National blight-elimination experts will speak at the University of Memphis Law Review’s annual symposium, scheduled for March 18, 9 a.m. – 4 p.m. The title of this year’s event is “Urban Revitalization: The Legal Implications of Remaking a City.” The event, held at the Cecil C. Humphreys School of Law, will examine the problems facing many major cities as a result of blighted and vacant buildings and neighborhoods. Registration is available online.

The Governor’s Council for Judicial Appointments today selected three nominees for the Court of Criminal Appeals vacancy created when Judge Roger A. Page was appointed to the state Supreme Court. The nominees, chosen from eight applicants following a public hearing today in Jackson, are J. Robert Carter Jr. of Memphis, J. Ross Dyer of Memphis and Bobby Gene Gray Jr. of Adamsville. The nominee selected by Haslam will be subject to confirmation by the General Assembly.

The Times Free Press reports a new trial date for former Pilot employees charged with fraud in a fuel rebate scheme has been set for Oct. 24, 2017. The trial was originally scheduled for April, but attorneys for the former Pilot employees asked a federal magistrate for more time to prepare, including sifting through a reported five terabytes of data collected by the government.

Gov. Bill Haslam appointed Valerie Smith to serve as a circuit judge in the 30th Judicial District, which serves Shelby County, following the death last year of D’Army Bailey. Smith was previously an attorney with Nahon, Saharovich and Trotz, and an assistant district attorney in Shelby County. Read more from WREG.

Nashville attorney Mandi Preston Parl died March 4, The Tennessean reports. She was 33. After graduating from the University of Maryland, Parl went on to earn a law degree from the University of Memphis. Funeral details have not been released at this time, but will be posted online. In lieu of flowers, donations may be made to CampJudaea or ThistleFarms.

Nashville attorney James D. R. Roberts Jr. was suspended today from the practice of law for six months by the Tennessee Supreme Court. The court took the action after Roberts gave false testimony while testifying before the Davidson County Chancery Court regarding his representation of a client in a declaratory judgment action involving a family company and his attempts to stop the sale of company stock. Roberts eventually appealed the 2009 discipline to the state Supreme Court, but the appeal was dismissed as untimely. The suspension begins March 18. Read the BPR release. 

Knox County won a grant, valued at up to $365,000, to develop a diagnostic tool to help judges determine which citizens accused of crimes could be released pending trial without posting bond. The program, operated under the Knox County’s Sheriff’s Office, is in an effort to alleviate jail overcrowding. Read more from the Knoxville News Sentinel.

The U.S. Supreme Court yesterday rejected an appeal from Apple in a case where the company is charged with creating an illegal conspiracy with publishers to raise electronic book prices. The 2010 price hike was in an effort to compete with Amazon.com. Apple has agreed to pay $400 million to be distributed to consumers and $50 million for attorney fees and payments to states who brought the lawsuit, the Associated Press reports.

The continuing Knoxville News Sentinel investigation into Campbell County General Sessions Judge Amanda Sammons revealed the judge had more than six defendants arrested for being late to her court. Sammons has a courtroom policy that bars entry by the public into her courtroom during her daily dockets. A judge yesterday barred Sammons from presiding over a child neglect case after she changed the defendant’s charge without notifying anyone.

“Eighty-five percent of minority female attorneys in the U.S. will quit large firms within seven years of starting their practice.” The ABA Journal highlights the disappearance of minority women from large law firms, citing studies that reveal women of color receive less compensation than men and white women and are denied equal access to significant assignments. “We’re still a profession less diverse than doctors or engineers and that is 88 percent white,” notes Danielle Holley-Walker, dean of Howard University School of Law.