The TBA’s Adoption Law Section will present its 2020 Adoption Law Forum as a live virtual event this Thursday, Sept. 24 from noon to 3:45 p.m. CDT. This year’s program will focus on post adoption contact agreements, including recent changes, basics and ethics. Speakers include Douglas Earl Dimond, general counsel of the state Department of Children's Services, who will provide legislative updates affecting the practice area; Bob Tuke with Trauger & Tuke in Nashville; and Atlanta attorney Lori Surmay. The program offers 2.5 hours of general credits and one hour of dual credit. A virtual networking reception will take place at the end of the program.

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President Donald Trump today said he intends to nominate Charles E. Atchley Jr. and Katherine A. Crytzer to serve as U.S. district judges for the Eastern District of Tennessee, Chattanoogan.com reports. Atchley currently serves as an assistant U.S. attorney for the Eastern District of Tennessee. Crytzer has served for the last six years as the acting deputy assistant attorney general for the Office of Legal Policy at the U.S. Department of Justice. She previously was an assistant U.S. attorney for the Eastern District of Kentucky. They would replace U.S. District Judge Harry S. Mattice Jr., who retired in March, and Chief Judge Pamela L. Reeves, who died last week. Read more from the White House.

Stress and anxiety are a part of life, especially during uncertain times, but they don't need to control us. Here are three ways to calm an anxious mind from Elisha Goldstein, Ph.D., clinical psychologist and founder of the Mindful Living Collective. First, “release the critic.” That means banishing self-critical thoughts that compound existing anxiety. Then, “tune into the senses” by using the 3×3 practice. Concentrate on three of your senses and then name three things you notice about them. This can help interrupt the automatic catastrophic thinking that’s fueling the anxiety. Finally, “channel your anxious energy.” If your anxiety isn’t severe, you can actually channel that energy into something productive such as going for a walk, cleaning, organizing or gardening. Read more or watch Goldstein’s video on the topic from Mindful.org.

A new national report from the Death Penalty Information Center finds African Americans are more likely to face the death penalty than their white counterparts, Nashville Public Radio reports. The report, which traces the connections between racism and executions since the antebellum period, also found that Blacks are more likely to be discriminated against at every step of the criminal justice system from arrest to jury selection to execution. In addition to the national findings, the report looks at two death penalty cases pending before Tennessee courts: those of Abu-Ali Abdur'Rahman and Pervis Payne.

One of the many issues that Gov. Bill Lee has addressed in his executive orders during COVID-19 is temporarily suspending all statutes requiring a physical presence requirement for a notary public and witness(es), and instead allowing real-time audio and visual communication in its place. Gov. Lee  extended this provision until Sept. 30 in Executive Order 61. The order also includes language encouraging users of these tools to make preparations to implement best practices for a safe return to in-person transactions beginning Oct. 1. The TBA would like to hear from Tennessee lawyers about this important issue so we can provide feedback to the governor, the Tennessee Supreme Court and the Tennessee Administrative Office of the Courts. Lawyers who have thoughts about the use of remote technology or the plan to return to in-person transactions are asked to fill out our short survey by Sept. 25.

Retired Judge James “Eddie” Beckner died today at the age of 81, the Citizen Tribune reports. Beckner served as a criminal court judge in the Third Judicial District for 30 years and was in private practice in Morristown prior to taking the bench. A graduate of the University of Tennessee College of Law, Beckner was first appointed to the court by then Gov. Ray Blanton in 1976. He retired in 2006, but remained active in the judicial community, serving on the Retired Judges Committee and as its liaison to the Tennessee Judicial Conference Executive Committee. He also served on the board of directors of the United Way and of the Morristown Boys and Girls Club for 41 years. Details about services are pending. Remembrances can be posted on the Administrative Office of the Courts website.

Shelby County Criminal Court Judge Paula Skahan ruled today that DNA evidence may be tested in the death penalty case of Pervis Payne, whose execution is scheduled for Dec. 3, the Memphis Commercial Appeal reports. Payne was convicted in the 1987 stabbing deaths of a Millington woman and her 2-year-old daughter. Payne’s attorneys, including representatives from the national Innocence Project, have been seeking DNA testing of several items they say were found at the crime scene. Some of the items they requested are no longer in police custody so Skahan denied testing for those. After the ruling, Payne’s team collected the items and sent them to private laboratory in California. The Shelby County District Attorney's Office has argued that the items are from another crime scene and regardless of what DNA testing shows, the evidence to convict Payne was overwhelming.

Seven Memphis landlords have filed a lawsuit against federal officials claiming President Trump’s Sept. 1 order halting residential evictions infringes on their rights as property owners, the Daily Memphian reports. The group -- represented by Glankler Brown attorneys S. Joshua Kahane and Aubrey B. Greer --argues that the order essentially takes away from rental property owners and managers “the free and unrestricted use and enjoyment of their property without just compensation and without due process of law.” The suit asks the court to rule that the order violates the constitution and to prohibit the government from pursuing criminal or civil penalties against landlords who do not abide by it.

The U.S. House Judiciary Committee yesterday approved a bipartisan bill that would make PACER, the federal court electronic records system, free for the public, The National Law Journal reports. Under the bill, the federal judiciary would have two to three years to update and modernize its system and expand services, such as allowing users to search for records across the system, rather than within individual courts. During this time, “power users” — those who spend at least $25,000 annually on court filings — would continue to pay fees per page. After the modernization period, the judiciary would offer free access to PACER for all users and completely stop charging the per-page fees. The move comes shortly after the U.S. Court of Appeals for the Federal Circuit found that the federal judiciary misused PACER funds for other projects. The ABA Journal reports on that decision.

Nashville based Bone McAllester Norton PLLC has launched a new civil rights practice group, the Nashville Post reports. The group will have nine attorneys, including former Nashville Mayor David Briley and firm founder Charles W. Bone. In announcing the move, firm president and CEO Charles Robert Bone said there's a need for a concentrated civil rights legal practice now more than ever. Representation offered will include cases involving employment discrimination, housing and land use discrimination, Title IX discrimination, law enforcement accountability and compliance guidance, and internal investigations.