The law license of Davidson County lawyer Jere Robert Lee was transferred to disability inactive status by Tennessee Supreme Court on Friday. Lee cannot practice law while on disability inactive status. Read the BPR release.

The Tennessee Supreme Court today suspended the law license of Davidson County lawyer William Caldwell Hancock for one year and ordered Hancock to pay $22,126 in restitution as a condition of reinstatement. The suspension is effective Jan. 25. The court took the action after Hancock made allegations in a frivolous lawsuit with the purpose to embarrass or burden a third person. The opposing party expended $20,000 to defend the suit. Hancock appealed the decision to the Tennessee Supreme Court; his appeal was dismissed due to his failure to timely pay the litigation tax. Read the BPR release.

Former TBA President Jim Emison will discuss his forthcoming book – “Elbert Williams, First to Die” – at the Lincoln Memorial University Duncan School of Law on Jan. 21 at 12:30 p.m. The book focuses on the unsolved 1940 murder of Williams, a NAACP member, in Brownsville, Tennessee. For more information, contact Kate Reagan, the school's director of public relations, 423-869-6389.

Tennessee prosecutors will receive a second installment of training materials from the Tennessee District Attorneys General Conference’s Justice and Professionalism Committee, Fox13 reports. The installment focuses on on the discovery and inspection of evidence under the Tennessee Rules of Criminal Procedure. “It is vital that we maintain our knowledge on this topic in order to promote fundamental fairness and due process of law in criminal prosecutions," Mike Dunavant, District Attorney for the 25th Judicial District, said.

The Tennessee Medical Association is asking for a constitutional amendment that protects the General Assembly's ability to set caps on noneconomic damages in medical malpractice lawsuits, The Commercial Appeal reports. The proposed legislation comes after a Chattanooga judge last year ruled Tennessee’s cap is unconstitutional. TMA argues that the cap is necessary to keep good doctors in the state, but some attorneys argue the caps “infringe on the right of trial by jury.”

The Tennessee General Assembly has fewer women among its members compared to other state legislatures, according to data from the National Conference of State Legislatures and the Pew Charitable Trusts. The review also found that 92 percent of Tennessee legislators are Protestant, compared to the national average of 38 percent Protestant. Read more from The Knoxville News Sentinel.

Former Ninth Judicial District Circuit Court judge hopeful Tom McFarland on Friday asked the Tennessee Supreme Court to hear his appeal of a lower court’s decision to toss out his election loss complaint, Roane County News reports. McFarland filed a complaint in Roane County Chancery Court after he was defeated in 2014 by Mike Pemberton; he claimed Pemberton did not meet the one-year residency requirement to run for judge. 

The Knoxville News Sentinel reports an opinion issued last week by the Tennessee Supreme Court set legal precedent in the state when the court ruled that an autopsy report can serve as evidence in a murder trial – even when the medical examiner who wrote it is no longer available to testify. Dr. Sandra Elkins, formerly Knox County’s chief medical examiner, was forced to step down after authorities say she suffered a drug relapse. Bob Jolley, defense attorney for Thomas Lee Hutchison in the case, argued that Hutchison had the right to confront Elkins if the autopsy were to be admitted. Justice Holly Kirby said that the justices agreed an autopsy report does not itself accuse a particular defendant of murder but only documents that a killing took place. Read the full opinion authored by Justice Kirby.

Shelby County Juvenile Court Judge Dan Michael last Friday delivered an inaugural “State of the Court” address, in which he said his staff will be educated about juvenile trauma. "Most of these children come to us with some type of serious trauma," he said. Michael also detailed changes the court has made following a 2012 U.S. Department of Justice report that said the court discriminated against black children. Read more from The Commercial Appeal. 

The Tennessee Conservatives Concerned about the Death Penalty will host a luncheon with Nebraska state Sen. Colby Coash on Jan. 27 at noon at the Nashville City Center office of Waller Lansden Dortch & Davis located at 511 Union Street. Sen. Coash, R-Lincoln, was a key figure in the repeal last year of Nebraska’s death penalty and will discuss why many state are questioning the alignment of their capital punishment systems with conservative values. The event is free and lunch is $11. Register by Jan. 25 to Amy Lawrence.