Defense attorneys for former Knox County Criminal Court Judge Richard Baumgartner have filed a motion for “relief” from U.S. Magistrate Judge Clifford Shirley’s order to redact personal identifiable information within the entire Tennessee Bureau of Investigation report probing Baumgartner’s prescription drug abuse. Attorney Donald A. Bosch called the order onerous for his firm and suggested three alternatives including extending the deadline, removing the compact disc from public record or removing it and replacing it with an electronic copy of the 155 pages of the file that Judge Kerry Blackwell already released. Knoxnews has the story.

Administrators from law schools across Tennessee offer their thoughts on declining law school enrollment in the current issue of the Nashville Ledger. Among them is Vanderbilt Law Dean Chris Guthrie, who told the publication that smaller class sizes will benefit today’s 1Ls several years down the road. “We’ll begin to see in 2015 that law schools collectively will be graduating fewer students, so that will help with whatever market imbalance may be in place,” he said. Some believe, however, that focusing on the number of lawyers misses an important point. “For a long time there’s been this notion among lawyers that law schools were generating ‘too many’ law grads,” TBA Executive Director  Allan Ramsaur said. “Lawyers are not a commodity, and it’s not just a certain number you need. You need the top graduates from a number of law schools to round out a bar and have it meet the needs of society. There has never been too many good lawyers or good law graduates.”

NALS Association of Legal Professionals, Nashville chapter, will be hosting its first annual After Hours Silent Auction Thursday from 6 p.m. to 8 p.m. at Baker, Donelson, Bearman, Caldwell and Berkowitz PC, located at 211 Commerce St. in Nashville The event will feature country music artist Stephanie Quayle, who performed at this year’s CMA Fest. One hundred percent of the proceeds will be donated to the Legal Aid Society of Middle Tennessee and the Cumberlands. Click here to RSVP.

The Tennessee Supreme Court’s Access to Justice informational videos now include closed captioning to make legal guidance accessible to even more people, the Administrative Office of the Courts reports. The videos review topics for the general public for civil cases in general sessions courts — where many civil legal matters take place — such as contract disputes, debt, landlord issues and civil suits under $25,000.

Attorney General Eric H. Holder Jr. promised tough new restrictions on the seizure of journalists’ phone records and emails, backing off from the Obama’ administration’s aggressive use of secret court orders to obtain news media records as part of investigations into leaks of government secrets. Knoxnews reports that under the new rules, prosecutors in nearly all cases will be required to give news organizations advance notice before seeking records of contacts between reporters and their sources. That will give a news organization time to challenge the demand for records in court. Moreover, the Justice Department will be forbidden from using search warrants to obtain records from reporters except in cases where the reporter is the target of a criminal investigation not involving news gathering.

The Eighth Judicial District Attorney General’s office held an open house last week at its new location at 411 Blue Top Rd., the Claiborne Progress reports. Attorney General Lori Phillips-Jones and staff members were on hand to give tours, answer questions and serve refreshments to the public. “Our new office facility enhances the services we are able to provide to Claiborne and Union Counties.” Phillips-Jones said. “We’re excited by the opportunity to give these counties and our district the best we have to offer.”

The Pew Research Center released a poll last week asking Americans to rate 10 professions on their contributions to society. Results showed lawyers ranked last at number 10 with only 18 percent of respondents believing that lawyers contribute to society. The military ranked at number one, followed by teachers, medical doctors, scientists and engineers. The Nashville Business Journal has the story.

Despite healthy increases in revenues and profits in 2012, The Am Law 200 posted drops in both total pro bono hours and average hours per lawyer for the second year in a row. There were, however, two hints of a nascent rebound. After dropping 10.6 percent in 2011, The Am Law 200's average percentage of lawyers performing at least 20 hours of pro bono work rose 0.4 percent in 2012, to 44 percent.

Many law school students and graduates are frequently —but fuzzily— advised to “be entrepreneurial," "build your brand" and "think outside the box" while searching for a job within the legal sector. American University Washington College of Law professor Walter A. Effross instead complied a list of 10 specific and practical tips for maximizing one’s professional credentials, networks and career opportunities. The National Law Journal has the story.

As prison populations swell, the Justice Department is seeking sentencing changes that would keep tough penalties for violent and repeat drug offenses, but provide reduced or alternative sentences for less serious offenders, the Leaf Chronicle reports. Jonathan Wroblewski, director of the Justice Department’s policy and legislation office, wrote an annual report sent Thursday to the U.S. Sentencing Commission urging the independent agency to consider sentencing changes enacted at the state level as potential models for change at the federal level.