The Tennessee Administrative Office of the Courts has named attorney Joe Byrd as interim executive director of the newly established Office of the Appointed Counsel Commission (AOC), which will coordinate statewide indigent representation in child welfare cases and criminal cases where district public defenders have conflicts. Byrd previously served as lead attorney for the AOC's indigent services team. Gov. Bill Lee’s amended budget, approved in the 2025 legislative session, included funding for the new office to address challenges in delivering indigent defense. “Joe Byrd is a trusted and seasoned attorney with the expertise required to lead this new office,” Chief Justice Holly Kirby said in a release. “The Supreme Court appreciates the support of the Governor, the legislature, judges, attorneys, the Tennessee Bar Association and the work of our team at the AOC. We are taking a transformational step forward to safeguard the fair and impartial administration of justice in Tennessee." Before joining the AOC, Byrd was an assistant attorney general in Tennessee, disciplinary counsel at the Tennessee Board of Professional Responsibility and a municipal attorney in both Tennessee and Florida. Byrd previously worked as an associate at Logan Thompson PC, where his general practice included court appointments representing indigent clients in child welfare and criminal cases.

The July/August issue of the Tennessee Bar Journal is now available online. This issue's cover story by Travis Vest is an in depth look at metadata: what it is and how you can use it in building a case. Feature stories include a trademark fight between the Cincinnati Bearcats and the Cheatham Middle School Bearcats by Andrew Coffman and a primer on Tennessee's construction payment retainage law from Phillip Byron Jones. New TBA President Heidi Barcus shares her vision for the 2025-2026 bar year in her first President's Perspective, Buddy Stockwell explains the significance of the ABA's new Model Rule on conditional admission, Wade Davies breaks down the factors involved in calculating sentencing and Russell Fowler looks back 100 years to the Scopes Trial in Dayton. Read updates from TBA's Annual Convention, a book review, a legislative update and more!

In the recent legislative session, the Tennessee General Assembly passed a bill creating a statewide conservatorship management task force. Public Chapter 417, effective July 1, established a nine-member body to provide resources and assist in promotion of effective conservatorships. The task force will review concerns involving education, centralized documentation, preventative training regarding fraud and abuse protections, and more. The task force also will review the capacity of the public guardianship program and determine the need for an independent conservator panel or professional conservators. Representatives include designees from relevant agencies, the Administrative Office of the Courts, an active judge, legal aid office member and a designee from the Conservatorship Association of Tennessee, among others.

The Administration for Community Living (ACL) has earmarked approximately $3 million to continue its Elder Justice Innovation Grant program. Grants will be awarded to projects that aid awareness and actions concerning elder justice and adult maltreatment prevention. The ACL plans to provide up to eight cooperative agreements, with each project selected receiving full funding for 36 months with a budget of up to $500,000. Applications must be submitted by July 30 to qualify. Learn more and apply here.

This is an accelerated interlocutory appeal as of right filed pursuant to Tennessee Supreme Court Rule 10B. Due to numerous deficiencies in the petition, the appeal is hereby dismissed.

The Defendant, Nancy Abbie Tallent, was convicted by an Anderson County Circuit Court jury of two counts of third-offense driving under the influence (DUI), a Class A misdemeanor. See T.C.A. § 55-10-401 (2024). The trial court merged the convictions and sentenced the Defendant to eleven months and twenty-nine days, to be served at 75%. On appeal, the Defendant contends that: (1) the trial court lacked jurisdiction over the case, (2) no probable cause existed for her arrest, (3) the trial court erred by failing to strike the testimony of witnesses who offered allegedly perjured testimony, (4) a police officer committed willful misconduct because he “overcharged” her in order to obtain a higher bond and obtain leverage for a plea agreement, (5) the trial court erred by not suppressing the blood sample evidence based upon the use of an allegedly outdated consent form, (6) the police violated the Defendant’s HIPAA rights and violated State law by requesting her medical records and by fabricating the alcohol toxicology report used at trial, (7) the police violated State law by altering video evidence used at trial, (8) she was denied due process of law due to various defects in the conviction proceedings, (9) she was denied an additional blood sample for defense testing, (10) police officers perjured themselves and suborned perjury, (11) the chain of custody for the blood evidence was not established, and (12) the State unjustifiably made a plea offer after the jury returned the guilty verdict in order to avoid an allegedly meritorious appeal following “an abusive performance” during the trial. We affirm the judgment of the trial court.

A Shelby County jury convicted the Defendant, Byron Pipkin, of first degree premeditated murder, especially aggravated kidnapping, possessing a firearm as a convicted felon, possessing a firearm during a felony, and possessing a handgun as a convicted felon. The trial court imposed an effective life sentence plus sixty-eight years in the Tennessee Department of Correction. On appeal, the Defendant asserts that the evidence is insufficient to support his first degree premeditated murder conviction and the trial court erred when it admitted prejudicial information. After review, we affirm the trial court’s judgments.

On July 3, Shelby County lawyer Darryl Wayne Humphrey received a public censure from the Tennessee Supreme Court. The court found that after taking over representation of a personal injury client in a colleague’s absence, Humphrey negligently failed to file all discovery responses and reply to opposing counsel’s discovery inquiries. This led to a motion to compel being filed against the client. Humphrey then failed to notify the client of the motion and of the subsequent court ruling that the client pay the opposing party’s attorney fees. The court also found that the failure to maintain communication with opposing counsel resulted in injury or potential injury to the client. These actions were determined to violate Rules of Professional Conduct 1.3, 1.4(a) and 8.4(d).

The July/August issue of the Tennessee Bar Journal is now available online and arriving in mailboxes next week. This issue's cover story by Travis Vest is an in depth look at metadata: what it is and how you can use it in building a case. Feature stories include a trademark fight between the Cincinnati Bearcats and the Cheatham Middle School Bearcats by Andrew Coffman and a primer on Tennessee's construction payment retainage law from Phillip Byron Jones. New TBA President Heidi Barcus shares her vision for the 2025-2026 bar year in her first President's Perspective, Buddy Stockwell explains the significance of the ABA's new Model Rule on conditional admission, Wade Davies breaks down the factors involved in calculating sentencing and Russell Fowler looks back 100 years to the Scopes Trial in Dayton. Read updates from TBA's Annual Convention, a book review, a legislative update and more!

The federal judge who formerly presided over the criminal case of five former Memphis police officers charged in the 2023 death of Tyré Nichols has recused himself from two more cases involving lawyers on the Nichols case. The Daily Memphian reports that U.S. District Judge Mark Norris has recused himself from a case involving 10 defendants charged with drug trafficking, one of whom is represented by Stephen Leffler, who also represented former Memphis police officer Demetrius Haley. In the other case, Assistant U.S. Attorney David Pritchard is prosecuting drug trafficking charges. He also was a prosecutor in the Nichols case. Norris previously removed himself from the federal sentencing of five former officers charged in connection with Nichols’ death and a pending civil rights lawsuit brought over the death.