Catch a webcast replay of a program that explores the impact of secondary trauma. Join Cindy Sharp and Becky Howlett from The Legal Burnout Solution on Aug. 10 from noon to 1 p.m. CDT for “How Secondary Trauma Affects Attorney Mental Health." The program will discuss the emotional stories, disturbing evidence and highly charged situations that legal professionals are subjected to and how they can cause secondary or vicarious trauma. Howlett, a Certified Meditation Instructor and attorney, will lead mindfulness practices throughout the session. Purchase the program here. 

Tennessee Supreme Court Chief Justice Roger Page on Friday signed an order appointing Supreme Court Justice Sarah Campbell as liaison for the Commission on Continuing Legal Education and Specialization, effective immediately. Read the order here.

TBA Director of Public Policy & Government Affairs Berkley Schwarz and Adams and Reese attorneys and TBA lobbyists, Brad Lampley and Ashley Harbin, tackle this week’s news from the General Assembly on the latest episode of the TBA’s Legislative Updates. New this week: a meeting with House Speaker Cameron Sexton regarding elimination of the Professional Privilege Tax and the committee passage of two of TBA’s legislative initiatives, HB2357/SB2385 and HB2070/SB2056. To see a list of all of TBA’s bills, visit our online bill tracker. Legislative Updates airs every Thursday on the TBA’s Facebook page. It is also released as a podcast on the same day and can be found on the TBA’s website or wherever you listen to podcasts.

University of Tennessee College of Law Professor Ben Barton is set to release a new book next week that will provide an in-depth look at the U.S. Supreme Court. “The Credentialed Court: Inside the Cloistered, Elite World of American Justice,” combines empirical studies of every justice’s background from John Jay to Amy Coney Barrett that demonstrate how today’s justices arrive on the court with much narrower experiences than their predecessors. “One thing I learned is that these justices lived very varied and sometimes pretty bizarre lives,” Barton said. “Historically the court has included a former President, a former running back who led the NFL in rushing, America’s greatest civil rights attorney, and a justice who practiced both law and medicine.” The book will be released on March 8. Read more from the College of Law’s website.

Shelby County Commissioners are set to fill the vacant District 33 state Senate seat during a special meeting on March 3, the Daily Memphian reports. The vacancy was created after former Democratic Sen. Katrina Robinson was expelled by the Senate following her conviction on four counts of wire fraud. Commissioners had debated whether to fill the empty seat given the General Assembly’s short election-year session, but decided to move forward after Sen. Raumesh Akbari, D-Memphis, told commissioners that filling the vacancy was urgent. The deadline to submit an application to the commission for the vacant seat ended today at noon CST.

Five applicants will be considered by the Governor’s Council for Judicial Appointments for an upcoming vacancy on the Tennessee Court of Appeals, Middle Section that was created after Judge Richard H. Dinkins announced he would not run for reelection. Ashonti T. Davis, James A. Haltom, Alexander Stuart Rieger, Joycelyn A. Stevenson and Jeffrey Usman have applied for the role. The council will interview all candidates at a virtual hearing on March 18 at 10 a.m. CST. Those interested may watch a livestream of the hearing on the Administrative Office of the Courts' YouTube page or may watch the livestream in person at the office, located at 511 Union St., Nashville City Center, Ste. 600, Nashville 37219. Read more on each applicant from the AOC.

An agreement for Johnson & Johnson and pharmaceutical distributors Cardinal, McKesson and AmerisourceBergen to pay $26 billion to 52 states and territories for their role in the opioid crises has been finalized. Attorney General Herbert Slatery announced final approval of the deal last week following successful state sign-on and subdivision sign-on periods. The agreement comes after three years of negotiations to resolve more than 4,000 claims from state and local governments across the country. Slatery and North Carolina’s attorney general spearheaded negotiations in the deal, which is the second largest multistate agreement in U.S. history. 150 local governments in Tennessee joined the settlement including every county and all cities with populations of 25,000 or more. The state will now receive $600 million over 18 years. Money will start flowing to state and local governments in the second quarter of 2022. Read more from the AG’s office.

Nashville-based law firms Lewis Thomason PC and Manson Johnson Conner PLLC today announced they have formed a “strategic collaboration,” the Nashville Post reports. According to a press release, the collaboration is “designed to further grow and enhance client services.” Manson Johnson Conner founder, Richard Manson, said the collaboration “would allow both firms exponential growth,” noting the positive impact that Lewis Thomason co-founder Clure Morton had on his life. “Together, our firms are redefining how we make a difference in the legal community,” Manson said. “The spotlight that 2020 placed on various aspects of American culture highlights the fact that equitable action — including diverse voices in business — will allow us to practice law in a new way.”

President Joe Biden on Friday officially nominated federal appeals court Judge Ketanji Brown Jackson to the U.S. Supreme Court, making her the first Black woman nominated to the high court, the Associated Press reports. If confirmed, Jackson would fill the vacancy created by retiring Justice Stephen Breyer, for whom she clerked  early in her legal career. A Harvard Law graduate, Jackson served on the U.S. Sentencing Commission — the agency that develops federal sentencing policy — before becoming a federal judge in 2013. Biden last year nominated her to the U.S. Court of Appeals for the District of Columbia Circuit. According to National Public Radio, Biden is expected to talk about the nomination during his first State of the Union address tomorrow night. Other issues the president is expected to address include rising inflation, Russia’s military advance on Ukraine and the COVID-19 pandemic.

Voting begins tomorrow for the 2022 TBA election. Two candidates are competing for the vice presidential office — Nashville attorney Ed Lanquist and Franklin attorney David Veile — with voting continuing through April 1. The vice president will serve in that role in the 2022-2023 bar year, then as president-elect the following year, and TBA president in 2024-2025. Three candidates are competing for the two Middle Grand Division Governor positions — Mary Dohner-Smith, Nashville; Zachary Jones, Fayetteville; and Billy Leslie, Nashville. Access to the electronic ballot will be sent from the email address TBA.Election@intelliscanvotes.com.  Please check your spam filters if you do not receive a ballot notification. Please feel free to reach out to elections@tnbar.org if you have any questions or concerns.