The Administrative Office of the Court, in partnership with the Department of Children’s Services, Metro Nashville Public Schools and the Davidson County Juvenile Court, has created a pilot program with the goal of increasing on-time graduation rates for students in foster care. Project Wrap Around hopes to achieve its goal by facilitating improved communication among stakeholders like DCS and MNPS and through Wrap Around Meetings, which will be attended by students in foster care, school administrators, counselors, teachers, MNPS and DCS, guardians ad litem and CASA advocates when appropriate. The project’s stakeholders hope to have conversations about expanding beyond Davidson County after the next school year. The AOC’s website has more on its efforts to make Project Wrap Around successful.

Tennessee Attorney General Herbert H. Slatery III has joined 47 attorneys general in calling on congressional leaders to pass the Fraud and Scam Reduction Act —a resolution aimed at fighting scams that target seniors. The act would establish an advisory group to collect data from retailers, financial services and wire-transfer companies and use it to educate employees on how to identify and prevent scams against seniors. It would also create the Office for the Prevention of Fraud Targeting Seniors to help monitor emerging scams, disseminate information on common fraud schemes and more. Read more from the AG’s office.  

Save the date for this year’s Animal Law Forum, taking place live and in-person at the Nashville Zoo on Sept. 24. Programming will run from 8:30 a.m. until 5 p.m. CDT and will provide attendees with a unique opportunity to brush up on trends and advancements in animal law, while networking and enjoying the fun and activities the zoo offers. The zoo’s president and CEO and the board’s general counsel will discuss conservation efforts and laws affecting procurement and care for zoo animals. Other topics include ethical considerations for animals and the law, legislative updates, laws governing farm animals and more. Zoo admission, breakfast and lunch are included with the program.

The TBA Litigation Law Section will host a roundtable discussion tomorrow, featuring panelists who will provide present-day insights of judicial independence in the shadows of our separation-of-powers history. In the Shadow of History: Separation of Powers and Tennessee Courts will take place on May 26 from 3 until 4 p.m. CDT. Todd Presnell of Bradley Arant Boult Cummings will moderate a panel that will include Nashville School of Law Dean William C. Koch Jr., University of Memphis Cecil C. Humphreys School of Law professor Steven J. Mulroy and former Tennessee Supreme Court Justice and University of Tennessee College of Law professor Penny J. White. The roundtable is free and open to the public, with optional CLE credit for a fee of $45.

The TBA Mentoring Committee will host a free virtual program on ethics in the mentoring relationship from 11:30 a.m. until 12:30 p.m. CDT on June 8. The session is open to all current mentors and mentees or anyone interested in joining the Mentoring Program. Guest speakers Brian Faughnan of Lewis Thomason, Sandy Garrett with the Board of Professional Responsibility and Knoxville Law Director Charles Swanson will discuss identifying clear ethical violations in a mentoring relationship and setting and maintaining healthy expectations and boundaries in today’s setting. To RSVP for the event, email Stephanie Vonnahme.

The Nashville Business Journal has released its annual “Best of the Bar” honorees. As part of the awards, the publication has also named Gail Vaughn Ashworth of Wiseman | Ashworth Law Group PLC as the 2021 Lifetime Achievement winner. Ashworth is a former president of the TBA and a founding member of Wiseman | Ashworth, where she practices at the civil and administrative trial and appellate levels as both defense and plaintiff’s counsel. She has practiced civil litigation for nearly four decades in Nashville and is a Tennessee Rule 31 Listed General Civil Mediator. She is currently a member of the TBA’s Dispute Resolution and Tort and Insurance Law sections and is a founder of the TBA Leadership Law program.

Tennessee Attorney General Herbert Slatery today announced that he has filed a motion to intervene in the Tennessee Justice Center’s (TJC) lawsuit that seeks to undo the approval of the state’s Medicaid block grant. TJC filed the complaint last month against the U.S. Department of Health and Human Services (HHS), arguing, among other things, that the department had exceeded its authority when it approved the project as a Section 1115 experimental waiver. Slatery said his office is intervening in the case “to make sure Tennessee’s unique healthcare infrastructure is appropriately defended.”

Former Pilot Flying J president Mark Hazelwood has filed a 29-page memo alleging Chattanooga Federal Judge Curtis Collier is biased against him and should not preside over his retrial, the Chattanoogan reports. The 6th Circuit Court of Appeals voted to overturn Hazelwood’s conviction based on Collier allowing the jury to hear a recording of Hazelwood singing racist songs and using racist banter. In the memo, Hazelwood claims the court “has a personal bias and prejudice” against him and questions the court’s impartiality. Federal officials earlier this month announced that they would retry Hazelwood and two co-defendants next February.

The Tennessee Department of Revenue is hosting a free webinar on the professional privilege tax on May 25 at 9 a.m. CDT. The program will review who is subject to the tax, who is exempt and how to timely remit the required payment. Sign up for the webinar here. The department offers monthly programs to give tax practitioners, attorneys, accountants and others an opportunity to learn more about presented tax topics and ask questions. The recorded sessions and dates for future webinars can be found on the Department of Revenue’s website.

U.S. District Court Judge Aleta Trauger has granted a preliminary injunction ordering the Tennessee Department of Correction (TDOC) to provide two deaf inmates with access to videophones. The preliminary injunction is part of a larger complaint brought by Disability Rights Tennessee and Civil Rights Education and Enforcement Center, which alleges TDOC has been in violation of the Americans with Disabilities Act by failing to provide sign language interpreters, videophones and other technology necessary for effective communication. Plaintiffs filed an emergency motion in October asking the court to order TDOC to immediately install videophones for the two inmates. Prior to the motion, TDOC had refused to provide videophones, instead opting to use a teletypewriter (TTY), which requires users to type messages back and forth. The plaintiffs argued the TTY denied inmates the ability to communicate in their native language, American Sign Language. Disability Rights Tennessee attorney Daniel Ellis said the groups will “continue to advocate for effective communication for all Tennesseans who are members of the Deaf Community.” Trauger rejected TDOC’s motion to dismiss the case in November.