Michelle Greenway Sellers started her year as TBA president on Thursday when she was sworn in by Justice Roger Page during the Lawyers Luncheon program. Greenway Sellers takes the reins from now Immediate Past President Sarah Sheppeard, who, before passing the gavel, handed out President’s Awards to TBA general counsel, Ed Lanquist, the entire TBA staff and TBA Executive Director Joycelyn Stevenson. After being sworn in, Greenway Sellers spoke on the initiatives she has planned for the 2020-2021 bar year, including plans to highlight lawyers in the state who have gone above and beyond in their communities and in the legal profession. She made a push for members to send her the names of those attorneys who have made an impact in both areas. You can watch Greenway Sellers’ swearing-in and speech on the TBA’s YouTube page.   

The U.S. Supreme Court today upheld legal protections for young immigrants in the Deferred Action for Childhood Arrivals Program, also known as DACA, rejecting efforts to end the program, the Tennessean reports. The DACA program provides work permits and social security numbers to immigrants brought into the country without documentation as children or on visas that later expired. President Donald Trump and his administration argued the program was illegal and sought to end DACA entirely, but the high court blocked those efforts in today’s 5-4 ruling. "We do not decide whether DACA or its rescission are sound policies," Chief Justice John Roberts wrote in the majority opinion. "We address only whether the agency complied with the procedural requirement that it provide a reasoned explanation for its action. Here the agency failed to consider the conspicuous issues of whether to retain forbearance and what if anything to do about the hardship to DACA recipients."

The Metro Nashville Airport Authority today announced it has appointed TBA Executive Director Joycelyn Stevenson to its Board of Commissioners. Nashville Mayor John Cooper appointed Stevenson to the position and Metro Council confirmed that decision during its June 16 meeting. Stevenson will serve as the board’s neighborhood representative. She fills the board seat previously held by Dr. A. Dexter Samuels, who had been a board member since 2007. The board is composed of three business and finance representatives, two pilot representatives, two neighborhood representatives, one engineering representative, one legal representative and the mayor.

The 17th Annual TBA Bankruptcy Law Forum will take place Nov. 13-15 at the Hilton Garden Inn in Gatlinburg. The event kicks off with two-hours of CLE programming that will highlight bankruptcy case law updates and the Small Business Reorganization Act, H.R. 3311. Those sessions are followed by a networking reception and dinner at the Park Grill. During the second day of programming, prominent bankruptcy judges will lead small breakout groups in discussing case problems that bring into focus recent developments in the law and real world problems that bankruptcy practitioners face. The program wraps up on the third day with a three-hour session on ethical issues that arise in bankruptcy. Get registered for the program and find information on how to book your hotel rooms here.

Attorney General Herbert Slatery today said he has joined a bipartisan coalition of 38 attorneys general asking Google and Apple to ensure all COVID-19 contact tracing and exposure notification apps adequately protect consumers’ personal information. Specifically, the coalition asked the companies to guarantee that such apps be affiliated with a public health authority and removed from Google Play and the App Store once they are no longer needed. In a letter to the CEO’s of Apple and Google, Slatery acknowledged the value of using such apps to understand the spread of the COVID-19 virus, but warned against the risk the same technologies pose to consumer privacy. Read more from the Attorney General’s Office.

Day two of the TBA’s 2020 Virtual Convention began with a dance fit wellness workout before the mid-morning Past Presidents’ Morning Mixer. Nearly 400 attendees tuned in to the annual Better Right Now CLE, which featured presentations from Larry Krieger and Lindsey O’Connell of the Tennessee Lawyers Assistance Program. Krieger focused his presentation on findings from research he has conducted on lawyers and happiness and O’Connell presented on mindfulness and helpful practices to control stress. The program ended with a discussion on personal experiences on the path to well-being with the TBA’s Attorney Well-Being Committee. The day came to a close with roundtable discussions for in-house counsel and general, solo and small firm practitioners. Day three promises even more worthwhile programming you won’t want to miss.

The Memphis Bar Association, the National Bar Association Ben F. Jones Chapter and the Association for Women Attorneys will host a Bar Unity March in Memphis on June 24. The march will begin at 8:46 a.m. CDT at the Walter L. Bailey Jr. Criminal Justice Center at 201 Poplar Avenue. Before the march begins, remarks will be made by attorney leaders regarding making specific commitments to combat systemic racism in the community and legal community. Those remarks will be followed by 8 minutes and 46 seconds where attendees can stand, take a knee, sit or lay down. A virtual march option is available by posting a graphic on social media for eight hours and 46 minutes. 

Elizabeth “Betty” Bingham Marney died on May 26 at 79. Born in Bristol in 1940, Bingham Marney attended the University of North Carolina for her undergraduate and master’s degrees and earned her doctorate from the University of Texas at Austin. She taught at Harpeth Hall School from 1975-1985 before attending law school at Vanderbilt University and earning her law degree at the age of 48. She began her law career at King & Ballow before becoming in-house counsel at the Nashville Banner newspaper and finally joining the Criminal Appellate Division of the Tennessee Attorney General’s office, where she worked until retirement in 2008. A small funeral was held late last month and the family hopes to host a celebration of Bingham Marney’s life this summer. Memorial gifts may be made to the Beersheba Springs Medical Clinic online or by mail, P.O. Box 112, Beersheba Springs, TN, 37305.

State officials are asking the Tennessee Supreme Court to fast track their appeal of a judge’s absentee voting expansion, the Tennessean reports. In the motion filed Friday evening, the attorney general’s office says it is crucial to the upcoming Aug. 6 primary election that the Supreme Court take up the appeal and the state’s request to stop the expansion. Davidson County Chancellor Ellen Hobbs Lyle earlier this month ordered that all registered voters in the state be given the option to vote by mail and last week shamed state officials for not fully complying with her order. A lower appellate court hasn’t ruled on the appeal yet, which the state also filed on Friday.

Rep. John DeBerry announced yesterday that after 26 years of serving as a Democrat, he will file to run as an independent in the next election, the Commercial Appeal reports. Earlier this year, the state’s Democratic Party Executive Committee voted to remove DeBerry from its ballot for the Aug. 6 primary after taking issue with his voting record and his history of accepting donations from GOP-aligned political action committees. The party removed him from the ballot after the filing deadline had passed, preventing DeBerry from filing again under another party. DeBerry’s announcement comes after legislation (HB1278/SB1009) passed through the General Assembly amending state election law to allow an incumbent to file on the opposing party’s ballot at least 90 days before the primary election or 90 days before the general election if running as an independent.