The D.C. Circuit Court of Appeals this week denied a request by a group of landlords to resume evictions, leaving the nationwide eviction moratorium intact for now, The Hill reports. The move follows a ruling last month by U.S. District Judge Dabney Friedrich, who struck down the moratorium after finding the Department of Health and Human Services overstepped its authority, but agreed to delay her ruling from taking effect to allow time for the administration to appeal. The coalition of landlords asked the appeals court to lift Friedrich’s stay. A three judge panel of the court denied the motion, saying the department had “made a strong showing that it is likely to succeed” in the appeal.

As the world starts to get back to “normal,” it may be beneficial to keep in place some of the activities we've employed during the pandemic, says Michelle Wax, the founder of American Happiness Project, a provider of corporate mental health programs. “During the shutdown, we went from an emphasis on external factors, such as going to a job or attending events, to a more internal focus,” she says. With more time at home many of us created new morning rituals. Wax recommends keeping these in place, even if we take just a minute or two to set up the day for success. She also recommends continuing to take breaks and getting outside throughout the day. Finally, she recommends continuing to unplug from the news cycle — either permanently or with small breaks — to reduce the constant bombardment of stress coming through our devices. “The pandemic forced us to take a look in the mirror and ask ourselves if we were finding joy and fulfillment,” Wax says. Now it’s time to make sure those positive emotions stay with us over the long term. Read her full article from Fast Company.

As of July 1, the Knox County Circuit, Chancery, Probate, Juvenile and General Civil Sessions court clerk’s offices will be using the schedule of fees included in T.C.A. 8-21-401 for all fees and court costs. The courts’ fees had previously been controlled by T.C.A. 8-21-409 but the General Assembly deleted that section in the past legislative session. The change brings the fees charged by all Knox County courts into alignment with other counties in the state. One other significant difference is that under T.C.A. 8-21-401 costs are charged and collected at the time the services are requested, except as otherwise provided in the code. Revised fee schedules are available here: Circuit Court, Chancery Court, General Sessions Court and probate fees.

Giles County officials have agreed to end the use of private probation companies as part of a $2 million settlement of a 2017 lawsuit that claimed the county’s probation tactics amounted to an “illegal extortion scheme.” The class action suit, brought by the Civil Rights Corps, alleged that two companies operating in the county “transformed the … misdemeanor probation system into a machine for generating their own profit on the backs of Giles County’s most impoverished residents.” The system worked like this: when county residents were arrested for misdemeanors and could not afford to pay probation fees, they faced re-arrest for probation violations, often meaning they had to post even more bail to secure release. Probationers were routinely threatened with jail time if they could not pay. People sold their possessions, went without medications, skipped rent and became homeless, Tennessee Lookout reports. The settlement still must be approved by the federal judge overseeing the case, but once approved will waive all debt incurred by residents for misdemeanor probation and require the county immediately halt enforcing any outstanding warrants for misdemeanor probation violations. It also prohibits the county from keeping people on supervised probation solely due to their inability to pay. While the suit ends the use of private probation companies in Giles County, 25 companies continue to supervise misdemeanor probationers in 19 other Tennessee counties, the Lookout reports.

The 2021 Bench Bar Luncheon, scheduled for June 17, will feature a keynote address by Lang Wiseman, deputy and chief counsel to Gov. Bill Lee. Wiseman assists the governor in his day-to-day duties and acts as a liaison between the governor’s office, the legislature and the various departments and agencies in state government, including the judiciary, the attorney general and the district attorneys general. Wiseman also coordinates the legal affairs of the executive branch, reviews judicial appointments and clemency requests, and advises the governor on legal, political and legislative matters. Prior to his appointment, Wiseman was a founding partner at the Memphis law firm Wiseman Bray. He previously worked at Baker Donelson Bearman & Caldwell, as counsel for the U.S. Senate Governmental Affairs Committee and as a law clerk to the late Judge Harry Wellford of the U.S. Court of Appeals for the Sixth Circuit. He earned his law degree from Harvard Law School. The luncheon will be presented live in Memphis and live streamed for virtual convention registrants. Learn more and register here for this year’s convention.

The TBA offers dozens of 1-Click packages that bundle sessions from recent CLE programs, providing up to eight hours of credit with one purchase. New packages include the Immigration Law Section’s Fall Forum which offers four hours of general credit. This year’s program focused on timely topics such as changes to the asylum process, recent Supreme Court decisions impacting immigration, the work of the “Gang of 35” at the Executive Office for Immigration Review and representation of clients during COVID-19.

Jackson lawyer Harold Franklin Johnson died May 25. He was 92. A football and basketball player, Johnson attended the University of Tennessee on an athletic scholarship. He joined the football coaching staff in the fall of 1949, and participated as a player-coach on both the 1949 and 1950 championship teams. He later became a Southeastern Conference basketball and football official. Johnson earned his law degree from the University of Tennessee College of Law in 1952 and began practicing with the law firm of Murray, Murray & Johnson. He later served as Jackson city attorney for 19 years. Three of his daughters went on to practice law: Archie Ann Taylor recently retired as a supervisory counsel with the FDIC in Washington, D.C.; Leigh Milam is clerk and master of the Henderson County Chancery Court; and Carol Pearson is deputy general counsel with TruGreen in Memphis.

A new lawsuit filed Thursday by Nashville attorney Jim Roberts claims Metro Nashville’s legal department and the Davidson County Election Commission violated open meetings laws last fall, the Tennessean reports. Roberts and the group 4 Good Government want to roll back Nashville property taxes to the 2019 rate and limit Metro’s power over future property tax increases, public land transfers and recall elections. In the new lawsuit, Roberts claims a private election commission meeting in September was unjustified. He expressed his concerns about the meeting in a September letter to the commission and says he received a reply from Metro legal explaining that the closed-door meeting was to discuss comments Roberts had made. He calls that response “untruthful” and “disingenuous.” The latest filing included an attachment from a previous lawsuit filed by Roberts in October, in which Metro noted their stance that the meetings were allowable.

In the wake of the killing of George Floyd on May 25, 2020, the Legal Aid Society of Middle Tennessee and the Cumberlands assembled a Racial Justice and Equity team to find systemic biases and knowledge gaps inside its operations. One year later, LAS Executive Director DarKenya Waller calls May 25 “report card day,” a time to assess the progress of LAS’ efforts to perform meaningful racial justice work. She tells the Tennessean she would not give herself an A, but adds, “The only way you can fail is if you're not trying." Since last year, Waller and her team have found trainings and started a data study in which a “heat map” was created to mark where LAS services were most used and areas where they were missing. They’ve also created research resources on the historical context of redlining laws and housing issues and wealth gaps along race and gender lines. Those efforts have enabled LAS to find partner agencies to better target outreach programs and assist organizations already working with underserved populations. “It's about being anti-racist, it's about doing work that changes circumstances for marginalized communities, intentionally, not as a byproduct of what you were doing anyway," Waller said. "This year was certainly a year of learning."

The office of Gov. Bill Lee is now accepting applications for a public defender in the 29th Judicial District. This vacancy was created by the retirement of James E. Lanier. The position will be filled by the governor until the next biennial election in August 2022. Applicants must have been a state resident for at least five years and a resident of the district for at least one year. The 29th Judicial District covers Dyer and Lake counties. Resumes and cover letters can be mailed to Deputy Chief Counsel to the Governor Lang Wiseman, State Capitol, First Floor, 600 Dr. Martin Luther King Jr. Blvd., Nashville, TN 37243 or emailed to Rebecca Kaunisto. All applications must be submitted by 5 p.m. CDT on June 11. Read more about the position.