WATE reports that the Knox County District Attorney Charme Allen is calling for changes to a law that allows convicted rapists to be approved for probation while she also appeals the ruling in a case involving a man convicted of rape and incest of a 13-year-old relative. The defendant, William Cole, was sentenced to eight years of probation with no jail time. Allen says imprisonment is the “only way to make sure that that particular child and any other child in our community is safe from that individual...”

Nashville Judge Carol McCoy ruled against terminally ill attorney John Jay Hooker's request to take his own life with the assistance of a doctor, WBIR reports. Doctors for Hooker, who is suffering from cancer, sought protection from prosecution to administer him a lethal dosage of painkillers. Hooker said he plans to appeal the ruling. 

General Sessions Judge Gerald Skahan will preside over Shelby County’s new mental health court, scheduled to open in January, The Commercial Appeal reports. Skahan’s mission will include preventing repeat incarcerations by providing access to medical care, housing and food. "It's cruel what happens to people suffering from mental health issues," Skahan said. "The Eighth Amendment prohibits cruel and unusual punishments. I think jailing people because they're mentally ill is cruel."

Fast Company reports that a federal judge’s decision last week regarding Warner Chappell Music’s rights to “Happy Birthday” may not have forced the song into public domain. The lyrics may still have outstanding legal protection almost 125 years after they were assumed to be created. "It would be terrible if the effect of this decision were to put 'Happy Birthday' in limbo, and now nobody uses it, because they can't find anybody who would license them, and yet there was no declaration as to the public domain, either," George Washington University Law School professor Robert Brauneis says.

The U.S. Supreme Court met behind closed doors today to consider which cases to add to the calendar before the new term begins Oct. 5, Reuters reports. The Court has already chosen several high-profile cases for the new term, including challenges to racial preferences in higher education admissions and an appeal by Iran's central bank seeking to prevent nearly $2 billion from being transferred to victims of the 1983 bombings of a U.S. Marine Corps barracks in Beirut.

Metro Council attorney Jon Cooper will serve as the new director of the Metro Department of Law in Nashville Mayor Megan Barry’s administration, The Tennessean reports. Cooper replaces Saul Solomon, who announced last week he is moving to a private firm. “(Cooper) has a wealth of knowledge as it relates to state and Metro law, which will help to guide my administration as we seek to implement the policies and programs that will move our city forward,” Barry said.

The American Bar Association Law Practice Division announced its Fellows Class of 2015-2016. Criteria for candidacy includes a history of bar involvement, public service and excellence in the law profession. The class includes Matt Potempa of Nashville firm Martin Heller Potempa and Sheppard PLLC.

William Koch said that the Nashville School of Law’s (NSL) greatest achievement in his first year as dean is awarding 137 law degrees during two commencement ceremonies. NSL celebrated Koch’s investiture on Saturday. Speaking with the Nashville Post, the former Tennessee Supreme Court justice went on to say that lawyers and judges praise NSL for its faculty, which includes judges and TBA President Bill Harbison. “These faculty members are not just academically sound; they bring to their students their wealth of practical experience,’ Koch said.

Professors and firsthand survivors of ongoing global conflicts, including the Ugandan Civil war and natural disasters like Hurricane Katrina, presented at the second annual Disasters, Displacement and Human Rights Conference over the weekend at the University of Tennessee College of Law. The UT Beacon reports that topics discussed included responses to climate change and the forensics of mass graves in areas of warfare. “I’m delighted at the way the conference has expanded and how it not only includes colleagues and students at UT but also people from Kenya and Europe,” Rosalind Hackett, head of the Religious Studies Department, said. 

The Associated Press reports that federal district courts have seen a rise in recent years in the time it takes to get civil cases to trial and resolve felony criminal cases as judges' workloads have increased. The results include longer wait times in prison for defendants awaiting trial and higher costs for civil lawsuits.