The Metro Nashville Council yesterday gave final approval to a bill naming the plaza in front of the Historic Metro Courthouse in honor of civil rights activist Diane Nash. The new "Diane Nash Plaza” will encompass the steps and large fountains in front of the building, the Tennessean reports. The honor comes almost 62 years after Nash joined thousands at the courthouse to protest the bombing of attorney and civil rights activist Z. Alexander Looby's Nashville home. Nash also confronted then-Mayor Ben West on the courthouse steps, asking if it was wrong to discriminate based on race or skin color. West agreed it was wrong, a key symbolic victory for the movement, according to the paper.

The U.S. Department of Justice announced yesterday that thousands of federal inmates who were released from prison to complete their sentence from home as a preventative measure to combat the spread of COVID-19, will be allowed to remain on home confinement. WRCB-TV reports that since March 2020, the federal Bureau of Prisons has placed more than 36,000 inmates on home confinement. More than 25,000 since have completed their sentences. The Justice Department’s Office of Legal Counsel had previously said that when the pandemic emergency ends, bureau officials would have to recall all prisoners placed in extended home confinement. The office reversed that ruling Tuesday. The station has more from CNN Newswire.

Vince Dean announced yesterday that he will seek another term as the Hamilton County Criminal Court clerk, Chattanoogan.com reports. Dean has served in the role since leaving the Tennessee General Assembly in 2014. He was appointed as the District 30 state representative in 2006. Prior to that appointment, Dean spent 27 years as a Chattanooga police officer, served as a member of the East Ridge City Council and then as mayor of East Ridge.

Can learning how to engage with your body differently help with symptoms of overwork? Researchers think so! A recent study of two groups of people taking yoga teacher training shows that learning how to “let go” in this activity helped participants do the same in their work lives. Researchers found that the training provided a much-needed space to unpack and manage harmful work norms. The lesson: seek out communities beyond work and home that counter the trends of excessive striving and all-encompassing work schedules. Read more about the study in the Harvard Business Review.

Join Jeff Schoenberger with Affinity Consulting tomorrow from noon to 1 p.m. CST to learn about efficient, accurate accounting. In this webcast, Schoenberger explains legal-specific accounting options, why accounting software is important to a lawyer’s practice, and the inadequacies of generic accounting software. He also will address the benefits of using one program for both billing and all other accounting functions.

The TBA will close at 3 p.m. CST tomorrow and remain closed through Monday in observance of the Christmas holiday. The virtual office will reopen Tuesday at 8 a.m. Online CLE programming will remain available throughout the holidays. Don't miss our many Year End CLE programs or a chance to win a $50 Amazon gift card thanks to event sponsors Clio and Geico.

A Supreme Court Advancing Legal Education for Students (SCALES) event was held by the Tennessee Supreme Court recently at Columbia Central High School, the alma mater of Justice Holly Kirby. For SCALES, the high court held oral arguments in two pending cases in front of an auditorium full of high school students from the region, who had studied the cases in advance. During deliberations, students were able to have a Q&A with attorneys from the cases before having lunch with the justices. During lunch, the high school surprised Kirby by presenting her with a plaque recognizing her as an Outstanding Distinguished Alumna. The City of Columbia then designated the day as Justice Holly Kirby Day, and presented Justice Kirby with a proclamation signed by Columbia Mayor and attorney Chaz Molder. Kirby called the honor “incredibly moving.” The Administrative Office of the Courts has more on the story.

President Joe Biden today signed a bill to remove one-time Ku Klux Klan member and late Congressman Clifford Davis’ name from Memphis’ federal building, the Daily Memphian reports. The 11-story courthouse and office building will now be named solely for the late Odell Horton Sr., the first African American judge to sit on the federal bench in Tennessee since Reconstruction. Horton had previously shared the name of the building with Davis. The bipartisan bill to remove Davis’ name was sponsored by Rep. Steve Cohen, a Memphis Democrat, and gained momentum after a report from the Institute for Public Service Reporting last year detailed Davis’ ties to the KKK. Horton served as a federal bankruptcy judge before being appointed to the U.S. District Court in 1980 by then-President Jimmy Carter.

Diversity and working with law students will be at the forefront of Tannera Gibson’s term as president of the Memphis Bar Association (MBA). When she steps into the role on Jan. 1, Gibson will become the first Black woman to lead the MBA in its 147-year history. Gibson, also the first Black female partner at Memphis law firm Burch, Porter & Johnson, says she’ll focus on diversity and creating a leadership program for students at the Cecil C. Humphreys School of Law at the University of Memphis. She says the program’s “objective is to educate students on things that are not innate and things that you don't necessarily learn in law school.” She also hopes to “chip away" at underlying obstacles like imposter syndrome and implicit biases in law. Gibson is chair of the TBA's Litigation Section, a member of the Labor & Employment Law Section and a member of the TBA Leadership Law Class of 2019. The Commercial Appeal has a full profile on Gibson and her plans as MBA president. 

Davidson County Chancellor Russell T. Perkins last week announced that he will seek re-election in 2022. Perkins was first appointed as Chancellor of Part IV of the Davidson County Chancery Court by former Gov. Phil Bredesen, before being elected to the position in 2008 and again in 2014. Prior to his time on the bench, Perkins served in the Ohio Attorney General’s Office, worked in the Nashville law firm of Williams & Dinkins for nearly 12 years, and served in the Tennessee Attorney General’s Office for 14 years. “This position requires fairness, impartiality, and a respect for the rule of law,” Perkins said in a statement announcing his campaign. “I believe I have provided those during my 13 years on the bench.”