A new CLE program on why we need fair courts has been added to the lineup of the TBA Annual Convnetion next week in Gatlinburg. Alistair Newbern, assistant professor at Vanderbilt Law School, will share why retention elections are important to a fair and impartial judiciary in Tennessee. The program will take place Thursday, June 12, at 3 p.m. You can learn more or register for the convention online.

Sharon K. Anderson was disbarred by the Tennessee Supreme Court on June 5 based upon her entry of a guilty plea to the fraudulent transmission of money. View the BPR notice.

Sweeping reform to Tennessee’s workers’ compensation process goes into effect next month and will have new legal implications for employers. The Nashville Business Journal spoke with Stuart Scott, an attorney with Dickinson Wright in Nashville, who highlighted what he considers the major changes in the new process. For a time being, Tennessee will be operating under both the new law and old — claims filed before July 1 will still go through the old process, meaning cases can still go to state courts. Those filed after that date will enter the new system.

Bar associations across Tennessee have joined the effort  to educate their members and communities on the upcoming judicial elections. The Memphis Bar Association will launch a Judicial Qualification Poll for August 's contested races, as well as the retention election for  Western Section Appellate Court seats and Supreme Court posts. The Knoxville Bar Association has developed a "Get to Know Your Judicial Candidates"  website to provide information about state judicial candidates. This tool provides a convenient way for Knox County voters to get non-partisan information about candidates so they can make an informed decision at the ballot box. The KBA, working with the League of Women Voters Knoxville/Knox County, has also invited all trial court candidates to participate in a judicial candidate forum on July 17 at the South College Auditorium.

An expert panel tasked with monitoring the Tennessee Department of Children's Services (DCS) says the agency has flourished under new leadership, the Memphis Daily News reports. Jim Henry became DCS Commissioner after Kate O'Day resigned early last year following a public outcry over problems at the agency. The report says that DCS has improved the way it keeps track of child deaths and investigations, recruited new foster families, invested in ways to help foster children after they turn 18 and fixed a computer system that had hindered caseworkers.

Attorrneys in the Western and Eastern Grand Divisions interested in a position on the Workers’ Compensation Appeals Board have until tomorrow (June 6) to submit an application to the Governor’s Commission for Judicial Appointments. The application period for candidates in the Middle Division has closed. The 10 applicants from Middle Tennessee are Aaron James Conklin, Marshall L. Davidson III, Brian Dunigan, Keith Jordan, Ronald W. McNutt, Janis O. Mize, Richard Murrell, Tamra Lee Smith, Sarah K. Stein and Dale A. Tipps. The Administrative Office of the Courts has more. 

A Tennessee Bureau of Investigation (TBI) report released Tuesday shows domestic violence reported to police across the state dropped in 2013 for the fourth consecutive year, this time by 5.7 percent. Statewide, nearly every category of crime — including murders and aggravated assaults — decreased in 2013, and 65 out of 95 counties saw domestic violence cases drop as well. However, the TBI report notes that the number of domestic violence incidents involving same-sex couples in Tennessee has risen by 44 percent since 2008. The Tennessean has the story. 

Legal Aid Society attorney Theresa Vay-Smith has been honored with a 2014 Dove Awards from the ARC of Anderson County, a United Way agency serving children and adults with intellectual and developmental disabilities. Smith, an attorney with the Oak Ridge office of Legal Aid Society of Middle Tennessee and the Cumberlands, also received the award in 2011. “Receiving this award, not once, but twice reflects Thersa-Vay’s passion and dedication advocating for some of our community’s most vulnerable citizens,” Janet Mynatt, managing attorney for the Oak Ridge office, told Oak Ridge Today.

The national Justice at Stake organization is concerned about preserving the impartiality of Tennessee courts after news broke that the three targeted Tennessee Supreme Court justices — Chief Justice Gary Wade, Justice Cornelia Clark and Justice Sharon Lee — have raised $600,000 for a coordinated campaign to defend against attacks from Lt. Gov. Ron Ramsey, who has outlined a plan to oust the three justices. “It’s discouraging to hear that Tennessee’s courts are about to face the kind of special-interest tsunami that is targeting courts across the country,” JAS Executive Director Bert Brandenburg said in a statement released yesterday. “Retention elections are designed to keep partisan politics out of the courts — not turn judges into politicians in black robes." GavelGrab has more.

The Tennessee Supreme Court rejected Clarksville-based attorney Fletcher Whaley Long’s constitutional challenge to the professional discipline of a public censure. Long challenged the constitutionality of Tennessee Supreme Court Rule 9, governing disciplinary enforcement of attorneys and contended in part that the Rule violated due process, because it combines investigative, enforcement, and adjudicative authority in the same agency, the Board of Professional Responsibility. Justice Sharon G. Lee explained in the opinion that the Board’s Office of Chief Disciplinary Counsel investigates allegations and institutes disciplinary proceedings if necessary. However, hearing panels composed of independent attorneys appointed by the Board then adjudicate the proceedings. The Administrative Office of the Courts has more.