A day before he is to be sworn in, incoming Davidson County District Attorney General Glenn Funk announced his first four prosecutor hires, the Tennessean reports. Derry Harper, Ed Ryan, Rebecca Miller Warfield and Vince Wyatt will serve as assistant district attorney generals. True to his campaign vow to make the office more diverse to better reflect the community, two of the four hires are black. A fifth hire, Funk's new spokesperson Dorinda Carter, is also black.

The U.S. House of Representatives has hired BakerHostetler to sue President Obama for allegedly overstepping his powers by taking executive actions to revise the health-care law, the ABA Journal reports. The lead lawyer named in the contract is BakerHostetler partner David Rivkin, who outlined the legal theory supporting a lawsuit in a Wall Street Journal op-ed (subscription required) published on July 30. 

Vanderbilt University Law School professor Harold G. (Hal) Maier died Aug. 24 at the age of 77. Maier earned both his undergraduate and law degrees at the University of Cincinnati, graduating from law school Order of the Coif. He was an internationally recognized authority on the application of United States regulatory legislation to foreign business activity. Maier founded the student-edited Vanderbilt Journal of Transnational Law in 1967 and served as its faculty adviser until his retirement in 2006. A family-only memorial service for Maier was held in Nashville. In lieu of flowers, the family has asked that contributions be directed to Vanderbilt University Law School.

Federal attorneys say they are making progress in tackling crime on tribal lands, but admit to continuing problems. A report released yesterday by the Department of Justice shows improvements in investigations and prosecutions since a 5-year-old study was critical of the agency for turning its back on reservatin crime. The report shows 2,542 cases were filed in Indian Country in the 2013 fiscal year, a 34 percent increase from when the federal government began its tribal justice initiative in 2009. More cases were filed in 2012, but officials say a hiring freeze and budget limitations cut in to the progress being made.  "I feel like we're making progress, but these problems are centuries in the making," U.S. attorney for North Dakota Timothy Purdon told the Associated Press. "We're not going to solve this at DOJ in three years with a new program." 

A Knoxville great-grandmother says she was wrongfully arrested after another mix-up in the Knox County Criminal Court Clerk's office, Knoxnews reports. Virginia Kruithoff was arrested for violation of probation and spent Saturday afternoon to early Sunday morning behind bars. Kruithoff was charged with a misdemeanor in 2012 for a $32 theft charge from Walmart. Records show she paid all her court fees and restitution costs by February 26, 2013, over a year and a half ago. However, on the clerk's office paperwork that the prosecutors saw, not all the payments are shown to have been made. Due to this error, she was listed as having to appear in court. When she showed the court Tuesday she had paid, her $1,500 bond payment was refunded and her violation of probation was dismissed.

Franklin city staff and elected officials wished Franklin City Judge Tom Taylor farewell at a reception held yesterday following his successful election as Williamson County General Sessions Judge, Division II. A lifelong Williamson Countian, Taylor will take the oath of office at the county's judicial center Thursday afternoon at 3 p.m. for his new position. "It's been a great pleasure to serve this city for this long." Taylor told the crowd. The Williamson County Herald has more.

Associate professor Joy Radice is using a new, interactive approach to teach criminal law at the University of Tennessee College of Law. Radice recruited actors from UT’s Department of Theatre to make a fictitious criminal case come to life for her first-year students. College of Law Dean Douglas Blaze said he expects Radice's experiment will prompt other law instructors to try innovative teaching techniques, including using actors in the classroom. "Our goal is to connect theory with practice, to help our students understand how the law actually works. Professor Radice's innovative use of experiential learning methods in the first year does just that," Blaze said. "She has helped lead a discussion at the law school about how we might expand those methods across the first-year curriculum."

Nashville lawyer and civil rights defender George E. Barrett, a founding partner of Barrett Johnston Martin & Garrison, died yesterday (Aug. 26). He was 86. After graduating from Vanderbilt University Law School in 1957, Barrett took on authority figures with an attitude of righteous indignation whenever he thought they were abusing power. He routinely called himself “Citizen Barrett.” Barrett represented Nashville college students who fought for integration in the early 1960s, a rare choice for a white attorney at that time. One of his biggest cases was Geier v. Tennessee, a higher education desegregation lawsuit that lasted more than 30 years. The settlement in 2001 aimed to eliminate the final remnants of segregation in the state's colleges and universities by making the schools more attractive to students of all races. The funeral Mass will be held Saturday at  11 a.m. at Cathedral of the Incarnation in Nashville. The Tennessean, Nashville Public Radio and the Nashville Scene have more on Barrett's life and legacy.

The Commercial Appeal today offered an early look at what Shelby County voters will see on their ballots in the Nov. 7 general election. There are 11 competitive state and federal races, including the gubernatorial race between Democrat Charlie Brown and Republican incumbent Bill Halsam. Voters will also decide on Amendments 1, 2, 3 and 4.

The Governor’s Commission for Judicial Appointments is now accepting applications for the chancellor vacancy in the 30th Judicial District Chancery Court in Shelby County. The vacancy has been created by the appointment of Chancellor Kenny Armstrong to the Tennessee Court of Appeals, effective Sept. 1. For more information and the application, contact the Administrative Office of the Courts.