Knoxville lawyer J. Spencer Fair has been re-elected to the District 6 seat in the TBA House of Delegates. He faced a challenge for the position from attorney Glenn Walter with Lewis Thomason in Knoxville. Fair is an attorney with London Amburn where he focuses in the areas of health care litigation and general health law matters. He also is an adjunct professor at the University of Tennessee College of Law where he teaches civil pre-trial litigation. The House of Delegates seat was the only contested race for the 2021 election.

The Tennessee Court of Workers' Compensation Claims announced this week that it will continue to conduct hearing settlements by phone through June. The court took the action due to continued issues with in-person meetings brought on from the COVID-19 pandemic.

Lipscomb University has named Nashville attorney Kimberly McCall as the new academic director of its Fred D. Gray Institute for Law, Justice & Society. McCall has 10 years of experience as an attorney in the state and supreme court systems. She began her legal career as a law clerk for then-judge Jeffrey S. Bivins on the Tennessee Court of Criminal Appeals and continued clerking for him after he was appointed to the Tennessee Supreme Court. McCall then served as a staff attorney for the Tennessee Supreme Court through the end of 2020. She also has served as an adjunct professor for the Law, Justice & Society Institute for nearly a decade. The institute is an undergraduate academic program that teaches students from a justice and civil change point of view, preparing them for law school, public policy or nonprofit work. It also partners with the TBA to host a summer law camp for high school students interested in a career in the legal field.

The Tennessee Supreme Court has appointed McKenna Cox of Johnson City to its Access to Justice Commission for a three-year term. She replaces Michael L. Forrester, whose term ended March 31. Cox is a partner at Herndon, Coleman, Brading & McKee where she has 15 years of experience in family law, domestic violence, mediation, immigration, conservatorships and civil litigation. She earned her law degree from the University of Tennessee in 2005 with a concentration in advocacy. The court also announced that it re-appointed John L. Farringer IV and Judge Alexander McVeagh to a second term each.

Hamilton County Commissioners voted last week to support an effort to transform the county’s current physical law library into an electronic resource, Chattanoogan.com reports. County Attorney Rheubin Taylor said the resolution in support of the effort was requested by the local legislative delegation. Lawmakers are looking into creating an electronic library that can be used by the public, judges and attorneys. County Finance Director Lee Brouner said the library collects $14,000 in revenue through litigation tax each year and has a balance of $92,000 that could be used to operate the new electronic library for at least 10 years. He also said the county already has purchased the software that would be required for the project.

The Tennessee Supreme Court yesterday released a statement clarifying the process that would unfold if the current reprieve issued by Gov. Bill Lee for Pervis Payne is allowed to expire. The governor issued a temporary reprieve for Payne due to the COVID-19 pandemic on Nov. 6, 2020. It is set to expire on April 9. The court notes that upon expiration of the reprieve, it has the authority to reset the execution for a future date. The statement was issued to address confusion that the execution would take place on April 9 if the reprieve is allowed to expire.

The Rev. James Lawson, civil rights icon and Vanderbilt University professor emeritus, has received the NAACP Chairman’s Award, which recognizes individuals who demonstrate exemplary public service and use their distinct platforms to create agents of change. Lawson was honored for his work as a social change advocate and his contributions to the civil rights movement, specifically for his role in nonviolent protests in the south in the 1960s. Lawson’s mark on the Vanderbilt community is profound, the school reports. After joining the divinity school in 1958, Lawson helped organize sit-ins to desegregate lunch counters in downtown Nashville. Those activities led to his expulsion from Vanderbilt in 1960. Eventually, Vanderbilt and Lawson reconciled, and in 1996 he received the Vanderbilt Divinity School’s first Distinguished Alumni Award.

Construction of a new Sumner County Courthouse in downtown Gallatin is expected to begin later this year, according to officials involved with the project. As early as this week, demolition work could start on an existing building located on the property, Main Street Nashville reports. Once that building is removed, crews will spend an estimated three months performing various site work on the property. Without any delays, construction of the new courthouse would begin in late summer and will last for two years. The five-story, predominantly brick building will feature more than 46,000 square feet of space and will consolidate all of the county’s courts under one roof once it opens in 2023. County officials also expect to complete the purchase of property for a planned parking garage nearby within the next 30 days.

The Legal Aid Society of Middle Tennessee and the Cumberlands will hold its third annual Breakfast of Champions virtually next Wednesday from 8 to 9 a.m. CDT. This signature fundraising event brings together Middle Tennessee’s legal community and business leaders to support the work of LAS. This year, Olympic Gold Medalist Scott Hamilton will join the event as the guest speaker.

Davidson County attorney Jason Wade Barnette was permanently disbarred from the practice of law yesterday. The Tennessee Supreme Court reports that Barnette consented to disbarment because he could not successfully defend himself against the disciplinary charges. The court found that Barnette failed to communicate with clients and inform clients that he had been suspended; allowed default judgments to be entered against clients; posted misleading information on his web page suggesting he was authorized to practice law in another state; and failed to disburse settlement funds to his client. His actions were determined to violate Rules of Professional Conduct 1.3, 1.4, 1.5, 1.15, 1.16, 5.5, 7.1, 8.1 and 8.4(a), (d) and (g).