The Tennessee Justice Center will present a free one-hour CLE on the Affordable Care Act at the University of Tennessee College of Law next Wednesday at noon. Attorneys will be asked to take one pro bono referral after completing the class. For more information, visit the TJC website or call (615} 255-0331.

Memphis attorney James Clark Blackburn died yesterday (Oct. 23) at the age of 79. A graduate of the University of Arkansas School of Law, Blackburn moved to Memphis in 1959 where he practiced law for 40 years until his retirement. He was appointed a member of the U.S. Commission on Civil Rights by President John F. Kennedy and served on a special committee to investigate police brutality in Memphis after the assassination of Dr. Martin Luther King. Visitation will be 12:30 p.m. Saturday with service immediately following at 1:30 p.m. at Neshoba Unitarian Universalist Church in Cordova. In lieu of flowers, the family requests that donations be made to Arts Memphis, the Wolf River Conservancy, or a charity of the donor’s choice.

Chancellor Robert Corlew III is concerned that county leaders haven't secured enough land to build a future judicial building in Murfreesboro. During an interview with the Daily News Journal, Corlew questioned the county's purchase of land a block north of the existing Judicial Building to build a new one to serve the fast-growing county. Corlew said the county might need to divide up the courts with the criminal courts being at one location and perhaps the civil courts remaining in the existing location.

Three Hamilton County Circuit Court judges announced they will be seeking re-election: Judge Jeffrey Hollingsworth, Division 2, Judge Neil W. Thomas, Division 4, and Judge Marie L. Williams, Division 3. Judge Jackie Bolton announced earlier that she is not seeking re-election. The Chattanoogan has more.

Circuit Court Judge Keith Siskin, Division 3, has announced his candidacy for re-election, the Tennessean reports. Siskin serves in Division 3 of the Circuit Court for Rutherford and Cannon Counties. He was appointed by Gov. Bill Haslam in 2012 and received the highest rating among all applicants by the Rutherford/Cannon County Bar Association.

President Barack Obama has surpassed his predecessor, President George W. Bush, for nominations made to the federal bench at this point in his presidency, Gavel Grab reports. Obama has submitted 271 judicial nominations compared to 240 for Bush in a corresponding time period. Obama lags behind Bush for judges who have been confirmed however. The Senate has confirmed 76 percent of his nominees, putting 203 judges on the bench, compared to 90 percent and 215 judges for Bush.

Republican state Sen. Lamar Alexander told Fox News yesterday that he is going to introduce a bill next week to “force” the administration to provide answers about the Affordable Care Act rollout. The Chattanoogan reports that the proposal would require the administration to provide weekly reports to Congress andto  states on enrollment, efforts to resolve the site’s technological problems and information about the organizations that have contracted as navigators.

A jury in federal court found Bank of America and a former Countrywide Financial executive guilty of fraud, the Nashville Business Journal reports. Jurors concluded Bank of America, through its Countrywide Financial acquisition, had fraudulently sold mortgages to Fannie Mae and Freddie Mac as part of an internal program called "The Hustle."

Rep. Steve Cohen, D-Memphis, introduced legislation yesterday to expand the number of places where people could obtain the photo identification required for voting in Tennessee, the Tennessean reports. The bill, known as the Voter ID Accessibility Act, would amend the nation’s “motor voter law” by ensuring that state and federal offices that already let visitors register to vote would also tell them about state voter ID requirements and give them the chance to obtain a free ID. According to the Commercial Appeal, the legislation serves as an effort to circumvent the Supreme Court’s recent ruling that upholds the state’s Voter ID law and bans the use of Memphis library-issued photo identification cards.

Dana L. Nero of Nashville was suspended from the practice of law for three years, with 11 months and 29 days as an active suspension retroactive to June 11, 2012, and the remainder probated. A petition for discipline was filed last April alleging Nero advised a witness that they did not have to appear in court even though she had been subpoenaed, that she failed to communicate with a client and provide him with his file following his conviction, and that she accepted a fee for which she did not perform any service. Download the BPR notice.