William E. McManus Jr., a former assistant district attorney for the 1st Judicial District in Washington County, pleaded guilty on Monday to soliciting sex in exchange for dismissing a woman’s criminal charges, the Associated Press reports. As part of a plea agreement, McManus admitted that he dismissed shoplifting and meth possession charges in return for a commercial sex act with the woman. McManus will be sentenced in November. He faces the possibility of a maximum punishment of up to 10 years in prison and a $250,000 fine.

A nonprofit group founded by former Nashville public defender Dawn Deaner is accusing the Nashville Recovery Court Support Foundation of arbitrarily suing drug offenders to raise money for its drug treatment facilities. According to Fox 17, the foundation is using the Drug Dealer Liability Act to sue 15 people with drug convictions for $24,999 each, the maximum amount allowed in such cases. Deaner's group, Choosing Justice Initiative, is representing one of the 15 and says the foundation is violating the spirit of the law while also unfairly targeting only those who own property. The foundation says it is following the law: “If the foundation can make the people that are involved in the drug trade and have been convicted of the drug offense in Davidson County pay something to actually assist in the Foundation’s mission of supporting a drug treatment facility, the Foundation is doing exactly what the legislature has intended,” the group's lawyer said in a statement.

The Tennessee Supreme Court today suspended Madison County lawyer Sherry Marie Percival from the practice of law for five years, with six months to be served on active suspension and the remainder on probation. Percival entered a conditional guilty plea acknowledging that she failed to reconcile her trust account, mismanaged the account and the settlement funds it contained, executed a release on behalf of her client, and endorsed the client’s name on a settlement check without permission. She must enter into a practice monitoring agreement with the Tennessee Lawyers Assistance Program, engage an accountant to reconcile her trust account, and attend the Board of Professional Responsibility’s Trust Account Workshop.

The sponsor of Tennessee’s new transgender bathroom law is now saying that owners and officials who do not comply with the law could be hit with a class B misdemeanor, the Associated Press reports. Although the bill’s sponsor, Rep. Tim Rudd, R-Murfreesboro, previously told lawmakers the measure did not contain penalties, he now claims they were inserted into a chapter of existing building code law that already penalizes a number of violations. Nashville District Attorney Glenn Funk earlier this week announced he would not enforce the new law, which requires businesses and government facilities to post signs if they let transgender people use the bathroom of their choice. According to the Tennessean, Rep. John Ragan, R-Oak Ridge, called Funk’s remarks "more than marginally offensive to the concept of constitutionally ordered government." In a letter to Funk on Tuesday, Ragan asked the DA to promptly confirm whether his remarks were accurately reported.

Lewis Thomason special counsel, Michael Goode, was appointed to the American Bar Association’s Standing Committee on International Trade in Legal Services earlier this month. The committee monitors the General Agreement on Trade in Services (GATS) and other international trade negotiations involving the U.S. and the provision of legal service. It also educates and engages with entities interested in the status of the GATS and provides feedback to the ABA. Goode is a TBA member and works in the Nashville office of Lewis Thomason. He is a member of the TBA’s Estate Planning & Probate and Immigration Law sections and currently serves as chair of the International Law & Practice Section and vice chair of the Tax Law section. Read more about his appointment from Lewis Thomason.

Mark your calendar for the TBA LGBT Section’s Annual Forum 2021 on Sept. 17 from 10 a.m. until 2:30 p.m. CDT. This year’s program will focus on political concerns for Tennessee’s LGBT community, including an advocacy panel that will address how to become more involved locally in the fight for equal justice, how to build a grassroots movement and more. The section also will host a booth at the Nashville Pride Festival to answer basic questions and provide attendees with relevant resources. If you are interested in volunteering to assist at the festival, please contact section coordinator Jarod Word.

Former State Rep. Joe Carr, R-Lascassas, has announced that he will run for Rutherford County mayor, TNJ: On the Hill reports. Incumbent Bill Ketron has encountered several legal problems pertaining to his former insurance business and most recently received a $135,000 civil penalty for questionable campaign contributions and expenditures. Carr served as a state representative from 2008 until 2014 when he launched an unsuccessful campaign for U.S. Senate in the Republican primary against Lamar Alexander. He also ran unsuccessfully for two different U.S. House seats and the state Republican Party chair. He was hired to work in Gov. Bill Lee’s administration in 2018, but left after roughly a year.

Davidson County lawyer Mark Christopher Scruggs was today censured by the Tennessee Supreme Court. Scruggs represented a client against criminal charges alleging rape of a child. The victim in the case had been removed from the home and removed from the mother’s custodial rights. Scruggs arranged with the mother for the victim to be interviewed by a private investigator but failed to seek and obtain permission from the court-appointed custodian prior to the interview. A public censure is a rebuke and warning to the attorney, but it does not affect the attorney’s ability to practice law.

U.S. District Judge Travis McDonough in Knoxville has denied a temporary restraining order that would have stopped the priority status for restaurants and bars owned by women and certain minorities in President Joe Biden’s COVID-19 relief package, the Associated Press reports. The complaint targets the three-week period from May 3 until Monday when only funding requests from businesses owned by women, veterans or socially and economically disadvantaged individuals will be processed. The Wisconsin Institute for Law & Liberty brought the lawsuit for a restaurant owner in Harriman, Tennessee. It claims the program pushes white males “to the back of the line” and puts them “at significant risk” of missing out on funding. McDonough was not swayed by the argument, citing data from the federal government that shows how businesses owned by women and some minorities “have suffered more severely” than others during the pandemic.

Gov. Bill Lee this week signed two criminal justice reform bills into law, predicting that the measures would break cycles of crime and punishment and keep families intact, the Tennessean reports. The new laws are intended to divert more people away from state prisons and to expand support services for people who are leaving prisons after serving their sentences. The administration is expected to push for broader sentencing reform next year. Lee is also expected to sign legislation that creates harsher penalties for several crimes, including drag racing, farm vandalism and reckless endangerment with a deadly weapon. After the bill signing, Lee told reporters that his criminal justice work would pair “smart” reforms with some tougher penalties.