Solicitor General Donald B. Verrilli Jr., who is stepping down from his post this month, recalls five years of legal “high drama” in The New York Times. Verrilli’s tenure of 37 Supreme Court arguments includes the 2012 case challenging the constitutionality of President Obama’s health care law. Despite a "stunning" win in the case, Verrilli reflects on the scathing reviews of his work. “It’s not a good or healthy thing to have your sense of self-worth determined by what other people are saying,” he said. 

The TBA is starting the Legal Assistance Volunteers for Patent Applicants (LAVPA), a pro bono program that will match individual inventors and small businesses with patent attorneys to assist inventors in obtaining a patent for their inventions. There are several ways attorneys and law firms can assist with the program. Those interested in supporting the program may contact LAVPA Coordinator J. Scott “Skip” Rudsenske at (615) 277-3207. Read more about LAVPA on the TBA website. 

The Tennessean reports that Rep. Andy Holt said he is standing behind his decision to give away a semi-automatic rifle, similar to the one used in the Orlando shooting, at his upcoming fundraiser. "It has nothing to do with the style of weapon. It has everything to do with who’s behind the weapon," said Holt, R-Dresden. The Nashville Post later reported that Holt is doubling the prize, giving away two of the AR-15 assault rifles.

Gabe Roberts, who currently serves as general counsel for the Division of Health Care Finance and Administration, will serve as the new HCFA Deputy Director, effective July 1. Roberts has served as the HCFA general counsel since April 2013.      

Pajan Cox-Wilhoit was honored Friday for her retirement after more than 28 years as a child support magistrate for the 3rd Judicial District. “She always treated litigants with respect and dignity,” Chancellor Douglas T. Jenkins said. Cox-Wilhoit practiced law until March 1988, when she was appointed to the position by the late Circuit Court Judge Ben K. Wexler, The Greeneville Sun reports. 

The final judgment from which the pro se appellant seeks to appeal was entered on March 22, 2016. The Notice of Appeal received by the Clerk and Master on April 19, 2016, was submitted via facsimile transmission. The appellant subsequently filed a second Notice of Appeal on May 31, 2016, more than thirty (30) days after entry of the March 22, 2016 judgment. Because the second Notice of Appeal was not timely filed, and the first Notice of Appeal submitted by facsimile transmission was insufficient to invoke the jurisdiction of this Court, we have no jurisdiction to consider this appeal.

An Obion County jury convicted the Defendant, Darrin Dewayne Dickerson, of casual exchange of marijuana, casual exchange of methamphetamine, and delivery of less than 0.5 grams of a Schedule II controlled substance, methamphetamine, within 1,000 feet of a drug-free school zone, a Class C felony. The trial court merged the two methamphetamine convictions, and it sentenced the Defendant to an effective sentence of three years.

This case involves termination of the parental rights of a mother to her four children. After investigating a report of drug exposure, the Tennessee Department of Children's Services (“DCS”) obtained emergency temporary custody of the children. Ten months after the children were removed from the mother's home, DCS filed a petition to terminate the mother?s parental rights on the grounds of abandonment by willful failure to support and failure to establish a suitable home, substantial noncompliance with the permanency plan, and persistence of conditions.

Republican lawmakers in North Carolina are quietly working to remove parts of the state's transgender bathroom law, but Time reports the minor changes are not likely to “quiet the outrage” that brought a federal lawsuit from the U.S. Department of Justice. The latest version of the bill will increase penalties for those who commit crimes against people in public bathrooms, but the measure will still keep in place a requirement that individuals using restrooms in public must use a facility that matches their gender at birth.