An assistant district attorney in the Shelby County District Attorney's Office was last night charged with a DUI, the Commercial Appeal reports. According to the responding officers, Timmerman allegedly hit and knocked over a utility pole near Overton Park. The affidavit claims Timmerman’s speech was “very slurred” and she told officers she had previously been drinking at a restaurant. Timmerman was sworn in as an ADA in mid-November and was previously a defense attorney.

The Tennessee Textbook and Instructional Materials Quality Commission is again asking lawmakers for more support as it tries to navigate the implementation of a new state law, the Tennessean reports. The commission is tasked with issuing statewide guidance on the library materials law, including what is age-appropriate, which is not settled in state law, in addition to establishing an appeals process for local decisions on contested materials. The guidance is still in draft form despite a Dec. 1 due date. Commission members yesterday voted in favor of requesting a review from Tennessee's attorney general or the Department of Education's legal team. "We have gotten zero guidance from any attorneys, and we're just out here as volunteers doing this," said commission member and Tipton County Schools superintendent John Combs.

WNBA star Brittney Griner was today released from a Russian prison as part of a high-profile prisoner exchange in which the U.S. released notorious Russian arms dealer Viktor Bout, the Associated Press reports.  “She’s safe, she’s on a plane, she’s on her way home,” President Joe Biden said from the White House. He added that Griner would be back in the U.S. within 24 hours. Bout, a felon once nicknamed “the Merchant of Death,” is a former Soviet Army lieutenant colonel whom the Justice Department once described as one of the world’s most prolific arms dealers. Griner is a two-time Olympic gold medalist, Baylor University All-American and Phoenix Mercury pro basketball star who was arrested in Russia in February for bringing less than a gram of cannabis oil in vape cartridges into the country. The U.S. failed to secure the release of Michigan corporate security executive Paul Whelan who has been jailed in Russia since 2018. Whelan was arrested on espionage charges that his family and the U.S. government have said are baseless.

A bill to codify recognition of same-sex and interracial marriages today cleared the U.S. House, the Associated Press reports. The measure will require all states to recognize same-sex marriages and will also protect interracial unions by requiring states to recognize legal marriages regardless of “sex, race, ethnicity, or national origin.” The legislation, known as the Respect for Marriage Act, passed through the House on a 258-169 vote. Despite bipartisan support, the Nashville Post reports Tennessee Republicans, including new U.S. Reps. Mark Green, R-Clarksville, and John Rose, R-Crossville, voted against the measure. It was approved by the Senate last week after months of negotiations. President Joe Biden said he will promptly sign the measure.

The TBA’s Tort & Insurance Law Section will present a CLE webcast next week that will provide an overview of comparative fault in Tennessee, including both a historical review and also an in-depth discussion of recent decisions and developments that every practitioner simply must know. The webcast will run from 11 a.m. until 12:30 p.m. CST and is worth 1.5 hours of general CLE credit. Learn more and register here. Members of the Tort & Insurance Law Section will receive a special discount on the program. Not a member? Join today.

The City of Hendersonville is seeking to hire a part-time city judge who will arbitrate disputes, advise counsel, jury, litigants or court personnel and administer the municipal judicial system. Applicants must have been licensed in the state of Tennessee for at least three years and be a resident of Hendersonville for at least three years and be at least 30 years of age. Previous experience as a judge is preferred. The full job description and instructions on how to apply can be found on the TBA’s JobLink site.   

The Rutherford & Cannon County Bar Association held a portrait unveiling this week for longtime Rutherford County General Sessions Judge David Loughry. Friends and colleagues of Loughry attended the event, which was presided over by Judge Ben Bennett. Bennett thanked Loughry for his 24 years of service to the county and attorneys Steve Waldron and Ben Parsley shared personal stories and memories of time spent with Loughry. The portrait will hang in the courtroom for Division II of the Rutherford County General Sessions Court. Loughry served on the bench from 1990-2014. Read more from the Administrative Office of the Courts.

Metro Nashville At-Large Councilmember Sharon Hurt on Monday announced she is running for mayor of Nashville, the Tennessean reports. Her campaign will focus on job creation, workforce development and incentivizing and supporting the growth of small businesses and nonprofits, which she calls the "anchors of our neighborhoods." Hurt joins fellow Councilmember Freddie O’Connell and Nashville economic development and affordable housing veteran Matt Wiltshire in the race to unseat incumbent Mayor John Cooper, who hasn’t confirmed whether he’ll run for reelection. Hurt currently serves as the executive director of StreetWorks, a nonprofit working to eliminate the HIV/AIDS epidemic and is a longtime community advocate know for her work in North Nashville.

The TBA’s 2022 Ethics Roadshow will stop in Memphis on Dec. 14. This year's program, offered from 9 a.m. to 12:15 p.m. CST at the Hilton Memphis, is again presented by Memphis attorney Brian Faughnan, owner of Faughnan Law. The theme is “While You Were Sheltering,” because while many of us were “sheltering in place” during the last couple of years, there have been some significant changes to Tennessee's ethics rules. Each program will offer three components: an update on which rules have changed, an overview of important rules that remain unchanged and a look ahead at rules changes that may be on the horizon.

Free Legal Answers, the virtual legal advice clinic for qualifying users to post civil legal questions at no cost, last month surpassed a total of 250,000 questions answered since its launch in 2016. The program was spearheaded by former TBA President Buck Lewis, who was struck with the idea to connect pro bono lawyers with those in need of legal services after attending a series of meetings that addressed unmet civil needs around the state. “It just occurred to me that there were lawyers sitting in this hearing on BlackBerrys — they were BlackBerrys back then — emailing their clients,” says Lewis, a shareholder at Baker Donelson in Memphis. “Could we provide legal services that way for pro bono clients?” After working with his firm’s IT staff, he helped launch Free Legal Answers in 2011 and shared the code with colleagues in multiple states before working with the ABA Standing Committee on Pro Bono and Public Service to make the program available nationwide. Since it began, more than 11,000 lawyers have registered to answer questions for users in 41 jurisdictions. The ABA Journal has more on the story.