The Tennessee Alliance for Legal Services (TALS) Equal Justice University gets underway this week in Murfreesboro. The event, which runs Wednesday through Friday, brings together about 300 lawyers, advocates, social workers and pro bono attorneys involved in providing civil legal assistance across Tennessee. The Tennessee Bar Association is a sponsor of the event and TBA President Tasha Blakney will be speaking to the conference on Wednesday during the Leadership Luncheon. The group also will present it 2022 Access to Justice Awards on Thursday at the Access to Justice Luncheon. See the full schedule.

Judicial swearing in ceremonies are taking place across the state this month as new judges take office. On Friday, Nashville lawyer I’Ashea Myles was sworn in as the first Black female chancellor in Tennessee. U.S. Sixth Circuit Court of Appeals Judge Bernice Donald and Tennessee Court of Appeals Judge David Dinkins were on hand for the ceremony. In Jacksboro this week, TBA President Tasha Blakney introduced her former colleague Zack Walden to the court and presented him with a commemorative gavel. The ceremony took place at the Campbell County Courthouse. Walden, who worked with Blakney at Eldridge & Blakney in Knoxville, was recently elected Eighth Judicial District Criminal Court judge. He is also a member of the TBA Young Lawyers Division Board and current Mock Trial chair. See more photos. On Wednesday, Davidson County General Sessions judges will be sworn in at 2 p.m. CDT in Courtroom 1A of the Justice A.A. Birch Building, 408 Second Ave., N. in downtown Nashville. The TBA is collecting photographs of local swearing in ceremonies. Please send your submissions to tbatoday@tnbar.org.

In one of her last acts as Shelby County district attorney, outgoing prosecutor Amy Weirich announced Friday that her office has cleared several police officers of criminal charges in three separate fatal shootings. The Commercial Appeal reports on the cases, which involved Antonio Jackson, age 26, who was killed on Aug. 16, 2021; Kayla Lucas, age 25, who was killed on Dec. 15, 2021; and Terrance Dogan, age 27, and John Henry Taylor, age 18, who were killed by Arkansas State Police in Memphis on Dec. 16, 2021. Each of the cases was investigated by the Tennessee Bureau of Investigation, which then passed the findings on to the district attorney for a determination of any criminal charges. Weirich, a Republican, was defeated in an election earlier this month by Democrat Steve Mulroy.

The Nashville law firm Tate, Wilson, Johnson, Meyer & Cherry PLLC has relocated from downtown to Brentwood’s Maryland Farms. Senior Partner William H. Tate said in a release that the new location is “much more convenient for many of our clients and staff and allows them to avoid the difficulties of traveling into and parking downtown.” The law firm, which has been in downtown Nashville since 1987, provides tailored legal services to its clients, representing publicly traded companies, insurance carriers, small businesses and organizations and individuals in civil litigation matters. The firm also provides a full-service mediation practice. The firm can now be found at 100 Westwood Place, Ste. 120, Brentwood, TN 37027. The phone number remains (615) 256-1125.

The TBA House of Delegates has vacancies in several of its districts. In accordance with Article 29 of the TBA Bylaws, if no candidate files a declaration of candidacy for district delegate in a district, or if there is no district delegate by reason of death, declination or other cause, the officers of the House of Delegates may fill the vacancy with the term to commence at the time of appointment.

The following seats are available: Fourth District (Cocke, Grainger, Jefferson and Sevier counties); Fifth District (Blount County); Sixth District (Knox County); Ninth District (Loudon, Meigs, Morgan and Roane counties); 15th District (Jackson, Macon, Smith, Trousdale and Wilson counties); 18th District (Sumner County); 20th District (Davidson County); 24th District (Benton, Carroll, Decatur, Hardin and Henry counties); 28th District (Crockett, Gibson and Haywood counties); and 30th District (Shelby County). To be considered for any of these positions, please email TBA Executive Director Joycelyn Stevenson by Sept. 15 with a statement of interest.

The Tennessee Court of Appeals has ordered 8th Judicial District Criminal Court Judge Shayne Sexton to turn over audio recordings from the trial of convicted killer Kevin Lee Waggoner to the clerk of the court and to Waggoner, Tennessee Lookout reports. Sexton had been keeping the only copy of the recording locked in his office. The court said that criminal trials are public records under state law and as such, the recordings should be “immediately filed with the criminal court clerk for storage.” Waggoner is seeking the recordings because he believes there are discrepancies between his 2016 trial and the written trial transcript. Sexton, who is retiring at the end of this month, had withheld the recordings, arguing that Waggoner might be able to alter them if he was given access. The appellate decision overturns a ruling from Davidson County Chancellor Patricia Head Moskal, who had sided with Sexton.

Hamilton County Circuit Court Judge Jeff Hollingsworth and Criminal Court Judge Don Poole will hang up their judicial robes at the end of this month. For both men, the change will mean a life adjustment. Hollingsworth first joined the bench in 2006 after practicing for almost 30 years. As he looks back on his judicial career, he says, “I’m going to miss being in the courtroom.” He does plan to open a mediation practice so he will stay connected to the legal community. Poole is retiring after 17 years on the bench and three decades practicing law. “I’ve enjoyed being a judge. I’m going to miss being a judge,” he says. He plans to spend more time with his children and grandchildren and travel with his wife. The Administrative Office of the Courts has more on both judges.

More than 600 applications have come in for Tennessee’s new Education Savings Account program and nearly 60 students have been approved to attend a participating school, News Channel 5 reports. The majority of approved students are from Nashville so far, according to Mainstreet Nashville. Those accepted into the program receive approximately $8,192 in state funds to be used toward tuition, books and related expenses at approved private schools. There are 5,000 available slots for the current school year. The five-year pilot program in Davidson and Shelby counties is a priority of Gov. Bill Lee, who says his office has been working overtime to get the program up and running this school year after litigation delays.

Tennessee Attorney General Herbert Slatery III has joined with 16 other state attorneys general to defend a state law in Idaho that bans abortions in all cases, Tennessee Lookout reports. The federal government is suing to block the law in cases that require hospitals receiving Medicare funding to provide lifesaving care. The group of attorneys general write in their amicus brief that the federal government cannot use its Medicare contracting authority to override state law. Such an attempt to intervene in Idaho law, would “directly subvert state law on a matter reserved to the States,” they argue. Earlier this week, a federal judge temporarily blocked a portion of the law that makes it a crime to perform an emergency abortion to prevent bodily injury to the patient.

Shelby County officials joined with representatives from ACLU Tennessee yesterday to announce a complete overhaul of the county’s bail system by February 2023. The agreement caps an extended period of negotiations between county officials, judges and criminal justice advocates, Tennessee Lookout reports. Shelby County District Attorney-elect Steve Mulroy praised the plan, saying it will make the county “a model for the nation.” Under the agreement, the county will institute individualized bail hearings with counsel no later than three days after arrest. The process also will include a rapid-release screening and consideration of financial circumstances prior to setting bail. The county also will create a bail hearing courtroom that will be open to the public.