Nashville Mayor John Cooper has announced that Bob Cooper will resign as the Metro Director of Law in early June, the Tennessean reports. Cooper previously served as Tennessee Attorney General from 2006 until 2014 and was appointed to lead Metro’s Legal Department in 2019. He will now return to his former Nashville law firm, Bass, Berry & Sims. “Nashville has had the benefit of a great legal mind and a committed public servant, working on our behalf at a pivotal time,” the mayor said in the statement. Wally Dietz, the chair of Bass, Berry & Sims’ compliance and government investigations practice group, will take over as legal director.

The TBA’s Business Law Section will host a two-day forum May 20-21 from 9 a.m. until 12:15 p.m. CDT both days. Join this virtual program for an examination of the critical aspects of valuation rules and guidelines in the context of M&A deals. Forum faculty includes certified valuation experts, business law professors, M&A attorneys, investment bankers and venture capital firms focusing on early-stage investments. Register now for the forum worth one dual and five general CLE credits.

The Nashville Bar Association will hold its Spring Memorial Service on May 27 at 11 a.m. CDT via Zoom. The service will honor 17 lawyers who recently died. Please RSVP to receive a link to view the service. A project of the NBA’s Historical Committee, the memorial service is held in the fall and the spring to honor the memory of Nashville lawyers and judges who have passed away during the preceding six-month period.

Judges in Tennessee may not allow for-profit organizations to create non-fungible tokens (NFT) of their likenesses and sell them even if a portion of the proceeds would be donated to legal aid groups. In its first opinion of 2021, the Judicial Ethics Committee reports that the Code of Judicial Conduct prohibits judges from aiding a for-profit organization in planning related to fundraising or soliciting contributions. The committee reiterates that judges are encouraged to engage in educational, religious, charitable, fraternal or civic extrajudicial activities, but such activity is to be conducted with not-for-profit organizations. The request for the opinion came from DASH4LAW Inc., which wanted to use the likeness of certain judges to create NFTs that would then be auctioned off with a portion of the proceeds to be donated to legal aid groups.

The 2021 TBA Annual Convention, presented this year as both an in-person and virtual event, offers eight hours of CLE credit. One of the key offerings will be the annual Bench/Bar Program, which will include three distinct presentations this year. The first two sessions will address neurodiversity in the courtroom and vicarious trauma. The third session will focus on the effect of individual bias on the sentencing process. A panel, including Judge Bernice B. Donald with the U.S. Court of Appeals for the 6th Circuit, University of Memphis School of Law professor Demetria Frank and University of Tennessee College of Law professor Sherley Cruz, will discuss specific instances of bias in the sentencing phase and offer practical suggestions on how to limit the effect of individual biases. See all CLE programs being offered during the week of Convention and register here.

Memphis attorney and TBA member Corey B. Trotz has been on television and billboards for so long, he’s now sort of a Memphis institution, the Daily Memphian says in a feature article about the personal injury lawyer. “He’s a bespectacled, bald man in his late 50s who’s a pretty good tennis player, and lately has developed an affinity for pickleball. But he is on television. And billboards. A lot.” And with a catchy jingle, he is an unlikely celebrity, the paper says. Trotz is an attorney at Nahon, Saharovich & Trotz where the firm’s ads are “a bit of in-your-face fun.” One shows Trotz superimposed on a mountain with an audible wind in the background, scaling any height for a client. In others, he drives a race car or appears with a talking dog. During the Super Bowl he was superimposed into the stadium crowd. Friends thought he really was at the game. Trotz credits the ads for the firm’s success but is serious when he says “All I care about is taking care of my clients.” When talking about his work, Trotz says insurance companies have an army of lawyers and unlimited resources but likes to think his firm and others “level the playing field.” 

Arrangements for Clarksville lawyer and former TBA President F. Evans Harvill have changed slightly since announced in yesterday’s issue of TBA Today. On Sunday, visitation will take place from 1 to 5 p.m. CDT at the Neal Tarpley Parchman Funeral Home, 1510 Madison St., Clarksville 37040. On Monday, visitation will be held from noon to 1 p.m. at Madison Street United Methodist Church, 319 Madison St. The funeral will follow at 1 p.m. A graveside service will follow the funeral at Greenwood Cemetery, 976 Greenwood Ave.

Knoxville lawyer Melinda Leigh Doss died May 3. A 1990 graduate of the University of Tennessee College of Law, Doss started practicing law at Pitts & Lake, an intellectual property firm, and stayed with the firm for the duration of her career. She became an expert in trademark law and often consulted with other attorneys about complex issues and trademark litigation over 30 years of service. A graveside service was held last week at Lake Hill Memorial Gardens in Bethel Springs. Memorial donations may be made to the Selmer First Baptist Church Building Fund.

The deaths of George Floyd, Breonna Taylor and Ahmaud Arbery last year prompted court leaders around the country to adopt a resolution to “intensify existing efforts” to improve racial equity in the justice system. At the same time, researchers with the National Center for State Courts were working to update a previous report examining implicit or unconscious bias. Now that report is out. The Evolving Science on Implicit Bias: An Updated Resource for the State Court Community explains how implicit bias fits into broader conversations about equity and fairness, defines commonly used terms, and summarizes research in the psychological and brain sciences, including strategies found to be effective and ineffective in addressing biases. The report found that one of the most effective strategies for reducing prejudice and discrimination is positive, meaningful intergroup contact.

Gov. Bill Lee is one of four governors nationwide who have endorsed a proposed amendment to the U.S. Constitution to limit the number of U.S. Supreme Court justices to the current count of nine, Tennessee Star reports. Other governors who have endorsed the “Keep Nine Amendment” include Doug Ducey of Arizona, Mike DeWine of Ohio and Pete Ricketts of Nebraska. The proposed amendment has been introduced in the U.S. House of Representatives as H.J. Resolution 11 and in the Senate as S.J. Resolution 9. Another Tennessean has connections to the effort as well. Former Tennessee Attorney General Paul Summers is one of the organizers of the “Keep Nine Amendment” campaign.