EDT at Link-House Field on Cherokee Boulevard. In lieu of flowers, please make donations to the Coach House Memorial Fund at Knox Youth Sports, 5908 Lyons View Pike Knoxville, TN 37919. These gifts will be used at Link- House field.

The Judicial Ethics Committee last week released an advisory opinion addressing two issues. First, the committee concurred with a prior opinion which stated a judge should not have to recuse themselves in a contested matter when one or both of the litigants is a licensed attorney. The committee only issued a new opinion on the matter because the numbering of the Rules within the Code of Judicial Conduct has changed since the prior opinion was issued. Secondly, aside from narrow and specific circumstances in the Rules of Judicial Conduct, the committee found that the code does not require a judge to recuse themselves simply because an attorney is a member of the judge’s former law firm. Read the full opinion from the Administrative Office of the Courts.

The Tennessee Registry of Election Finance, represented by the Attorney General’s Office, has asked a Davidson County chancellor to find former House Aide Cade Cothren in contempt of court and order him to comply with two subpoenas, the Tennessee Lookout reports. The state argues Cothren, who is ex-chief of staff for former House Speaker Glen Casada, didn’t give a good reason for refusing to testify before the Registry board or providing documents regarding a political action committee he secretly ran. The court filing came in response to claims by Cothren’s attorney that he should not have to testify before the board after invoking his Fifth Amendment right against self-incrimination in a letter to the board. Chancellor-elect I’Ashea Myles will hear the case in September. Myles is taking over the caseload of Chancellor Ellen Hobbs Lyle as she steps down from the bench on Aug. 31.