The TBA Young Lawyers Division will launch its inaugural statewide Diversity Law Week March 11-16 and is looking for attorneys and judges to provide high school students with a unique opportunity to learn firsthand from professionals. Students will shadow legal professionals during the week as well as engage in an immersive experience at a college or law school campus and observe a court proceeding. The goal of the program is to give high school students early exposure to the legal world and resources for a career in law. Those interested in volunteering to help the program are asked to register online. Contact TBA Young Lawyers Division & Law Student Development Coordinator Laura Labenberg with any questions.

Tennessee Gov. Bill Lee today announced two judicial appointments to state courts. Murfreesboro lawyer Terry Fann has been named to the 16th Judicial District Circuit Court. An attorney at Waldron, Fann & Parsley, Fann earned his law degree from the University of Memphis School of Law. The vacancy on the court, which serves Rutherford and Cannon counties, was due to the retirement of Judge J. Mark Rogers. In addition, Brentwood lawyer Erin Nations has been named to the 21st Judicial District Circuit Court. Nations currently serves as an attorney at Beal, Nations & Crutcher. She earned her law degree from the Nashville School of Law. The vacancy on this court, which serves Williamson County, was due to the retirement of Judge Michael W. Binkley.

The manhunt continues for Johnson City businessman Sean Williams, who is accused of sexually assaulting more than 50 unconscious women and two young children. While being transported to a federal court appearance in Greeneville on child rape charges, Williams escaped and remains a fugitive. His apprehension is now a top priority for federal law enforcement, WJHL reports. Willams’ arrest is at the center of multiple lawsuits, including one from a former federal prosecutor who claims police failed to investigate him for years and one from a group of alleged victims who says police knowingly failed to investigate multiple complaints and dissuaded women from pursuing charges. The city is also dealing with a “scathing audit” from an outside auditing firm that “exposed systemic failures in the way police investigated sexual assaults,” according to the Tennessean, which has released a lengthy report on the case.

Tennessee family law attorney Anne Hamer has released a new book “Fearless Freedom, A Divorced Lawyer’s Guide to Divorce.” As a seasoned divorce attorney who has navigated the legal complexities and emotional turbulence of divorce both professionally and personally, Hamer says she wrote the book as a guide for readers to embrace change, face the challenges of divorce with courage and resilience, and achieve empowerment in their lives. Hamer currently practices law in Memphis and Nashville. She graduated from University of Tennessee at Knoxville and the New York University School of Law in 1996. Read more in a release. Contact Hamer at 901-818-8600, 615-723-5650 or through her website.

Knoxville lawyer and former TBA President Tasha Blakney has been named the next executive director of the Knoxville Bar Association (KBA), the association announced today. She will join the KBA as its full-time director in mid-January, following the retirement of long-time director Marsha Watson, who served in the role for more than 30 years. Blakney has practiced law in Knoxville since graduating from the University of Tennessee College of Law in 1999. She is a co-founding member of the law firm of Eldridge & Blakney PC, where she has practiced as a litigator for more than 20 years. She has served as president of the KBA and in leadership positions with other local, state and national bar associations. She was TBA’s 143rd president from 2022 to 2023 and currently serves on the TBA Board of Governors as immediate past president. Blakney said she looks “forward to continuing the KBA’s long legacy of service to the bar and the community.” Read more in a release from the group.

The White House recently sent a supplemental funding request to Congress that includes $21 million in disaster relief funds for the Legal Services Corporation (LSC). The agency reports this is the first time that such funding has been included in a disaster relief request. Following natural disasters, the LSC works with state partners to provide resources and information vital for communities to respond and recover. Among its initiatives, the agency hosts a Disaster Task Force and recently launched a new website designed to provide real-time disaster risk assessments, details on recent disasters, recovery guidance, connections to local aid organizations and comprehensive information for each disaster type. The group also recently featured a conversation about the role civil legal aid plays in recovery efforts in its podcast “Talk Justice.”

Earlier this week, Tennessee Attorney General Jonathan Skrmetti joined 25 other state attorneys general in sending a letter to Congress requesting the passage of H.R. 1337, the Immigration Enforcement Partnership Act of 2023. If signed into law, the bill would grant state attorneys general the authority to enforce certain federal immigration laws. Read more about the issue or read the letter.

Four of the 15 largest law firms in Nashville are vying to represent the newly reinstated airport board, Nashville Business Journal reports. They are: Adams and Reese LLP; Butler Snow; Gullett Sanford Robinson & Martin PLLC; and Neal & Harwell PLC. The board was set to meet today and consider the bids. While the board’s bylaws provide for a general counsel, members have argued they need outside counsel following the state’s attempt to appoint its own members to oversee the Nashville International Airport and the smaller John C. Tune Airport. Read more about the firms seeking to fill the role.

New lawyers were sworn in this week by the Tennessee Supreme Court at the Memphis City Hall and by Justice Roger Page at the Jackson Supreme Court Building. TBA Young Lawyers Division members were on hand to welcome the new lawyers and answers questions about the TBA. See photos from the Memphis and Jackson ceremonies.

A Middle Tennessee lawyer is facing charges after police say she allegedly destroyed evidence for a client, reports the Tennessean. Sumner County criminal defense lawyer Jocelyn Mims was indicted by a grand jury Wednesday after Hendersonville Police said Mims found and then deleted pornographic images of children from her client's cell phone. Mims, who was being held at the Sumner County jail Friday on an $80,000 bond has been charged with tampering with evidence, making false reports to an officer and intentionally failing to report child sex abuse. Mims was previously disbarred after she pleaded guilty in November 2008 to one count of conspiracy and one count of criminal attempt to introduce drugs into a penal facility.