City Judge Johnny Houston was sworn into office during the Red Bank Commission meeting this week, the Chattanoogan reports. General Sessions Court Judge Christie Sell administered the oath. This will be his third term as the city’s judge. Commissioner Ruth Jeno praised Houston's work, saying he has always been fair, kind and generous and an exceptional judge.

California Gov. Gavin Newsom on Sunday signed a bill requiring legislative approval for regulatory sandbox spending, the ABA Journal reports. The legislation will limit proposals from the State Bar of California to explore law firm ownership by nonlawyers and allow paralegals to perform certain legal services. The new law also requires the bar to report how much it spent on a 2018 study on online legal services and delivery. Following the study, a bar-appointed task force released a report that recommended allowing qualified non-legal professionals to provide legal services under certain conditions and eliminating prohibitions against fee splitting and non-lawyer ownership of law firms. Chairs of California’s Senate and Assembly Judiciary committees criticized the proposals and raised concern about corporate interests and loosening prohibitions on non-lawyers owning law firms. California is one of the few states exploring attorney regulation changes.

Shaterra Reed Marion has been appointed as a judge on the Court of Workers’ Compensation Claims. Marion, who will serve in the court's Memphis office, has practiced law in Tennessee since 2012, serving as field counsel in Memphis for Liberty Mutual Insurance Company/Law Offices of Julie Bhattacharya Peak since 2014. “Shaterra Reed Marion will be a welcome addition to the Court of Workers’ Compensation Claims in Memphis," Court Administrator Troy Haley said of the appointment. "She has the heart of a public servant, and as a judge I know she will be fair to all parties and reflect the values for which the Court of Workers’ Compensation Claims is known.”

A woman who police now believe was raped last year by the man accused of killing Eliza Fletcher has filed suit against the Memphis Police Department for failing to properly investigate her case, the Daily Memphian reports. Alicia Franklin says in the lawsuit that if her September 2021 assault had been taken more seriously, Fletcher’s abduction and murder could have been prevented. The suit names the City of Memphis as the sole defendant and seeks an unspecified amount of compensation for pain and suffering and other damages. “I was just an average Black girl in the city of Memphis, you know,” said Franklin, who allowed her identity to be published. “I just think it wasn’t a priority.”

Tennessee Freedom Circle, a newly formed nonprofit, held its first training last week to connect attorneys from a variety of practice areas and educate them on how to defend doctors on criminal abortion charges, WPLN reports. “The health care lawyers, with the expertise and regulatory compliance, will need to join with the criminal defense lawyers, who’ve been litigating in state court, who will need to join with the constitutional law experts who’ve been fighting the fights for many years in federal court,” says Nashville attorney and Freedom Circle President Tyler Yarbro. The training aims to educate attorneys on navigating affirmative defense and on how to show the doctor’s actions were justified.

Nine candidates will compete in a special election to become a Memphis City Court judge, the Daily Memphian reports. The contenders certified by the Election Commission for the nonpartisan judicial race are: former Assistant District Attorney Patience Missy Branham, attorney Latonya Burrow, Environmental Court referee John Cameron, attorney Varonica Cooper, Senior Assistant City Attorney Lynnette Hall-Lewis, attorney Latrena Ingram, attorney William Larsha, attorney Christine Stephens and Interim City Court Judge Carolyn Watkins, who was appointed to the Division 2 position after the resignation of Tarik Sugarmon. Sugarmon left the post after being elected as Shelby County Juvenile Court judge last month.

Hamilton County Commissioners voted Wednesday to name attorney Charles Paty as a magistrate, the Chattanoogan reports. He replaces Andrew Basler, who resigned effective Sept. 11 to join the district attorney's office. Six candidates had made presentations before the commission on Monday afternoon.

The Tennessee Supreme Court has ordered that Violaine Panasci, a Canadian attorney who passed the Uniform Bar Exam and is licensed to practice in New York, should not be precluded from the practice of law in Tennessee. Panasci, who moved to Nashville in in 2021, petitioned the court for admission after the Tennessee Board of Law Examiners (TBLE) denied her application, concluding that she did not meet the requirements for foreign-educated applicants. The high court ruled that “based on Ms. Panasci’s legal education and UBE score, the requirements of section 7.01(a) should not preclude her admission to practice law in Tennessee by transferred UBE score.” Costs of the appeal will be assessed to the BLE. Read the order here.

Thompson's Station attorney Nichole Dusché was sworn in as Spring Hill's new city municipal judge on Monday after receiving a majority vote from aldermen last month, the Columbia Daily Herald reports. She takes the place of former city judge Deana Hood, who had served in the position since 2018. Hood won the May 3 primary for Tennessee Circuit Court.

Adnan Syed, a Baltimore man convicted of the 1999 murder of Hae Min Lee, was yesterday released to home detention after a judge vacated his conviction, the ABA Journal reports. Syed, whose case was covered in the hit podcast Serial, was ordered to be released by Judge Melissa M. Phinn of Baltimore after prosecutors said the defense was never given information about two “alternative suspects.” Prosecutors said in the motion they wanted to vacate Syed’s conviction, but they would decide later whether they will move to drop the case. Their decision will depend on the results of their ongoing investigation, they said.