James Strong Powell was disbarred on June 5 based upon his conviction of aggravated perjury. The Board of Professional Responsibility instituted a formal proceeding to determine the extent of final discipline to be imposed, to which Powell did not respond. View the BPR notice.

The Legal Aid Society of Middle Tennessee and the Cumberlands has received a $50,000 AmeriCorps Planning grant from the Corporation for National and Community Service. According to a press release, Legal Aid will use the award to plan a capacity building program using AmeriCorps service members as liaisons for its Volunteer Lawyers Program, which engages the private bar to provide pro bono legal services across 48 counties in Middle Tennessee and the Cumberland Plateau.

The Legal Aid Society today announced its summer schedule for the People’s Law School, a free program that provides an overview of legal issues that a typical person might face. Taught by Legal Aid Society attorneys and volunteer attorneys in Nashville, the weekly, one-hour classes will be held from 6 to 7 p.m. on Thursdays at Cohn Learning Center, 4805 Park Ave. and at Wright Middle School, 180 Mccall St. For more information, visit the Nashville Community Education Commission website.

Chambliss, Bahner & Stophel shareholder Dana Perry has been appointed to the Board of Directors for Meritas, a global alliance of independent business law firms. The board is comprised of 21 lawyers from its member firms around the world. Perry will serve a three-year term, during which time she will also serve on the group's Finance Committee. The Hamilton County Herald has more.

Kelly Jackson Smith has announced her candidacy for public defender in the 23rd Judicial District, the Tennessean reports. Smith has extensive courtroom and jury trial experience; both as an assistant district attorney general and as a private attorney. As a representative of the 23rd Judicial District, the position of public defender serves Cheatham, Dickson, Houston, Humphreys and Stewart counties.

Fletcher Whaley Long of Clarksville was publically censured on June 4. The Board of Professional Responsibility alleged Long committed ethical misconduct for failure to deposit a fee into his trust account despite a written agreement to do so, failure to provide an accounting of fees and failure to refund unearned fees. Long appealed the disciplinary sanction, which was affirmed by the Chancery Court and Tennessee Supreme Court. View the BPR notice.

In an opinion published today by Knoxnews, a Strawberry Plains resident says that Lt. Gov. Ron Ramsey, Sen. Mike Bell and Sen. Randy McNally need to stay out of the judicial system. In their effort to defeat Supreme Court Chief Justice Gary Wade, Justice Cornelia Clark and Justice Sharon Lee in order to create a Republican supermajority, they are attempting to undermine the foundational principal of three coequal branches of government, the author writes. “The executive and judicial branches are supposed to have power that the senators don’t control. That is by design — wise design.” Subscription required.

The Association for Women Attorneys (AWA) and the Informed Voters Project are co-sponsoring a Judicial Forum on June 26 from 5 to 7 p.m. at the Benjamin L. Hooks Central Library in Memphis. The purpose of this event will be to provide a forum for Shelby County judicial candidates to speak directly to voters and to provide voters with information about the judicial election process prior to Election Day on Aug. 7.

Monday is the last day to vote in the Tennessee Supreme Court Candidate Evaluation Poll. For the first time in its history, the TBA is polling its members for their views on the three justices facing retention votes in the August General Election – Chief Justice Gary Wade, Justice Cornelia Clark and Justice Sharon Lee. The TBA is using the SurveyMonkey platform to conduct the survey, which ensures the secrecy of votes. If you have not yet received an email to participate, please check your spam folder for an email from SurveyMonkey.com. The poll is one part of TBA’s efforts to help ensure that the 2014 judicial elections maintain a fair, impartial and accountable judiciary. Learn more about other efforts at the TBA’s Judicial Selection Information Center.

The Tennessee Supreme Court has determined that the effective dates of amendments 24(b) and 25(a) to the Tennessee Rules of Appellate Procedure should be indefinitely suspended, pending further consideration by the Court. In an order filed today, the court ruled that the amendments, which would require the filing of an electronic copy of the transcript, in addition to the original transcript, will not go into effect on July 1, the effective date for the other amendmdents.