The Trial Court Vacancy Commission is now accepting applications for a Chancery Court Judge vacancy in the 30th Judicial District, which covers Shelby County. The vacancy was created by the retirement of Judge Walter L. Evans. Applications are due by noon CST on Dec. 22 and can be found on the Administrative Office of the Courts website. The commission will hold a virtual hearing on Feb. 2, 2021, at 9 a.m. CST, which will be livestreamed on the AOC’s YouTube page. If you would like to address the commission to express objection or support of a candidate, contact Ceesha Lofton by email or at 615-741-2687.

All matters in Soddy Daisy City Court are canceled for today and Dec. 15 due to public safety concerns surrounding the COVID-19 virus, the Chattanoogan reports. Matters involving incarcerated individuals will continue via video conferencing and all other cases will be rescheduled for 2021. This includes all traffic-related cases and all criminal matters for persons on citation or bond. For more information about new court dates for any case, call the Soddy Daisy Court Clerk at 423-332-5323.

The Community Legal Center’s online auction is now live! Bid on last-minute gifts, stocking stuffers or something special for yourself, all while supporting the Memphis-based CLC. New items will be added daily, so make sure to keep checking back. All proceeds go to support the CLC’s mission to resolve legal problems, impact the community and change peoples’ lives by providing them access to justice.

The TBA’s annual Ethics Road Homeshow 2020 is happening tomorrow! We can’t take the show “on the road” this year so we are bringing the popular ethics tradition with Memphis lawyer Brian Faughnan directly to you. The live virtual program will focus on “Ethics Lessons from the Pandemic,” simultaneously looking at the years 1918 and 1968 and the challenges faced by attorneys during those difficult times. Join us from 1 to 4:15 p.m. CST and get those last-minute ethics hours. Remember: all 2020 CLE hours can be taken online and TBA members get discounted pricing on all CLE programs.

The TBA’s BarBuzz podcast is all new for December, with special guest host Mike Stanuszek of Knoxville’s Stanuszek Law Firm. Tune in for current and upcoming events, legal news and make sure to stick around for a rundown of attorney shoutouts, where we highlight some great work from Tennessee attorneys! BarBuzz is part of the TBA Podcast Network and can be found anywhere you listen to podcasts and on the. TBA’s website.

Bob Covington, former professor at Vanderbilt Law School, passed away on Nov. 29 at 84. Covington received his undergraduate degree from Yale before earning his law degree from Vanderbilt Law School in 1961. He was offered a fellowship to teach and serve as a research fellow at Vanderbilt Law immediately after graduating and accepted an offer to join the law faculty permanently when the fellowship ended. Covington taught labor and employment law for 46 years until his retirement in 2007. Covington received Vanderbilt’s Thomas Jefferson Award in 1992 and when the law school was expanded and renovated in the early 2000s, the Covington Room was named in his honor. A small family memorial service will be livestreamed from St. George’s Episcopal Church on Dec. 11 at 11 a.m. CST. Donations in Professor Covington’s memory can be made to the Community Foundation of Middle Tennessee “Covington Quality of Life Fund,” which supports the Nashville symphony, opera, ballet and the Frist Art Museum; to Vanderbilt Law School; or to a charity of the donor’s choice.

The Tennessee Supreme Court Access to Justice Commission and the Tennessee Supreme Court Administrative Office of the Courts is sponsoring a free virtual training on implicit bias on Dec. 17 at 2 p.m. CST. This training is the first of several upcoming quarterly trainings on implicit bias, racial injustice, poverty and related topics. These trainings are designed for all judicial and legal stakeholders, such as judges, court clerks, private attorneys, legal service providers, mediators, interpreters, court reporters and other related stakeholders. In addition to key members of the Access to Justice Commission and the Administrative Office of the Courts, the steering committee planning these trainings includes TBA’s Chief Diversity Officer Mary Beard and Executive Director Joycelyn Stevenson. Register for the event here. 

A GOP-led panel of House and Senate lawmakers issued suggestions Tuesday that would give the legislature the power to limit or overturn emergency orders from the governor during future health crises, the Associated Press reports. Those recommendations would treat health-related emergency orders differently than others, with caps on how long a governor’s health state of emergency can stand before lawmakers would get a vote on it; power for lawmakers to override a state of emergency or executive order; requirements for notice and fiscal impact estimates of an emergency order; and more. Gov. Bill Lee, however, would be exempt from these rules, since they would only apply to the next administration.

Tennessee lawyers may continue fulfilling their CLE requirements through approved distance learning courses through 2021, per an order issued today from the Tennessee Supreme Court. The order extends the temporary suspension of Rule 21, sections 3.01(c) and 4.02(c), and also allows for CLE hours from 2020 to carry over into the new year. It was issued in response to the ongoing state of emergency caused by the COVID-19 pandemic and is effective immediately and through Dec. 31, 2021. Read the full order.

An article on general sessions court reform in Tennessee written by Hamblen County Assistant Public Defender Willie Santana has been published in the latest issue of the Lincoln Memorial University Law Review. In How to Make Better Sessions Judges: Appellate Review A Proposal to Reform Tennessee’s General Sessions Courts for the 21st Century, Santana writes about general sessions judicial misconduct and its negative impact on those involved in criminal cases. He also proposes ways in which the court can be reformed, including “injecting appellate review into the general sessions court” as a means of improving the system. Santana, a TBA member and member of the TBA’s Leadership Law Class of 2020, was featured in an article from the New York Times last year on overcrowding and poor conditions in the Hamblen County jail.