Fastcase online legal research services have been offline for much of the day due to an outage on Amazon Web Services, Fastcase executives report. The engineering team at Fastcase has reached out to Amazon and will continue to monitor developments. The Customer Support team is still online and available to answer any questions or concerns. Alerts have been posted to Fastcase’s Twitter page and the company will continue to post updates on the situation. Fastcase is provided as a member service to all TBA members.

A federal jury has awarded $260,000 to a former Metro Nashville Public Schools administrator who claimed she was fired for raising concerns over racial discrimination in the district, the Tennessean reports. Euna McGruder, Metro’s former executive officer for priority schools, investigated a complaint that Black students at Madison Middle School were getting harsher punishments than their white peers. According to federal court documents, McGruder was fired in 2016 after bringing to light her findings that the middle school was  “permeated with discrimination” and created a “hostile work environment.” She’ll also likely receive back and front pay and attorney’s fees. MNPS maintains that McGruder was fired for employment concerns, not student discipline. McGruder's attorney Brian Winfrey said he was “happy to see justice served.”

Rhodes College in Memphis has chosen Southern Methodist University law school dean Jennifer Collins to serve as its 21st president, the Commercial Appeal reports. Collins received her law degree from Harvard Law School and has clerked for the U.S. Court of Appeals for the 9th Circuit and worked with legal teams for the U.S. Department of Justice and the U.S. Attorney's Office. Before SMU, Collins spent 10 years at Wake Forest University in North Carolina, beginning as law faculty in 2003 and becoming associate provost and vice provost in 2010 and 2013, respectively. She will begin her new position this summer, succeeding former president Marjorie Hass.

Shelby County officials this week announced it will double the capacity of the Mental Health Court using funds from the American Rescue Plan Act, the Daily Memphian reports. Shelby County Mayor Lee Harris said the court “can change lives.” He added that “Investment in access to mental health resources can help reduce crime in our community.” Shelby County Mental Health Court was established in 2016 and provides health care, counseling, housing assistance and employment assistance as an alternative to incarceration. People with severe mental illness and who have been charged with a nonviolent crime qualify for the court.

The Tennessee Court of Criminal Appeals has granted a new trial for a Giles County man who was convicted by an all-white jury in a room with Confederate flag tributes, the ABA Journal reports. The appeals court overturned the aggravated assault charge conviction of Tim Gilbert, a Black man, for two reasons: first because the Confederate memorabilia present in the jury’s deliberation room amounts to prejudicial extraneous information; and second because a trial judge had improperly admitted a prosecution witness’s inconsistent statement to police to support the government’s case. The state argued that Gilbert was acquitted by jurors using the same room in an unrelated case, but the appeals court ruled that was not sufficient to rebut the presumption of prejudice. A circuit court judge last year denied Gilbert’s motion for a new trial.

U.S. District Judge Aleta Trauger last week ordered eight men be removed from the state’s sex offender registry, admonishing the state for its retroactive enforcement of some sex offender laws, the Associated Press reports. Trauger pointed to a previous ruling in the Middle District in which a judge ordered two men be removed from the registry, finding it was unconstitutional to subject them to sex offender laws that were written after they committed their offenses. “Tennessee officials continue to flout the Constitution’s guarantees,” Trauger wrote. The state argued all eight men should be kept on the registry as a matter of public safety, but Trauger ruled the state did not provide enough meaningful evidence to suggest the plaintiffs pose a threat.

Two webcasts produced by the TBA Business Law Section are set to premiere this month. New Online Filing Requirements with the Secretary of State, set to air on Dec. 13 from 1 to 2 p.m. CST, will offer a demonstration of the state’s new mandatory filing system for documents pertaining to businesses and charities. Relational Contracts & the Pandemic: Guidance for Practitioners is scheduled for Dec. 15 from noon until 1 p.m. CST and will feature information on relational contracts and relational contracting and assess the utility and desirability of using relational contracting in times of uncertainty. Use the prepaid CLE credits that come with your TBA Complete Membership to save on this course. Not a TBA member? Join now to start saving.

The Governor’s Council for Judicial Appointments is meeting today and tomorrow at 9 a.m. CST to consider 10 applicants for the open vacancy on the Tennessee Supreme Court. The council will interview William Blaylock, Sarah Campbell, Kristi M. Davis, Timothy L. Easter, Kelvin D. Jones, William Neal McBrayer, J. Douglas Overbey, Jonathan T. Skrmetti, Gingeree Smith and Jeffrey Usman during the two-day hearing. An eleventh candidate, Robert F. Parsley, withdrew his application for the seat. Anyone may attend the public hearings in the Tennessee Room of the Tennessee State Library and Archives located at 1001 Rep. John Lewis Way North, Nashville, Tennessee 37219. The Administrative Office of the Courts has more information on the event.

The TBA Adoption Law Section will host part two of its “Best Interest Series” on Dec. 15 from 2 to 4 p.m. CST. The free virtual webinar will feature adoption law expert Dawn Coppock talking about the medical and psychological underpinnings of attachment. She also will cover how the best interest factors for termination of parental rights have been revised to incorporate current research. Register here. CLE credit is available on request for a fee of $90.

A new study from the Pew Charitable Trusts found that the COVID-19 pandemic caused civil courts to adopt technology at an unprecedented pace and scale, which in turn improved participation in court proceedings and helped resolve disputes more efficiently. But, the changes disproportionately benefited people and businesses with legal representation, and in some cases made it more difficult for those trying to navigate the system on their own. Those without computers or high-speed internet faced new challenges and little was done to provide technology accommodations for those with disabilities or who were not English proficient. In a report accompanying the study, Pew recommends that courts do more, including simplifying forms and procedures and collecting and analyzing data to guide future decisions. Read more from Bob Ambrogi’s Law Sites Blog.