The Memphis Bar Association will hold a memorial ceremony on Sept. 24 to honor those who have died since 2019. To share a memory or story about an individual being honored, send an email to memphisbarassociation@gmail.com.

The full U.S. 6th Circuit Court of Appeals today upheld Tennessee’s 48-hour waiting period for abortions, the Tennessean reports. The ruling reverses a decision by Middle Tennessee District Judge Bernard A. Friedman that the state failed to show the waiting period helps with the claim to protect fetal life. In upholding the law, the court said: “None of the plaintiffs' witnesses could name specific women who could not get an abortion because the waiting period pushed them past the cutoff date” or experienced “complications or psychological harm during the waiting period.” The justices also pointed out that the law has been in effect for five years and abortion rates have remained fairly steady. Responding to the ruling, Attorney General Herbert H. Slatery III said the move was “gratifying for several reasons.” Read his full statement.

A small COVID-19 outbreak in some Blount County Justice Center offices has led to the closure of the walk-up desks for the Blount County Circuit Court and General Sessions Court, the Maryville Daily Times reports. Circuit Court Clerk Tom Hatcher said five people have contracted the virus and others are quarantining. Court clerks can still be reached by phone at 865-273-5400 or email, and there are drop-off boxes at the justice center. Courtroom proceedings have not been affected.

Tennessee Court of Workers' Compensation Claims Chief Judge Kenneth M. Switzer announced today that the court’s plan to return to in-person settlements in September has been put on hold due to a rise in COVID cases. It will now consider a return to in-person proceedings on a monthly basis. Switzer also said the court will provide 30 days notice before implementing any in-person protocols for its offices.

Coty Wamp, general counsel to the Hamilton County Sheriff's Office, says she will run for county district attorney general. In her current position, Wamp provides in-house legal counsel and advice on investigations, daily operations, policy matters and public media inquiries at the sheriff's office. She previously worked as an assistant public defender in Hamilton County and an assistant district attorney in Bradley County. She earned her law degree in 2014 from the University of Tennessee College of Law. Chattanoogan.com has more.

While day-to-day practice for lawyers may have changed during the pandemic, ethical and professional obligations to clients, opposing counsel and the state bar generally have remained the same. Understanding how these obligations are being molded in the current environment requires a review of confidentiality rules — especially those covering electronically stored information — and standards of professionalism for remote settings. Join Dominic Rota with Patterson Intellectual Property Law on Aug. 13 from 3 - 4 p.m. CDT for this informative webcast.

Leadership Nashville recently named a new class of 44 members, including six attorneys. Lawyers among the group are Taryn Anderson, president of Junior League of Nashville and COO, Sandbox Entertainment Group; Trace Blankenship, Bone McAllester Norton; Michelle Gaskin Brown, Amazon; Brigid Carpenter, Baker, Donelson, Bearman, Caldwell & Berkowitz; James Gooch, Bass Berry & Sims; and Kolin Holladay, Polsinelli. The nine-month course will begin in September and focus on government, media, education, business, labor, diversity, quality of life, human services, health, arts, entertainment and criminal justice.

A series of short videos featuring quick tips for attorney well-being are now available on the TBA’s YouTube page. Licensed psychotherapist Lindsey O’Connell leads the videos, which cover stress relief, goal setting, overcoming thought distortion and more. Today’s theme is Personal Wellness. O’Connell gives helpful recommendations on building meaningful resilience to help overcome the challenges practicing law presents.

President Joe Biden’s administration yesterday issued a more limited national eviction moratorium days after the original freeze expired, NPR reports. The order comes from the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention (CDC) and covers parts of the U.S. they say have "substantial" and "high" spread of the coronavirus. The legality of the new order remains in question and could face challenges. The Biden administration said the president "quadruple-checked" on whether he had the legal power to extend the moratorium unilaterally, but that due to a Supreme Court ruling that blocked the CDC from extending its past moratorium beyond the end of July, his hands were tied. 

Judge Angelita Blackshear Dalton has overturned the conviction of a man who pleaded guilty to voluntary manslaughter in the 2000 killing of a Nashville woman, the Tennessean reports. In 2003, Paul Shane Garrett was convicted in the blunt force trauma death of Velma Tharpe and sentenced to 15 years in prison. He was released in 2011. Much of the case rested on what Dalton called “Garrett’s now ‘debunked’ confession” that he allegedly gave to police, though it was not caught on tape. Defense attorneys from the Tennessee Innocence Project say Garrett never confessed to the crime and that police were aware “within a month of his arrest” of DNA evidence from the crime scene that did not match Garrett. "The techniques used by Detectives ... were, at best, questionable and led the court to rely on inaccurate and misleading information," Dalton found. A formal dismissal hearing in the case has yet to be scheduled.