Today is the last day to register to vote for the November election, the secretary of state’s office reports. Voters can register online tonight until 11:59 p.m. CDT. Early voting will begin on Oct. 14 and run through Oct. 29 on every day of the week except Sunday. The last day to request an absentee ballot is Oct. 27. For more information about voting in Tennessee visit GoVoteTN.com or call the Division of Elections at 877-850-4959.

Clarksville lawyer and former Secretary of State Riley C. Darnell died Oct. 2 after a brief battle with cancer. He was 80. A 1965 graduate of Vanderbilt University Law School, Darnell began his career with the U.S. Air Force Judge Advocate General Corp. In 1969, he returned to Clarksville and worked in the law firm of Welker and Darnell until 1993. In 1970, Darnell was elected to the Tennessee House of Representatives as the District 67 representative serving Montgomery County. In 1980, he was elected to the State Senate representing District 22, which includes Montgomery, Stewart, Houston, Cheatham, Robertson, Dickson, and Humphreys counties. In 1993, Darnell was named secretary of state and held that position until 2009. Visitation will be held Saturday from noon to 2 p.m. CDT at the Church of Christ at Trenton Crossing, 2650 Trenton Rd., Clarksville, TN 37040. A funeral service will follow at the church at 2 p.m.. Burial will then take place at Greenwood Cemetery, 976 Greenwood Ave., Clarksville, TN 37040. In lieu of flowers, donations may be made to the Riley C. Darnell Legislative Internship Scholarship, Austin Peay State University Advancement Office, P.O. Box 4417, Clarksville, TN 37044. 

Knoxville area legal organizations will hold a veterans’ legal advice clinic next Wednesday from noon to 2 p.m. EDT. Those seeking advice should preregister by calling 865-637-0484. Lawyers who would like to volunteer can sign up online. The Knoxville Veterans Clinic is a joint project of the Knoxville Bar Association and its Barristers, Young Lawyers Division and Access to Justice Committee; Legal Aid of East Tennessee; Knox County Public Defender’s Community Law Office; the University of Tennessee College of Law; Lincoln Memorial University Duncan School of Law; and the local Veterans Affairs office. Legal advice is provided on issues such as family law, landlord/tenant, bankruptcy, criminal defense, consumer protection, contract disputes, child support and personal injury.

The TBA’s 20th annual Health Law Primer and 32nd annual Health Law Forum kick off this week but there is still time to register. The primer will take place Wednesday from 11:30 a.m. until 4 p.m. CDT. The forum will take place Thursday and Friday from 9 a.m. until 2:30 p.m. CDT each day. Both programs will provide a heightened virtual experience with live and on-demand sessions. The forum also includes roundtable discussions for practitioners to dig deeper into the issues presented.

The Tennessee Courts website gave a positive review to a TBA program designed to help lawyers improve their appellate briefs and oral arguments. The “Best Practices in Appellate Courts” session was offered as part of the 24th Annual Labor and Employment Law Forum. Several judges participated and outlined key elements in the appellate process. Justice Holly Kirby praised the effort to improve appellate work saying, “It’s just a joy to have an appeal with really good lawyers. It just makes my heart sing. When we receive a well-crafted brief, when we have a well-prepared lawyer at oral argument, we come away just smiling.” 

The Safe at Home Address Confidentiality Program, which launched March 1, 2019, has seen a more than 250% increase in program participation in the last year, says Secretary of State Tre Hargett. The program now has partners in every county that promote its use by crime victims. In comments today, Hargett said the critical program protects individuals and families who have been victimized by allowing them to use a substitute address for documents that are publicly available. The program is open to all victims of domestic abuse, stalking, human trafficking and sexual offense. There is no cost to participate.

After a two-day delay in releasing grand jury proceedings in the case of Breonna Taylor, who was shot and killed by Louisville police in her own home in March, Kentucky Attorney General Daniel Cameron made them available today, The Hill reports. Commenting on the audio recordings, Cameron said, “I’m confident that once the public listens to the recordings, they will see that our team presented a thorough case to the Jefferson County Grand Jury. Our presentation followed the facts and the evidence, and the Grand Jury was given a complete picture of the events surrounding Ms. Taylor’s death on March 13th. While it is unusual for a court to require the release of the recordings from Grand Jury proceedings, we complied with the order, rather than challenging it, so that the full truth can be heard.” Nearly 20 hours of audio have been released. A written transcript is not yet available. Last week, Cameron announced that the grand jury decided to only indict one of the three officers involved with the incident and that one officer would be charged for wanton endangerment and not for the shooting of Taylor.

Legal Aid Society of Middle Tennessee & the Cumberlands will hold four phone clinics next 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. Clinics will take place Wednesday from 11 a.m. to 1 p.m. and 4 to 6 p.m.; Thursday from 3 to 4:30 p.m.; and Saturday from 8:30 to 11:30 a.m. All times in central time. LAS is looking for volunteers to help answer legal questions during these clinics. To volunteer contact Andrae Crismon or Kendra Cheek or call 615-780-7131. 

The Tennessee Supreme Court today suspended Virginia lawyer Stephen Kenneth Perry from the practice of law for two years, retroactive to Jan. 2, 2019, the date a temporary suspension was imposed. As a condition of reinstatement, Perry must pay restitution to his client and undergo an evaluation by the Tennessee Lawyers Assistance Program. The court found that Perry essentially abandoned his client’s case and failed to respond to the Board of Professional Responsibility in violation of Rules of Professional Conduct 1.3, 1.4, 1.5, 1.16, 3.2, 8.1(b) and 8.4(d).

The Tennessee Supreme Court today suspended the law license of Morristown attorney Douglas Ralph Beier for two years. The court held that Beier made false representations in a child custody case, exploited a client with a disability in an estate case, and engaged in dishonest conduct in order to get an exorbitant fee from an estate. The Board of Professional Responsibility (BPR) originally recommended a three-month active suspension followed by 21 months of probation. The chancery court ruled that the discipline should be increased to two years of active suspension. The Supreme Court agreed with the chancery court and rejected the probation time. The court pointed to the seriousness of the breach of ethics rules and the fact that Beier refused to acknowledge the wrongfulness of his conduct as reasoning for its decision. Read the BPR release.