Nashville Metropolitan Chief Public Defender Martesha L. Johnson was last week sworn in as president of the Nashville Bar Association during the organization’s annual meeting. Johnson has served three years as chief public defender and was the first African American and second woman to be elected to the position. Others elected to lead the NBA were First Vice President Judge Melissa Blackburn, Second Vice President Liz Sitgreaves, President-elect Gulam Zade, First Vice President-elect Lora Fox, Second Vice President-elect Marlene Moses, Secretary Charity Williams, Treasurer Flynne Dowdy, YLD President Jeremy Oliver and General Counsel Lela M. Hollabaugh. Additional board members elected include Christen Blackburn, Erin Coleman, Mandy Floyd, Elizabeth Foy, Joseph Hubbard and Marie Scott. The NBA also honored Charles Grant of Baker Donelson with the John C. Tune Public Service Award for outstanding contributions to the greater Nashville community. 

Nashville lobbyist and attorney Erica Garrison has been named partner in the Nashville office of Bradley Arant Boult Cummings, the Nashville Post reports. Garrison previously practiced at Waller Lansden Dortch and Davis and was an assistant Metro attorney. Garrison will join Bradley’s economic development practice group and will work on land use and zoning issues, state regulatory matters and economic development incentive deals for relocating companies.

The Tennessee Supreme Court has adopted four proposed rules amendments. Amendments to the Rules of Appellate Procedure, Rules of Civil Procedure, Rules of Criminal Procedure and Rules of Evidence are all subject to approval by the Tennessee General Assembly.

Legal services provider Legility has been acquired by Consilio, an e-discovery, document review, risk management and legal consulting service provider. "An important consideration for Legility was the shared view on where the market is going, and we are particularly interested in expanding together what we can provide to clients in non-eDiscovery legal and compliance domains,” Legility CEO Barry Dark said in a press release. Originally known as Counsel on Call, Legility was founded in 1991 by lawyer Jane Allen and is headquartered in Nashville.

A new article from the Tennessean profiles Vanderbilt Law School Professor Mike Newton who, alongside his students, is helping judges in Iraq prosecute ISIS cases. Newton had worked on helping the Iraqi judiciary rebuild its court system after the reign of former dictator Saddam Hussein, but his work has now shifted to helping prosecute tens of thousands of ISIS cases and genocide cases previously ignored by the country. Newton’s work, funded by a grant from the U.S. State Department, is aided by students from Vanderbilt’s exclusive International Law Practice Lab. The students last year built a 300-page manual of international criminal law best practices to support attorneys in international criminal tribunals. 

Twenty three witnesses testified before Shelby County Criminal Court Judge Paula Skahan this week during the two-day resentencing hearing of former death row inmate Pervis Payne, the Commercial Appeal reports. Prosecutors, who are asking for Payne to serve two life sentences and a 30-year sentence consecutively, presented the court with graphic crime scene photos and testimony from family members of the victims. Payne’s defense called 19 witnesses, a mix of family members, friends and prison staff, to testify on Payne’s character. They are asking for Payne’s sentences to run concurrently, making him eligible for parole in six years. The Shelby County District Attorney’s Office dropped the death penalty against Payne last month after a state expert found he has an intellectual disability. The Innocence Project reports that Skahan will issue a written ruling by Jan. 24, 2022.  

Tennessee Bar Exam results show that 720 applicants — 599 first-time test takers and 121 repeat candidates — sat for the July exam. Of the first-time test takers, 70.95% passed — down from July 2020’s passage rate of 82.36%. For repeat test takers, 19.83% passed — a decline from 36.36% last year. Vanderbilt Law School had the highest passage rate of first-time test takers at 91.89%, followed by the University of Tennessee College of Law with 90.12%, Belmont University College of Law at 88.75%, University of Memphis School of Law at 69.41%, Lincoln Memorial University Duncan School of Law at 53.13% and Nashville School of Law at 46.94%. The Board of Law Examiners has all exam data here.

If you are uncertain about what employers can and cannot do regarding COVID-19 precautions — namely vaccines and masks — under new laws, this article is for you. The Tennessee Bar Journal's "The Law at Work" column by Edward G. Phillips and Brandon L. Morrow, will appear in the January/February issue but the topic is so timely and important that it has been published early as part of TBJ Select. Read "Not-So-Conscientious Objections: Tennessee’s New Law to Combat Vaccine Mandates." Because this is a developing story, the authors will follow closely and update the online article as changes occur.

President Joe Biden has granted an emergency declaration for nine Tennessee counties that were hit by last weekend’s severe weather, WPLN reports. Cheatham, Decatur, Dickson, Dyer, Gibson, Lake, Obion, Stewart and Weakley will now qualify for federal reimbursement for their emergency measures. Gov. Bill Lee has also asked for a Major Disaster Declaration, which would offer more federal resources for individuals, more money for long-term solutions and prevention of future disasters and would allow the state to replace damaged buildings, roads or recreational facilities. Additionally, Lee yesterday signed Executive Order 94 which temporarily waives certain state and federal rules, allows health care professionals to work outside their licensed state and prompts hotels and other vacation rentals to host tornado victims.

Catch the webcast replay of Work Smarter Not Harder - Business Education Series - Track and Utilize Core Financials and Productivity Reports on Dec. 20 from noon until 1 p.m. CST. Worth one hour of dual CLE credit, this program will familiarize attendees with balance sheets, trust accounts, profit and loss statements and chart of accounts and explain how they can best be used. This program is part of the TBA’s annual Year End CLE Event, which offers a variety of live virtual or on-demand programs, CLE packages and much more to help meet your last minute CLE needs.