News
April 18, 2018
The Tennessee Supreme Court has adopted the Uniform Bar Exam (UBE) as the key testing component for bar admission for aspiring Tennessee attorneys. The UBE is a nationwide test that has been adopted in 31 jurisdictions and allows test takers to transfer scores between states, greatly improving the…
April 16, 2018
Former Tennessee Supreme Court Chief Justice Frank F. Drowota III, whose decades-long career as a judge earned him the admiration and respect of innumerable Tennesseans both inside and outside the legal system, passed away Sunday, April 15, 2018, at the age of 79.Justice Drowota’s 25 years on the…
April 11, 2018
The Tennessee Supreme Court clarified when a new legal ruling issued after a criminal trial should be applied to a case retroactively and what standards an appellate court should apply to decide whether the new rule affords a defendant relief.These issues were presented in Christopher Minor’s…
April 10, 2018
The Tennessee Supreme Court held today that Metro Nashville must hold a special election to fill the Office of Mayor. The decision reversed a ruling of the Davidson County Chancery Court that upheld the action of the Davidson County Election Commission (“Commission”) in setting the election to…
April 6, 2018
The Tennessee Supreme Court will hear one case on April 9, 2018, in Nashville, TN. The details of the case are as follows: Monday, April 9, 2018 Ludye N. Wallace v. Metropolitan Government of Nashville and Davidson County, Tennessee Et Al.–This case is before the Court upon the…
April 3, 2018
Many developments and initiatives have been implemented, and state and federal plans have been announced, that all have one common goal: to mitigate the opioid epidemic sweeping across Tennessee and our nation.Judge Duane Slone made the trip from East Tennessee to the White House in early March and…
April 2, 2018
The Tennessee Supreme Court will hear three cases on April 4, 2018, in Jackson, TN. The details of the cases are as follows: Board of Professional Responsibility v. Larry Edward Parrish - In this attorney-discipline matter, the Court will consider the parameters of constitutional…
March 26, 2018
The Fourth Circuit Court for Knox County is the designated Circuit Court in the Sixth Judicial District to hear divorces, orders of protection, and Juvenile Court matters that are appealed to Circuit Court. A large number of the litigants that come before the Court are pro se, particularly in…
March 26, 2018
Over the course of a career, many attorneys will walk into a courtroom through the main door, take a position behind a counsel table, and advocate zealously for their client by raising objections, questioning witnesses, making motions, and submitting evidence. However, the view and role from behind…
March 23, 2018
On the late morning of March 15th, Tennesseans congregated on the grounds of The Hermitage to celebrate the birthday of one of the state’s greatest historical figures: President Andrew Jackson. The pinnacle of the celebration is a traditional wreath-laying ceremony. The hour-long ceremony takes…
March 21, 2018
The Administrative Office of the Courts (AOC) is now accepting grant applications for the Parent Education and Mediation Fund (“PEMF”) and the Victim Offender Reconciliation Program (“VORP”) for the 2018-2019 fiscal year. The PEMF and VORP grants for the 2018 – 2019 fiscal year will run from…
March 20, 2018
Judges from across the state gathered at Montgomery Bell State Park in early March for the first Tennessee Judicial Conference of the year. The five-day conference provided judges the opportunity to participate in continuing legal education (CLE) courses related to relevant issues affecting…
March 15, 2018
Previously, on January 18, 2018, the Tennessee Supreme Court set an execution date of August, 9, 2018, for condemned inmate Billy Ray Irick. On February 5, 2018, the State filed motions seeking execution dates prior to June 1, 2018, for eight other condemned inmates. The Court has denied…
March 5, 2018
In a unanimous opinion, the Tennessee Supreme Court ruled the surviving spouse of a person killed in a vehicle accident could initiate a wrongful death action on the decedent’s behalf even though the surviving spouse’s negligence allegedly contributed to the decedent’s death.
In March 2012…
March 1, 2018
Tennessee Supreme Court Justice Sharon G. Lee spoke to the 15th Judicial District Bar Association on appellate practice as well as updated the group on the Tennessee judiciary, including the Access to Justice programs, indigent representation task force report and campaign to increase payment…
February 26, 2018
The Tennessee Judicial Conference and the Tennessee General Sessions Judges Conference have adopted new minimum courtroom security standards to promote the security and safety of the members of the judiciary, court personnel, and the public. The standards were last updated in the 1990s.
In the…
February 16, 2018
The Tennessee Supreme Court disbarred two Nashville attorneys, Sean K. Hornbeck and Robin K. Barry, revoking their law licenses. The Court rejected both attorneys’ requests to make the disbarment retroactive in order to enable them to apply for reinstatement of their law licenses sooner.
In the…
February 16, 2018
The Tennessee Comptroller of the Treasury issued the FY 2016-17 Tennessee Judicial Weighted Caseload Study on February 14. The study estimated a net deficit of 9.76 judges across the state based on the FY 2017 data. In the map right, the counties in red show a deficit while the counties…
February 15, 2018
Day Reporting Centers, in conjunction with Community Resource Centers, are taking a new approach to rehabilitating convicted offenders within Tennessee by offering established programs that aim to provide necessary skills and resources for participants. These extensive and thorough programs allow…
February 14, 2018
An electrical fire that broke out in September at the Bradley County Courthouse has forced the county offices to conduct business in temporary locations. The Cleveland Fire Department received the emergency call on Saturday morning, September 30th at 9 a.m., when citizens reported seeing smoke…