Nashville attorneys John Ray Clemmons and J. Michael Clemons have launched Clemmons & Clemons, a civil litigation and general practice law firm located in downtown Nashville across from the Metro Courthouse. “Michael and I observed a gap in the local legal services industry," Clemmons said in a news release. "Young professionals and small-business owners need affordable, competent legal representation to kick-start and navigate their entrepreneurial endeavors and to protect their families." The Nashville Business Journal has more.

Rutherford County attorney Kevin Hodges announced yesterday that he will seek the Republican Party’s nomination for General Sessions Judge during the May 2014 primary. The seat is currently held by Judge Ben McFarlin. Hodges is a longtime civil servant and former Navy submariner. He served as a police officer in Rutherford County before earning his law degree. He now practices in civil, criminal, Social Security/disability and family law, the Daily News Journal reports.

Murfreesboro attorney Barry Tidwell yesterday announced his candidacy for General Sessions Judge, Part II, for Rutherford County. The post is currently held by Judge David Loughry, who has been a General Sessions Judge in Rutherford County since 1990, the Tennessean reports. “I believe that the duty of a judge, first and foremost, is to follow the law and constitution and to avoid at all cost legislating from the bench," Tidwell said in a press release. "Our government is divided into three distinct branches for a reason, and as General Sessions Judge I will apply the law without making the law."

The Nashville Sounds’ ownership group, MFP Baseball, has hired the government relations team at the Waller firm to lobby the Metro Council for a new 10,000-seat baseball stadium at the historic Sulpher Dell site. Waller attorney James Weaver also lobbied for the Sounds’ last attempt to build a new ballpark in 2006. The council approved that plan by a 28-9 vote, but it fell apart more than a year later amid spending squabbles between the AAA franchise (which was under different ownership at the time) and its development partner. The Tennessean has more.

The Tennessee Supreme Court has declined to review the case involving opposition to a Murfreesboro mosque. The mosque opened more than a year ago, but the plaintiffs say the legal questions it spawned remain unresolved. Their concern has been whether the Rutherford County Planning Commission provided adequate notice for the 2010 meeting where commissioners approved the mosque’s construction. The Tennessean reports that opponents are planning an appeal to the U.S. Supreme Court.

Knoxville lawyer and former TBA President Pamela Reeves is awaiting the U.S. Judiciary Committee’s next move after it postponed a meeting on Thursday. Reeves, who was nominated by President Barack Obama to succeed Thomas W. Phillips, appeared in Washington on Sept. 26 before the committee as part of the confirmation process. The committee was to decide whether to send her nomination on to the full Senate for consideration. No reason was given for the postponement. Knoxnews has more.

A task force assigned to examine the growing number of conservatorships in Davidson County has concluded there aren’t enough resources to provide adequate oversight and has proposed the creation of a publicly funded Office of the Public Guardian, which would replace the existing, vacant, single public guardian. In a 55-page report made public Friday, the panel cited an increasing caseload of conservatorships in the local court, with the number jumping from 636 in fiscal year 2009 to 1,782 in 2012. The task force was appointed by Probate Judge David “Randy” Kennedy in the wake of the abrupt resignation of the public guardian Jeanan Mills Stuart after a series of Tennessean reports on the fees Stuart charged for a variety of tasks.

Senator Bob Corker said today that he is joining in as a co-sponsor of a bill that he and 37 other Republican cosponsors say "would provide relief from Obamacare standards for current health care policies, giving Americans the freedom to keep their current health care plans if they so choose." The Chattanoogan has more.

All five of Hamilton County’s General Sessions Court Judges have confirmed their decision to seek re-election in 2014, the Chattanoogan reports. Judges Christie Sell, David Bales, Clarence Shattuck, Gary Starnes and Lila Statom will be running on the General Election Ballot next August.

The 19th Judicial District of Montgomery and Robertson counties has a dire need for two to three more circuit court judges to handle criminal, civil and domestic cases, according to the 2013 Tennessee Trial Courts Judicial Weighted Caseload study. In order to operate efficiently, the report says that the district needs at least 6.75 judges. The district needs 2.36 criminal judges, 2.52 judges dealing with domestic relations cases and 1.87 judges dealing with other civil matters to reach the goal. The issue isn’t new, the Leaf Chronicle reports; it resurfaced in March when judicial redistricting was being considered. The 19th Judicial District saw no changes, but the shortage of judges has continued to be apparent and reinforced with each study.