As states begin to adopt ethics rules requiring lawyers to be technologically competent and aware of the ethical implications of cloud computing, many practioners may be left wondering what it all means. The ABA Techshow presentation “Ethics 20/20, Security and Cloud Computing” walks users through recent rules changes, highlighting what state ethics authorities have ruled so far about lawyers' use of the cloud. The presentation explores what constitutes technological competence, and discusses how far a lawyer who stores data in the cloud must go to protect client confidences from inadvertent or unauthorized access or disclosure. The ABA Journal boils the presentation down to five key requirements.

State Democrats marked the one-year anniversary of Gov. Bill Haslam’s promise to seek a “Tennessee Plan” to expand Medicaid with a press conference yesterday in which they urged him to take action. Health and Human Services Secretary Kathleen Sebelius visited Nashville Thursday, in part to push for Medicaid expansion in the state. Earlier, however, the state legislature gave final approval to HB 937, a measure that requires the governor to get the General Assembly’s permission before expanding TennCare, the state’s Medicaid program. The Tennessean has the story.

Shelby County Criminal Court Judge Chris Craft and Collierville town administrator James Lewellen are the 2014 recipients of the Dunavant Public Servant Awards, which are awarded each year by the family of the late Shelby County Probate Court Clerk Bobby Dunavant and the Rotary Club of Memphis East. The Memphis Daily News reports Craft and Lewellen will be honored at an April 21 awards luncheon at the Holiday Inn University of Memphis. A symposium on public service is also scheduled for the same day at the university.

Attorney Larry Ables has advised that he does not plan to make a race against incumbent Hamilton County General Sessions Court Judge David Bales in Division 2, the Chattanoogan reports. Ables, a former chief magistrate, had picked up qualifying papers and participated in a number of campaign events, however, he had never filed for the position. Of the five General Sessions judges, only Judge Christie Sell in Division 1 now faces opposition from Rex Sparks.

Justice at Stake (JAS) is among more than 30 organizations urging U.S. senators to consider professional diversity when evaluating judicial candidates. “A truly diverse judiciary...not only reflects the gender, ethnic, sexual orientation, disability and racial diversity of the nation, but also includes judges who come from all corners of the legal profession — and particularly those who have worked in the public interest, representing those whose voices are otherwise rarely heard. This sort of professional diversity both enhances judicial decision-making and is essential to the public’s trust in our justice system,” the groups' letter states. Read more at GavelGrab.

The four candidates running for circuit court judge in the 21st Judicial District are all running unopposed, Franklin Homepage reports. Read more about the candidates for Division I, II, III and IV in the paper’s Election 2014 section.

Underfunded criminal and civil courts often function as modern day "debtors' prisons," Columbia Law School professor Vivian Berger states in an opinion piece in the National Law Journal. Although the federal government abolished imprisonment for debt in 1833, Berger argues that more than one-third of the states permit incarceration of those in default of their civil obligations. The American Civil Liberties Union and the Brennan Center for Justice at New York University School of Law recently wrote to the Consumer Financial Protection Bureau regarding the misuse of civil contempt to obtain repayment of private debts, calling for the abolition of debtors' prisons in their modern incarnations.

Kim Nelson qualified to run for circuit court judge in January, but yesterday announced she is switching gears and running for 9th Judicial District public defender instead. Nelson, who currently serves as circuit court clerk for Roane County, said she has not yet filed the necessary paperwork to run for public defender. She has until April 3 to do so. Roane County News has the story.

Attorneys from across the state will gather in Nashville this weekend to learn more about the Tennessee Bar Association and how to be successful leaders of the sections and committees they will head during the 2014-2015 bar year. The group will hear from Executive Director Allan Ramsaur and other key staff, as well as from President-Elect Jonathan Steen. Steen and the new leaders will take office at the TBA Annual Meeting in June.

U.S. District Judge Kevin H. Sharp awarded nearly $700,000 to a mentally disabled Clay County couple victimized by sexual and financial abuse for more than six years by a court-appointed conservator Walter M. Strong. "Defendant had complete control over plaintiffs' lives and their money and he used that control for his own needs and evil desires," Sharp wrote in a 12-page order issued Tuesday. The case first came to light last year as the state General Assembly was considering a series of reforms in the state conservatorship laws. Those changes, including provisions to provide additional protections to wards, were approved and went into effect July 1. The Tennessean has the story.