Chattanooga attorney and TBA Young Lawyers Division President-elect Brittany Faith has been elected to serve on the Board of Governors  for the American Immigration Lawyers Association (AILA), the Chattanoogan reports. Faith is an immigration law attorney at the Chattanooga law firm Grant, Konvalinka & Harrison PC. Last month she was honored with AILA’s 2021 Joseph Minsky Young Lawyer Award for the outstanding contributions she has made as a young lawyer in the field of immigration and nationality law.

The TBA will hold its 2021 Elder Law Forum virtually tomorrow from 10 a.m. to 2:30 p.m. CDT. This year's program will feature information on elder abuse and undue influence, VA benefits, Medicaid updates and more. Speakers include Julie Price with Elder Law of East Tennessee, Christopher Johnson of Takacs McGinnis Elder Care Law, Amy Bryant with the Metro Nashville Office of Conservatorship Management, Bryson Eubanks with Kane and Crowell, Abby Rubenfeld of Rubenfeld Law Office, Travenia Holden with Holden Law Office, Barbara Moss of with Elder Law of Nashville and Michelle Poss of A. Michelle Poss Attorney at Law. Don't miss this opportunity to learn from seasoned experts and catch up on the latest developments in the field.

The Tennessee Alliance for Legal Services (TALS) has extended the nominations deadline for its annual access to justice awards to July 20. The Janice M. Holder Award, the B. Riney Green Award and the New Advocate of the Year award recognize those who have contributed to Tennessee’s equal justice community. The recipients will be recognized during the annual Equal Justice University (EJU) virtual conference Sept. 21-23. Visit TALS’ award nomination page for nomination instructions, the awards nomination form, and specific eligibility and criteria for each of the three awards.

The Tennessee Bar Foundation this week announced dates for its 2022 grant cycle. The application for the Interest on Lawyers’ Trust Accounts (IOLTA) grant program will be available on Aug. 11 on the foundation’s website. A hard copy of the completed application must be mailed to the foundation and be postmarked no later than midnight, Sept. 9. This grant cycle is open to new and existing grant recipients. For more information contact Executive Director Barri Bernstein at 615-242-1531. View the official announcement here.

The Memphis-based Community Legal Center (CLC), has named Gortria Banks as its new associate executive director and Jonathan Ealy as its new director of development and communications. Banks is a 31-year veteran of the Shelby County/Memphis court systems. She retired in December 2020 after having served as the finance administrator for both general sessions civil and criminal courts. Ealy previously was with Opera Memphis and the Clark Opera Memphis Center for over a decade. He also served as interim executive director of OUTMemphis: The LGBTQIA+ Center for the Mid-South.

In a new blog post from the Court of Workers’ Compensation Claims, Judge Thomas Wyatt writes about two of the many acronyms used in the workers’ compensation practice, explaining the difference between UR and ODG. He also provides an overview of the legal and procedural issues involved in this area of the law. Take a minute and learn how to break the code.

Republican lawmakers who make up the Study Committee on Refugee Issues met for a second time yesterday, Fox Chattanooga reports. U.S. Senator Marsha Blackburn spoke via Zoom about what is being done at the federal level to improve transparency in the child relocation process. The Tennessee Department of Children's Services testified about the Baptiste Group, an organization contracted to run a migrant facility in Chattanooga. That facility had its license suspended after reports of a staff member having an inappropriate relationship with a child there and another teenager running away. The committee also learned that the Chattanooga Police have charged a second woman with sexual abuse of another child at the facility.

Oak Ridge attorney Matt Tuck has announced his candidacy for Anderson County General Sessions Judge, Division II. He will run in the Republican primary, the Oakridger reports. Tuck has practiced civil and criminal law in the county for over a decade and currently operates the Tuck Law Firm. He earned his law degree and a master of business administration from the University of Memphis. Tuck has served as a special judge on the court and says it needs to operate more efficiently. He is a past president of the Anderson County Bar Association.

Senior Judge Don Ash heard arguments this week on a motion seeking a new trial in a homicide case on grounds that 10th Judiciary District Attorney Steve Crump had an affair with a family member of the victim. Crump has denied the allegation, Chattanoogan.com reports. Miranda Cheatham, who is serving 18 years in prison for the 2016 murder of her husband, James "Tooter" Cheatham, is seeking a new trial. Crump has been accused of having an affair with Tooter's half-sister, which allegedly caused him to have a conflict of interest. The half-sister is on tape saying she had an affair with Crump and threatened to tell his wife about it if he did not prosecute the murder case. In court, she said she lied on the tapes but then later admitted she did have an affair with Crump. Read TBA's previous coverage of the case.

The U.S. Supreme Court released its schedule for the October argument session yesterday, SCOTUSblog reports. The session will begin on Oct. 4 and run through Oct. 13. The justices will hear nine cases in five days, including oral arguments in two high-profile cases involving the federal government’s efforts to reinstate the death sentence of Boston Marathon bomber and the government’s assertion of the “state secrets” privilege in a case against former CIA contractors. The court did not indicate whether the arguments will be held by phone or in person. Read more about the cases that have been scheduled.