Major worldwide law firm K&L Gates is opening a Nashville location that will be staffed by a team of former Butler Snow attorneys, the Nashville Post reports. The firm, which has dozens of offices in five continents and more than 1,800 lawyers, has added Butler Snow attorneys Erin Palmer Polly, Joe Wellborn, Charlie Malone, Bob Walker, Lauren Patten, Beau Creson and Jason Callen. The group of attorneys come from Butler Snow’s commercial litigation group, where they frequently represented locally based private prison operator CoreCivic in litigation. They had all joined Butler Snow in 2015 when the firm brought on 13 attorneys from Walker Tipps & Malone. K&L Gates representatives did not say if the firm plans to add more attorneys locally. The new office will be located at the 222 Second Avenue building. 

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Memphis lawyer Robert Louis Green died Jan. 24. He was 92. Green earned his law degree from Tulane Law School in 1956 and afterward was invited to join the law practice of Charles L. Neely. He was a partner at Neely, Green & Fargarson for many years, focusing primarily on litigation, before ending more than 60 years of legal practice with Allen, Summers, Simpson, Lillie & Gresham. Green was a past president of the Memphis Bar Association and was selected for the Judge Jerome Turner Lawyer's Lawyer award in 2005, and also received the Pillars of Excellence award from the University of Memphis Alumni Chapter in 2011. He served with the Tennessee Board of Law Examiners for 19 years and frequently volunteered with Memphis Area Legal Services. A funeral mass will be held at St. Louis Church, 203 S. White Station Road, on Jan. 28 at 10 a.m. CST, with burial to follow at Memorial Park Cemetery. The funeral mass will be viewable online. In lieu of flowers, the family asks that donations be made in Green's honor to the veteran's organization of your choice.

Nashville lawyer Livingfield More died Jan. 19 at 94. Having started studying at Vanderbilt University when he was 16, his college experience was interrupted when he joined the Army to fight in World War II. After discharge, he worked on an estate outside of London where he learned to be a devoted horseman and animal husbandman. Returning to the states, he attended Vanderbilt University Law School and graduated in 1952. More often credited his grandfather’s service as a lawyer and as president of the Nashville Bar Association as inspiration for his own career choice. Memorial donations may be made to Holy Cross Anglican Church, 4119 Murfreesboro Rd., Franklin TN 37067; the Red Cross, 2201 Charlotte Ave, Nashville, TN 37203, Attn: Leigh Elliot; or Covington County Historical Society, P.O. Box 1582 Andalusia, AL 36420. Services will be held at a later date.

The Rose Immigration Law Firm in Nashville has named Douglas Russo as managing member of the firm. Russo has been with the firm since 2014 and became a partner in September 2019. Linda Rose is the founding member of the firm and will remain in her capacity as a partner. The firm serves corporate and individual clients throughout the United States and around the world with a focus on international transfers, visas for professionals, and visas in the music and entertainment industries. Read more in a release from the firm.

Operation Legend, a project of the Trump administration, has ended in Memphis, and with a new president in office, its fate is uncertain, WREG reports. The federal crime-fighting program brought new federal grants and 40 new federal agents to Memphis. The city was one of nine jurisdictions to host the pilot program. U.S. Attorney Michael Dunavant said 266 individuals were arrested and 124 charged as part of the initiative. Of the 40 agents sent to Memphis, 24 are expected to remain and be reassigned to other units.

The TBA LGBT Section will host a roundtable videoconference this Wednesday. The event will feature ethics considerations for attorneys working from home, an open discussion of issues affecting LGBT lawyers and staying sane in a pandemic. The event is free and open to all TBA members but registration is required. Connection info will be sent following registration.

A federal judge in Washington, D.C., on Sunday reversed a Tennessee-based federal magistrate judge’s decision and ordered Eric Gavelek Munchel — the Capitol riot suspect dubbed “zip tie guy” — be held without bond until trial and be moved to D.C. for further proceedings, WBIR reports. On Friday, Magistrate Judge Jeffrey Frensley had approved Munchel’s release saying he was not a flight risk or danger to the public. On Sunday, federal prosecutors appealed the decision to the U.S. District Court in D.C. and presented additional evidence, which they said showed Munchel was part of a group that assaulted and threatened a Bloomberg reporter. In the appeal, prosecutors said the new evidence showed that Munchel “intended to contribute to chaos, obstruct the Electoral College certification, and sow fear.”

Clarksville attorney Sharon Massey Grimes has been appointed to the Montgomery County General Sessions and Juvenile Court to fill the unexpired term of her late husband Judge Ray Grimes, who died in November. The Montgomery County Commission chose Massey Grimes out of five candidates who applied for the position. She will stand for election in 2022. Commenting on the appointment, she said, “I want to continue the work he [Grimes] had been doing,” including overseeing the local drug recovery court. A 1998 graduate of the Nashville School of Law, Massey Grimes first joined the law firm of McMillan & McMillan. In 2000, she launched a solo practice, which she operated for the past 20 years. The Administrative Office of the Courts has more about her appointment.

Gary Wade, the former dean of the Lincoln Memorial University Duncan School of Law, has joined Knoxville-based health care law firm London Amburn, the Daily Times reports. He had told school administrators in September 2019 that 2020 would be his last year at the school. Wade has served as a private attorney, alderman and city law director, in addition to his more than nine years on the Tennessee Supreme Court, including two years as its chief justice, and 19 years on the Tennessee Court of Criminal Appeals, eight of those as the presiding judge. He led Duncan Law for five years.