The Arts & Business Council of Greater Nashville and its Volunteer Lawyers & Professionals for the Arts (VLPA) program will hold a pro bono clinic on Feb. 7 for those needing legal advice on issues surrounding their creative practice. The free 30-minute in-person appointments are available to income-qualified artists, musicians, creatives and arts organizations in the state. The clinic will run from 6-8 p.m. CDT at the McGruder Family Resource Center, 2013 25th Ave. N., Nashville 37208. Those who would like to participate should register by Feb. 2. To volunteer at the clinic email vlpa@abcnashville.org.

Curtis L. Collier, U.S. district judge for the Eastern District of Tennessee, writes in a Chattanoogan.com opinion piece about U.S. Supreme Court Chief Justice John Roberts’ 2023 Year-End Report on the Federal Judiciary. Collier, who serves as chair of the district’s Civics and Outreach Committee, says the report showcases “the remarkable steadfastness of the federal courts in the face of societal and technological change.” He highlights the courts’ adaptation to ever changing technology, including giving citizens more opportunities to follow the work of the judicial system, while remaining true to fundamental principles of justice, fairness and the rule of law. Collier was joined in the op ed by his law clerks Carrie Brown Stefaniak and Erienne Reniajal Lewis.

TBA President Jim Barry recently sent a letter to Gov. Bill Lee, Lt. Gov. Randy McNally, House Speaker Cameron Sexton and members of the Tennessee General Assembly, urging support for the Tennessee Supreme Court's request to increase funding for court-appointed attorneys representing the indigent. The TBA's letter points to the "significant impact" indigent representation has on the judicial system, and commits to giving this issue its full support in discussions with the General Assembly: "This situation has resulted in a crisis in our legal system, and especially in the juvenile courts. Nearly half of all cases requiring court-appointed attorneys are in juvenile court and involve families and children, such as adoptions, dependency and neglect allegations, reports of child abuse, proceedings to terminate parental rights, and a vast number of cases in which the interests of a child or other vulnerable person are protected by a guardian ad litem." Read the full text of the letter. Learn more about funding for indigent representation and how Tennessee lawyers can join these efforts from TBA's Government Affairs team.

The University of Memphis Cecil C. Humphreys School of Law will host a Diversity & Pre-Law Day for interested undergraduate students on Feb. 24 from 8:30 a.m. to 3 p.m. CST. Participants will hear tips on how to prepare for law school and apply for financial aid and scholarships, as well as learn why diversity is important. Register here. For more information email LawDiversity@memphis.edu.

The American Bar Association’s (ABA) Section of Legal Education and Admissions to the Bar is seeking comments on two proposals regarding the accreditation of fully online law schools, the ABA Journal reports. The proposed changes to Standards 102 and 306 would allow these schools to seek provisional and full ABA accreditation. Under the current standards, law schools must already be accredited to apply for either partial or full online operations. The comment period will run for 60 days with additional comment periods possible. In a memo explaining the process, the section’s Strategic Review Committee (SRC) writes: “Because of the significance of this change and the potential for disruption to existing schools, the SRC anticipates that this proposal may go through more than one round of notice and comment.”

The owner and operator of a network of orthopedic clinics in the Memphis area has agreed to pay the state of Tennessee more than $540,000 to resolve allegations that it improperly billed TennCare for the use of compounded steroids at its practices. Tennessee Attorney General Jonathan Skrmetti announced the settlement saying, “In the past few years, Tennessee has seen increasing numbers of clinics using fraudulent billing rates for compounded drugs” and that his office will continue to “hold fraudulent medical billers accountable” and “protect the financial integrity of the TennCare system.” The action was brought against Tri-State Orthopedics LLC and Dr. Apurva Dalal for allegedly using a compounded version of a drug but billing TennCare for a higher cost, commercially available version.

The state of Alabama yesterday executed Kenneth Smith with nitrogen, the first new execution method in decades, Reuters reports. The U.S. Supreme Court on Wednesday declined to halt the execution. Smith had argued before the high court that a second attempt to execute him — after the state failed previously using lethal injection — violates the constitution's ban on cruel and unusual punishment. In a separate challenge, a federal judge on Jan. 10 denied Smith’s claims that the method could induce a stroke or leave him in a permanent vegetative state. Smith was found guilty in a murder-for-hire scheme in 1988.

Davidson County lawyer Joseph Paul Weyant has received a public censure from the Tennessee Supreme Court. Weyant was hired to file a petition to probate a client’s late fiancé’s estate. At the time the fiancé died, the fiancé was a beneficiary of his mother’s estate, and it was anticipated that he would receive a distribution from that estate. Weyant filed the petition but then filed a motion to close the estate prior to a distribution. Weyant then terminated representation of the client. The client hired another attorney to reopen the late fiancé’s estate and paid that attorney $3,102. The court found that Weyant’s action violated Rules of Professional Conduct 1.1, 1.3, 1.4 and 8.4(d). The court also conditioned the censure on the payment of $3,102 in restitution to the client within 90 days.

Sullivan County lawyer Charles Brandon Sproles has received a public censure from the Tennessee Supreme Court. Sproles represented a grandmother in successfully seeking child support for the grandchild of whom she had legal custody. But he delayed more than eight months in entering an order setting the child support despite multiple requests from the client. In the intervening eight months, the grandmother received some of the owed child support by opening a case for child support with the local state child support office on her own. The court found Sproles’ actions violated Rules of Professional Conduct 1.3, 3.4 and 8.4(d). The court also conditioned the censure on Sproles paying the client restitution in the amount of $1,572 within 90 days.

Rutherford County lawyer Jerry Baxter Jackson III has received a public censure from the Tennessee Supreme Court. The court found, that in one case, Jackson failed to timely file an amended parenting plan as ordered by the court, take action to extend the deadline with the court and attend the court’s next scheduled hearing. In another client matter, Jackson failed to respond to a motion for summary judgment on behalf of his client and failed to explain the effect of the motion to the client. His actions were determined to violate Rules of Professional Conduct 1.3, 1.4, 1.6, 3.4 and 8.4(d).