The Sixth Circuit Judicial Council has extended the deadline to apply for Bankruptcy Judge for the Eastern District of Tennessee at Chattanooga. The position will become vacant upon the retirement of U.S. Bankruptcy Judge John C. Cook effective March 31, 2015. Applications must be received by July 8.

More than 20 years ago, Nashville attorney Alan Turk was hired to represent Miami-based rap group 2 Live Crew in what became a pivotal copyright infringement lawsuit with ramifications for everything from "Saturday Night Live" to modern hip-hop. The group was sued for sampling Roy Orbison’s song “Oh, Pretty Woman” without his permission for a rap parody. Turk would go down as the lead counsel on a case that went to the U.S. Supreme Court and set the standard for protecting works of parody under the fair-use clause in the federal copyright law. The Tennessean has more on this landmark case.

James Strong Powell was disbarred on June 5 based upon his conviction of aggravated perjury. The Board of Professional Responsibility instituted a formal proceeding to determine the extent of final discipline to be imposed, to which Powell did not respond. View the BPR notice.

The Legal Aid Society of Middle Tennessee and the Cumberlands has received a $50,000 AmeriCorps Planning grant from the Corporation for National and Community Service. According to a press release, Legal Aid will use the award to plan a capacity building program using AmeriCorps service members as liaisons for its Volunteer Lawyers Program, which engages the private bar to provide pro bono legal services across 48 counties in Middle Tennessee and the Cumberland Plateau.

The Legal Aid Society today announced its summer schedule for the People’s Law School, a free program that provides an overview of legal issues that a typical person might face. Taught by Legal Aid Society attorneys and volunteer attorneys in Nashville, the weekly, one-hour classes will be held from 6 to 7 p.m. on Thursdays at Cohn Learning Center, 4805 Park Ave. and at Wright Middle School, 180 Mccall St. For more information, visit the Nashville Community Education Commission website.

Chambliss, Bahner & Stophel shareholder Dana Perry has been appointed to the Board of Directors for Meritas, a global alliance of independent business law firms. The board is comprised of 21 lawyers from its member firms around the world. Perry will serve a three-year term, during which time she will also serve on the group's Finance Committee. The Hamilton County Herald has more.

Kelly Jackson Smith has announced her candidacy for public defender in the 23rd Judicial District, the Tennessean reports. Smith has extensive courtroom and jury trial experience; both as an assistant district attorney general and as a private attorney. As a representative of the 23rd Judicial District, the position of public defender serves Cheatham, Dickson, Houston, Humphreys and Stewart counties.

Fletcher Whaley Long of Clarksville was publically censured on June 4. The Board of Professional Responsibility alleged Long committed ethical misconduct for failure to deposit a fee into his trust account despite a written agreement to do so, failure to provide an accounting of fees and failure to refund unearned fees. Long appealed the disciplinary sanction, which was affirmed by the Chancery Court and Tennessee Supreme Court. View the BPR notice.

In an opinion published today by Knoxnews, a Strawberry Plains resident says that Lt. Gov. Ron Ramsey, Sen. Mike Bell and Sen. Randy McNally need to stay out of the judicial system. In their effort to defeat Supreme Court Chief Justice Gary Wade, Justice Cornelia Clark and Justice Sharon Lee in order to create a Republican supermajority, they are attempting to undermine the foundational principal of three coequal branches of government, the author writes. “The executive and judicial branches are supposed to have power that the senators don’t control. That is by design — wise design.” Subscription required.

The Association for Women Attorneys (AWA) and the Informed Voters Project are co-sponsoring a Judicial Forum on June 26 from 5 to 7 p.m. at the Benjamin L. Hooks Central Library in Memphis. The purpose of this event will be to provide a forum for Shelby County judicial candidates to speak directly to voters and to provide voters with information about the judicial election process prior to Election Day on Aug. 7.