The August episode of the TBA’s BarBuzz podcast is now streaming with co-host Isaac Kimes of Nashville’s Branstetter Stranch & Jennings! Kimes helps round up top legal news and bar association happenings, details Branstetter’s work on opioids and tells the story of how his mother escaped North Korea during the Korean War and later immigrated to the U.S. BarBuzz is part of the TBA Podcast Network and can be found on the TBA’s website or anywhere you listen to podcasts.

Courtney Leyes, a partner in the Nashville office of Fisher Phillips, was voted this year’s recipient of the Larry Dean Wilks Leadership Award by fellow members of 2022 TBA Leadership Law (TBALL) class. All 34 members of the leadership training program met for their final session last week in Franklin. The class heard from a Diversity in Leadership panel before completing a service project with Tennessee Free Legal Answers where they answered 36 legal questions submitted by the public. Leyes was presented with the award during the group’s graduation ceremony on Friday. The award is named for former TBA president, Larry D. Wilks, and recognizes a TBALL class member who exhibits exceptional leadership qualities. Read more on all of this year’s TBALL graduates.

The Tennessee Alliance for Legal Services (TALS) Equal Justice University gets underway this week in Murfreesboro. The event, which runs Wednesday through Friday, brings together about 300 lawyers, advocates, social workers and pro bono attorneys involved in providing civil legal assistance across Tennessee. The Tennessee Bar Association is a sponsor of the event and TBA President Tasha Blakney will be speaking to the conference on Wednesday during the Leadership Luncheon. The group also will present it 2022 Access to Justice Awards on Thursday at the Access to Justice Luncheon. See the full schedule.

Judicial swearing in ceremonies are taking place across the state this month as new judges take office. On Friday, Nashville lawyer I’Ashea Myles was sworn in as the first Black female chancellor in Tennessee. U.S. Sixth Circuit Court of Appeals Judge Bernice Donald and Tennessee Court of Appeals Judge David Dinkins were on hand for the ceremony. In Jacksboro this week, TBA President Tasha Blakney introduced her former colleague Zack Walden to the court and presented him with a commemorative gavel. The ceremony took place at the Campbell County Courthouse. Walden, who worked with Blakney at Eldridge & Blakney in Knoxville, was recently elected Eighth Judicial District Criminal Court judge. He is also a member of the TBA Young Lawyers Division Board and current Mock Trial chair. See more photos. On Wednesday, Davidson County General Sessions judges will be sworn in at 2 p.m. CDT in Courtroom 1A of the Justice A.A. Birch Building, 408 Second Ave., N. in downtown Nashville. The TBA is collecting photographs of local swearing in ceremonies. Please send your submissions to tbatoday@tnbar.org.

In one of her last acts as Shelby County district attorney, outgoing prosecutor Amy Weirich announced Friday that her office has cleared several police officers of criminal charges in three separate fatal shootings. The Commercial Appeal reports on the cases, which involved Antonio Jackson, age 26, who was killed on Aug. 16, 2021; Kayla Lucas, age 25, who was killed on Dec. 15, 2021; and Terrance Dogan, age 27, and John Henry Taylor, age 18, who were killed by Arkansas State Police in Memphis on Dec. 16, 2021. Each of the cases was investigated by the Tennessee Bureau of Investigation, which then passed the findings on to the district attorney for a determination of any criminal charges. Weirich, a Republican, was defeated in an election earlier this month by Democrat Steve Mulroy.

Knoxville lawyer George W. Morton Jr. died Aug. 24 just days shy of his 95th birthday. A 1949 graduate of the University Tennessee College of Law, he served for many years with Morton & Morton PLLC. In lieu of flowers memorial donations may be made to the G.W. Morton & Birdie Mae Morton Memorial Scholarship at Lincoln Memorial University, Cumberland Gap Parkway, Harrogate, TN 37752. A private graveside service will be held at Greenwood Cemetery in Knoxville.

The Nashville law firm Tate, Wilson, Johnson, Meyer & Cherry PLLC has relocated from downtown to Brentwood’s Maryland Farms. Senior Partner William H. Tate said in a release that the new location is “much more convenient for many of our clients and staff and allows them to avoid the difficulties of traveling into and parking downtown.” The law firm, which has been in downtown Nashville since 1987, provides tailored legal services to its clients, representing publicly traded companies, insurance carriers, small businesses and organizations and individuals in civil litigation matters. The firm also provides a full-service mediation practice. The firm can now be found at 100 Westwood Place, Ste. 120, Brentwood, TN 37027. The phone number remains (615) 256-1125.

The TBA House of Delegates has vacancies in several of its districts. In accordance with Article 29 of the TBA Bylaws, if no candidate files a declaration of candidacy for district delegate in a district, or if there is no district delegate by reason of death, declination or other cause, the officers of the House of Delegates may fill the vacancy with the term to commence at the time of appointment.

The following seats are available: Fourth District (Cocke, Grainger, Jefferson and Sevier counties); Fifth District (Blount County); Sixth District (Knox County); Ninth District (Loudon, Meigs, Morgan and Roane counties); 15th District (Jackson, Macon, Smith, Trousdale and Wilson counties); 18th District (Sumner County); 20th District (Davidson County); 24th District (Benton, Carroll, Decatur, Hardin and Henry counties); 28th District (Crockett, Gibson and Haywood counties); and 30th District (Shelby County). To be considered for any of these positions, please email TBA Executive Director Joycelyn Stevenson by Sept. 15 with a statement of interest.

Chattanooga lawyer William Deaderick Moon Jr. died Aug. 27 at the age of 97. An Army veteran, Moon received the expert infantry badge, Bronze Stars, the French Legion of Honor and the Purple Heart. Following discharge, he attended Vanderbilt University Law School and passed the Tennessee Bar Exam before graduating. Moon began practicing law in 1950. He won several cases before the Tennessee Supreme Court during a distinguished career that lasted 58 years. The family will receive friends on Wednesday from noon to 1 p.m. EDT. A memorial service will follow at 1 p.m. EDT. Both will take place at the First Presbyterian Church, 554 McCallie Ave., Chattanooga 37402. Interment will be in the Chattanooga National Cemetery at a later date. In lieu of flowers, contributions should be made to the donor’s favorite charity.

The Tennessee Court of Appeals has ordered 8th Judicial District Criminal Court Judge Shayne Sexton to turn over audio recordings from the trial of convicted killer Kevin Lee Waggoner to the clerk of the court and to Waggoner, Tennessee Lookout reports. Sexton had been keeping the only copy of the recording locked in his office. The court said that criminal trials are public records under state law and as such, the recordings should be “immediately filed with the criminal court clerk for storage.” Waggoner is seeking the recordings because he believes there are discrepancies between his 2016 trial and the written trial transcript. Sexton, who is retiring at the end of this month, had withheld the recordings, arguing that Waggoner might be able to alter them if he was given access. The appellate decision overturns a ruling from Davidson County Chancellor Patricia Head Moskal, who had sided with Sexton.