Lawyers Bobby Bramhall and Melia Jones are hoping to help college athletes secure endorsement deals with their new Nashville firm Athlete Licensing Company. The venture comes after changes to NCAA rules, which now allow college athletes to monetize their name, image and likeness (NIL). Bramhall, who serves as president of the company, played baseball professionally for seven years and later served as an assistant athletic director at Texas A&M University. Jones, the group’s executive vice president and general counsel, most recently worked in the Texas A&M University System Office of General Counsel and advised the Texas legislature on the state’s own NIL legislation. Other firms in the NIL space include Burr & Forman, which also launched an NIL practice group that includes two attorneys in Nashville.

Following a report by WPLN and ProPublica, the office of Gov. Bill Lee says judicial authorities should review the actions of Rutherford County Juvenile Court Judge Donna Scott Davenport. “We are concerned about the recent reports and believe the appropriate judicial authorities should issue a full review,” Lee’s press secretary, Casey Black, said in an email. The report, published last week, found that under Davenport’s lead, Rutherford County jailed nearly half of the children whose cases were referred to the juvenile court. It further claimed that many of the kids had been jailed illegally. WPLN has more on the story.

The Tennessee Supreme Court suspended 11 attorneys today for failure to pay the annual registration fee. Two of them also failed to file proof that client funds are held in an IOLTA-compliant account. View the Oct. 15 fee suspension order and IOLTA suspension order. See the list of all lawyers suspended for fee and IOLTA violations in 2021 or access all administrative suspensions dating back to 2005.

The Sports Wagering Advisory Council has tapped Nashville attorney Mary Beth Thomas as its new executive director, the Tennessee Journal reports. Thomas has served as general counsel in Secretary of State Tre Hargett’s office since 2013. Prior to that, she spent seven years with Nashville’s Waller law firm. The 2019 law legalizing sports betting in Tennessee placed the panel within the Tennessee Education Lottery Corp, but an amendment to the law made it an independent entity in January. The panel voted 9-0 in Thomas’ favor. The other finalists were Scott Sloan, the chief of staff and general counsel to the Tennessee Higher Education Commission, and Roger Guillemette, the director of sports betting and casino compliance for the Rhode Island Lottery.

This month on the TBA’s BarBuzz podcast, guest co-host John Wilks of the Nashville law firm Martin, Heller, Potempa & Sheppard PLLC, helps deliver the latest in Tennessee legal news bar association events and happenings. Wilks serves as a TBA Young Lawyers Division board member,  a member of the TBA Leadership Law (TBALL) program’s steering committee and was part of the TBALL Class of 2020. BarBuzz is part of the TBA Podcast Network and can be found online and anywhere you listen to podcasts.

The Legal Aid Society of Middle Tennessee and the Cumberlands will hold three clinics next week. A phone clinic will be held on Oct. 19 at 2 p.m. CDT to provide general advice. The first 15 callers will be accepted. On Oct. 20, LAS will hold a clinic specifically for veterans from 11 a.m. to 1 p.m. CDT at Operation Stand Down, 1125 12th Ave. S. Nashville 37203. Finally, on Oct. 23 at 8:30 a.m. CDT, a general advice clinic will be held at the Belmont Clinic, 2005 12th Ave. S., Nashville 37204. To volunteer for any of these clinics, contact Kendra Cheek, 615-780-7131. See all October clinics.

Maryville attorney Nick Black has launched a campaign to serve as chancellor of the 4th and 5th Judicial Districts which cover Grainger, Cocke, Jefferson, Sevier and Blount counties, The Daily Times reports. Black is president of the Blount County Bar Association and an alum of the University of Tennessee College of Law. He seeks to fill the position made vacant by the retirement of longtime 4th and 5th Judicial District Chancellor Telford Forgety Jr., who has served on the bench since 1997. “I want people to find me to be a reasonable person with the temperament to fairly and impartially adjudicate any case,” Black said.

Contested by dozens of lawsuits, Tennessee's sex offender registry — a system that tracks and regulates offenders convicted of sex crimes — is getting a renewed look from Tennessee lawmakers, the Tennessean reports. A joint committee, consisting of 12 members from both legislative chambers, convened yesterday to explore changes to the system. The main concern, according to the panel, is that the system, established in 1994 and revamped in 2004, may now be deemed unconstitutional for being too punitive.

A 36-member commission set up by President Joe Biden to study the U.S. Supreme Court was expected to release a draft report today, the White House announced. The commission will hold a public meeting tomorrow and a final report will be submitted to Biden in mid-November. The White House previously said that the commission's purpose is to “provide an analysis of the principal arguments in the contemporary public debate for and against Supreme Court reform, including an appraisal of the merits and legality of particular reform proposals," adding that commissioners would examine such options as term limits for justices, changing the size of the court and altering its case selection, rules and practices. CNN has more on the development.

Former Nashville International Airport executive Margaret Martin has launched her own law practice focused on the aviation industry, the Nashville Post reports. Martin Airport Law will specialize in legal services for airports, the aviation industry and public-private partnerships in the sector. Martin spent more than three years at the airport, most recently as vice president and chief development officer. She previously was senior regulatory counsel at Asurion and a lawyer for Metro Nashville Davidson County. She can be reached at 865-383-0228 or margaret.martin@martinairportlaw.com.