Legal Aid of East Tennessee is accepting applications for the position of executive director to lead the nonprofit law firm, following the announcement longtime executive director David R. Yoder will retire Dec. 31. Deadline to apply is Sept. 21.

TBA’s Creditor’s Practice Section will offer current developments in this area of law at the upcoming Creditors Pratice Forum, Sept. 23 at the TBA in Nashville. Topics to be discussed include recent actions of the Consumer Financial Bureau and a discussion of the growing issues and ethics surrounding debt management/settlement companies. The course is worth three hours of CLE.

Vanderbilt Law School will host “Law School 101”, Sept. 16, a panel discussion offering advice on pursuing a Law School education. The event will be held at 5:30 p.m. in Vanderbilt’s Moore Room 218, 131 21st Ave. S. RSVP online.

The Army’s Funded Legal Education Program (FLEP), which offers tuition for 25 active-duty, commissioned officers to attend law school, is accepting applications. “The FLEP is an invaluable resource for the Army JAG Corps,” said Col. Susan Arnold, Staff Judge Advocate for the 101st Airborne Division. “The FLEP program allows motivated and proven officers an opportunity for education and a challenging career.” 

Gov. Bill Haslam was named to Politco Magazine’s 2015 list of 50 “thinkers, doers and visionaries transforming American politics”, the Times Free Press reports. Politico, a nonpartisan news organization, referenced Haslam’s “Tennessee Promise” scholarship program and commitment to higher education in contributing to his ranking as number 23 on the list. U.S. Supreme Court Justice Anthony Kennedy was ranked number one on the list for his authorship of the same-sex marriage decision.

Qualifying petitions for two circuit court judge seats in the 22nd Judicial District will be available Friday at the Maury County Election Commission in Columbia, The Daily Herald reports. The district serves Maury, Giles, Lawrence and Wayne counties. Both seats came open since the 2014 election and were filled by the appointments of Russ Parkes and David Allen. Candidates have until noon Dec. 10 to qualify.

The Justice Department issued new policies Wednesday that press for prosecution of Wall Street individuals -- not just their companies -- and push corporations to turn over evidence against their executives, CNBC reports. "Corporations can only commit crimes through flesh-and-blood people," Deputy Attorney General Sally Q. Yates said. "The public needs to have confidence that there is one system of justice and it applies equally regardless of whether that crime occurs on a street corner or in a boardroom."

The Tennessee Supreme Court upheld the death penalty for Rickey Alvis Bell Jr, who kidnapped, sexually abused and murdered a woman in Tennessee in 2010. Bell appealed his conviction and sentence after a trial court sentenced Bell to death for the first degree murder conviction. The Supreme Court, required to review all death penalty cases, reviewed five issues on the appeal, including Bell’s possible intellectual disability and the trial court’s decision to not include testimony regarding the husband of the victim's extramarital affair at the time of the crime. Chief Justice Sharon Lee and Justice Gary Wade disagreed with the majority on the issue of including the testimony of the extramarital affair, and Chief Justice Lee wrote in her dissent that the evidence against Bell was not overwhelming and the trial court hindered Bell’s defense by prohibiting him from presenting evidence of the victim’s husband’s affair. Read the opinion. 

"We know that we can't depend on the federal government to be the funding partner that it once was," Gov. Bill Haslam said today in Chattanooga while meeting with Chamber of Commerce officials to discuss state transportation needs, The Times Free Press reports. The Republican governor is seeking support for funding to keep state highway projects going smoothly amid an estimated $6 billion statewide backlog.

At the same meeting, The Knoxville News Sentinel reports Haslam also spoke on his proposed privitazation plan, saying state colleges have the authority to decide whether to outsource the management of campus buildings. Some UT employees oppose Haslam’s privitization plan, saying they fear they will lose their jobs.

Memphis will receive nearly $4 million in grant money from the U.S. Department of Justice Sexual Assault Kit Initiative and the New York District Attorney’s office to help clear the city’s backlog of untested rape kits, the Memphis Flyer reports. “We know that these rape kits can help catch perpetrators and prevent additional attacks, so we should do everything we can to cut through this backlog and give victims the justice they deserve,” Memphis Congressman Steve Cohen said. The Associated Press reports the White House and New York's district attorney have pledged a combined $79 million to test rape kits across the country.