Court records were filed on Monday requesting that trial attorney, former U.S. senator and former presidential candidate John Edwards be added to a wrongful death lawsuit against Vanderbilt University Medical Center, the Tennessean reports. Edwards intends to represent the family of a woman who died at Vanderbilt in 2017 in the lawsuit, which seeks $45 million and might include allegations of falsified medical records. Before launching into politics, Edwards began his legal career in Nashville at the firm of Dearborn & Ewing in 1978 and later became a well-known trial attorney in North Carolina. He is not currently licensed in Tennessee, but Afsoon Hagh, the current attorney on the case, has asked the court to add Edwards to the suit. The case is set to be heard this summer.

Madison County Juvenile Court Judge Christy Little and other local children’s advocates last week met with U.S. Sen. Bill Hagerty, R-TN, to discuss the needs of children dealing with mental illness and adverse childhood experiences (ACEs), the Jackson Sun reports. Little was joined by executives from the Madison County CASA and West Tennessee Healthcare and Juvenile Court Services Director Amy Jones. The group, hoping to obtain Hagerty’s support for federal funding, spoke with the senator about the financial issues that are preventing children in Madison County and rural West Tennessee from getting the things they need. Little added that children dealing with ACEs and other mental illness need more consistent and permanent help from an early age. “And if we could somehow get funding for that type of help on the front end, it would solve a lot of issues we deal with when they come into this courtroom,” she said.

The TBA’s Tax Law Section will launch the first installment of its CLE series tomorrow from noon until 1 p.m. CDT. What’s New with the IRS? An update on new IRS programs and procedures in a Post-2020 World will cover a variety of IRS initiatives impacting everything from new installment agreement procedures for qualified taxpayers, to new e-filing procedures for forms 2848 and 2019-specific tax relief to avoid liens for qualified taxpayers. Register for this program using the three prepaid CLE credits you receive when renewing your TBA membership.

The digital you is the new YOU in 2021. Help clients and colleagues find you with an updated profile photo. After you update your photo, you can customize your contact information with TBA’s address preferences – members can choose different addresses for directory, mail, and billing. Watch this tutorial on how to update your information. Still need to renew for 2021-2022? Login and access renewal information through your MyTBA dashboard.

The D.C. Circuit Court of Appeals recently issued a memorandum discouraging attorneys from using the proportionally spaced Garamond font, but encouraging typefaces like Century and Times New Roman. The memorandum surfaced many spirited opinions within the appellate bar –– about fonts. While discussions about fonts can verge on pedantic, knowing something about fonts can help lawyers file briefs that are both easily readable and aesthetically pleasing.

A recent article in the Hamilton County Herald documents the historical treasurers that can be found in the office of Chattanooga lawyer Russell Fowler. As a student, teacher and lover of history, Fowler has created a personal museum at Legal Aid of East Tennessee, where he serves as director of litigation. His collection includes many signatures of justices and jurists, including that of U.S. Supreme Court Justice John Marshall Harlan, who dissented in the Plessy v. Ferguson case. He also has a number of items related the chancery court in the United States and England, including the robe of late Shelby County Chancellor Neal Small. “During a time when people are digitizing everything from contracts to signatures, Russell Fowler is something of a modern-day Indiana Jones, a raider of the lost art of putting pen to paper,” the herald concludes. Fowler writes a regular column "History's Verdict" for the Tennessee Bar Journal.

Tennessee Sen. John Stevens, R-Huntingdon, tells the Tennessee Star that his bill to remove a $400 annual “privilege tax” imposed on certain professions, including the legal profession, is still in play but likely will see changes as budget negotiations continue in the coming weeks. Stevens told the Senate Finance, Ways and Means Revenue Subcommittee last week that any decrease in state revenue resulting from SB 884 would have to be offset by programming cuts. The privilege tax was originally levied on 22 professions. The General Assembly approved legislation in 2019 to eliminate the tax for 15 of those. Nearly 200,000 professionals still pay the tax. Total elimination of the tax would cost the state about $67 million in revenue, Stevens said. The TBA has made eliminating the professional privilege tax one of its most important legislative priorities and is continuing to lobby the General Assembly on this issue. Legislators need to hear from their constituents that eliminating this discriminatory tax is important to them. Find your legislators and their contact info here.

The U.S. Supreme Court last Thursday made it easier for businesses to annoy consumers with phone calls or text messages when it rejected a lawsuit accusing Facebook Inc. of violating a federal anti-robocall law. Facebook argued that the texts contained security-related messages tied to a user’s account and cell phone number and therefore were not covered by the 1991 Telephone Consumer Protection Act (TCPA). The court ruled unanimously for Facebook saying the messages did not fit within the technical definition of the type of conduct barred by the law, Reuters reports. Privacy advocates criticized the ruling, saying any company could steer clear of liability under the law as long as they use similar technology.

The 6th Circuit Court of Appeals has revived a legal malpractice suit against Baker Donelson Bearman Caldwell & Berkowitz, Bloomberg Law reports. John Shufeldt, the former CEO of NextCare Holdings Inc., filed suit against the urgent care company claiming it rendered his company stock worthless after he resigned. Shufeldt hired Baker Donelson to represent him but later claimed that the firm failed to tell him about an applicable statute of limitations. Shufeldt ultimately settled with NextCare for $2 million but is now suing the law firm. At issue in the court of appeals decision was whether Shufeldt’s argument in the case against NextCare — that the case was timely — contradicted his argument in the case against Baker Donelson that it was not. The appeals court found that the trial court in the NextCare case did not accept that argument when it denied a motion to dismiss by the company, and that the executive’s participation in the case did not give him an unfair advantage in suing Baker Donelson.

The U.S. legal sector lost 1,400 jobs in March, with total headcount dropping 0.12% month-over-month to 1,127,600, according to a report released Friday by the U.S. Department of Labor. The slight decline in legal sector job count — which includes law firm lawyers and staff, but not in-house lawyers at non-law companies — reverses a trend of growth that has held fairly steady since the pandemic began, Reuters reports.