Legal Aid Society of Middle Tennessee and the Cumberlands will host three phone clinics this 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 tomorrow from 4:30-6:30 p.m., Wednesday from 4-6 p.m., and Saturday from 8:30-11:30 a.m. Those needing assistance may call 800-238-1443 during these times. To volunteer for a clinic, contact Andrae Crismon or Kendra Cheek or call 615-780-7131. See the list of clinics for all of July.

Members of the University of Tennessee College of Law faculty have created a series of videos aimed at examining the legal system’s role in institutionalized racism. The “How Did We Get Here?” series was spearheaded by the law school’s anti-racism task force and prompted by the death of George Floyd at the hands of Minneapolis police. The series will feature faculty discussing subject matter specific to their expertise and includes such topics as residential redlining, racial disparities in healthcare, biased legal reasoning and racial discrimination in jury selection. Professor Greg Stein organized the project on behalf of the task force and said he hopes the series will provide better understanding about how decades-old decisions within government and legal systems have resulted in socially accepted racial discrimination. Read more from the College of Law’s website.

Attorneys for death row inmate Harold Nichols late last month filed a federal lawsuit seeking to delay his Aug. 4 execution, the Associated Press reports. His attorneys argue that the Tennessee Supreme Court has twice denied his requests to reschedule his execution, but have delayed two other executions due to the COVID-19 pandemic. They argue the pandemic has made them unable to prepare a clemency application for the governor and also say Nichols hasn’t been able to sufficiently meet with family, friends, attorneys or his spiritual advisor. They also claim the state attorney general and corrections officials haven’t provided a plan on how it will carry out an execution amid the pandemic. Nichols was convicted of rape and first-degree felony murder in the 1988 death of Karen Pulley in Hamilton County.

Brentwood police were mistakenly called last month on attorney James Crumlin after he entered his own home, WSMV reports. An unidentified caller phoned police to report she’d seen an African American male enter what she thought was a vacant home. The home is not vacant and belongs to Crumlin, an attorney at Bone McAllester in Nashville, who has lived in the home for 13 years. After the call, three Brentwood police officers arrived at Crumlin’s home and asked for proof that he lived there. “So I go to get my driver’s license. I walk back and right as I come to the front door, I saw one of the officers dart around to the side of my house," Crumlin said. "And I’m thinking that’s odd, where is he going? Then I’m thinking, oh, he probably thinks I’m going to run out the back door. As if I don’t live here.” The incident ended without issue, but left Crumlin shaken and questioning what would’ve happened if he hadn’t answered the door. The caller did reach out to Crumlin and left an apology in his mailbox and called him with an invitation to meet in person. Crumlin said he would be willing to talk with her, calling the incident a “teachable moment.”

Franklin-based law firm Thompson Burton has announced that veteran health care and regulatory attorney Jerry Taylor is joining the firm as a partner, the Nashville Post reports. Taylor was most recently a partner at Burr & Forman and is the 23rd attorney to join Thompson Burton since its founding in 2012. Taylor earned his law degree from the University of Tennessee College of Law and, before practicing in the private sector, held several legal positions in state government, including at the Tennessee Health Facilities Commission. He has also served on the board of directors for the Nashville Health Care Council and held a board position with the Tennessee Justice Center. Taylor will continue to focus his practice on health care and regulatory compliance.

Country music group Lady A, formerly Lady Antebellum, has filed a trademark lawsuit against a Seattle-based singer by the same name, the Tennessean reports. Last month, the band renounced the name Antebellum, citing “associations that weigh down this word,” including ties to slavery. Soon after the change, singer Anita White, who also goes by Lady A, took to social media to express her anger over the name change and vow to never give up her name. The next week, both Lady As announced they’d talked privately and come to an agreement to share the moniker. However, White reversed course soon after and asked the band for a $10 million payment, prompting them to file a trademark lawsuit against her in a federal district court in Nashville. The band isn’t asking for monetary damages, but are asking the court for a declaratory judgment that their trademarked uses of Lady A "do not infringe any of White's alleged trademark rights in "Lady A." 

Nashville attorney and newly appointed Young Lawyers Division President-Elect Billy Leslie joins the TBA’s BarBuzz podcast this week to talk about legal news, upcoming events for the month of July and special recognition of lawyers across the state. This month’s episode marks the one-year anniversary of BarBuzz and the entire TBA Podcast Network! Catch this show, and all others in the network, on the TBA’s website or anywhere you listen to podcasts.

Gov. Bill Lee has made two appointments to the Tennessee Historical Commission ahead of the group’s vote on the fate of the Nathan Bedford Forrest bust at the state Capitol, WPLN reports. Doris McMillan, who works at a private Christian school in Franklin, and Memphis healthcare executive and chairman of the TennCare Advisory Committee, Cato Johnson, are the new appointees. McMillan and Johnson are both Black and, while there is also a Native American member of the commission, the remaining 25 appointees and automatic slots from the Lee administration are white. The State Capitol Commission voted yesterday to remove three busts of military figures, including Confederate general Nathan Bedford Forrest, out of the Capitol and into the Tennessee State Museum. The vote now goes to the Tennessee Historical Commission for the final decision on what will be done with the busts, but that meeting may not happen until October.  

The 2020 Corporate Counsel Knowledge Nibbles is now available online and worth one-hour of general credit CLE. This virtual program will provide an overview of the information blocking rules and interoperability rules, the impact those rules have on providers, practical tips for outside counsel and relationships with third party health information management vendors. Watch remotely on your phone or laptop as Nashville attorneys Nesrin Tift and Elizabeth Warren of Bass, Berry & Sims cover these topics.

Williamson County attorney Eric Trygve Olson on Wednesday received a public censure from the Board of Professional Responsibility of the Tennessee Supreme Court. Olson was hired in September 2016 as in-house counsel, but did not complete his registration with the Tennessee Board of Law Examiners within 180 days of the start of his employment. In January 2019, on his application for comity admission to the Board of Law Examiners, Olson incorrectly stated that he had never registered as in-house counsel. In April 2019, he went to work as in-house counsel for a different company, but did not notify the BLE of his termination with the first company and did not register as in-house counsel within 180 days of the date the second employment began. A Public Censure is a rebuke and warning to the attorney, but it does not affect the attorney’s ability to practice law.