In a recent article, the Administrative Office of the Courts tells us about Judge Tim Irwin and his unlikely path to becoming a juvenile court judge in Knox County. Irwin, who played football for the University of Tennessee, was already accepted into law school when he was scooped up by the Minnesota Vikings in the third round of the NFL draft. Never giving up the dream of a legal career, Irwin took night classes at a Minnesota law school while still in the NFL, ultimately transferring to UT College of Law and earning his law degree in 1990. Several years into private practice, Irwin quickly recognized how impressed he was with juvenile court judges. “I became fascinated by that,” Irwin said. “I thought if I ever had the chance to go for that career, it would be really fulfilling.” Read more on Irwin’s time with the NFL and his new position as president of the Tennessee Council of Juvenile & Family Court Judges.  

Lincoln Memorial University Law Review is inviting all attorneys who are writing and speaking on topics relevant to the Appalachian region of the United States to submit an article to its publication. LMU’s Law Review was established in 2010 and is an online publication with a print version available on-demand. To submit an article, contact lmulawreview@lmunet.edu.

The Tennessee Alliance for Legal Services (TALS) last week hosted its annual Equal Justice University (EJU) as a two-day virtual event. The theme of this year’s conference was “Resilient Justice: Building Resilience, Ensuring Justice.” More than 300 lawyers, law students and other advocates attended sessions. TALS also shared videos celebrating its 2020 Access to Justice award winners. The Tennessee Bar Association co-sponsored the event and hosted a virtual sponsor booth with a video welcome from TBA President Michelle Greenway Sellers and a video tribute to the 2020 TBA Public Service Award winners.

The 2020 Creditors Practice Annual Forum will be held virtually on Sept. 30 from 1 to 4 p.m. CDT and will offer attendees the chance to earn two general and one dual CLE hours. Judge Lynda Jones and Judge Phyllis Gardner will kick off the program with a judicial panel that will be followed by a discussion on the future of collections and bankruptcy and conclude with an update on legal technology. You must register before 11 a.m. CDT on Sept. 30 to receive the Zoom email invitation.   

The investiture ceremony that was to be held for U.S. Magistrate Judge Cynthia Wyrick has been canceled due to ongoing health challenges facing the nation. Wyrick, a former TBA president, was named a federal magistrate judge last September and serves the court’s Northeastern Division, which is based in the federal courthouse in Greeneville. Her investiture ceremony, originally scheduled for April, was rescheduled for October before ultimately being cancelled in light of the COVID-19 pandemic.

The U.S. Court of Appeals for the 6th Circuit seeks comments from those who are in a position to evaluate the performance of Henry Martin, federal public defender for the Middle District of Tennessee, as well as the quality of services provided by the public defender’s office. Martin is eligible for reappointment when his current four-year term expires on July 23, 2021. Comments should be submitted by Oct. 23 via email or by mail to Middle District of Tennessee Federal Public Defender Evaluation Committee, c/o Circuit Executive Marc Theriault, 6th Circuit Court of Appeals, 503 Potter Stewart U.S. Courthouse, 100 East Fifth St., Cincinnati, Ohio 45202. Read more in this notice. This past June, Martin was honored with the TBA’s First Annual Claudia Jack Award, which recognizes a public defender or court-appointed lawyer who serves clients in an exemplary fashion.

Eight years after it acquired the practice and case management provider MyCase, AppFolio has sold it to the private equity firm Apax Partners for $193 million. The deal is expected to close by the end of the third quarter. Apax Partners says it plans to support MyCase with increased investments in product development, sales and marketing, while maintaining all current employees. The move is the latest in a two-year period that has seen a flurry of activity around practice management software companies. In 2018, Tabs3 acquired CosmoLex to expand its cloud-based practice management tools. In 2019, Litify secured a $50 million investment to expand into the corporate legal and small to mid-sized firm market; Clio secured $250 million in funding; and Bill4Time entered the market, in large part due to an acquisition by PracticePanther. And this past June, Lexicon launched a standalone legal practice management platform. Law.com has the story from Legal Tech News.

Oracle has reached a preliminary “technical partnership” agreement with ByteDance, the parent company of the video app TikTok, to manage the apps’ U.S. operations, the Nashville Business Journal reports. According to sources close to the negotiation, Oracle out bid Microsoft but the deal does not include a full sale of the app. Oracle reportedly plans to purchase an equity stake in the service and address national security concerns raised by the government. Existing ByteDance investors also are expected to be part of any final deal so talks may be continuing and could change. Any deal also would require the support of the U.S. and Chinese governments.

Nashville lawyer Thomas Irvin Holman Jr. died Aug. 6 in Danville, Kentucky, at the age of 98. A 1943 graduate of the University of Tennessee College of Law, Holman served in the Army, as a partner in the Nashville law firm of Stephenson, Lackey and Holman, and as a faculty member of the YMCA Law School (now the Nashville School of Law). He also earned a bachelor of laws from Emory University in 1947. Holman later was named president of First Federal Savings and Loan Association, CEO of the Metropolitan Federal Savings and Loan Association and president of the Tennessee Savings and Loan League. A private family service will be held at a later date. In lieu of flowers, memorial contributions may be made to Family Services Association of Boyle County or Danville-Boyle County Humane Society.

The City of Newport Board of Mayor and Aldermen has appointed local attorney Brittany Wild Vick as the city’s next municipal judge. Vick was chosen over two other candidates, Carty McSween and Assistant District Attorney Joann Sheldon, The Newport Plain Talk reports. The seat had been vacant since the death of Judge Vida Bell. Vick, a graduate of the Nashville School of Law, will maintain her general law practice in Newport in addition to serving as municipal judge. She also is the current vice president of the Cocke County Bar Association.