Butler Snow LLP announces that former Tennessee Chancellor Gadson William "Will" Perry has rejoined the firm in its Memphis office and will practice with the Commercial Litigation and Appellate practice groups. Perry will also focus his practice on alternative dispute resolution. Perry previously served on the 30th Judicial District Chancery Court, which covers Memphis and Shelby County, after being appointed by Tennessee Gov. Bill Lee to finish the term of a retired chancellor. He became, at 38, the youngest African-American judge and second youngest judge in Tennessee's largest county. Perry presided over a civil docket of more than 2,000 business, governmental, tax, divorce and child custody cases, reviewed civil service and state agency appeals and mediated commercial cases referred by other judges.

Sumner County Commissioners voted 20-4 to include language affirming "Judeo-Christian values" in their Standing Rules and Procedures, a document that governs how they conduct their meetings. NewsChannel5 reports that "among the changes, the commission added a preamble, saying the commission is adopting the rules 'to ensure that [the county government] is ... most importantly, reflective of the Judeo-Christian values inherent in our nation's founding,' among other reasons." Interim Law Director Ben Allen warned the group that they could be setting the county up for discrimination lawsuits. Nashville attorney David Raybin says that the inclusion of the language is a clear violation of the First Amendment's ban against the government endorsing religion.

The Times News reports that the Tennessee State Building Commission has approved a plan to lease the now-closed Northeast Correctional Complex annex in Carter County to a group developing the Northeast Tennessee Regional Recovery Center. The facility will have 45 beds ready to begin treating state inmates for addiction by March. First Judicial District Criminal Court Judges Stacy Street and Lisa Nidiffer Rice have raised more than $10.4 million for the facility, which will serve a nine-county region stretching from Mountain City to Morristown, and its operations will be managed by judges from the first, second and third judicial districts. The judges say the inpatient program is modeled on their current drug-free Recovery Court structure and will rely on Families Free to provide intensive counseling and treatment services.

St. Mary’s University School of Law in San Antonio has welcomed 27 students to its inaugural fully online Juris Doctor program, the first to be accredited by the American Bar Association. The law school also offers a traditional J.D. program and had 791 applicants for its first all-remote cohort. The online program offered admission to 71 applicants, a 9% acceptance rate that falls close to top-ranked Yale Law School. Dean Patricia Roberts said that the program’s large applicant pool “showed us that there is an interest and a need for this.” The ABA in May 2021 granted St. Mary’s permission to offer its fully online degree as a five-year pilot program. That approval came after law schools were quickly forced to switch to remote classes by the COVID-19 pandemic, giving them more experience with distance education.

WREG reports that Pamela Moses, who was convicted of voter fraud in January of this year, is suing the state of Tennessee, current Memphis District Attorney Steve Mulroy and former Memphis District Attorney Amy Weirich, citing emotional damages. After Moses’ sentencing in February, a judge later granted her a new trial, stating that information about a previous conviction should not have been considered by the jury, and that a document from probation officials was not disclosed at trial. Weirich later dismissed the charges. Moses is asking for compensatory and punitive damages against the defendants.

Metro Nashville Police Department investigators working with the district attorney’s office were attempting to serve two arrest warrants for Zachary Johnson on Thursday afternoon. They claim Johnson was threatening and stalking Nashville attorneys Bernard McEvoy and Emily Todoran, who had represented him in the past. Johnson, however, refused to come out of his home, which led to an hours-long standoff, shots fired and a house fire.

The Tennessee Commission on Youth and Children (TCYY) says that almost 90% of kids who move homes five or more times while in the foster care system will end up in the criminal justice system. “In the foster care system, a huge risk factor is multiple moves,” said Kylie Graves, communications and policy specialist for the TCCY. “Thirty three percent of our kids who are in foster care are going to move three or four times within their first year. Nationally, that number is 14%.” Reports show Tennessee has the highest rate of foster care instability in the nation. Read more about the root causes of violent juvenile crime in Tennessee from WKRN.

Former Secretary of Defense Ashton Carter died suddenly of a “cardiac event” at age 68. He served as secretary of defense under former President Barack Obama from February 2015 to January 2017. His family said in a statement, "As secretary, he launched the successful campaign to defeat ISIS in Iraq and Syria, opened all combat positions to women, and forged new connections between the Department of Defense and the nation’s technology community." Read more from ABC News.

Charles Van Morgan, an independent candidate for governor, was arrested at a Hamilton County voting site Monday, and was charged with resisting arrest, disorderly conduct and intimidation of voters. Police said they responded to a call from the Hamilton County Election Commission stating that “a man was screaming about politics, cursing, getting into people’s faces and harassing the voters.”

Attorneys from Butler Snow, Bradley, Baker Donelson and Adams and Reese participated in an expungement clinic at Belmont School of Law on Friday as part of the Capitol City Challenge. Attorneys and Belmont Law students were welcomed by TBA Vice President Ed Lanquist and Davidson County Criminal Court Clerk Howard Gentry. Attorneys, students and representatives from the clerk’s office then assisted clients in filling out and filing expungement paperwork. The clinic was sponsored by the Legal Aid Society of Middle Tennessee and the Cumberlands. Over $12,000 in legal services were donated during the clinic. Click here to view photos from the event.