Cheryl Rumage Estes, a shareholder in the Memphis office of Lewis Thomason, died July 15 after a brief illness. She was 65. Estes, a 1982 graduate of the University of Memphis School of Law, began her legal career with the firm as a runner and went on to become one of its first female shareholders. For a decade, she led the Labor and Employment Group. Estes also was a member of the Shelby County Bar Association and a fellow of the Tennessee Bar Foundation. Memorial donations may be made to the University of Memphis Cecil C. Humphreys School of Law. Checks should be made payable to the University of Memphis Foundation and note that the gift is being given in honor of law school alumna Cheryl Rumage Estes. Checks should be mailed to Department 238, University of Memphis Foundation, P.O. Box 1000, Memphis, TN 38148.

Two conservative groups are asking a federal court to block the Biden administration’s plan to cancel $39 billion in student loans for more than 800,000 borrowers, the Associated Press reports. In a lawsuit filed Friday, the Mackinac Center for Public Policy and the Cato Institute argue the administration overstepped its power when it announced the forgiveness in July. The program would offer cancellation of debt for borrowers with income-driven repayment plans, which typically offer cancellation after borrowers make 20 or 25 years of payments. The administration says that “past administrative failures” have resulted in inaccurate payment counts, which have set borrowers back on their progress toward forgiveness. Opponents argue that only Congress can authorize debt cancellation programs.

Gov. Bill Lee's office made several personnel changes last week. His longtime policy director, Tony Niknejad, is departing to work in the private sector. He will be succeeded by Michael Hendrix, who has been a special adviser to Lee. Hendrix previously was a senior fellow at the Manhattan Institute and senior director at the U.S. Chamber of Commerce Foundation. In addition, Alec Richardson has been named a senior adviser to the governor. On the communications team, Jade Byers has been named senior communications officer. Replacing Byers as press secretary is Elizabeth Lane Johnson, who previously worked for Attorney General Jonathan Skrmetti. Read the governor’s announcement.

Former Minneapolis police officer Tou Thao was sentenced Tuesday to four and 3/4 years in prison for aiding and abetting manslaughter in the 2020 killing of George Floyd, Reuters reports. The sentence will run concurrently with the three and 1/2 years Thao previously received on a federal conviction of violating Floyd's civil rights. Thao, a nine-year veteran of the police force, was the fourth and final officer sentenced in the killing of Floyd. He held back a small crowd of bystanders while then-officer Derek Chauvin and two others subdued Floyd, who police suspected of using a counterfeit $20 bill at a nearby store.

The Tennessee Republican Party State Executive Committee on Saturday adopted a resolution calling on fellow Republican Gov. Bill Lee to abandon his planned upcoming special session, the Chattanooga Times Free Press reports. The resolution "encourages Gov. Bill Lee to reconsider and not have a special session." Many in the GOP-controlled legislature also are opposed to the special session and the legislation the governor wants considered, the Nashville Post reports. That measure would create a new order of protection law allowing judges to temporarily take guns away from those who are deemed dangerous to themselves or others.

Colorado lawyer Bonnie Dunlop was reinstated to the practice of law in Tennessee on July 24 after the Board of Professional Responsibility found the petition for reinstatement to be satisfactory. The court had placed Dunlop on inactive status more than ten years ago, on April 19, 2013.

The Tennessee Supreme Court reinstated the law license of Jefferson County lawyer Capp Peterson Taylor on Aug. 2. Taylor was suspended for six months on Dec. 19, 2017, and for two years on Jan. 8, 2020. A reinstatement petition was filed on Oct. 7. A hearing panel of the Board of Professional Responsibility found that Taylor has the moral qualifications, competency and learning in law required for admission, and that resumption of law practice would not be detrimental to the integrity and standing of the bar or the administration of justice or be subversive to the public interest.

The Tennessee Supreme Court reinstated the law license of Rutherford County lawyer Gary Neil Patton on Aug. 2. The court conditioned reinstatement on continued compliance with terms and conditions it imposed on May 22 when it suspended Patton for one year, with 30 days to be served on active suspension and the remainder on probation. At that time, the court conditioned probation on Patton incurring no new complaints of misconduct related to the conduct for which he was suspended.

The Tennessee Supreme Court transferred the law license of Williamson County lawyer Timothy Paul Molyneux to disability inactive status on July 28. Molyneux may not practice law while on inactive status. He may petition for reinstatement by showing that his disability has been removed.

American Bar Association leaders briefed the Tennessee delegation to the ABA House of Delegates during a breakfast Monday morning in Denver. Among those speaking at the meeting were current ABA President Deborah Enix-Ross, House of Delegates Chair Gene Vance, ABA President-elect Bill Bay and incoming Board Secretary Marvin S.C. Dang. Later in the day, TBA Delegate and Belmont Law professor Lucian Dervan presented Resolution 502 before the House, and former TBA President and American Bar Endowment President Howard Vogel led a meeting of that body. See photos from the events. In other news from the ABA Annual Meeting, U.S. Attorney General Merrick Garland spoke to the House of Delegates today and the ABA Task Force on Law, Society and the Judiciary issued its final report with specific recommendations for improving public trust and understanding of the judiciary. Read more about the programs being offered and proposals being considered by the House of Delegates this week in Denver.