Tennessee Chief Justice Sharon Lee tells Knoxville area businesses about the establishment of a new business court in a column in the Knoxville News Sentinel. She writes that the court will better meet the needs of existing and future businesses, without any additional cost to taxpayers. The court handles only complex commercial disputes and provides expedited resolution by a judge who has experience and expertise in handling these difficult cases. Learn more about the business court.

Actress Amy Schumer is teaming up with her cousin, New York Sen. Chuck Schumer, on an initiative that tackles gun violence following last month’s shooting at a theater that was screening her comedy, Trainwreck. Three people were killed and nine wounded in the shooting. The plan will focus on background checks and mental health funding. The Daily News Journal has more.

Law students won’t be allowed to receive both pay and academic credit for externships this year following nearly two years of debate, the National Law Journal reports (sub. req.). During the ABA’s annual meeting in Chicago on Friday, the Council of the Section of Legal Education and Admissions to the Bar declined to eliminate its ban on such arrangements, citing opposition from clinical law professors. The council also voted to revoke a year-old rule allowing law schools to admit up to 10 percent of their first-year classes from applicants who have not taken the LSAT.

Nashville's largest law firm is boosting first-year associate pay in Tennessee to $120,000. Starting Sept. 1, Bass Berry & Sims will boost pay from the $110,000 mark that had stood since before the 2007 recession, the Nashville Post reports. The nine percent increase puts the firm -- along with an increase in new parent leave -- will help Bass compete against firms in larger cities and in-house opportunities.

Thomas Anthony Travaglini received a public censure on July 29 for practicing law while his license was suspended for CLE noncompliance. View the BPR notice.

The successor to retiring Supreme Court Justice Gary Wade should first face a retention election next August, and not in 2022, as some have speculated TNReport says. The news source cites an email from the Secretary of State's office that says “Per Tenn. Const. Article VII Section 5 there will be a retention election in 2016 for Justice Wade’s vacancy."

Magistrate Judge William B. Mitchell Carter is retiring after 16 years on the U.S. District Court for the Eastern District of Tennessee. Colleagues and friends spoke about Carter’s legal abilities and gentlemanly ways at a retirement reception held July 24. During the presentation, Donna Mikel, president of the Chattanooga Chapter of the Federal Bar Association, announced the establishment of the Bill Carter Civility Award, to be given each year at the group's annual meeting to an attorney who demonstrates the civility and professionalism Judge Carter encouraged in his courtroom. “This has been the most fulfilling job I could imagine having,” Carter told the Hamilton County Herald. “It’s been magical.”

The Chattanooga Bar Foundation this week announced its Class of 2015 Fellows. New members are John Randolph Bode, Roy C. Maddox Jr., Timothy L. Mickel, Alicia Brown Oliver, Bart Quinn, Ross I. Schram and Richard A. Schulman. Incorporated in 1989, the foundation is the charitable and educational arm of the Chattanooga Bar Association (CBA). Through the foundation, the CBA supports various charities and participates in community service, outreach programs and educational projects. The Hamilton County Herald has more.

Knox County Judge Bob McGee denied a request Thursday to dismiss rape charges against a former University of Tennessee football player, the Tennessean reports. Former star linebacker A.J. Johnson and ex-teammate Michael Williams pleaded not guilty to raping a former female student-athlete at Johnson's apartment in November 2014. Attorneys for Johnson argued that the indictment returned by a Knox County grand jury in February alleged more crimes than had actually been committed and sought dismissal of the charges.

While football is America’s game, movies are its favorite form of entertainment and movies about the law are as essential to Hollywood history as cowboy Westerns or romantic comedies, according to the August cover story in the ABA Journal. Four lawyers, painted as righteous defenders of the innocent, made the American Film Institute’s list of the top 100 heroes in film, with defense attorney Atticus Finch from To Kill a Mockingbird beating out the likes of Indiana Jones and James Bond. Read why the author thinks Hollywood loves films about lawyers.