Jury selection in the new trial of two former Vanderbilt football players accused of rape is scheduled to begin later this month in Chattanooga, WSMV reports. Attorneys in the case met today to discuss scheduling. The selected jury will travel to Nashville for the trial scheduled to begin April 4. A new trial was declared for defendants Cory Batey and Brandon Vandenburg in June 2015.

Circuit Court Judge Michael Binkley said he plans to discover who leaked details about sworn testimony in the case of Nashville developer David Chase, WTVF reports. The testimony of Chase’s parents involving Nashville District Attorney Glenn Funk was obtained by media outlets. Binkley said he will question attorneys involved in the case before deciding if an investigation is needed.

Students from the University of Tennessee College of Law will represent the Southeast Region in the 2016 National Transactional LawMeet Finals next month in New York City, following their first-place victory at the Southeast Regional Competition. LawMeet competitions require students to draft a document addressing the problem presented in a case statement, providing the facts of the transaction. UT Law’s team is coached by Associate Professor Brian Krumm and Visiting Professor Kevin Conboy.

U.S. Supreme Court Justice Ruth Bader Ginsburg will release a collection of speeches and writings in January 2017, the Associated Press reports. The book, “My Own Words,” will also include introductions and interview excerpts from Ginsburg’s authorized biographers.

In 2013, the Defendant, James Daniel Cruze, II, pleaded guilty to sale of a Schedule II controlled substance, and the trial court sentenced him to ten years, to be served at 35%, suspended after the service of 365 days. In 2015, the Defendant?s probation officer filed a probation violation report in which he alleged that the Defendant had absconded, thereby violating several of the rules of his probation. After a hearing, the trial court revoked the Defendant?s probation and ordered him to serve the balance of his sentence in confinement.

Following a jury trial, the Defendant, Michael Orlando Freeman, was convicted of attempted second degree murder, as a lesser included offense of attempted first degree murder; aggravated assault by infliction of serious bodily injury; and attempted aggravated rape by use of a deadly weapon. See Tenn. Code Ann. §§ 39-13-202, -13- 102, -13-502. He was acquitted of especially aggravated kidnapping. See Tenn. Code Ann. § 39-13-305. The Defendant received an effective sentence of twelve years as a Range I, standard offender with release eligibility at thirty percent.

The Tennessee Supreme Court yesterday temporarily suspended Blount County lawyer Charles Michael Clifford from the practice of law after Clifford failed to respond to the Board regarding a complaint of misconduct. Clifford is immediately precluded from accepting any new cases, and he must cease representing existing clients by April 8. Read the BPR release.

Chattanooga attorney Patricia Best Vital, principal of Vital Law Office & Dispute Resolution Services, was named as a Fellow of the American Bar Foundation. The ABF, founded in 1952, is recognized as a premier institute in the United States for social science research on law. Vital is also an arbitrator for the Financial Industry Regulatory Authority.

State lawmakers are expected to vote today on a bill that would allow Knox County judges to offer chronic offenders community service to pay off their court costs. A WBIR investigation last year found that some indigent defendants were responsible for court debts of more than $750,000. Gov. Bill Haslam is expected to sign off on the bill, which will serve as a pilot program before potentially moving into other counties. 

A Tennessee bill (SB 1677 / HB 1823) that would allow women to obtain contraceptives from pharmacists cleared the Senate today and now heads to the House, The Tennessean reports. According to the bill, interested pharmacists would have to enter into a collaborative agreement with a physician, who would oversee a series of protocols for the pharmacist to follow.