The out-of-state tuition rate at the University of Memphis Cecil C. Humphreys School of Law will be reduced for the 2020-2021 academic year after receiving approval from the university’s Board of Trustees. The proposal would cap tuition for non-residents at 11-credit hours, resulting in a 25% reduction for non-resident tuition and fees for 15 credit hours. The change will be offset by reductions in out-of-state scholarships and waivers. Read more on the UofM website or download this press release with additional details.

Law students from Memphis and Knoxville have advanced to the National Moot Court Competition finals. The University of Memphis Cecil C. Humphreys School of Law, represented by students Steve Liening, Joseph Patterson and Hannah Strong, were named champions of the Region VII competition last month with the University of Tennessee College of Law team led by Andrew Cox, Kayla Rask and Regan Sherrell placing second. Also competing were law students from Vanderbilt, Faulkner University, the University of Mississippi and more. The national event will be held Feb. 10 through Feb. 13 in New York.

West Tennessee Legal Service will host a Military Monday legal clinic on Dec. 9 at the Starbucks located at 2034 N. Highland Ave. in Jackson from 9 to 11 a.m. The clinic provides general civil legal advice for U.S. veterans, military members and their families. For more information, call 800-372-8346.

Can’t make it to Nashville for the year-end CLE Blast? The TBA has one remote location planned this year for Johnson City. Join us at Baker Donelson office anytime from 9 a.m. to 6:30 p.m. to take as many or as few hours as you need. Sessions will offer general and dual credit programs in a live format. Learn more and us know if you plan to attend. 

Catch up on bar news, upcoming events and attorney shout outs with the TBA’s BarBuzz podcast, a monthly show from the TBA Podcast Network. Other shows on the network include Sidebar, a podcast featuring human interest stories from Tennessee attorneys and HealthyBar, which focuses on attorney well-being. Tune in to these programs on the TBA’s website, Apple Podcasts, Spotify, Google Play, Stitcher or anywhere you listen to podcasts by searching the show title or “Tennessee Bar Association”.

A piece in the Nashville Scene by Steven Hale looks at the work of Kelley Henry, the supervising assistant federal public defender based in Nashville, who has been representing death row prisoners for more than 20 years. In 2018, she led the challenge against the state’s three-drug lethal injection protocol. Now she is at the center of several high-profile cases, including those of Abu-Ali Abdur’Rahman and Sedley Alley. Hale asked Henry how long she would continue to fight these battles. If the time ever came, she said, when one of the people she represented was executed and she did not cry, it would be time to quit. Hale was awarded the TBA’s 2019 Fourth Estate Award, which honors courageous journalism that enhances public understanding of the legal system and the law. He was recognized for his coverage of the executions of Billy Ray Irick, David Earl Miller and Edmund Zagorski, and capital punishment more generally in Tennessee.

The Tennessee Innocence Project made its Nashville debut with an inaugural gala, a sold-out affair featuring bestselling author John Grisham. Officially launched in February 2019, the project grew out of grassroots efforts started in 2000 by attorneys, law students, professors and volunteers. With the formal founding of the nonprofit, the Tennessee Innocence Project is the first organization of its kind in the state and joins the 67 innocence projects that currently exist around the world, according to Executive Director Jessica Van Dyke. The event raised $135,000 to further the work of the group to help those wrongfully accused. nFocus Nashville has photos from the event.

Nashville At-large Councilman Bob Mendes is dissolving his current law firm, Waypoint Law, and joining Sherrard Roe Voigt & Harbison, effective Dec. 31, the Nashville Business Journal reports. The two-term councilmember has become a recognizable face in Metro politics in recent years, after unsuccessfully petitioning his fellow council members to increase the city’s property-tax rate the past two years. He now serves as chair of the council’s Budget and Finance Committee, and is expected to again lead an anticipated debate over a tax increase. Mendes also has spearheaded various reforms to incentives given to real estate developers.

Gabby Salinas, a Memphis Democrat who nearly defeated Republican Sen. Brian Kelsey in 2018, is eyeing the state legislature again, the Nashville Post reports. Salinas has registered to run in the Democratic primary in House District 97, currently represented by Bartlett Republican Jim Coley, who is retiring. Allan Creasy, a Democrat who ran against Coley in 2018, also has indicated he will run for the post again.

Adrienne Simpson-Brown of Knoxville will take over on Dec. 23 as the new chief probation officer of the U.S. District Court for the Eastern District of Tennessee, WJHL reports. She has worked in the office since 1993, and as deputy chief probation officer since April 2018. Chief U.S. District Judge Pamela L. Reeves announced the hiring after completing “a nation-wide search and interview process.” Simpson-Brown will succeed Tony Anderson, who has served in the post since September 2006.