The Tennessee Bar Association this week will honor Hamblen County Assistant Public Defender Willie Santana with the Claudia Jack Award for his work promoting criminal justice reform. His case challenging bail practices in Hamblen County has "sent ripples throughout the criminal justice community in Tennessee,” former TBA President Buck Lewis wrote in his nomination of Santana. “Judges are beginning to focus upon whether their practices are legal and whether the system of cash bail, even legally imposed, makes sense for the taxpayers, the courts, and the accused." Santana also authored "Cash on the Barrelhead" in the July/August 2020 issue of the Tennessee Bar Journal, which also brought awareness to the issue. The award will be presented Friday during the TBA Annual Convention in Memphis.

Bone McAllester Norton attorney I’Ashea Myles has announced she is running to succeed Davidson County Chancellor Ellen Hobbs Lyle — who announced last week she would not seek re-election — the Nashville Post reports. Myles earned her law degree from Belmont University College of Law in 2014. During law school she clerked with the Tennessee Court of Appeals, Tennessee Attorney General’s Office and the district attorney’s office in Rutherford County. Following graduation, Myles practiced with the Hagan Law Group and Leitner, Williams, Dooley & Napolitan before joining Bone McAllester in 2018. Her practice is focused on construction, business and real estate litigation. Myles was a member of the TBA Diversity Leadership Institute class of 2014. 

Former Memphis University School of Law professor Alena Allen has joined the faculty of the University of Arkansas School of Law. The school announced the hiring on Friday. Allen joins the faculty as associate dean for research and faculty development and professor of law. Her research interests center on the intersection of health policy and critical feminist theory. Allen resigned from the University of Memphis in May citing the school’s lack of commitment to diversity and inclusion.

The special election for Tennessee's House District 29 seat has its first formally announced candidate, the Chattanooga Times Free Press reports. Democrat DeAngelo Jelks, an Iraq War veteran, U.S. Army Reserve captain and former University of Tennessee at Chattanooga police officer, has announced his intention to run for the seat held by the late state Rep. Mike Carter, R-Ooltewah, and now Carter’s wife. He currently is employed as a human resources recruiter. The paper reports that Republicans Greg Vital and Hoyt Samples also have picked up nominating petitions. Vital is chairman, president and co-founder of Morning Pointe Senior Living and Independent HealthCare properties. Samples is a long-time local attorney and has a practice in commercial and business litigation, personal injury and estate planning. The Democratic and Republican primary elections are July 27. The general election is Sept. 14.

The group responsible for relocating the monument of Confederate General Nathan Bedford Forrest say the remains of Forrest and his wife are gone from a Memphis park, WPLN reports. They will be reinterred at the National Confederate Museum in Columbia. Memphis officials say that moving the gravesite of the slave trader and early leader of the Ku Klux Klan means the park “can just be a park.” The removal comes ahead of planned festivities marking Juneteenth, a commemoration of the end of slavery in the United States.

The ABA is asking the Biden administration to take steps to relieve the burden of student loan debt. In a letter last week, ABA President Patricia Lee Refo urged the executive branch to “assist student loan borrowers by forgiving or canceling some level of debt.” Refo also recommended several steps that could be taken to address the problem. Student debt is particularly high for law school graduates and others who earn professional degrees, the ABA Journal reports. A 2019 report by the Congressional Research Service found that students pursuing professional degrees owed, on average, more than $175,000 upon graduation. That finding is consistent with a 2020 report by the ABA Young Lawyers Division that half of surveyed lawyers had more than $150,000 in student debt at graduation, and more than one of every four had $200,000 or more in debt at graduation.

Eddie Weeks, the legislative librarian to the Tennessee General Assembly, has authored a new book that documents the progression of the Tennessee Code. “A History of Tennessee Statutory Law: Compilations, Codifications, and Complications” was published by and is available from Lexis Nexis. The publisher calls the book “a must read for those interested in the legal process.” Weeks has served as librarian since 1996. He is a 1991 graduate of the University of Alabama School of Library and Information Studies. He previously authored “The Recording of the Tennessee General Assembly by the Tennessee State Library and Archives: One State’s History of Legislative History.”

Make plans now to join the Federal Practice Section for its 2021 Annual Forum on July 23. Attendees will have the opportunity to hear speakers on a variety of topics including federal judicial selection, use of evidence in federal courts, the role of the Senate Judiciary Committee and concepts of originalism and textualism. The virtual program will run from 9 a.m. to noon and offer four general CLE credits. Section members receive a discount for this program. Not a Federal Practice Section member? Join here for additional savings and benefits.

Legal Aid Society of Middle Tennessee & the Cumberlands will host three legal advice clinics this week for members of the public with questions about housing and renters’ rights, bankruptcy, medical bills, debt collection, domestic violence, and SNAP and unemployment benefits. An in-person clinic will take place Wednesday from 11 a.m. to 1 p.m. CDT at Operation Stand Down Nashville, 1125 12th Ave. S. Phone clinics will be held Tuesday from 3 to 4:30 p.m. and Saturday from 8:30 to 10:30 a.m. CDT. To help answer questions, contact Andrae Crismon or Kendra Cheek or call 615-780-7131.

A historical marker will be dedicated June 25 at 3 p.m. in Yorkville, Tennessee, to honor the work of state lawmaker Banks Turner, a Gibson County native who played a key role in the ratification of women's suffrage in the United States. The public is invited to attend. During a 1920 session of the legislature, Turner — who had initially opposed ratification — suddenly switched his vote, preventing passage of a motion to kill the debate on the ratification of the 19th Amendment, which gave women the right to vote. State lawmakers then went on to ratify the measure, making Tennessee the 36th state to do so, and the one whose approval made the amendment law across the country. Contact Gwen McReynolds for more information.