The County Officials Association of Tennessee has named Hamilton County Juvenile Court Clerk Gary Behler its 2023 State Court Clerk of the Year, reports the Hamilton County Herald. Behler has served as the juvenile court clerk in Hamilton County since his 2010 election. In 2018, the County Technical Assistance Service recognized Behler’s office as the first fully electronic state court clerk’s office in Tennessee. In addition, the court’s electronic filing system, implemented in 2022, was one of the first to serve juvenile courts in Tennessee. Behler is a certified public administrator as well as a certified county financial officer and he has served as an adjunct professor of criminal justice at the University of Tennessee at Chattanooga for 33 years.

Lincoln Memorial University (LMU) Duncan School of Law Vice President and Dean Matt Lyon announced the promotion of Hesper Capps to director of student services earlier this month. Capps first joined LMU in 2014 with the Paul V. Hamilton School of Arts, Humanity and Social Sciences and later joined the staff of Duncan Law School in 2017. In her new position, Capps will provide support to students in all facets of their law school experience. “Hesper’s counseling background and years of experience … make her the perfect choice for this new position,” said Lyon. Read the full announcement.

New York's law firms have often been bellwethers for the U.S. legal industry, setting expectations in areas such as salaries and sometimes bearing the brunt of downturns. Reuters reports on several year-end trends including the rise in law firm mergers (41 in 2023), the move away from single-tier partnerships and the closing of Stroock & Stroock & Lavan, founded in 1876.

A new court filing in one of two federal lawsuits against accused Tennessee rapist and escaped inmate Sean Williams claims officers with the Johnson City Police Department took hundreds of thousands of dollars in cash from Williams while refusing to take meaningful steps to "stop his sexually predatory behavior," reports News Channel 9. The lawsuit also claims officers engaged in a pattern of discriminatory conduct toward women who reported the alleged crimes. Williams is facing multiple state and federal charges related to alleged drug trafficking and sex crimes against woman and children.

One of the most important responsibilities of the TBA is to advocate for the legal profession and our system of justice with Tennessee lawmakers. TBA’s Government Affairs team is committed to affect positive change on behalf of Tennessee attorneys when the 2024 session of the 113th General Assembly reconvenes on Jan. 9, and we need your help! Please consider joining TBA’s Grassroots Advocacy efforts to receive action alerts as relevant policy issues arise, including indigent representation. Respond to this survey to ensure that your voice is heard.

Retired federal appeals court judge Bernice Donald will serve as the neutral mediator in a civil lawsuit brought by Tyre Nichols’ family and estate against the city of Memphis, Memphis Police Chief Cerelyn “C.J.” Davis and other former city personnel implicated in his death. The Daily Memphian reported today that the mediation is scheduled to begin on Feb. 9, 2024. City officials, as well as former police officers Preston Hemphill and DeWayne Smith and former Memphis Fire Department personnel Robert Long, JaMichael Sandridge and Michele Whitaker — none of whom were charged criminally — have agreed to Donald’s appointment. Five former police officers who were charged in Nichols' death — Tadarrius Bean, Demetrius Haley, Emmitt Martin III, Desmond Mills Jr. and Justin Smith — have not said if they will participate, but likely will not take part until after their criminal cases are resolved. The civil suit alleges that the city and the police chief created an environment that fostered a culture that led to Nichols’ beating and death. The city says the death was the result of five rogue officers. Donald retired from the U.S. Sixth Circuit Court of Appeals last January. She was appointed to the court in 2011 after serving as a federal judge in Tennessee’s Western District.

A trial date of March 24, 2025, has been set in a civil wrongful death lawsuit filed by the widow of an inmate who died at the Shelby County Jail last year, Daily Memphian reports. The federal suit alleges that Shelby County Sheriff Floyd Bonner Jr., chief jailer Kirk Fields and the Shelby County government were complicit in the deadly beating of Gershun Freeman and seeks $100 million in damages. Freeman died at the jail Oct. 5, 2022, after being beaten by corrections officers. Nine of the officers are facing criminal charges for their alleged roles in his death.

The Washington County Bar Association has announced new officers for 2024. They are: President Thomas J. Smith, President-elect Jerome Cochran and Treasurer Jesse J. Campbell with the Garza Law Firm; and Vice President Grace Studer and Secretary LaRae Ganger with Spurrell, Studer & Ganger. Hunter Shepard with Herrin Booze & McPeak Attorneys at Law moves into the immediate past president spot. All are in Johnson City. Board members elected for the new year are: Nora Koffman, Solange McDaniel and Hunter Shepard. Congratulations to all.

Information about fall 2023 admissions and other matters reported by law schools to the ABA Section of Legal Education and Admissions to the Bar is now publicly available. Data on admissions, tuition, living costs, financial aid, class and faculty demographics is summarized and searchable. Bar passage rates and employment reports will be released separately next year in March and April, respectively. Read more in a news release from the organization.

A U.S. delegation is meeting with Mexico’s president today in an attempt to have Mexico do more to limit a surge of migrants at the southwestern border, the Associated Press reports. Mexican President Andrés Manuel López Obrador has said he is willing to help, but wants to see progress in U.S. relations with Cuba and Venezuela, two of the top sources of migrants, and more aid for the region. The number of people apprehended at the southern border exceeded two million in both 2022 and 2023. In September alone, the U.S. Border Patrol apprehended more than 200,000 migrants crossing the border and a new caravan of some 7,000 people recently left southern Mexico bound for the U.S. border. The BBC has more on that story.