Gov. Bill Lee today announced the appointment of Jonathan Skrmetti as his new chief legal counsel. Skrmetti will replace Lang Wiseman, who left the governor’s office on Friday. Skrmetti currently serves as chief deputy to state Attorney General Herbert Slatery. He previously was a partner at Butler Snow in Memphis and a federal prosecutor, including service as an assistant U.S. attorney in Memphis. Skrmetti, a graduate of Harvard Law School, had applied to be considered for a vacancy on the Tennessee Supreme Court to replace the late Justice Connie Clark. With his appointment to the governor’s office, he has withdrawn from the court appointment process, according to the Tennessee Journal.

When we are tired or stressed, our brains are wired to save mental energy. Our brains see effort as bad because it’s hard work. In these situations, we tend to make decisions quickly, going “with our gut” instead of carefully considering all available information. We also tend to move toward things that make us feel good, and away from things that make us feel uncomfortable. So how do we do hard things when our brains are constantly telling us to avoid effort? David Rock, cofounder of the Neuroleadership Institute and author of “Your Brain at Work” offers three tips in the Harvard Business Review.

Congratulations to our Year End CLE Week 1 Giveaway Winner Randy Songstad of Cordova! Songstad will receive a $50 Amazon gift card. Don’t miss the opportunity to get in on next week’s drawing. Those who purchase a course in December will be entered in our weekly drawings made possible by event sponsors Clio and Geico. This month’s Year End CLE event provides a range of packages, on-demand courses and live programs. Check out the options.

It's not too late to join the TBA’s virtual Environmental Law Forum on Friday from 9 a.m. to 1:30 p.m. CST. Speakers include Wilson Buntin with the Tennessee Attorney General's Office, Leah Dundon with Beveridge & Diamond, David Higney with Grant, Konvalinka & Harrison, and Jeremy Hooper and Matt Taylor with the Tennessee Department of Environment and Conservation. Thanks to Chattanooga attorney and section chair Jennifer Brundige with the Tennessee Valley Authority for producing this year's forum.

The Tennessee Supreme Court has upheld the death sentence of Urshawn Miller, who was convicted of the 2015 murder of a convenience store employee in Jackson. A Madison County jury convicted Miller on a variety of charges, including first-degree premeditated murder and first-degree felony murder, for which they imposed the death penalty. After its mandatory review, the Tennessee Supreme Court confirmed Miller’s death sentence. Justice Sharon Lee wrote a separate concurring and dissenting opinion in which she agreed with the high court’s affirmation of the convictions, but dissented from the court’s decision to uphold the death penalty, writing that such a sentence violates Miller’s Eighth Amendment right to be free from cruel and unusual punishment. Read the full release from the Administrative Office of the Courts.

Fastcase online legal research services have been offline for much of the day due to an outage on Amazon Web Services, Fastcase executives report. The engineering team at Fastcase has reached out to Amazon and will continue to monitor developments. The Customer Support team is still online and available to answer any questions or concerns. Alerts have been posted to Fastcase’s Twitter page and the company will continue to post updates on the situation. Fastcase is provided as a member service to all TBA members.

A federal jury has awarded $260,000 to a former Metro Nashville Public Schools administrator who claimed she was fired for raising concerns over racial discrimination in the district, the Tennessean reports. Euna McGruder, Metro’s former executive officer for priority schools, investigated a complaint that Black students at Madison Middle School were getting harsher punishments than their white peers. According to federal court documents, McGruder was fired in 2016 after bringing to light her findings that the middle school was  “permeated with discrimination” and created a “hostile work environment.” She’ll also likely receive back and front pay and attorney’s fees. MNPS maintains that McGruder was fired for employment concerns, not student discipline. McGruder's attorney Brian Winfrey said he was “happy to see justice served.”

Rhodes College in Memphis has chosen Southern Methodist University law school dean Jennifer Collins to serve as its 21st president, the Commercial Appeal reports. Collins received her law degree from Harvard Law School and has clerked for the U.S. Court of Appeals for the 9th Circuit and worked with legal teams for the U.S. Department of Justice and the U.S. Attorney's Office. Before SMU, Collins spent 10 years at Wake Forest University in North Carolina, beginning as law faculty in 2003 and becoming associate provost and vice provost in 2010 and 2013, respectively. She will begin her new position this summer, succeeding former president Marjorie Hass.

Shelby County officials this week announced it will double the capacity of the Mental Health Court using funds from the American Rescue Plan Act, the Daily Memphian reports. Shelby County Mayor Lee Harris said the court “can change lives.” He added that “Investment in access to mental health resources can help reduce crime in our community.” Shelby County Mental Health Court was established in 2016 and provides health care, counseling, housing assistance and employment assistance as an alternative to incarceration. People with severe mental illness and who have been charged with a nonviolent crime qualify for the court.

The Tennessee Court of Criminal Appeals has granted a new trial for a Giles County man who was convicted by an all-white jury in a room with Confederate flag tributes, the ABA Journal reports. The appeals court overturned the aggravated assault charge conviction of Tim Gilbert, a Black man, for two reasons: first because the Confederate memorabilia present in the jury’s deliberation room amounts to prejudicial extraneous information; and second because a trial judge had improperly admitted a prosecution witness’s inconsistent statement to police to support the government’s case. The state argued that Gilbert was acquitted by jurors using the same room in an unrelated case, but the appeals court ruled that was not sufficient to rebut the presumption of prejudice. A circuit court judge last year denied Gilbert’s motion for a new trial.