The Memphis Bar Association and its Access to Justice Committee will hold a virtual legal advice clinic Friday from 1-3 p.m. CDT. The clinic will be held by Zoom and focus on the topics of debt relief and bankruptcy. Those needing legal advice should register online at 901legalconnect.org. The clinic is being held in collaboration with the Tennessee Valley Authority’s Office of General Counsel, Community Legal Center and Memphis Area Legal Services. It is sponsored by Ralston Buchanan Consumer Law Group.

The Wisconsin Court of Appeals has rejected a request for a hearing in a new-trial bid by Steven Avery, whose case was portrayed in the “Making a Murderer” Netflix series, the ABA Journal reports. Avery was sentenced to life in prison after his 2007 conviction for killing photographer Teresa Halbach. He says he was set up for the murder as payback for filing a $36 million wrongful-conviction lawsuit against the county sheriff in a different case accusing him of rape. Avery sued after DNA evidence exonerated him in the rape case. The court said that evidence presented during appeal could have been helpful at trial, but failed to lead to the conclusion that he was framed. However, it did say that Avery could file a new motion for collateral relief claiming that prosecutors failed to disclose a call from a witness.

Laura Baker, a shareholder at the Law Offices of John Day, will chair the 2021 Campaign for Equal Justice for the Legal Aid Society of Middle Tennessee and the Cumberlands (LAS). The campaign, held annually since 1987, has a goal of raising $870,000 this year. Baker previously served as a pro bono lawyer for LAS. She has spent 15 years representing clients in personal injury, wrongful death and tort litigation across the state. She is the immediate past president of the Nashville Bar Association. Read more in a release from LAS.

The ABA is holding its Annual Meeting Aug. 4-10 with programs being offered in person as well as virtually. Among topics to be considered are police reform, cryptocurrency, voter suppression, environmental justice and student free speech rights. On Wednesday, ABA President Patricia Lee Refo will join nine past female presidents of the association to discuss the progress of and remaining challenges to the advancement of women in the profession. The ABA House of Delegates will meet Wednesday and Thursday to consider more than three dozen proposals. Awards also will be presented to Dr. Clarence B. Jones, adviser and lawyer to Dr. Martin Luther King Jr., and to Lawrence Fox, a champion of legal ethics, professional responsibility and lawyer volunteerism. Read more about the meeting.

The American Bar Association (ABA) last month released its third annual “Profile of the Legal Profession." Among the topics covered, the profile looks at the impact of the COVID-19 pandemic on different demographic groups, finding that one-third of older lawyers changed their retirement plans and a higher number of women lawyers and lawyers of color reported stress and work-life balance challenges during the pandemic compared to others. The profile also looks at the number of lawyers and law students in the country, wage trends, the growth in women attorneys, the decrease in male law students, and the slow but steady progress in diversity, Reuters reports. Finally, the survey found a dearth of lawyers in rural areas and ongoing struggles associated with law school debt, according to the ABA Journal.

President Joe Biden is calling on Congress to extend the federal eviction moratorium past Saturday when it is set to expire, News Channel 5 reports. In a statement issued yesterday, Biden said that while he would support another extension from the Centers for Disease Control (CDC), the U.S. Supreme Court “made clear that this option is no longer available.” Congressional leaders scrambled today to try to get a bill to the House floor but were unable to garner enough Democratic votes, The Hill reports. By late afternoon, they had abandoned the effort. Speaker Nancy Pelosi, D-California, urged the administration to do a temporary fix to give Congress more time to pass legislation.

Hello Divorce, a California startup whose platform facilitates low-cost do-it-yourself and attorney-assisted divorces, has raised $2 million to fuel expansion to all 50 states, Bob Ambrogi reports in his LawSites blog. Divorce attorney Erin Levine started Hello Divorce in 2017 as part of her law firm and spun it off in 2018. The service is currently available in California, Colorado, Texas and Utah. In addition to geographic expansion, Levin plans to add ancillary services, including offering financial literacy skills to clients through a partnership with Northwestern Mutual. 

Individual sessions from this year’s Communication Law Forum are now available. Want to experience the full forum? Check out our 1-Click option that gives you access to all sessions. The 2021 forum included presentations on anti-SLAPP, defamation, the Public Records Act and and updates from the U.S. and Tennessee Supreme Court.

During the COVID-19 pandemic, Nashville attorney David Anthony left behind his law firm of 13 years and hung his own shingle. Anthony discusses that transition on the latest episode of the TBA's Sidebar podcast where he explains what he likes most about his solo practice, his biggest challenges and his advice for attorneys who are looking to make the same change. Additionally, David discusses resources offered by the TBA to help solo and small firm practitioners, including the Practice Management Center and the upcoming business education and development training program, Scaling Small Law. Sidebar is part of the TBA Podcast Network and can be found on the TBA's website or anywhere you listen to podcasts. 

Dyer County lawyer Charles Maurice Agee Jr. today received a public censure from the Board of Professional Responsibility of the Tennessee Supreme Court. While representing a client in a criminal matter, Agee asked his legal assistant to contact the prosecutor for a continuance in an upcoming preliminary hearing. He did not speak directly with the prosecutor himself. Agee’s legal assistant advised him that the prosecutor had agreed to a continuance. On the morning of the preliminary hearing, Agee told the court he had spoken directly with the prosecutor by email and she had agreed to the continuance, but the prosecutor later confirmed with the judge that she had not agreed to the continuance. A public censure is a rebuke and warning to the attorney, but it does not affect the attorney’s ability to practice law.