Need additional CLE hours before the end of the calendar year? The TBA has you covered! Make plans now to join your colleagues for the 2019 CLE Blast, which allows you to take as many or as few hours as you need. This popular, must-attend event offers both general and dual credit programs all in a live format. The TBA Bar Center will be open for you from 7 a.m. to 5 p.m. on Dec. 16, 17 and 18; from 7 a.m. to 6:45 p.m. on Dec. 30; and from 7 a.m. to 2 p.m. on Dec. 31.

Memphis Area Legal Services will hold its Attorney of the Day Clinic on Thursday from 1:30 to 4 p.m. Volunteer attorneys will be in Room 134 of the Judge D’Army Bailey Shelby County Courthouse, 140 Adams Ave., to meet with pro se litigants and provide advice, counsel and referrals. Clients are seen on a first-come first-serve basis.

Judge Monte Watkins today denied Officer Andrew Delke’s request for an out-of-town jury to hear his case, the Tennessean reports. Delke, was charged with murder after shooting Daniel Hambrick in the back during a foot chase. Delke has pleaded not guilty and his defense team says he was acting in self-defense after seeing Hambrick holding a gun. They had previously argued that the publicity the case had attracted, including reports connecting the shooting to protests and claims of racial bias, warranted a venue change to ensure Delke received a fair trial. Judge Watkins today said jury selection could be used to exclude any jurors with improper bias.

A new report from the Tennessean questions whether it was appropriate for Attorney General Herbert Slatery to be directing officials across the state not to file opioid lawsuits, while his wife was an investor in the Walgreens drug store chain, which was named as a defendant in some opioid suits. State ethics filings show the investments were held from 2014 to 2019. During that time, before Nashville filed a lawsuit that included Walgreens as a defendant in 2017, Slatery personally reached out to then-mayor Megan Barry to argue against legal action. Slatery spokesperson Samantha Fisher said in a statement that he rightfully disclosed of the investments and that “when a real conflict exists, the Office takes appropriate measures to protect the public interest.”

Attorney General Herbert H. Slatery III announced today that he has joined a bipartisan coalition of attorneys general opposing an attempt to prevent the Minnesota Attorney General from obtaining restitution for consumers. The coalition formed after Minnesota’s AG filed suit against CenturyLink, Inc. in 2017, alleging the company harmed Minnesota consumers through fraudulent and deceptive billing. Class action lawsuits were filed at the same time by private litigants for the same allegations. Those suits were ultimately consolidated by the Judicial Panel on Multidistrict Litigation in 2018 and in October, CenturyLink announced it had reached a tentative settlement. CenturyLink then asked that the Minnesota AG's restitution claims be dismissed as they would be “duplicative” of payments made in the private settlement. General Slatery said today in a statement that CenturyLink’s request is unconstitutional and “incentivizes class action settlement abuse and enables the offending party to keep money that should go to the victims who suffered as a result of its misconduct."

Cleveland-born attorney Charles Lynn Almond died Nov. 16 at Houston Methodist Hospital in Texas. Almond received his law degree from Vanderbilt Law School in 1974 where he was Order of the Coif and managing editor of the Vanderbilt Law Review. He worked at Vinson & Elkins in both Houston and Washington, D.C., specializing in federal income tax matters and working extensively with Congressional, Treasury and Internal Revenue personnel on both technical and tax policy issues relating to public finance. After returning to Texas and retiring from his public finance tax practice, he joined Bracewell LLP as a partner in the Public Finance section. He retired  in August. The Cleveland Banner has more on Almond’s life and suggested organizations to send contributions in his honor.

Signal Mountain attorney Joseph Fountain Timberlake Jr. died on Nov. 16 at 93. After serving three years in the U.S. Marine Corps, during which time he received a Purple Heart Medal, Timberlake attended the University of Tennessee College of Law on the G.I. bill and graduated first in his class in 1951. He practiced general civil law in Chattanooga for 68 years. A graveside service with military honors was held earlier today at the Chattanooga National Cemetery. In lieu of flowers, memorial contributions may be made to the Disabled American Veterans. 

The TBA will be closing at 2 p.m. today and will be closed all day Thursday and Friday in observance of the Thanksgiving holiday. The office will reopen on Monday.

Weeks after Shelby County General Sessions Court Clerk Ed Stanton announced he would not seek reelection in 2020, County Commissioner Reginald Milton has announced his candidacy for the position, the Daily Memphian reports. Milton was elected to his second four-year term on the commission in 2018 and will be unable to run for another term. He joins a growing list of candidates, including fellow county Commissioner Eddie Jones.

New for 2019 and brought to you by the TBA’s Federal Practice Section, the Federal Practice Winter Forum will take place Dec. 3 at the Tennessee Bar Center. Topics will include prosecutorial discretion, executive clemency and criminal justice reform. The program offers one hour of dual credit and two hours of general credit.