The Senate yesterday confirmed the first openly gay black man to a top-level federal judgeship, voting 98-0 to make Darrin Gayles a district court judge in Florida. Senators also confirmed Staci Yandle, an openly gay black woman, for a federal district judgeship in Illinois and Salvador Mendoza, a Hispanic man, for federal district judge in Washington state. President Obama has appointed more female and Hispanic federal judges than any previous president, WKRN News 2 reports. "These milestones are important not because these judges will consider cases differently, but because a judiciary that better resembles our nation instills even greater confidence in our justice system" and can serve as a future role model, presidential counsel Neil Eggleston wrote in a blog post. 

The Chattanooga Bar Foundation selected new Fellows during the Chattanooga Bar Association’s annual Law Day celebration last month. The Class of 2014 Fellows are Frederick L. “Rick” Hitchcock, Marc H. Harwell, Mark A. Ramsey, Thomas L. Wyatt, Hugh F. Sharber, Virginia C. Love, John C. Harrison and Barry L. Abbott. The Hamilton County Herald has the story.

The National Association of Legal Professionals (NALS) Nashville Chapter will host its annual After Hours Silent Auction on July 10, from 6 to 8 p.m. at Baker Donelson. One hundred percent of the proceeds will be donated to the Legal Aid Society of Middle Tennessee and the Cumberlands. To volunteer or for more information, visit www.nalsnashville.com. To donate an item, please mail it to Tiffany Burford Taylor, Silent Auction Chairman, at Waller, 511 Union St. Nashville, TN 37219.

George “Buck” Lewis, a shareholder in the Memphis office of Baker Donelson and a past TBA president, has been appointed by the American Bar Association to the ABA Standing Committee on Pro Bono and Public Service. The committee's mission is to ensure access to justice through the expansion and enhancement of the delivery of legal services to the underserved through volunteer efforts of legal professionals nationwide, the Memphis Business Journal reports.

Memphis lawyer William Clary Lunsford died Sunday (June 8). Born in 1939, Lunsford received his law degree from Vanderbilt University and worked at Pete Marrick in Little Rock, Arkansas, before practicing Tax and Estate Law in Memphis at the old Montidonico Firm. Later he was a partner at Laughlin Halle Law Firm. Funeral services were held Monday. In lieu of flowers, memorials may be sent to Grace-St. Luke's Church in Memphis, Grace Episcopal Church, P.O. Box 1791 in Anniston, Alabama, or to the charity of one's choice.

The 6th U.S. Circuit Court of Appeals will hear five arguments in gay marriage fights in Ohio, Michigan, Kentucky and Tennessee in a single session on Aug. 6, setting the stage for historic rulings in each state. Though the cases are unique, each deals with whether statewide gay marriage bans violate the Constitution. WKRN News 2 has more from the Associated Press.

Venus Michelle Stanek’s law license was transferred to disability inactive status on June 16. Stanek cannot practice law while on disability inactive status, and may return after reinstatement by the Tennessee Supreme Court upon showing of clear and convincing evidence that the disability has been removed and she is fit to resume. View the BPR notice.

The law license of K. Karl Spalvins was transferred to disability inactive status on June 16. Spalvins cannot practice law while on disability inactive status, and may return after reinstatement by the Tennessee Supreme Court upon showing of clear and convincing evidence that the disability has been removed and he is fit to resume. View the BPR notice.

A Tennessee man who was imprisoned for 11 years for a rape he maintained he didn’t commit was released after DNA evidence and a wavering victim led prosecutors in Marshall County to drop all charges, the Tennessean reports. The case is one of a growing number of exonerations across the country. The National Registry of Exonerations has documented nearly 1,400 cases that have been reversed when evidence — DNA, perjury, witness and victim recantations, bad eyewitness identifications or withheld evidence — surfaced showing that a defendant was innocent.