On Feb. 28, the Tennessee Supreme Court suspended Johnson County attorney Perry Lee Stout from the practice of law until further orders of the court pursuant to Tennessee Supreme Court Rule 9, Section 22.3. Stout entered a plea of guilty and was adjudged guilty to one felony count of criminal conspiracy to possess Schedule VI-controlled substances and one felony count of money laundering in violation of Tenn. Code. Ann. §§ 39-17-417, 39-12-103 and 39-14-903.

Senior U.S. District Judge Robert Leon Jordan died on Feb. 27 at age 89. Jordan served in the U.S. Army from 1954 until 1956. He earned a bachelor's degree in 1958 from the University of Tennessee and his law degree in 1960 from the University of Tennessee College of Law. Jordan began his law practice in Nashville with the firm of Goodpasture, Carpenter, Dale and Woods before becoming a partner in the law firm of Bryant, Price, Brandt, Jordan and Fox in Johnson City in 1971. In 1980, then-Gov. Lamar Alexander appointed him to Tennessee’s Chancery Court, and he was elected to a full term in 1982. Jordan was confirmed to the federal bench in 1988 and served as senior judge from 2001 until a few months ago. He served for several years as chairman of the planning committee of the Sixth Circuit Judicial Conference, which honored him in June 2001 for his leadership. At the Judicial Conference in 2004, Jordan was elected president of the Sixth Circuit District Judges Association. He was also instrumental in the formation of the Federal Bar Association of the Court’s Northeastern Division. In December 2014, he was presented the Judicial Excellence Award by the Knoxville Bar Association. Judge Jordan’s beloved wife of 67 years, Dottie, died at the age of 91 just over two months ago. Arrangements are pending.

This semester, Lincoln Memorial University's Duncan School of Law is offering the Police Law, Policy and Practices seminar for upper-level law students. The seminar is offered in collaboration with four other American Bar Association (ABA) Legal Education and Police Practices Consortium member law schools: Memphis, Penn State Dickinson, Quinnipiac and Roger Williams. Fifty students from all five law schools are enrolled in the course. Approximately 40 law enforcement officers are scheduled to participate, including several officers from the Knoxville Police Department.

Longtime University of Memphis Law Professor William Kratzke has announced he will retire at the end of this academic year. He has been on the faculty of the law school since 1979, serving in various roles including interim dean. Kratzke has taught tax law courses for several decades, as well as courses in trademarks, torts, civil procedure, world trade law, economic analysis and more. He was instrumental in helping the law school become an annual site for the IRS' Volunteer Income Tax Assistance (VITA) program. Read the full announcement.

A new episode of the TBA's BarBuzz podcast is available! Our guest this month is Ellen Hobbs Lyle, who is a mediator, arbitrator and neutral evaluator for JAMS-alternative dispute resolution. Prior to joining JAMS, Lyle had a distinguished 27-year career as a chancery court judge in Nashville for the 20th Judicial District of Tennessee. A native Nashvillian, Lyle has long-standing ties to and knowledge of the Nashville community. Lyle is joined for this episode by TBA's Executive Director Sheree Wright.

Tennessee House of Representatives Speaker Cameron Sexton, R-Crossville, and Lt. Gov. Randy McNally, R-Oak Ridge, each appointed five-member committees to consider removing Shelby County Criminal Court Division 9 Judge Melissa Boyd, which the Board of Judicial Conduct recommended in a Jan. 26 letter to the leaders. The Daily Memphian reports that removal is not an impeachment, which would begin with a vote by the House and proceed with a trial in the Senate. She would be removed with two-thirds votes by both the House and the Senate, but she would not be banned from running for reelection. Impeachment and conviction would prohibit her from running for office again with a two-thirds vote by the Senate.

Jason Autry, a key witness whose testimony helped convict Zachary Adams of Holly Bobo's murder in 2017, is now recanting his testimony. The Associated Press reports that Autry’s reversal was revealed in two petitions seeking post-conviction relief filed by Adams’ lawyer in Hardin County, where the trial took place. Adams, 39, wants his conviction thrown out based on Autry’s latest statements.

A bill sponsored by Sen. Brent Taylor, R-Eads, and Rep. John Gillespie, R-Memphis seeks transparency from progressive criminal-justice reform groups that work with local district attorneys. SB2561/HB2618 would require those groups, and other nonprofits that have contracts or memoranda of understanding with prosecutors, to disclose all of their donors from the previous calendar year, reports the Daily Memphian. “These restorative-justice outfits have an outsized role in our district attorney’s office," Taylor said in a committee hearing. They "are fundamentally changing how our judicial system operates in Shelby County.” Sen. Jeff Yarbro, D-Nashville, said he supported greater transparency for nonprofits working with governments but noted that the 2021 Personal Privacy Protection Act protects donors to all nonprofits. The act says state agencies cannot “require an entity exempt from federal income tax under § 501(c) of the Internal Revenue Code to provide the names or other personal information of persons who have provided financial or nonfinancial support to the exempt entity."

The American Bar Association (ABA) Standing Committee on Ethics and Professional Responsibility has released a formal opinion that provides guidance on how disqualification rules apply to both current and former government lawyers' representation of private clients under the ABA Model Rules of Professional Conduct. Formal Opinion 509 interprets Model Rule 1.11, which relates to the conflict-of-interest provisions covering confidential government information. The opinion states that the rule continues to apply "regardless of whether the lawyer seeking to represent the private client has now left government employ or office or maintains a private law practice (e.g., a part-time practice) while still in government employ or office."

Join your colleagues March 6 at noon CST for a free TBA webinar that will address fundamental rules and best practices for ensuring that an appellate record is complete and suitable for the appellate courts in Tennessee. Attendees will learn about preserving issues for appeal, making sure crucial evidence as well as narrative background facts are properly admitted, and designating matters for inclusion in the appellate record. Learn more and register here.