The Second Quarter Restoration Clinic will be held at the Bordeaux-North Community Justice Center in Nashville, 2013 25th Ave. N. in Room 23, on May 6 at 9 a.m. CDT. The clinic will offer pro bono legal counseling as well as a job fair. To get on the docket, call the Criminal Court Compliance Division at 615-880-3838. Registration is required by May 5 at 2:30 p.m. The event is limited to the first 100 registrants. Read more about the clinic.

Students from the Nashville School of Law surprised Dean William C. Koch, Jr. with a Senate Joint Resolution honoring his leadership. Dean Koch teaches U.S. Constitutional Law and Tennessee Constitutional Law at NSL and is also an adjunct professor at Vanderbilt School of Law and Belmont College of Law. Read SJR 0334.

Gov. Bill Lee has signed into law House Bill 833, which allows doctors to legally perform abortions in cases of ectopic and molar pregnancies where there is “reasonable” medical judgment an abortion would prevent the death or “prevent serious risk of substantial and irreversible impairment of a major bodily function of the pregnant woman.” Previously, doctors who performed an emergency abortion in Tennessee could argue an “affirmative defense” and were required to prove the procedure was a lifesaving medical necessity or face criminal charges. Read more in the Tennessean.

Sunday is the last day for Early Bird pricing for the TBA Convention in Knoxville on June 14-17. Prices go up Monday so register now!

Belmont University College of Law student Kayla Mathews is the winner of the school's fourth annual Legal Fiction Workshop. Mathews, a third-year law student, won with her entry “100 Small Choices,” which follows an attorney on an emotional journey when a client reminds her of her younger self. The winning story was chosen through an anonymized review process. Belmont’s Legal Fiction Workshop has produced the past two winners of the American Bar Association’s Legal Fiction Contest. Read more from Belmont News.

The formal investiture ceremony for U.S. Magistrate Judge Cynthia Richardson Wyrick will be held May 19 at 1:30 p.m. EDT in the James H. Quillen U.S. Courthouse, 220 West Depot St. in Greeneville. Wyrick, a former TBA president, was named a federal magistrate judge for the Eastern District of Tennessee in 2019, but her investiture ceremony was twice delayed because of the COVID-19 pandemic. You can RSVP for the ceremony using this form.

Nashville Mayor John Cooper on Thursday unveiled a 2023 budget proposal that features an additional $100 million for Nashville schools and $15 million to bring the Nashville Fire Department to full staffing for the first time since 2001. The budget, presented during Cooper's annual State of Metro address, also includes a 7% pay increase for Metro employees. Cooper also offered support for Gov. Bill Lee’s proposed order of protection law, which is to be debated at an upcoming special session. "We want those families to be the last in Nashville to know that unimaginable pain," said Cooper. Read more in the Tennessean.

The Metro Nashville Office of Conservatorship Management (OCM) is seeking volunteers for its Conservatorship Assistance Program. A joint venture with the TBA Public Education Committee and state legal aid organizations, the program serves to assist applicants in obtaining conservatorship for their special needs children upon turning 18. The goal is to obtain a list of lawyers across the state willing to assist when needed. Learn more on the TBA Public Education portal.

The Chattanoogan reports that Hamilton County Public Defender Steve Smith asked the county commission for $741,423 in salaries for 22 lawyers. Smith said the starting salary for a Hamilton County assistant public defender (APD) is about $55,000, about the same as a jailer’s salary, and he noted that starting salaries at local private law firms are six figures. Smith outlined the heavy caseload of the public defenders, which he said is only getting heavier as law enforcement is reformed with better structure and better pay, resulting in more cases for the APDs.

Prominent Nashville attorney Ward DeWitt Jr. died Tuesday at age 97. A Nashville native, he entered the Navy's V-12 program for officer training at Tulane University in 1943, and was later training for the invasion of Japan when the Japanese surrendered in August 1945. After the war, he remained in the Navy and in July 1946 witnessed test explosions of two atomic bombs at Bikini Island in the Pacific. After leaving the Navy, DeWitt returned to Nashville, graduating from Vanderbilt University in 1948 and Vanderbilt Law School in 1951. He was a partner in the firm of Trabue, Minick, Sturdivant and Harbison, which became Trabue, Sturdivant and DeWitt, and later merged with Miller and Martin. DeWitt also served a term in the Tennessee House of Representatives from 1955-1956. A memorial service will be held at Westminster Presbyterian Church, 3900 West End Ave., Nashville, this Saturday at 1 p.m. CDT. Visitation is from 11:30 a.m. to 1 p.m. Memorial contributions can be made to Westminster Presbyterian Church.