The Catholic Diocese of Nashville and other faith-based groups won their fight to be exempt from having to provide contraception coverage for workers under new rules released today by the Obama administration. The Tennessean states that the new rules expand the exemption for religious groups to include religious hospitals, charities and schools.

Vanessa Coleman was sentenced to 35 years in prison for the 2007 torture-slayings of Channon Christian and Christopher Newsom, Knoxnews reports. In November, a jury found her guilty of facilitating the kidnapping, rapes, and death of Christian. Coleman was tried and found guilty in May 2010, but was granted a new trial in the wake of a pill scandal involving former judge Richard Baumgartner who presided over the original proceedings.

Widower Wayne Reed filed a lawsuit against the Saint Thomas Outpatient Neurosurgery Center and its owners after his wife died in last year’s meningitis outbreak from tainted injections she received at the clinic. The Nashville Ledger reports that the lawsuit also challenges caps on medical malpractice awards in a new state law, and seeks $12.5 million in compulsory damages. Reed is disabled and the suit claims his wife was his primary caregiver.

Nashville appellate court clerk Janice Rawls will retire at the end of March after 25 years of service, the court announced Thursday. Rawles has served as chief deputy clerk since 1999, and has been with the clerk’s office since 1987.

On Jan. 24, Paul Forrest Craig received a public censure from the Board of Professional Responsibility for practicing law in Mississippi without a license. Download the BPR notice.

Angela Joy Hopson of Jackson was suspended from the practice of law on Jan. 30 for one year; however, the entire suspension is probated subject to certain conditions. Hopson must engage a practice monitor for the period of her probation, comply with the Tennessee Lawyers Assistance Programs and pay the Board of Professional Responsibility’s costs and expenses within 90 days. In the first complaint, Hopson failed to properly communicate with her client. In the second, she was found in contempt for her failure to file a timely brief and to follow the prior orders of the court regarding the filing of a status report. Download the BPR notice.

Johnna Bailey began working as immigration attorney for the Community Legal Center (CLC) in January, an ideal job for her given her nonprofit background. “It’s what I dreamed of returning to after law school,” she told the Memphis Daily News. After college, Bailey worked as a program coordinator for the family literacy program at a refugee resettlement agency in Chicago. That inspired her to go to law school where she then served as an associate in a private immigration group. Now at the CLC, Bailey represents clients and trains lawyers to take on pro bono immigration cases. She said the Memphis legal community has been willing and eager to help when called.

Knoxville attorney A. Thomas Monceret died yesterday (Jan. 30) after a brief illness at the age of 66. A graduate of the University of Tennessee College of Law, Monceret was a United States Marine Corps veteran who served in the Vietnam War. Visitation will be Friday from 10 a.m. to 2 p.m. at Greenhill Funeral Home, with the funeral to follow at 2 p.m. 

U.S. District Judge Sarah Vance of New Orleans approved a plea deal in which BP agreed to pay $4 billion to resolve criminal charges regarding the 2010 Gulf Coast oil spill, despite emotional testimony and letters from dozens of people who objected to the deal. The guilty plea includes 11 counts of manslaughter for the deaths of several workers. The ABA Journal reports that BP still may face pollution fines of up to $21 billion as litigation continues over whether spilled oil collected in the cleanup efforts should count toward the barrel count used to assess Clean Water Act fines.

Law school applications have decreased 20 percent from last year and 38 percent from 2010, due in part to increased concerns over soaring tuition, student loan debt, and diminishing employment prospects upon graduation, the New York Times reports. The number of students matriculating in 2013 is estimated to be about 378,000, the lowest since 1977. Faced with such declining numbers, many law schools are planning cutbacks, staff layoffs and buyouts, and accepting students who before they would not have admitted.