The law license of Anna Bentley Williams was transferred to disability inactive status on Wednesday by the Tennessee Supreme Court. Williams cannot practice law while on disability inactive status and may return to the practice of law after reinstatement by the Tennessee Supreme Court. Read the BPR release.

The Tennessee Supreme Court also transferred the law license of Jack Edward Seaman to disability status on Wednesday. Seaman cannot practice law while on disability inactive status. He may return to the practice of law after reinstatement by the Tennessee Supreme Court. Read the BPR release.

State Attorney General Herbert Slatery remains silent on whether he will apply to fill a Supreme Court vacancy following Justice Gary R. Wade’s retirement, WSMV reports. The application period opened Wednesday. Slatery’s spokesman Harlow Sumerford said there has been no further discussion in the attorney general’s office about the vacancy. Gov. Bill Haslam said in August that he had not discussed the Supreme Court vacancy with Slatery, his close friend.

Legal Aid Society of Middle Tennessee and the Cumberlands added to its board of directors Katie Bell Klinghard, Nikylan Knapper, Sal Varsalona and Cynthia Jordan, the Nashville Post reports. Klinghard is a fifth-year associate at The Kennedy Law Firm in Clarksville, where she practices various areas of family law, litigation and criminal defense. U.S. Department of Labor attorney Knapper joins the board as a representative of the Napier-Looby Bar Association. Varsalona is an attorney with the law firm of Forrester and Varsalona in Clinton and also serves as the city judge in Rocky Top. Jordan, who currently works for the Oak Ridge Pre-school, was appointed by Anderson County Community Action to represent the Oak Ridge Area.

Attorneys will host a free legal clinic in Nashville this Saturday, 11 a.m. – 1 p.m. at Hadley Park Community Center, 1039 28th Ave. North. Attorneys who specialize in criminal law, child support, personal injury and more will be available to offer advice, but will not be able to represent clients at future court dates. For more information, contact Rachel Thomas at 615-645-9596.

A new law firm that specializes in criminal litigation representing individuals, businesses and municipalities has launched in Chattanooga, The Chattanoogan reports. Partners W. Gerald “Jerry” Tidwell and W. Adam Izell are joining with Michael E. Richardson to form Tidwell, Izell & Richardson. Retired Circuit Court Judge Jackie Schulten Bolton will serve as counsel and Todd A. Davis and Bart Mathews have joined the firm as associates. The firm is located in the SunTrust Bank building at 736 Market St., Suite 1550.

Knoxville attorney William Davis Jr. argued in his own defense before the Supreme Court Wednesday that although he had been drinking and driving the night he was arrested, there was not enough probable cause for his traffic stop and subsequent DUI arrest, WATE reports.  Davis said he should not have been pulled over because a BOLO (“be on the lookout”) for his car was not checked out before he was pulled over. Assistant Attorney General Leslie Price argued that a BOLO alone was enough of a reason for the stop and the officer verified Davis' driving was consistent with being under the influence.

Justice Department lawyers are pushing to clarify a 1986 law that is intended to punish hackers, The Boston Globe reports. Critics argue the Computer Fraud and Abuse Act is overly broad as federal prosecutors have struggled in applying it to people who have permission to access a computer but abuse that right by using it for an unauthorized purpose. "These are really hard issues of what should the law cover and what should it not cover,’’ said Orin Kerr, a law professor at George Washington University in Washington, D.C. ‘‘It’s totally understandable that we’re having this discussion and not sure what the answer should be, because this is a new kind of technological problem.’’

The House Judiciary Committee began a series of hearings on Planned Parenthood Wednesday, Times News reports. House Republicans began investigating Planned Parenthood after the Center for Medical Progress released recordings that showed Planned Parenthood officials selling fetal tissue obtained from abortions. Planned Parenthood and some Democrats say there is no evidence of wrongdoing, but Committee Chair Bob Goodlatte, R-V.A., says the investigation is necessary since Planned Parenthood receives federal funding.

Citing security concerns, Bedford County Sheriff Austin Swing plans to ask the county finance committee to provide three additional guards at the county courthouse, bringing the total to six. WSMV reports that Swing also wants two of the new guards to be trained police officers who have been through the academy. “It’s going to be some drastic changes, but it has to be,” Swing said. “It’s our responsibility at the sheriff’s office to see that it’s secure for the protection of all the judges, the employees that work there, the citizens in the courthouse or attending courts, as well as the lawyers and the prisoners.”

Beverly L. Watts, executive director of the Tennessee Human Rights Commission (THRC), will deliver a free public lecture at the University of Tennessee College of Law, as part of the school's semester-long partnership with the THRC. Watts’s lecture, “Human Rights: Education and Enforcement in the State of Tennessee,” is scheduled for Sept. 16 at noon in room 132 of the College of Law, 1505 W. Cumberland Ave., in Knoxville. Watts will also meet with students enrolled in UT Law’s new human rights practicum, in which students are making complex legal documents easier to understand for the general public.