Legal Aid of East Tennessee’s (LAET) Family Stabilization Project continues to reap great benefit for the local community. The project focuses on the recently unemployed in the Chattanooga area to identify those who lost a job through no fault of their own, and yet were denied unemployment benefits. Funded by an anonymous $34,000 grant, the program provides legal services to help low-income residents appeal wrongful denials by the Tennessee Department of Employment Security. In its four-year history, the project has appealed and won 744 cases, bringing $2,465,471 into the Chattanooga economy. For more information on this program, contact LAET’s Chattanooga office at (423) 756-4013.

The Leaf Chronicle profiles attorney Ben Dean, candidate for Circuit Court Judge, Division 3 of the 19th Judicial District, which covers Montgomery and Robertson counties. The Memphis law graduate and first-time political candidate said his top goals if elected are to expand the Veterans Court program to the Circuit Court for Montgomery County and establish a Drug Court. The story is part of a series of candidate profiles published by the newspaper.

Hamilton County Circuit Court Judge W. Neil Thomas III today addressed his current medical leave, stating he was receiving treatment for alcoholism. “I've been working with a medical team to address my current health needs as a patient, with the Tennessee Legal Assistance Program to address the correct pathway regarding my role as judge, and with our family as husband, dad and granddad.” Thomas said. Judge Jeff Hollingsworth, Judge Jackie Bolton and Judge Marie Williams will be accepting his docket during his requested leave. The Chattanoogan has more.

Suzanne M. Lockert-Mash has announced her candidacy for the position of Circuit Court judge, Division 3 of the 23rd Judicial District, which is comprised of Cheatham, Dickson, Houston, Humphreys and Stewart counties. Lockert-Mash has 23 years' experience as an assistant district attorney, and has presided over grand jury cases in all five counties of the district. She has completed the Supreme Court Approved Rule 31 Family Mediation Studies at David Lipscomb University and was also selected to partake in a Pilot Mentor Training Program, which was designed to train experienced attorneys to mentor new attorneys. The Tennessean has more from the Ashland City Times.

A Memphis Flyer editorial states three Democratic Supreme Court justices up for retention on Aug. 7 — Chief Justice Gary Wade, Justice Cornelia Clark and Justice Sharon Lee — deserve the endorsement of Shelby County voters, regardless of party affiliation. The publication denounces Lt. Gov. Ron Ramsey’s plan to oust them from the state’s highest court, saying, “Interpreting the law is — or should be — non-political.” The editorial also says the justices have been "forced into a barnstorming tour of sorts to raise enough support and money to counter the well-funded purge efforts of Ramsey and his out-of-state allies."

Lorraine Helen Raymond died Tuesday (May 27) at her home, surrounded by family. She was 66. Raymond earned her law degree from Southern Illinois University and was admitted to practice before the Supreme Court. She practiced law in Chattanooga for over 25 years. Memorial services will be at 2 p.m. Friday at Ascension Church at 720 S. Germantown in East Ridge.

Lawyers across the state have begun fighting back against Lt. Gov. Ron Ramsey’s campaign to unseat Supreme Court Chief Justice Gary Wade, Justice Cornelia Clark and Justice Sharon Lee. The Nashville Bar Association Tuesday released a resolution supporting the judges’ retention in the Aug. 7 judicial election and urged its members to vote in favor to retain. On Wednesday, a group of attorneys including former Tennessee Supreme Court Chief Justice Frank Drowota and former Appeals Court Judge Lew Conner met with the Tennessean to spell out their efforts to combat Ramsey, who Drowota said was using misinformation to unfairly criticize the justices in an effort to stack the court with partisan judges. “To have politics come into the courts makes absolutely no sense,” Drowota said. “You don’t want a politicized court. You want a fair, impartial court.”

The Dickson County Election Commission must put Blake Kruse on the August 2014 ballot as candidate for General Sessions Judge, a Davidson County Chancery Court has ruled. Election officials refused to approve Kruse’s name on the ballot after he did not sign a section of his qualifying paperwork required to prove he’s a licensed lawyer. He was alerted to the oversight five minutes before the noon April 3 qualifying deadline, at which point he said he faxed his signature to the election office. In a lawsuit Kruse filed to prevent Elections Coordinator Mark Goins from “interfering,” Kruse claimed election staff OK'd the faxed material at first, but called back later and told him they needed an original copy of his signature. In its order, the court ruled that Kruse’s noncompliance was excused since he was misled by a mistake of an election official, and that his name should be added to the ballot. The Tennessean has more.

Law schools paid federal appeals judges anywhere from several thousand dollars for a lecture to nearly $278,000 for full-semester teaching in 2012 — at once buying prestige and giving students a direct line to some of the judiciary's top legal minds. Fifty-seven active and senior appellate court judges reported income from U.S. law schools, according to the most recent financial reports reviewed by the National Law Journal. Judges are "cost-effective" hires, Vanderbilt Law School professor Tracey George said. Skills that make a good judge often carry over to the classroom, she said, and law schools see returns if students build relationships that lead to clerkships and jobs. "Judges are appealing because not only do they have the special expertise … they have status," she said.

An editorial in the Mountain Press condemns Lt. Gov. Ron Ramsey’s campaign to unseat Chief Justice Gary Wade, Justice Cornelia Clark and/or Justice Sharon Lee. The newspaper notes that a concerted effort to unseat sitting judges simply to put in people of different party affiliation will only cause more petty partisanship in the state. “It's our feeling that partisan politics is best left to the politicians,” the editorial says. “Judges, especially those dealing with the philosophical decisions often made at appellate and Supreme Court level, should be left alone to fulfill their duties without concern as to what campaign donors or state political parties might think.” (Subscription required.)