The Tennessee Supreme Court yesterday issued a correction to a November order regarding the Alternative Dispute Resolution Commission. The original order, which named three new members and a new chair, makes reference to a Tennessee Supreme Court rule and section that has since been revised. The new order reflects the appropriate rule and section.

Three new members were today appointed to serve on the Tennessee Board of Professional Responsibility. Barbara Medley with Medley & Spivey in Lewisburg, Sevier County District Attorney General Jimmy Dunn and state Sen. Richard Briggs of Nashville will serve a term that begins Jan. 1, 2022, and ends Dec. 31, 2024. Floyd Flippin was appointed to chair the board and Jennifer S. Hagerman will serve as vice-chair. The terms of Joe M. Looney, Jimmie C. Miller and Sen. Jon Lundberg expire on Dec. 31 and none are eligible for reappointment.

The Tennessee Supreme Court today announced it has reappointed state Rep. Michael Curcio to the Tennessee Lawyers’ Fund for Client Protection for a three-year term. The court also appointed attorneys Junaid Odubeko and Christen Blackburn to the group, both for three-year terms ending Dec. 31, 2024. Stacy Roettger was appointed to serve as chair and Terri Crider will serve as vice-chair of the commission. Julie Bowling and Erin Palmer Polly will step down from the commission in January.

The Tennessee Supreme Court today announced it will reappoint Stephanie Coleman, Jay A. Ebelhar, Lynda Minks Hood and David H. Veile to the Tennessee Commission on Continuing Legal Education and Specialization. They are reappointed to a three-year term, beginning Jan. 1, 2022 and expiring Dec. 31, 2024. The court also announced its appointment of Veile as chair of the commission for a one-year term, which expires on Dec. 31, 2022. The commission will elect a vice chair and secretary-treasurer on its own.  

Shelby County Mayor Lee Harris has formally announced his plans to run for re-election, the Daily Memphian reports. Harris made the announcement in a 46-second video sent to supporters. If re-elected, Harris told the Daily Memphian that he hoped to “drive a community-wide conversation around community health care access and jobs,” including second chance and re-entry programs for people coming out of prison. Prior to winning the mayoral election in 2018, Harris served in the state Senate, representing the 29th District.

Five candidates were interviewed today as the process to fill the vacancy on the Tennessee Supreme Court got underway at the State Library and Archives in Nashville. The Governor’s Council for Judicial Appointments heard from Jeffrey Usman, Gingeree Smith, J. Douglas Overbey, William Neal McBrayer and Kelvin D. Jones. A sixth candidate, Jonathan T. Skrmetti, withdrew his candidacy after being appointed chief counsel by Gov. Bill Lee. Day two of the hearing will feature interviews with candidates William Blaylock, Sarah Campbell, Kristi M. Davis and Timothy L. Easter. After the final interview tomorrow, the council will go into executive session to deliberate before conducting a public vote. The top three candidates will be forwarded to Lee for final consideration. 

The Tennessee Supreme Court has upheld the death sentence of Urshawn Miller, who was convicted of the 2015 murder of a convenience store employee in Jackson. A Madison County jury convicted Miller on a variety of charges, including first-degree premeditated murder and first-degree felony murder, for which they imposed the death penalty. After its mandatory review, the Tennessee Supreme Court confirmed Miller’s death sentence. Justice Sharon Lee wrote a separate concurring and dissenting opinion in which she agreed with the high court’s affirmation of the convictions, but dissented from the court’s decision to uphold the death penalty, writing that such a sentence violates Miller’s Eighth Amendment right to be free from cruel and unusual punishment. Read the full release from the Administrative Office of the Courts.

Fastcase online legal research services have been offline for much of the day due to an outage on Amazon Web Services, Fastcase executives report. The engineering team at Fastcase has reached out to Amazon and will continue to monitor developments. The Customer Support team is still online and available to answer any questions or concerns. Alerts have been posted to Fastcase’s Twitter page and the company will continue to post updates on the situation. Fastcase is provided as a member service to all TBA members.

A federal jury has awarded $260,000 to a former Metro Nashville Public Schools administrator who claimed she was fired for raising concerns over racial discrimination in the district, the Tennessean reports. Euna McGruder, Metro’s former executive officer for priority schools, investigated a complaint that Black students at Madison Middle School were getting harsher punishments than their white peers. According to federal court documents, McGruder was fired in 2016 after bringing to light her findings that the middle school was  “permeated with discrimination” and created a “hostile work environment.” She’ll also likely receive back and front pay and attorney’s fees. MNPS maintains that McGruder was fired for employment concerns, not student discipline. McGruder's attorney Brian Winfrey said he was “happy to see justice served.”

Rhodes College in Memphis has chosen Southern Methodist University law school dean Jennifer Collins to serve as its 21st president, the Commercial Appeal reports. Collins received her law degree from Harvard Law School and has clerked for the U.S. Court of Appeals for the 9th Circuit and worked with legal teams for the U.S. Department of Justice and the U.S. Attorney's Office. Before SMU, Collins spent 10 years at Wake Forest University in North Carolina, beginning as law faculty in 2003 and becoming associate provost and vice provost in 2010 and 2013, respectively. She will begin her new position this summer, succeeding former president Marjorie Hass.