The U.S. District Court for the Western District of Tennessee has revised the local court rules and local patent rules. This revision has been drafted for adoption by the court. The proposed changes are available for review and public comment for a 30-day period beginning June 1. View the rule amendments here. 

All five members of the Tennessee Supreme Court and Administrative Office of the Courts staff held a luncheon in honor of retiring state Budget Office director Bill Bradley. Bradley headed the division for 14 years and has worked for the state for 39 years.

The Rutherford/Cannon County Bar Association hosts a free legal clinic at Greenhouse Ministries in Murfreesboro every Thursday at 3:30 p.m. The clinic is open to the public. The Legal Aid Society, in partnership with Higher Ground Worship Center, also offers clinics on every third Saturday of the month (excluding July and December). For more information about these clinics, contact Andrae Crismon at (615) 890-0905 acrismon@las.org.

An appeals court ruled this week that the Rutherford County Regional Planning Commission provided proper public notice before approving construction plans for the Islamic Center of Murfreesboro mosque in 2010, the Tennessean reports. The appeals court reversed Chancellor Robert Corlew III’s decision that the county’s public notice in The Murfreesboro Post about the meeting time, date and location without an agenda, didn’t reach enough people before planning commissioners approved the mosque plans. The plaintiffs’ attorney Joe Brandon said Thursday that the Tennessee Supreme Court will be asked to reverse the ruling.

In an opinion piece for the Millington Star, injury lawyer David Peel states that despite the besmirched images of lawyers in unseemly television ads, lawyers have done -- and still do -- good work. In particular, Peel (a self-professed “dog-lover”) recalls attorney and politician George Graham Vest, who is best known for his “a man’s best friend” closing arguments during a trial in which he represented a family that owned a dog who was killed. Vest won his case and Peel concludes that the verdict still resonates some 144 years later. 

The Nashville School of Law will host the 20th Annual Recognition Dinner to pay tribute to three local leaders who share a commitment to justice, dedication to legal education and a lifelong passion for service. The event will be held next Friday, June 7, at the Renaissance Hotel in Nashville. Cocktails will be served at 5:30 p.m. with dinner and remarks following at 7 p.m. Tickets are $125 per person.

The recently released ALM/PMA Annual Compensation Survey for Paralegals and Managers finds that pay for paralegals has increased by three percent even as law firms' charge for paralegal services dropped five percent. Of the nearly 300 law firms and legal departments surveyed, about 86 percent reported pay increases. The ABA Journal has the story.

The U.S. News and Word Reports data team complied a list ranking American law schools only by efficiency, the JD Journal reports. According to the team, the less a law school spends per student relative to their own ranking determines their efficiency. The University of Tennessee, ranked 61 on the overall U.S News law schools list, cracks the top 10 at number eight.

The surprise announcement that Court of Criminal Appeals Judge Joseph M. Tipton and Court of Appeals Judge Patricia J. Cottrell will step down next year highlights the legislature’s failure to extend the life of the Judicial Nominating Commission beyond June 30, leaving commissioners scrambling to nominate replacements. In an editorial detailing the problems now facing the judicial branch, the Knoxville News Sentinel editorial board tasks the legislature next year with fixing the mess it made.

Shelby County attorney Richard Mark Nummi received a public censure from the Board of Professional Responsibility for accepting employment as general counsel for a Tennessee company while not licensed to practice law in Tennessee. He did not apply for registration as in-house counsel within the time frame, resulting in the unauthorized practice of law. Download the BPR notice.