If you missed the Tort and Insurance Law Section’s 2021 Winter Forum, the program is now available on demand. The forum provides an overview of the ethical issues that attorneys face in conducting investigations and interviewing current and former employees of an opposing corporate litigant. It will also feature a discussion of emerging legal issues on the enforceability of arbitration agreements and provide recent legal developments involving claims for health care liability actions. Members of the Tort and Insurance Law Section receive special pricing for the program, so join the section today!

Most of us are really good at activating our stress-response. But how do you wind down? Here are four research-backed ways to de-stress your mind and body from UC Berkeley’s Greater Good Science Center. First, practice breathing exercises because, believe it or not, you can change how you feel by your breath. Second, adopt an attitude of self-compassion. Acknowledge failures or shortcomings but don’t dwell on them. Third, foster genuine connection. Feelings of loneliness are extremely destructive to the body and mind so make time to make connections. Fourth and finally, practice having compassion for others. Service is one of the most profound ways to nourish the community around you as well as inspire and energize yourself.

Bradley Arant Boult Cummings LLP this week announced a major expansion of its national real estate and finance practices with the addition of six lawyers to its Nashville office. The lawyers, who previously handled real estate, banking and healthcare law at Baker Donelson, are: Elizabeth C. Sauer, Mary O’Kelley, Kacie McRee and John P. McGehee, who join as partners; Kyra F. Howell who joins as counsel; and Taylor P. Scott who joins the firm as an associate. Brooks R. Smith, chair of the firm’s Real Estate Practice Group, said the additions would significantly enhance the firm’s ability to serve clients in the growing practice area of long term care facilities and senior housing matters.

Belmont University College of Law is ranked fifth in the nation for female enrollment, according to the 2020 annual report from Enjuris. The report uses compiled data from the ABA on law school enrollment to break down law school gender diversity by state and highlight the top-ranked schools for women. Based on that data, at least half of the students attending law school in 35 states and Puerto Rico are women, and women accounted for 54% of all students in ABA-approved law schools. The numbers follow the country’s five-year trend of women making up the majority of students pursuing law degrees, the school reports.

James W. Cuminale, a 1978 graduate of Vanderbilt Law School and partner at PJT Partners in New York, has endowed a permanent director to lead the law school’s Public Interest Office. Once funded, the position will be named in honor of 6th Circuit Court of Appeals Judge Martha Craig Daughtrey, a 1968 graduate of the school. The position is currently held by Spring Miller, who has directed the public interest program since 2015. Daughtrey is a pioneering lawyer and judge who became the first woman to serve as an assistant U.S. attorney for the Middle District of Tennessee, an assistant district attorney in Nashville, a judge on the Tennessee Court of Criminal Appeals, a justice of the Tennessee Supreme Court, and the first woman hired for a tenure-track professorship at Vanderbilt Law School. She was appointed to a seat on the 6th Circuit Court of Appeals in 1993 and assumed senior status in 2009. 

First Assistant U.S. Attorney Joseph C. Murphy Jr. has succeeded former U.S. Attorney D. Michael Dunavant as acting U.S. attorney for the Western District of Tennessee pursuant to the Vacancies Reform Act. Murphy, a graduate of Lambuth College and the Cecil C. Humphreys School of Law at the University of Memphis, has served as an assistant U.S. attorney in Memphis office since 1989. He was named first assistant in July 2018. Prior to that he served as the office’s criminal chief and as chief of the office’s Organized Crime and Drug Enforcement Task Force. Active in community and legal affairs, Murphy is a member of the Leo Bearman Sr. Inn of the American Inns of Court and a fellow of the Memphis Bar Foundation. Read more about his career from Local Memphis.com

The Legal Aid Society of Middle Tennessee and the Cumberlands (LAS) will hold one phone clinic this week for members of the public with questions about housing and renters’ rights, bankruptcy, medical bills, debt collection, domestic violence, SNAP benefits and unemployment benefits. The clinic will take place tomorrow from 4:30 to 6 p.m. CDT.  LAS is looking for attorney volunteers to help answer legal questions during these times. To volunteer contact Andrae Crismon or Kendra Cheek or call 615-780-7131. See the list of all clinics in February. 

The Tennessee World Affairs Council (TNWAC) will present two programs this month on legal and diplomatic professions available for those who would like to work in international affairs. On March 23, the council will hold a discussion with six women law professionals working in Southeast Asia, the Middle East and Europe. Panelists will share their insights and perspectives and talk about education and preparation, the nature of their work, and the ups and downs of their trade. Then on March 25, the council will host a panel that will talk about jobs and careers in international diplomacy, including working in the foreign service and the U.S. State Department. Contact the council at 931-261-2353 or pat@tnwac.org with questions.

The TBA filed a comment earlier today in response to a petition filed by the Nashville Bar Association to amend Tenn. Sup. Ct. R. 21 to require two hours of CLE annually in diversity, inclusion, equity and elimination of bias. Prior to responding to the NBA petition, the TBA gathered feedback on the proposal from licensed Tennessee attorneys, TBA section members, TBA committee members and TBA leadership. The TBA also researched the requirements of other states and reviewed comments filed in response to the petition. The TBA House of Delegates voted to adopt a proposal put forward by the CLE Commission and the TBA Board of Governors voted to approve the recommendation of the House. The proposal would require one hour of mandatory CLE on professionalism, which would count as one of the three dual credit hours required each year. The one hour of professionalism would include programming on pertinent social and professional topics, including, but not limited to, diversity and elimination of bias, mental health, substance abuse, sexual harassment and congeniality among the bar. The TBA is aware of the unique and important challenges to the profession on the specific issues of diversity, equity and the elimination of bias. As the largest CLE provider in Tennessee, the TBA is committed to producing more programming on these topics through its 33 sections to meet any requirements ultimately issued by the Supreme Court.

A state legislator under federal investigation received a federal pandemic business loan, but has said he did not use it for his legislative race, the Tennessean reports. In April, Rep. Todd Warner, R-Chapel Hill, received a $149,630 Paycheck Protection Program loan from the U.S. Small Business Administration for his business PCS of TN LLC, which provides grading and utility services at construction sites. Warner says he used the PPP loan for allowable expenses at the business and financed his campaign with a personal loan from a local bank. Warner ousted former Rep. Rick Tillis in an August Republican primary, a bitter race that ultimately resulted in a complaint filed with state campaign finance officials about who funded attack ads against Tillis and how Warner paid for his campaign.