Knoxville attorney Stephen Ross Johnson was sworn in as treasurer of the National Association of Criminal Defense Lawyers (NACDL) earlier this month. According to a NACDL press release, Johnson has held a variety of leadership positions within the organization, including multiple terms on the board of directors and as a member of the group’s Budget, Technology Advisory, White Collar Crime, Sentencing, Strike Force and Investment committees. Johnson is a criminal defense trial and appellate attorney with Ritchie, Davies, Johnson & Stovall. He is a past chair of the TBA’s Criminal Justice Section and former TBA general counsel. 

State lawmakers returned to Nashville today for a special-called session to debate the hundreds of millions of dollars Gov. Bill Lee promised Ford Motor Co. to build a new assembly plant in West Tennessee. Discussion is not expected to last much longer than a week, and will include Lee’s plans for a new technical college at the Memphis Regional Megasite where Ford plans to build its facilities, the Nashville Post reports. The price tag may be larger than initially promised. Though Lee and other officials announced a $500 million deal, the legislature is being asked to spend nearly $900 million on the project.

The state’s first Administer Justice Gospel Justice Center — a national non-profit that works with local churches to provide legal services for those in need — is being established in West Knoxville at Cokesbury United Methodist Church. The program is looking for attorneys to volunteer for four hours one Saturday a month. Administer Justice only handles civil issues and does not require a court appearance. Legal issues may range from landlord-tenant to applying for disability benefits. Malpractice insurance is provided. To learn more visit www.administerjustice.org. To volunteer contact Crystal Schrof.

General Sessions Judge Jimmy C. Smith is the 2020 recipient of Leon Ruben Award of Excellence, the Administrative Office of the Courts reports. The award is presented annually to a judge for outstanding service to the community, the Judicial Conference and the judiciary as a whole. Smith is a former president of the Obion County Bar Association and the Tennessee General Sessions Judges Conference. He currently serves as a judge of the 27th Judicial District General Sessions Court and Recovery Court. He also is a member of the board of the Tennessee Association of Recovery Court Professionals. Outside the courtroom, he has served on a number of boards and in leadership positions for area nonprofits and educational entities.

Judges from across the state gathered in Nashville earlier this month for their Fall 2021 General Sessions Judges Conference. Conference President and Judge Lynda Jones and Administrative Office of the Courts Director Deborah Taylor Tate kicked off the conference with opening remarks. Tate cited statistics showing that judges held 22,477 Zoom sessions with 189,523 participants and participated in 15,000 hours of virtual training despite the challenges of the COVID-19 pandemic. Judge Jones recognized judges retiring this year and those who have been appointed to fill their seats. 

A news item in Thursday’s issue of TBA Today included the wrong location for a Oct. 23 Faith and Justice Clinic in Knoxville. The clinic, sponsored by the Tennessee Supreme Court Access to Justice Commission, Knoxville Bar Association and its Access to Justice Committee, Legal Aid of East Tennessee and the University of Tennessee College of Law, will be held at Lennon-Seney United Methodist Church, 2084 Dandridge Ave., Knoxville 37915. Sign up here to volunteer.

Two lawyers recently were reinstated from inactive status. Texas lawyer Jodi Michelle Hansen was reinstated on Oct. 7 after being placed on inactive status in May 2012. Mississippi lawyer Jason E. Graeber was reinstated on Oct. 13 after being placed on inactive status in April 2012. Both filed petitions for reinstatement, which the Board of Professional Responsibility found to be satisfactory.

The Knox County Commission will set a plan in motion on Oct. 25 to appoint a successor to retiring Sessions Court Judge Geoffrey Emery, Georgia Vines writes in the Knoxnews reports. The individual selected will serve until a new judge is elected in 2022. Several candidates already have filed reports with the county election commission to start fundraising to run for the seat next year. They are former Knox County GOP chair and sitting magistrate Ray Jenkins; assistant district attorney Judd Davis; Republican Sharon Frankenberg; and assistant district attorney Sarah Keith.

Davidson County Juvenile Court Judge Sheila Calloway spoke to a group of students with the non-profit program "Be About Change" this weekend, the Tennessean reports. The organization is one of a dozen that partner with the juvenile court to place young people in diversion programs rather than jail. Between 2016 and 2017, Calloway says her court diverted a total of 4,700 youth from detention, with only 6% re-offending, she said. “These programs are what’s going to help save our kids." Calloway also told the group about a program for parents that helps them with custody issues and substance addiction.

The University of Tennessee has offered to reinstate a professor who was cleared of federal charges accusing him of fraud and hiding his relationship with a Chinese university while receiving NASA research grants, Knoxnews reports. In an Oct. 14 letter obtained by the paper, Provost and Senior Vice Chancellor John Zomchick offers Anming Hu a tenured engineering professor job, back pay, payment for an immigration attorney, and $200,000 over three years to reestablish his research program. Hu was arrested in February 2020 and charged with wire fraud and making false statements. The judge declared a mistrial after the jury deadlocked in June. Prosecutors said they intended to retry the case, but the judge acquitted Hu last month.