Gov. Bill Haslam says he was surprised there were only five people to apply for the Tennessee Supreme Court seat being vacated by retiring Justice Janice Holden. Speaking to reporters, Haslam said he had no explanation for the small number of candidates. TBA Executive Director Allan Ramsaur offered one theory. He told the Chattanooga Times Free Press that people may have been discouraged from applying by uncertainty surrounding the future of the judicial selection system. Voters next year will approve or reject a constitutional amendment to change the current merit-based selection process to one where the governor nominates appellate court judges and the legislature votes on confirmation.

UT Medical Group Inc. is considering bankruptcy after a Memphis jury found that delays in performing an urgently needed cesarean section resulted in a baby developing severe brain damage and cerebral palsy, and awarded a $33.5 million verdict against obstetrician Gary Lipscomb and UTMG. Through a statement delivered exclusively to the Memphis Business Journal, UTMG said the case remains subject to review by the appellate courts and settlement negotiations are ongoing. However, the verdict’s unusually high value has compelled the UTMG board to consider seeking protection through bankruptcy court.

Nominations are open for the 11th annual Bobby Dunavant Public Servant Awards. Each year, one elected official and one non-elected official are given the award in honor of Dunavant, who served 21 years as probate court clerk and as a county government employee before being elected to office. A committee of Rotary East members and Dunavant’s family are accepting nominations until noon Jan. 17 via the Rotary website. The Memphis Daily News has more.

Ryan Loskarn, Sen. Lamar Alexander’s former chief of staff until this week, has been charged with felony possession and distribution of child pornography, the Tennessean reports. The possession charge carries a potential maximum sentence of 10 years in prison. The distribution charge carries a mandatory minimum sentence of 5 years in prison and a maximum of 20 years. Loskarn is being held by the U.S. marshal as a flight risk and danger to the community, Justice Department officials said.

Col. Paul J McClure died Nov. 6 at the age of 93. Funeral services for the Vietnam War veteran and longtime Memphis attorney were held last Friday at the Colonial Park United Methodist Church. In 2008, McClure was featured in the December issue of the Tennessee Bar Journal for his commitment to pro bono work with low-income seniors after retiring from legal practice. "You just get satisfaction from trying to help people, hopefully helping," he said. "That's about all there is to it. I am appreciative to [the nursing homes] to let me come. It gives me something to do — otherwise I'd be taking naps or raking leaves."

Winchester Police Chief Dennis Young told the Chattanooga Times Free Press that he plans to continue enforcing the city’s ordinance requiring a doctor’s prescription for pseudoephedrine-based cold medications, despite an opinion from state Attorney General Robert Cooper saying that the local measure is in conflict with state law. Winchester is among 18 towns and cities that have enacted ordinances since June in an effort to combat growing methamphetamine abuse in their communities. Frustrated law enforcement officials say the local anti-meth moves are necessary because of what they argue are inadequate efforts by the state legislature to address the problem.

Knox County General Sessions Court supervisor April Mayes resigned late Tuesday afternoon, Knoxnews reports. Mayes oversaw staff blamed in emails for chronic mistakes that led to, among other things, wrongful arrests and illegal detentions. Controversy erupted when the emails were made public in October. Judges had been complaining of systemic errors and meeting over the past several months to try to resolve them.

Hamilton County Chancery Court Clerk and Master Lee Akers says he will be retiring in early September. Akers has served in the position since 1996. Potential appointees can submit resumes to him beginning in April, with interviews to follow in May. The Chattanoogan has more.

The Tennessee Supreme Court has rescheduled the execution of convicted murderer Billy Ray Irick from Jan. 15 to Oct. 7 because of new legal challenges to the way Tennessee plans to put the condemned to death. According to the Tennessean, all executions had been put on hold for at least two years because a key lethal injection drug, sodium thiopental, became unavailable. The court said on Tuesday that legal challenges questioning the use of the new drug, pentobarbital, must be answered before it can be used in an execution.

Michael Scott Collins of Sumner County was suspended from the practice of law on Dec. 10 for receiving a $27,500 retainer fee to represent a client in a post-divorce criminal contempt proceeding and failing to deposit the retainer into his trust account. Collins also failed to provide agreed upon legal services to his clients, failed to communicate timely with his clients regarding the status of their respective cases and misled his clients regarding the status and progress of their respective cases. The Board of Professional Responsibility found the retainer fees were unreasonable. In addition, the board specifically found Collins charged the client $10,000 to become a member of his “professional family” and that said charge was unrelated to any legal services and constituted an improper and unreasonable fee. View or download the BPR notice.