A book on "controversial and colorful" Judge Raulston Schoolfield by Chattanooga lawyer Jerry H. Summers has been chosen to be included in the "Notable Trials Series." Alan Dershowitz is editor of the Notable Trials Library, and he has written an introduction for the new edition of Rush to Justice? Tennessee’s Forgotten Trial of the Century: Schoolfield 1958. Learn more in this 2016 Tennessee Bar Journal review of the book by former TBA President Sam Elliott. Subsequent books, Schoolfield: Out of the Ashes 1958-1982 and Tennessee Trivia No. 1, are also available. Proceeds benefit the Orange Grove Center, a nonprofit providing services for individuals with intellectual and/or developmental disabilities. 

A new program will focus on high school students as a first step in building a pipeline of future diverse lawyers, Bloomberg Law reports. Thrive Scholars is a Los Angeles-founded organization that supports high-achieving low-income students of color. It has started a new track aimed at creating a greater pipeline of Black and Latinx attorneys to work at top law firms.

Birmingham-based Maynard Cooper & Gale has hired a trio of real estate attorneys from another firm just one year after setting up shop in Nashville, the Nashville Post reports. Sarah Laird, Brittany Macon and Elizabeth Holland have left Bradley Arant Boult Cummings to join the firm.

Rhea County Courts have been disrupted because of coronavirus concerns, the Chattanooga Times Free Press reports. The courthouse was shut down late last week and General Sessions and Juvenile Judge J. Shannon Garrison has not been in court this week due to unspecified coronavirus concerns, 12th Judicial District Attorney General Mike Taylor told the newspaper. Prosecutors won't staff General Sessions Court until Nov. 10 to make sure at least 14 days have passed since the closure, Taylor said.

Next week’s scheduled trial of Billy Joe Wannyn will again be delayed because family members have hired new attorneys to represent him against charges that he killed a Pleasant Hill man in 2018, the Crossville Chronicle reports. Wannyn was first represented by the Public Defenders’ office and later by Crossville attorney Jeff Vires. He will now be represented by Pikeville area attorneys Howard Upchurch and Sam Hudson when he goes to trial on premeditated first-degree murder, felony murder and aggravated robbery charges. A new trial date has been set for March 4. 

A Franklin firm has been barred from deploying armed agents within 2,500 feet of any Minnesota polling place during early voting and on Election Day, the Franklin Home Page reports. The preliminary injunction was issued in a lawsuit against Franklin-based Atlas Aegis, a company accused of attempting to recruit and deploy special forces operators in Minnesota. "The presence of armed ‘guards’ at the polls with no connection to state government is certainly likely to intimidate voters,” U.S. District Court Judge Nancy E. Brasel said in the order.

Chancellor Patricia Head Moskal has been added to the Tennessee Business Court Docket Pilot Project as an alternate judge. Chancellor Anne C. Martin currently oversees the project, which is a specialized docket with litigants ranging from large national companies to small businesses. It has developed a body of corporate and commercial jurisprudence covering business topics ranging from shareholder derivative suits to business dissolutions to trade secrets to intellectual property disputes. The Supreme Court also appointed three new members to the Business Court Docket Advisory Commission, one from each grand division. Dwight Tarwater of Knoxville’s Paine Tarwater Bickers, Brigid Carpenter of Baker Donelson in Nashville and Shea Wellford with Martin Tate in Memphis have been added to the project. Read more from the Administrative Office of the Courts website.

By the close of polls on Wednesday, the Secretary of State’s office reported that 2.1 million Tennesseans had voted, the Tennessean reports. That number is 38% higher than the number of early and absentee votes from the 2016 election, with each county reporting an increase in voter turnout. Tennessee’s early voting period ends today, five days ahead of Election Day on Nov. 3.

Shelby County lawyer A. Sais Phillips Finney was today temporarily suspended from the practice of law by the Tennessee Supreme Court. Finney failed to respond to the Board of Professional Responsibility regarding two complaints of misconduct. Finney is immediately precluded from accepting any new cases and must cease representing existing clients by Nov. 28. After that time, Finney shall not use any indicia of lawyer, legal assistant, or law clerk nor maintain a presence where the practice of law is conducted. She must notify all clients being represented in pending matters, as well as co-counsel and opposing counsel of the Supreme Court’s Order suspending her law license. This suspension remains in effect until dissolution or modification by the Supreme Court.

Eight candidates were today considered by Trial Court Vacancy Commission to fill the 6th Judicial District Chancery Court vacancy created by the retirement of Judge Michael W. Moyers. The commission ultimately chose three attorneys to forward to Gov. Bill Lee for his consideration. Those finalists are: Kevin A. Dean, John Keith Harber Sr. and Christopher D. Heagerty. The 6th Judicial District covers Knox County. Read more from the Administrative Office of the Courts.