A judge denied a motion to stop Assistant District Attorney Dennis Brooks from writing a book about a high-profile Johnson County double murder, WJHL reports. Prosecutors for the mother and daughter serving life sentences for the 2012 murders are seeking a new trial for the women and had asked the judge to prevent Brooks from publishing his book while the appeals are pending.

A lawsuit based on an alleged assault that occurred at the University of Tennessee Chattanooga's Pi Kappa Alpha House was filed in the U.S. District Court in Nashville seeking one million dollars in compensatory damages. News Channel 9 reports that the suit is also seeking an unspecified amount for exemplary and punitive damages. The lawsuit names a Pike fraternity member and his fraternity responsible for the assault of a young woman visiting the fraternity house in April 2015. 

Knox County judges voided Knoxville’s 182 annexation attempts due to a 2015 enacted law that prohibits annexation without the consent of property owners, Humphrey on the Hill reports. The court orders require the city to pay court costs in the 182 cases – an estimated $33,943.

Memphis Area Legal Services will continue its ongoing Thursday Afternoon Clinic tomorrow in Memphis during Celebrate Pro Bono Month. The legal clinic is held in room 140 of the D’Army Bailey Civil Courthouse from 1:30 – 4 p.m. For more information, contact Cindy Ettingoff.

The Tennessee Supreme Court will travel throughout Tennessee next week to swear in the state’s newest attorneys. The Court will swear in over 300 new attorneys beginning in Knoxville on Nov. 2, in Nashville on Nov. 3, in Jackson on Nov. 4 and in Memphis on Nov. 5. The Tennessee Bar Association will be at each of the ceremonies and will provide information to new attorneys about the bar. Watch for photos from the events at #newTNattorney. An open house and luncheon to welcome new admittees is planned in Nashville on Nov. 3 at the Tennessee Bar Center from 11:30 a.m. – 1 p.m. In addition to swearing in new attorneys, the Supreme Court will hear oral arguments in Jackson and Memphis.

The Business Journal’s BizWomen says that not much progress has been made in nearly a decade when it comes to promoting female attorneys in the nation’s largest law firms. In 2015, women made up 18 percent of equity partners in the firms surveyed; up only 2 percent from the initial survey in 2006, according to the National Association of Women Lawyers. The organization also found that women who do make partner earn 80 percent of what a male equity partner makes.

The law license of Campbell County lawyer Jody Rodenborn Troutman was transferred to disability inactive status by the Tennessee Supreme Court on Oct. 23. Troutman cannot practice law while on disability inactive status. Read the BPR release.

The Tennessee Supreme Court transferred the law license of Knox County lawyer Thomas F. Mabry to disability inactive status on Oct. 27. Mabry has not requested or been granted reinstatement from a suspension on Dec. 30, 2014. Read the BPR release.

American International Group (AIG) plans to launch Legal Operations Company in 2016 to help corporations make their legal operations more efficient. Bloomberg BNA reports that the data-driven business will advise clients on how to set competitive pricing, how to identify areas of improvement within their legal operations and more. “The legal services marketplace … hasn’t been terribly good about delivering information about what the right costs for services are and the right value is for the services that are being delivered,” Aaron Katzel, AIG’s global head of legal operations, said.

The ABA Journal highlights how mediators and other practitioners of alternative dispute resolution are using the research of neuroscientists to help calm emotions during mediations. Paul Zak, director of the Center for Neuroeconomic Studies, has taught mediators how to boost the chemical oxytocin during mediation. “When you increase oxytocin, you make [clients] more amenable to you and make it easier to persuade them,” Zak said.