The Claiborne County Bar Association has announced that Noah J. Patton was recently elected president of the organization and Meredith S. Bundren was elected secretary. Patton practices at Stanifer & Stanifer in Tazewell. He spent 15 years in the oil and gas industry before earning his law degree from Lincoln Memorial University Duncan School of Law. Bundren was licensed in 2017 after attending LMU Duncan School of Law and now practices at the Bundren Law Firm in Tazewell. Read the press release from the Claiborne County Bar Association.

Nashville law firm Spencer Fane Bone McAllester recently named partner Andrea Perry as co-chair of the firm’s Banking and Financial Services Practice Group. According to a press release from the firm, Perry focuses her practice on representing financial institutions and borrowers in loan transactions involving all types of collateral and projects. She also provides general advice to business clients from basic entity formation through all phases of their growth. Perry also represents landlords and tenants, both public and private, in the negotiation of commercial leases for a wide variety of uses. Read the press release. 

Death row inmate Oscar Franklin Smith yesterday filed a motion to reopen his case, claiming new DNA evidence shows an “unknown assailant” used the murder weapon in the 32-year-old Nashville triple slaying, the Tennessean reports. Smith was convicted in 1989 of the murders of his estranged wife and her two sons from another marriage and is scheduled to die by lethal injection later this month. The 13-page motion for post conviction relief was filed by Smith’s federal public defender Amy D. Harwell and Assistant Federal Public Defender Katherine Dix. Attorneys with the global law firm Baker Botts last month filed a clemency petition with Gov. Bill Lee asking Smith’s sentence to be commuted to life without parole. Smith’s lawyers have also asked Lee to grant a temporary reprieve while his appeals make their way through the system. Smith has maintained his innocence since his arrest.

Perry County General Sessions and Juvenile Court Judge Katerina Vatulina Moore was born in the Ukrainian city of Zaporizhzhia, home to Europe’s largest power station, the Zaporizhzhia Nuclear Power Plant. In a recent article from the Administrative Office of the Courts, Moore details growing up in Ukraine and weighs in on Russia’s invasion of her home country. “When my birth city was hit, it became real that the war was right there,” Moore said. “It makes you feel helpless at times. My heart goes out to the people.” Moore first came to the U.S. in 1996 for 10-months as a high school exchange student. She returned for college in 1999 and upon graduating entered law school at the University of Tennessee College of Law. From there, Moore went to work at the Spitzer Firm in Hohenwald and became a U.S. citizen in 2008. She later opened her own firm and in 2014 was elected to the bench in Perry County. Read more on Moore’s story from the AOC.

The Tennessee General Assembly last week honored outgoing Administrative Office of the Courts Director Deborah Taylor Tate with a Joint House Resolution on the House floor. Rep. Andy Farmer, R-Sevierville, and Rep. William Lamberth, R-Portland, spearheaded the effort to create proclamation 672, which states Tate “is to be commended for her exemplary service as Administrative Director of the Administrative Office of the Courts, and for her many years of honorable and astute service to the citizens of Tennessee.” Tate retired from her role with the AOC in February. “There’s no greater challenge and no greater honor than public service, and you are all truly public servants,” Tate said. The occasion was recorded and can be found on the General Assembly’s website.

Tennessee Comptroller Jason Mumpower has named Nashville attorney Maria Bush as the state’s new open records counsel, the Nashville Post reports. Bush comes to the comptroller’s office from the Tennessee Department of Commerce and Insurance where she served as associate general counsel. Prior to that role, Bush was a law clerk with Taylor, Pigue, Marchetti & Blair. She earned her law degree at Belmont University College of Law. Bush will work with members of the public, media and government bodies on public record and open meetings laws.

The Tennessee Bar Association’s renewal portal for 2022-2023 is now open! Renew your membership to continue your access to CLE programming with three pre-paid credits, TBA’s Practice Management Center, free online legal research through Fastcase and timely information through TBA Today, TBA Podcasts and the Tennessee Bar Journal. Also now available is access to the TBA’s Group and Solo Health Insurance Plans. Attorneys not participating in the TBA's firm billing program can login and access renewal information through your MyTBA dashboard.

The U.S. Navy will be naming a future ship after late Supreme Court Justice Ruth Bader Ginsburg, WBIR reports. The USNS Ruth Bader Ginsburg will be a John Lewis-class replenishment oiler, designated T-AO 212. The ships are designed to transfer fuel to carrier strike groups at sea. In announcing the news, Navy Secretary Carlos Del Toro said it was because of Ginsburg that “we now have women of all backgrounds, experiences and talents serving within our ranks ...”. It was the second recent tribute to the justice. Last week, the U.S. Congress approved placing statues of former justice Sandra Day O'Connor and Ginsburg — the first and second woman, respectively, to be appointed to the court — on the Capitol grounds.

Jim Brown, state director of the National Federation of Independent Business (NFIB), writes in today’s Tennessean that the professional privilege tax should be eliminated to send the unequivocable message that it is a right, not a privilege, to be a professional in Tennessee. He says the idea of taxing some people simply because they go to their job is discriminatory. Brown provides a history of how the tax became law and outlines four reasons why the tax should be repealed for the seven professions – attorneys, securities agents, broker dealers, investment advisers, lobbyists, osteopathic physicians and physicians – still subject to the annual payment. NFIB is a member of the “No Taxation on My Occupation” coalition, which includes the Tennessee Bar Association and nine other organizations.

Birmingham-based Burr & Forman LLP has appointed Ken Bryant as the new office managing partner in Nashville. He replaces Tucker Herndon, who has served in the role since 2018, the Nashville Post reports. A graduate of the University of Tennessee College of Law, he handles commercial and corporate litigation, admiralty and maritime issues, class actions and agriculture funding. The firm also has the news.