The Tennessee Defense Lawyers Association (TDLA) recently presented its inaugural Nathan E. Shelby Emerging Leaders Award to AJ Parker in the Nashville office of Rainey, Kizer, Reviere & Bell. The award recognizes a member of the association who participates in the Emerging Leaders Program and demonstrates development of leadership skills. The award honors Shelby, who was TDLA president-elect in 2022-2023 and, according to the group, was known for his strength in identifying and mentoring young lawyers to fulfill their potential as effective civil defense lawyers and leaders in the association. Shelby died Sept. 6.

Williamson County lawyer Jay Nelson Chamness filed a petition for reinstatement to active status on Nov. 7. On Dec. 5, the Board of Professional Responsibility recommended that the court remove his disability status but leave his license on inactive status until he resolves an outstanding disciplinary complaint. The court adopted the board’s recommendation. The court also issued an order allowing Chamness to file documents in his case under seal.

Knox County attorney John Kenneth Hoffmeister was reinstated to the practice of law today after being on inactive status since May 24, 2018. Hoffmeister petitioned the Tennessee Supreme Court for reinstatement and the Board of Professional Responsibility found that reinstatement would be appropriate. The court made his reinstatement effective as of Dec. 8.

Attorneys Shane Cortesi, Charles Gilbreath and Stephan Wright, based in both Nashville and Chattanooga, have announced the establishment of Wright, Cortesi & Gilbreath. According to the Nashville Post, the firm will handle civil and intellectual property litigation, patent work, trademark and copyright filings, contracts and employment law. Cortesi is joining the firm after working as a solo practioner in Nashville. He will remain in Nashville. Wright and Gilbreath both worked in the Law Office of Stephan Wright in Chattanooga. Learn more online.

The Tennessee Department of Revenue will host a free live webinar Dec. 19 at 9 a.m. CST to discuss the taxation of software in Tennessee. Topics include definitions of prewritten, custom and remote access software, determining sales price, software as a service (SaaS), sourcing and more. Learn more or register here. The webinar is one in a series of educational sessions held by the department each month.

After requesting two state bodies investigate the sentencing decisions of Shelby County District Attorney (DA) Steve Mulroy and Shelby County Criminal Court Judge Paula Skahan, WREG reports that state Sen. Brent Taylor, R-Memphis, is now asking the Senate Judiciary Committee to review Mulroy’s agreements with three outside organizations. Mulroy previously announced consulting agreements with Just City, the Vera Institute and the Justice Innovation Lab. Taylor says that, “Memphians have a right to know if the agreements between the DA’s office and these outside groups are inconsistent with state laws and policies." Mulroy says any allegations of impropriety are baseless and that consulting arrangements with national expert groups are common place.

Alicia Campbell, the director of victim services within the Williamson County District Attorney General’s Office, recently entered a guilty plea to charges of fraudulent use of a debit card, the Tennessean reports. Campbell, who resigned her position in August, entered the plea after investigators discovered she had made 14 personal purchases totaling $1,804.55 using a debit card assigned to the Victims of Crime Assistance Program. Campbell was granted judicial diversion relief, placed on a year probation and ordered to pay restitution. The full investigative report is available from the Tennessee Comptroller of the Treasury.

Local and state elected officials, members of the local legal community and judges gathered with the family of former Hamilton County judge and state representative Mike Carter this week to unveil his official portrait in the Hamilton County Courts Building. Carter was praised for his four decades of service to the community, which included serving as general counsel for the Hamilton County Sheriff’s Office, as a Hamilton County General Sessions judge and as a state representative for District 29. Carter died in 2021. Chattanoogan.com has photos from the ceremony and comments from local officials.

The U.S. Supreme Court today agreed to hear a bid by the Biden administration to preserve broader access to the abortion pill, SCOTUSblog reports. The court will review a ruling by a federal appeals court that would significantly restrict, but not eliminate, access to mifepristone, which now accounts for over half of all abortions performed in the United States. A federal judge in Texas suspended federal approval of the drug in 2000 as well as an expansion of its availability in 2016 and 2021. The U.S. Court of Appeals for the 5th Circuit upheld the ruling on the expansion, but said the challenge to the original approval of the drug came too late. The high court will consider the expansion of availability but will not consider the appellate court’s ruling related to initial approval of the drug.

Shelby County Criminal Court Judge Melissa Boyd was indicted yesterday for coercion of a witness and harassment, the Daily Memphian reports. She was booked into the Shelby County Jail today, posted $5,000 bail and was released. The indictment accuses Boyd of attempting to coerce her campaign manager Lashanta Rudd to testify falsely or withhold truthful testimony in 2022 while Rudd was a witness in an unidentified “official proceeding.” The indictment came from Judicial District 28 District Attorney Frederick Agee since the Shelby County District Attorney’s Office recused itself from the case. Boyd has received two reprimands from the Tennessee Board of Judicial Conduct for failing to abide by the terms of an earlier suspension. The board referred her case to the Tennessee General Assembly last month following issuance of the second reprimand.