Brooklyn-based nonprofit Upsolve is offering users an app that helps them file for Chapter 7 bankruptcy at no cost and without hiring an attorney, WPLN reports. Users answer a series of questions through plain language in the app that populates their financial data into nearly two dozen forms required to file bankruptcy with federal courts. The services are free thanks to some government support and money from charitable foundations and individual donors. Those using the app still owe the $335 court filing fee, but can avoid hiring an attorney. Tennessee bankruptcy attorney Cynthia Podis shared her concerns about the app, noting the value in the guidance attorneys give. She says the debts some users have right now “might just be the tip of the iceberg,” which would mean they “may not want to file a Chapter 7 right now.”

Federal Public Defender for the Middle District of Tennessee Kelley Henry is featured in a recap of the ABA Journal’s 2021 “Members Who Inspire” series. The series showcases exceptional American Bar Association members who encourage and energize others with their good work. Henry, who is chief of the Capital Habeas Unit, is known as a champion for death row inmates, recently representing death row inmates Lisa Montgomery and Pervis Payne. Arguing her client was incompetent for execution, Henry won several stays for Montgomery before she was ultimately executed in January, marking the first federal execution of a woman in 67 years. Payne’s death sentence was recently set aside by a Shelby County court after Henry and her team argued a recent state law barring the execution of those with mental challenges applied to Payne’s case. Read more about Henry from the ABA Journal.

Nashville attorney Daniel Lewis is being sued by Texas class action firm Hilliard Martinez Gonzalez LLP, his former employer, for allegedly using confidential information in an effort to recruit their clients, the Nashville Post reports. The lawsuit, filed in Davidson County Chancery Court earlier this month, says that after his termination in December 2020, Lewis reportedly contacted HMG class action clients, asking them to transfer their cases to his new practice in Nashville. Chancellor Russell Perkins granted HMG’s request for an injunction against Lewis on Dec. 20, ruling that the firm made a strong case that Lewis had breached the confidentiality agreement and that his actions risked irreparable harm to the firm. In an email to attorneys included in HMG’s lawsuit, Lewis says the Tennessee Board of Professional Responsibility "personally advised" him that his outreach to HMG clients was “okay.” HMG is represented by Gerard Stranch IV of Branstetter, Stranch & Jennings.

The Macon County Commission has elected a full-time and part-time judicial commissioner, the Lebanon Democrat reports. Dayle Gann will fill the full-time role for a four-year term and William Wallace will serve as the part-time commissioner. Gann has worked in Circuit Court Clerk Rick Gann’s office since 2018 and has been serving as a part-time judicial commissioner since October when longtime commissioners Danny and Cathy Gross announced their retirements. Wallace was a homicide detective in California before moving to Macon County.

Jeri Thomas, CEO of the Nashville Recovery Court Support Foundation Inc., was recently presented with the inaugural Christy Vernon Spirit Award during the annual Tennessee Association of Recovery Court Professionals conference. Thomas was a probation officer for 20 years before becoming involved with drug court, a role she says she has a “tremendous amount of passion for.” The award’s namesake, Christy Vernon, was part of the recovery community at the state level. Vernon’s family attended the ceremony. Read more on the story from the Administrative Office of the Courts.  

Black children in Rutherford County are being jailed at a disproportionately high rate and the disparity is only getting worse. That’s according to a new report from WPLN which, in collaboration with ProPublica, published a story in October that revealed the county’s “staggering history of jailing children,” often illegally. Following that report, WPLN received data from the Tennessee Commission on Children and Youth that shows 38% of the 6,350 children booked into the county’s juvenile jail from July 2010 to June 2021 were Black. The county’s racial gap is comparable to national data, but while racial disparity is decreasing in most of the country, it’s increased in Rutherford County. From 2010 to 2017, 36% of the kids locked up by the county were Black. From 2018 to mid-2021, that figure climbed to 58%. The October report garnered attention from state and U.S. officials, with Gov. Bill Lee calling for a judicial review and 11 members of Congress signing a letter urging the U.S. Department of Justice to investigate the county’s juvenile justice system.

The TBA will close at 1 p.m. CST tomorrow and will be closed on Monday in observance of New Year’s Day. The virtual office will reopen at 8 a.m. CST on Tuesday. Happy New Year!  

The Knoxville Barristers will host the 2022 Knoxville regional high school mock trial competition, a joint competition between Districts 2, 3 and 4, in March. Rounds 1-4 will take place on March 4-5 at the Knoxville City County Building. The final round will occur on March 6 at Lincoln Memorial University Duncan School of Law. Sign up to volunteer or contact the Knoxville Barristers' 2022 Mock Trial Committee Co-chairs Isaac Westling or Bridget Pyman for more information.

Rep. Michael Curcio, R-Dickson, received the Rod Bragg Recovery Hero Award earlier this month during the Tennessee Association of Recovery Court Professionals Conference. Twenty third Judicial District Recovery Court Coordinator Kevin Batts presented the award, lauding Curcio’s “unwavering support and advocacy on behalf of the recovery courts across Tennessee.” Curcio this year introduced House Bill 215 which, according to Batts, “ensured safe and efficient treatment to centers and sober living facilities for the people we work with.” The Administrative Office of the Courts has more on the story.

Technical glitches plagued many bar exams in 2021 after roughly 30 states were forced to administer the test remotely due to the COVID-19 pandemic, Bloomberg Law reports. Test takers reported computer crashes, being locked out of the exam or being wrongly flagged for cheating. The chaos prompted a National Conference of Bar Examiners task force to issue recommendations for a new bar exam that better reflects “real-world practice and the types of activities newly-licensed lawyers perform.” While those recommendations were approved by the examiners, they will take four to five years to be enacted. After the 2021 exams, states are determined to return to in-person testing, but with the omicron variant causing a spike in infection rates, states could possibly be forced to improvise again.