The law license of Knox County lawyer Lawrence McLean House was transferred to disability inactive status today by the Tennessee Supreme Court. House may not practice law while on inactive status. He may return to the practice of law after showing that his disability has been removed and he is reinstated.

Tennessee’s 112th General Assembly passed and Gov. Bill Lee signed a long list of new laws that will take effect tomorrow. WREG News 3 has a summary of the laws, which include those designed to protect children, curb human trafficking, expand gun rights, and crack down on “porch pirates,” those who steal catalytic converters and those who perform acts of cruelty on animals. Another new law will lead to creation of a task force that will work to find alternatives to incarceration.

Legal Aid Society of Middle Tennessee & the Cumberlands will host three in-person legal advice clinics and one phone clinic next week for members of the public with questions about housing and renters’ rights, bankruptcy, medical bills, debt collection, domestic violence, SNAP benefits and unemployment benefits. The in-person clinics will take place Wednesday from 11 a.m. to 1 p.m., Thursday from 3 to 4:30 p.m. and Saturday from 8:30 to 10:30 a.m. CDT. The phone clinic will be held Wednesday from 4:30 to 6 p.m. CDT. To volunteer, contact Andrae Crismon or Kendra Cheek or call 615-780-7131.

Legal Aid Society of Middle Tennessee and the Cumberlands (LAS) has hired Tom Szaniawski to work in its Nashville office on re-entry issues. He will provide counsel and advice to individuals who encounter civil legal issues while re-entering their communities after incarceration, the Nashville Post reports. Szaniawski previously served with LAS in March 2020 as a legal clinic consultant. Before moving to Tennessee, he worked in New York state as a bankruptcy and commercial law and contract attorney. He earned his law degree and a Master of Law in bankruptcy from St. John’s University School of Law.

The Knoxville Bar Association is planning a Bench & Bar Celebration for Sept. 8 on the outdoor patio of the Knoxville Convention Center. The event is designed to recognize the many challenges lawyers and judges have experienced over the past year and celebrate local judges for their dedicated service to the community. Watch for more details coming soon.

The U.S. Supreme Court late yesterday left intact a nationwide pause on evictions put in place amid the coronavirus pandemic. The 5-4 vote rejected an emergency request from a group of landlords asking the court to effectively end the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention's (CDC) moratorium, which was recently extended through July. Chief Justice John Roberts and Justice Brett Kavanaugh joined with the court’s three liberals to keep the stay in place, The Hill reports. Kavanaugh said though he believed the CDC had exceeded its authority in enacting the moratorium, the few weeks left would allow for a “more orderly distribution” of rental assistance funds approved by Congress.

As previously reported, as of July 1 the Knox County Circuit, Chancery, Probate, Juvenile and General Civil Sessions Courts will be using the schedule of fees included in T.C.A. 8-21-401 for all fees and court costs. The attachments included in the previous TBA Today story have been revised. New schedules are now available for the Circuit Court, Chancery Court, General Sessions Court and probate fees.

A new series on how busy lawyers can find more work-life balance is running in Above the Law. In the first installment, Paragon Legal noted how lawyers can audit, guard and schedule their time. The second installment includes four additional tips to manage the workday. (1) Try “time blocking,” which means divvying up the day into blocks of time during which specific tasks are handled. Also schedule tasks that require more concentration when you have better focus. (2) Reduce multitasking by turning off chat and social media notifications or silencing your cell phone. To protect your focus, minimize switching between tasks as much as possible. (3) Use a timer to stay focused and encourage short breaks. The article suggests several products on the market. (4) Finally, sometimes the best way to find more time is to get rid of a task altogether by outsourcing, delegating or just saying “no.” Learn more here.

Associate professor of law and associate professor of history at Vanderbilt University Sara Mayeux has won the 2020 David J. Langum Sr. Prize in American Legal History for her book, Free Justice: A History of the Public Defender in Twentieth Century America. The book chronicles debates about the role and funding of public defenders from the establishment of the first public defender’s office in Los Angeles in 1914 through the 1970s, when public defender’s offices existed throughout the nation and the right to representation for those charged with criminal offenses was widely accepted. The complex history of public defenders in America created an uneven patchwork of funding sources and institutional arrangements for indigent defense, a pattern that persists to the present day. In Free Justice, Mayeux reveals that the nationwide “crisis” of underfunded public defenders providing inadequate representation due to heavy caseloads and limited resources has existed throughout the history of public defense. 

The Fred D. Thompson Federal Building and U.S. Courthouse is projected to be complete later this summer, reports Main Street Nashville. Named for the late actor and U.S. senator, the six-story complex is located on nearly three acres on Church Street in downtown Nashville. The complex will house the U.S. District Court for the Middle District of Tennessee, the U.S. Marshals Service, U.S. Probation, the U.S. attorney’s office, the General Services Administration and U.S. Senate offices. Construction on the building began in June 2018.