An unresponsive female inmate at the Silverdale Detention Center died this week, Chattanoogan.com reports. On Monday at approximately 2 p.m. EDT, Hamilton County Emergency Medical Services was called to the Silverdale facility in response to a medical emergency where a 53-year old female inmate was found unresponsive. She was transported to a local hospital where she was pronounced dead. At the request of the Hamilton County District Attorney’s Office, the Hamilton County Sheriff’s Office is conducting an investigation.

Whoever wins the race to be the next Hamilton County district attorney — either John Allen Brooks or Coty Wamp — will be able to refashion the office if experienced prosecutors and staff depart the office with the change of administration. Chattanoogan.com reports that the first person to leave following the defeat of incumbent District Attorney Neal Pinkston is prosecutor Andrew Coyle. His last day will be May 27. Coyle says he has been asked to join the law firm of Patrick, Beard, Schulman & Jacoway, where former prosecutors Lance Pope and Kristen Williams are also on staff. “Being a prosecutor is incredibly rewarding and provides such a sense of job achievement," Coyle said. "I will miss it tremendously." 

The TBA Leadership Law (TBALL) Class of 2022 stopped in Memphis this week for its third session of the year, “Issues in Community Leadership,” held at Burch, Porter & Johnson. Day one speakers included Shelby County Mayor Lee Harris, Butler Snow attorney Ed Stanton, Paul Young with the Downtown Memphis Commission, Dorcas Young-Griffin with the county’s Division of Community Service, and attorneys Bruce McMullen and Van Turner, who gave a presentation on the legal work behind the takedown of several confederate statues in the city. Programming concluded on Tuesday with a presentation from W.J. Michael Cody, who helped represent Martin Luther King Jr. during the Memphis sanitation strike, and a tour of the National Civil Rights Museum. The next session will take place in conjunction with the TBA’s Annual Convention in Nashville next month.

Former Tennessee Supreme Court Justice Cornelia A. Clark received the Nashville Bar Foundation’s David Rutherford Award posthumously at the foundation’s Annual Fellows Dinner last month. The award is given to a fellow who exemplifies the memory and ideas of Rutherford, including professionalism, charitable contributions in the legal field and in the community as a whole, and the spirit of collegiality among the bench and bar. Justice Sharon G. Lee accepted the award on Clark’s behalf, the Administrative Office of the Courts reports. In her remarks, Lee recognized Clark’s devotion to her faith, her family, her community and the rule of law. Clark died Sept. 24, 2021, following a short battle with cancer. She was 71 years old.

Tennessee Supreme Court Justice Jeff Bivins recently gave the keynote address at the 16th Judicial District Recovery Court graduation at the Rutherford County Judicial Center. More than 125 people were present for the ceremony where Bivins applauded the seven graduates and the program’s staff saying, “Programs like this one reunite families and restore lives.” The program, administered by Judge Jimmy Turner, is a court-monitored intensive outpatient program for individuals with severe addictions to controlled substances. Turner said that participants “start in very dire circumstances, including homelessness, unemployment and a complete lack of family support” but completely change their lives with the help of the court. Read the full release from the court and see pictures from the event.

The third installment of the American Bar Association’s Model Diversity Survey is out and shows that large law firms hired more Hispanic, Black and Asian associates leading up to the pandemic, but continued to struggle with moving diverse lawyers into partnerships. Michelle Behnke, chair of the ABA Commission on Racial and Ethnic Diversity in the Profession told Law.com: “I wasn’t terribly surprised to not see a lot of movement in the equity partnership space for diverse partners. That is not new. It is one of the things we are putting more of an emphasis on.” The survey also showed that attrition rates in 2019 were higher for women (16%) than men (11%). “This is a cause of concern for us,” Behnke said. “If we were already seeing more pronounced attrition among women, it will be hard to look at what we end up seeing as a result of the pandemic.”

A suit brought by the Tennessee attorney general accuses grocery chain Food City of padding its profits through the sale of “massive quantities” of opioids with prescriptions written by high-volume providers and pill mills. The state also argues that the company offered discounts to opiate addicts, traded prescriptions for cash, ignored drug deals and drug-related crimes in its parking lots, and filled prescriptions from other countries and states. Food City is pushing back on its degree of liability, offering a list of citizens, companies, state and federal regulators and leaders it says are equally guilty in fueling the opioid epidemic. The grocery store is claiming comparative fault, arguing in a new motion that even if it intentionally sought to profiteer from opioids, there were many responsible for the creation of the epidemic. According to Tennessee Lookout, the lawsuit is the fourth in a chain of legal actions filed by Attorney General Herbert Slatery III against drug makers, distributors, prescribers and dispensers.

An assistant professor of art history has filed a $2 million suit against Vanderbilt University, claiming she was denied tenure as a result of the school’s unequal treatment of female “spousal hires,” who are offered a job as part of an employment deal extended to their partners. Mireille Lee filed suit in Davidson County Chancery Court last week alleging the university engaged in unlawful gender discrimination against her in the denial of tenure in both 2015 and 2019, then retaliated against her when she complained. Lee joined the faculty in 2008 after Vanderbilt offered a job to her husband, Joe Rife, an assistant professor of classics and anthropology. Tennessee Lookout has more on the suit.

Adams and Reese LLP announced today it has launched a team dedicated to alcohol and hospitality law within its Intersection of Business & Government Practice Group. The firm also has added liquor lawyers Rob Pinson and Will Cheek in its Nashville office. The team will provide regulatory, transactional and litigation counsel for businesses and entrepreneurs in the hospitality and alcoholic beverage industries, according to a release from the firm. Pinson formed the Tennessee Distillers’ Guild and assisted in the formation of the new Tennessee Whiskey Trail. He holds a master of laws in taxation from the University of Florida Levin College of Law and law degree from the University of Tennessee. Cheek is a founding member of the Alliance of Alcohol Industry Attorneys and Consultants and serves as an advisory board member and legal counsel for the National Association of Licensing and Compliance Professionals. He also authors Last Call, a blog covering new regulations and developments in the alcohol and hospitality industries. He earned his law degree from Vanderbilt University Law School.

At least two people connected to a Tennessee execution that was abruptly put on hold last month knew that the injection drugs to be used had not undergone required testing, the Associated Press reports. The report comes after the outlet received “20 pages of heavily redacted emails and text messages” from the state Department of Correction through a public records request. The documents reveal that testing was not performed for endotoxins, which usually come from bacteria. Such testing is considered vital because it could be an indication of problems with the manufacture of the drugs, according to the AP. The governor’s office has declined to release any information or comment on the new documents citing an ongoing investigation by former U.S. Attorney Ed Stanton.