Attorneys Shannon Garrison and Carol Ann Barron say they plan to run for Rhea County General Sessions Court Judge, hoping to replace Judge James W. McKenzie, who is not seeking re-election. Candidates have until February to submit qualifying paperwork for the August 2014 general election. The Chattanooga Times Free Press has the story.

More than 60 immigrants were assisted by 12 lawyers in filing naturalization petitions Saturday during “Become a Citizen Now” workshops sponsored by the Tennessee Immigrant and Refugee Rights Coalition, Legal Aid Society and the mayor’s New Americans Advisory Council. Forty volunteers — including a dozen law students from Vanderbilt University Law School — assisted applicants in completing forms, with experienced attorneys responsible for the screening of applicants for their eligibility for naturalization and for final review of the completed forms. Mayor Karl Dean attended the event and spoke to participants filing for citizenship, saying: “You make our city a better place, a richer place. The city is proud of you.”

A complaint from the National Fair Housing Alliance  alleges Bank of America discriminated against minority neighborhoods and property owners in Memphis in the way it handled bank-owned properties. The complaint, filed with the Department of Housing and Urban Development, charges that Bank of America failed to maintain and market properties in minority neighborhoods, while giving special treatment to its homes in predominantly white neighborhoods. Bank of America has denied the allegations, the Memphis Daily News reports.

Mayor Karl Dean yesterday released the results of a wide-ranging report on how Nashville responds to domestic violence, recommending dozens of changes to tackle the problem. The report — which Dean ordered more than two years ago — offers nine central recommendations designed to improve how the city responds to domestic violence, protects and provides justice for victims and holds abusers accountable. The Tennessean has more.

In a filing yesterday, American Airlines and US Airways have asked a federal court to order the Department of Justice to divulge the names of the people the government interviewed before it sued to block the airlines merger and what they revealed. According to Memphis Daily News, the airlines claim that turning over the names would reveal the thinking of antitrust lawyers who filed the lawsuit against the merger. The DOJ declined to comment. The case is schedule to go to trial Nov. 25.

As Congress nears a showdown on government spending and the Obama administration's health care law, the federal judiciary and Department of Justice are preparing for a possible government shutdown, the Blog of the Legal Times reports. If Congress and the White House don't continue government funding by Oct. 1, federal courts could face widespread furloughs that will worsen an already "grave judicial crisis" caused by $350 million in budget cuts earlier this year, according to a memo the Administrative Office of the U.S. Courts sent Tuesday.

Tennessee CASA today presented 13th Judicial District Attorney General Randy York with its 2013 Champion for Children Award. York, who serves Clay, Cumberland, DeKalb, Overton, Pickett, Putnam and White counties, was recognized for his use of a state law allowing the seizure of assets following conviction for a sex crime against minors. Funding from the seizures goes to child abuse prevention organizations, including CASA. It also presented its CASA Advocate of the Year Award to the TBA’s Stacey Shrader Joslin for her work as director of the Young Lawyers Division and a contributing writer to the association’s daily newsletter TBA Today. The TBA YLD has long supported the work of CASA through a variety of initiatives, and each year recognizes an outstanding volunteer in the state.

Attorneys with Barrett Johnston LLC, including civil rights lawyer George Barrett and former U.S. Attorney Jerry Martin, have filed a lawsuit against Vanderbilt University Medical Center, claiming the hospital violated the WARN Act when it terminated up to 300 workers in July without the federally mandated 60 days notice, the Tennessean reports. The lawsuit says, “Although the letters provided to the July 2013 group of terminated employees referenced ‘performance’ as part of the basis for the terminations, this was merely a ruse designed by the defendant to intentionally avoid the WARN Act's obligation and requirements.” The 275 workers let go yesterday were given 60 days notice, the newspaper reports.

Fred Rooney is director of the Touro College law schools’ International Center for Post-Graduate Development and Justice, a New York-based national clearinghouse for the law firm incubator and legal residency movement. Rooney works to support recent graduates developing small and solo firms. Much like the incubator recently established in Memphis, lawyers pay rent for shared office space and training in business skills and professional development. The ABA Journal has more.

The ABA Task Force on Legal Education has recommended sweeping changes to how law students prepare to become lawyers, MLive reports. In a draft report issued today, the task force calls for serious re-engineering of how law schools are priced and financed. The concept of decreasing law school from three years to two in order to reduce student loan debt is currently a hot-button topic of discussion among the legal education sector, but the report does not engage the idea or suggest specific changes to the law school funding model. A final report will be issued after additional discussion about the draft recommendations.