Want to get more involved with TBALL? The alumni association has an opening for an East Tennessee Representative. The position is a three-year appointment. Contact Leadership Law Coordinator Brittany Sims for more information.

Brad Morgan (2013) has been appointed the Associate Director for the Institute for Professional Leadership and Values Development at the University of Tennessee.

Sonya Wright (2014) gave birth to Spencer Allen Wright on August 15, 2014. He weighed 7 lbs 3 oz and measured 20 ¾ inches. Parents and baby are doing well. Wright is a member of Hagan & Farrar, PLLC in Murfreesboro.

Hagan & Farrar, PLLC has added a new associate, I’Ashea Myles Dihigo, a 2014 graduate of the inaugural class at Belmont School of Law. This brings the firm to five attorneys, led by three TBALL alumna, Mary Beth Hagan (2013), Amy J. Farrar (2011) and Sonya Wright (2014). Hagan & Farrar, PLLC is a full-service business law and litigation firm focusing on construction law, appellate law, and first party insurance litigation.

Morgan & Akins, PLLC — founded by Nashville attorneys Mike Morgan and Nick Akins (2014) — is excited to announce the opening of two new office locations in Atlanta and Lexington, Kentucky. Along with the Nashville office, these locations will serve clients throughout the Southeast in Kentucky, Tennessee, North Carolina, Georgia, Alabama, and Mississippi. Morgan & Akins attorneys specialize in a variety of practice areas, with a focus on workers’ compensation and insurance defense. For more information on practice areas and office locations please visit www.morganakins.com.

Jeff Yarbro (2011) won his primary race for the Tennessee State Senate on Aug. 7. He will be on the November general election ballot as the Democratic nominee for the 21st Senate District in Nashville. He is grateful to all TBALL alums who supported and encouraged him along the way.

In a change of policy this year, the Leadership Law Steering Committee is encouraging nominators and alumni to speak with their nominees about the program. We hope all alumni share their wonderful TBALL experiences with their nominees and encourage them to apply by Oct. 10. The Alumni receptions this year are open to potential applicants to meet alumni and Steering Committee members before they apply. As usual, alumni will get to fellowship and reminisce with fellow alumni! The reception in Memphis at Glankler Brown was a huge success; many thanks to Andre Mathis (2014) for hosting! Please join us at the other receptions in Chattanooga, Knoxville, and Nashville. RSVP with Brittany Sims

“Southern Justice,” a new weekly TV show that features the Sullivan County Sheriff’s Office, premiered Wednesday on the National Geographic channel. The show explores the work of law enforcement agencies in Sullivan County and Ashe County, North Carolina. "Our hope is that the show will give residents an idea of some of what our officers encounter on a daily basis," the sheriff's office said in a statement this week. TriCities has more. 

New Tennessee Attorney General Herbert Slatery is expected to bring “consistency and predictability” —  two keys the business community looks for in the judiciary, Nashville attorney Gif Thornton tells the Nashville Business Journal. Marc Hill, the chief policy officer at the Nashville Area Chamber of Commerce, stressed the importance of “knowing where the new attorney general comes from,” pointing to Slatery’s role with Haslam’s administration. “Tennessee has had a reputation as a business friendly state across administrations, both Democrat and Republican,” Hill said. “Beyond the partisan label, what business folks are most focused on is that the new attorney general comes from an administration that believes in creating a prosperous business environment across the state.” Slatery will be the first Republican to fill the position in nearly 150 years.

U.S. Sen. Lamar Alexander, alongside Senate Republican Leader Mitch McConnell of Kentucky, introduced a bill Tuesday to reform the National Labor Relations Board (NLBR). The “NLRB Reform Act,” targets ending “partisanship” on the board, encouraging timely decisions and reining in activist NLRB general counsels, the Nashville Business Journal reports. Alexander’s bill would increase the NLRB board from five members to six, requiring three Democrats and three Republicans (a majority of 4 would be needed to make a decision). “Thousands of private-sector workers in Tennessee are affected by decisions made at the National Labor Relations Board – which for too long has been acting as an advocate for one interest or another instead of an impartial umpire,” Alexander said. “It’s time for the board to restore stability to workplaces in Tennessee and throughout the country – with nonpartisan decisions made more quickly, assisted by a neutral general counsel.”

Ten death row inmates already challenging Tennessee's lethal injection protocol were permitted by a judge yesterday to amend their lawsuit to include objections to the use of the electric chair, the Tennessean reports. The General Assembly passed a law earlier this year allowing prisoners to be electrocuted if Tennessee Department of Correction officials were unable to obtain the drug used for lethal injection. The death row plaintiffs say the new law violates the U.S. and Tennessee constitutions. Among other things, they say it violates evolving standards of decency and that the law is too vague.

Mayoral candidate Charles Robert Bone has hired Kim Sasser Hayden as his campaign manager, the Nashville Scene reports. Sasser Hayden's resume includes directing statewide field operations for Gov. Phil Bredesen's elections, managing former U.S. Rep. Lincoln Davis' reelection campaign in 2004 and serving as regional field director for Al Gore's presidential campaign in 2000. The Ingram Group, led by Republican kingmaker Tom Ingram, will advise the campaign and April Orange, of the Bredesen political tree, will lead the campaign's fundraising effort. Both John Van Mol, a former advisor to U.S. Sen. Bill Frist, and Ken Whitehouse, a former Nashville Post scribe and political operative, of public relations firm DVL will advise on communications and marketing.

Congress' must-pass budget bill ignores the Obama administration's request to accelerate spending on immigration courts to handle the flood of unaccompanied minors at the border, WATE reports from the Associated Press. Immigrant advocates complained that House Republicans who wrote the bill focused on detaining Central American youths and families who crossed the border while ignoring the need for more immigration judges to hear their cases, and lawyers to represent the youths. "The resolution includes only funding for the prison staffing and no accelerated spending for the judges who hear their legal claims," said Michelle Brané, director of the Migrant Rights and Justice Program at the Women's Refugee Commission.

The semi-annual National Drug Take-Back is a chance for citizens to safely and legally dispose of unused prescription drugs, keeping them out of the environment and the hands of children, as well as those who might illegally sell or consume the drugs. In Bradley County, the event will take place Monday through Friday from 9 a.m. to 4 p.m. and Saturday from 10 a.m. to 2 p.m. at the Criminal Investigations Division entrance, on the south side of the Bradley County Judicial Center. This event has been coordinated by the Bradley County Sheriff’s Office and the U.S Drug Enforcement Administration. The Chattanoogan has the story.