Waller today announced the addition of 11 new attorneys to several key practice groups: real estate, finance and restructuring, labor and employment, healthcare compliance and operations, and litigation and dispute resolution practices. "In response to the needs of our clients, we continue to experience tremendous growth in practices that are core strengths of our firm," said Waller chair Matt Burnstein.

The Shelby County attorney’s office has found no wrongdoing by Assessor Cheyenne Johnson in connection with an anonymous complaint that alleged she was participating in questionable real estate transactions. A statement of findings issued today by Virginia P. Bozeman, an assistant county attorney and the county’s ethics officer, said that the allegations were “meritless.” It said there was no indication of violations of the county’s ethics ordinance or Tennessee law, the Commercial Appeal reports.

The law license of Putnam County lawyer Gary N. Lovellette was reinstated Monday (Feb. 2) by the Tennessee Supreme Court. Lovellette had been temporarily suspended on Nov. 26, 2014, for failing to respond to the Board of Professional Responsibility regarding a complaint of misconduct. View the BPR notice.

The law license of Ira J. Katzman was transferred to disability inactive status Monday (Feb. 2). Katzman may return to the practice of law upon showing of clear and convincing evidence that the disability has been removed and he is fit to resume. View BPR notice. 

The question of whether parents should be forced to vaccinate their children spilled into the 2016 presidential race this week as potential Republican contenders Kentucky Sen. Ran Paul and New Jersey Gov. Chris Christie defended and clarified comments they made expressing support for voluntary immunizations. A review of state laws, however, shows that parents already have a fair amount of freedom in deciding whether to vaccinate their children. Every state requires school-aged children to receive certain vaccines, but many states also carve out exemptions — some broader than others — that give parents the choice to opt-out. The Wall Street Journal law blog has more.

Gov. Bill Haslam's "Insure Tennessee" plan was effectively killed today after the Senate Committee on Health and Welfare voted 4-7 to defeat the proposal. Haslam spent nearly two years negotiating with federal officials to find an alternative for expanding Medicaid in the state. The plan would have used federal funds to expand coverage to about 280,000 additional Tennesseans and cover 100 percent of the program's cost for two years, after which federal support drops down to 90 percent.

Sen. Doug Overbey, R-Maryville, made a final, personal plea to committee members, telling them that they should at least vote to let the full Senate get a chance to weigh in. “I did put my heart into it because I felt that strongly that it’s the right thing to do," Overbey told WPLN following the vote. Asked if he would try to push his plan during the regular session of the legislature, Haslam said that seemed "a little pointless." He also said it was unlikely that the federal government would agree to some of the changes legislators requested, though he said he was willing to try. With no prospects of passing the plan, both the House and Senate formally ended their respective special sessions this evening. The Nashville Business Journal has more.

House Speaker Beth Harwell says that Tennessee lawmakers are unlikely to take up a gas tax increase during this year's legislative session. Speaking to a joint conference by the National Federation of Independent Business and the Tennessee Grocers and Convenience Store Association on Tuesday, Harwell said lawmakers are interested in discussing ways to "broaden the base" of transportation funding to make up for losses from vehicles with better fuel mileage and electric cars. The Tennessean has more.

The Tennessee Supreme Court will hear eight cases in oral arguments today and tomorrow in Nashville. Details of the four civil and four criminal cases and a schedule of oral arguments can be found at the AOC website. 

More than 50 law professors and lawyers are collaborating to analyze how U.S. Supreme Court jurisprudence would look if seminal cases had been adjudicated from a feminist perspective, the ABA Journal reports. The book "Feminist Judgments: Rewritten Opinions of the United States Supreme Court" will contain 24 rewritten decisions on topics such as reproductive rights and substantive due process to show how feminist legal reasoning might change the course of law. The book aims to prove that stare decisis can mask what is really a masculine viewpoint, and that hidden gender bias — not stare decisis — may be what drives the reasoning and results in much of the nation's jurisprudence.

Immigration, access to justice for persons of modest means and money’s influence on elections are just some of the issues that will be tackled by attendees in hearings and panel programs during the 2015 ABA Midyear Meeting. The meeting runs through Monday when the 560-member House of Delegates, which sets policy for the ABA, convenes. The Tennessee Bar Association with support from Tennessee law schools will host a reception in Houston Saturday for former TBA president Danny Van Horn. View the invitiation here.