At the Tennessee District Attorneys General Conference last week, 10th Judicial District Attorney General Stephen Crump received the Pat McCutchen Award, the highest honor given by the conference. Past award recipient and 18th Judicial District Attorney General Ray Whitley said Crump “is a prime example” of a prosecutor who actively improves the quality of justice for all Tennesseans and advances the conference as Tennessee’s voice for criminal justice. Crump began his career as an assistant district attorney in 1997. In 2014, he was appointed district attorney general by then-Gov. Bill Haslam, and was reelected in 2022. The award was established in 2000 in honor of the late Pat McCutchen, who served as conference executive director and district attorney general for the 19th Judicial District. The award was presented during the conference’s fall gathering in Chattanooga. Read the full release or see a photo from the event.

The U.S. Supreme Court’s busy November schedule — which kicked off yesterday — is the topic of the latest episode of "Cases and Controversies" podcast from Bloomberg Law. Reporters Kimberly Robinson and Jordan Rubin bring listeners up to speed on closely watched financial reporting litigation and a pair of criminal cases slated for argument. “Affirmative Action, Habeas, and Supreme Court Stamp” also breaks down what’s been happening outside of the courtroom. This includes two emergency requests stemming from the 2020 presidential election, new comments from Justice Samuel Alito on last term’s draft opinion leak, and the next Supreme Court postage stamp. Listen on Apple Podcasts, Audible, Google Podcasts, Megaphone, Spotify or Stitcher.

A law firm specializing in entertainment industry transactions, and based primarily in Los Angeles and New York City, is growing its Nashville presence. Matt Jacobs, an equity partner at 3B Law, moved to Nashville in 2021, and has since hired two associates, the Nashville Post reports. The firm is currently based in temporary office space but is working to find permanent space in the urban core. Most of the firm’s work involves film studios, streaming companies and production houses in Los Angeles and New York. But the goal, according to Jacobs, is to build a client base in Nashville.

Applications are now being accepted for Scaling Small Law, a three-month-long advanced program for entrepreneurial lawyers, solo practitioners and newly formed solo/small firms. This comprehensive business education and development program program offers training in business planning, marketing, solo/small firm finance and budgeting, client service and experience, ethical considerations, and outsourcing and leveraging technology. To learn more, check out the syllabus and application process. Applications are due Dec. 15. The program launches on Jan. 10, 2023.

The Nashville Predators have provided 48 bicycles and tricycles to children of 23rd District Recovery Court participants under a grant that promotes building strong families through parental involvement. The bikes are designed to develop the parenting skills of those recovering from addiction as they work to rebuild family relationships. The recovery court serves the counties of Cheatham, Dickson, Humphreys, Stewart and Houston. It is overseen by Circuit Judge Suzanne Lockert-Mash. Read the full release about the donation or see photos of the kids on their new bikes.

A former Knox County Sheriff’s chief — who is accused of using the agency’s drug fund and credit card as his personal piggy bank and treating subordinates as his private construction crew — is no longer mentally competent to stand trial, his attorney says. Robert Kurtz says that David Henderson, the ex-chief of the narcotics unit, is showing signs of dementia and cannot meaningfully assist in the defense of federal charges filed against him earlier this year. The trial was set to begin Nov. 8, Tennessee Lookout reports. Given the claim, the court agreed to a competency hearing.

Judge Julia Smith Gibbons, a member of the U.S. Court of Appeals for the Sixth Circuit, received the Edward J. Devitt Award on Friday for distinguished, lifetime service to the judiciary. The ceremony was held at the U.S. Supreme Court in Washington, D.C., the Daily Memphian reports. In remarks at the ceremony, Gibbons said she has enjoyed the solitary and collective work of an appellate judge, along with years of work on judiciary panels. Her activities have included serving as chair of the U.S. Judicial Conference’s Budget Committee, and member of the Judicial Resources Committee and Judicial Panel on Multidistrict Litigation. Gibbons had actually been named the award recipient in 2021, but the pandemic delayed the public recognition and reception. 

The October episode of the TBA's BarBuzz podcast is now streaming. This month, the new TBA YLD and Law School Development Coordinator Laura Labenberg joins the show to discuss legal news and bar association events for the upcoming month and beyond. BarBuzz is part of the TBA Podcast Network and can be found on the TBA's website or anywhere you listen to podcasts. 

The Associated Press reports that Albuquerque Cosper Head, a Tennessee man who dragged Capitol Police Officer Michael Fanone into a mob of rioters on Jan. 6, 2021, was sentenced on Thursday to more than seven years in prison. U.S. District Judge Amy Berman Jackson sentenced Head to seven years and six months of imprisonment followed by three years of supervised release. Read the full AP report here.

Sixth Circuit judges hearing a challenge to a Tennessee voting law expressed concern with portions of the law during arguments Thursday morning, the Tennessean reports. Under a 1994 law, only election commission employees are authorized to distribute absentee ballot applications. Anyone else doing so is committing a felony — even though the forms are freely available to download on the state's website. Senior Judge Helene N. White pressed the state during its rebuttal period on that point. "I could be sitting with my grandmother, I fill out the form for her, I go to the printer and I hand it to her, and I've committed a felony," she asked, "right?"