The University of Tennessee College of Law recently celebrated the achievements of students, faculty and staff at the college’s Honors Banquet and Awards Program. Professor Valorie Vojdik received the Harold C. Warner Outstanding Teacher Award while Rodd Barckhoff received the Outstanding Adjunct Teacher Award. Maurice Stucke received the Faculty Award for Writing Excellence. Other faculty recognized included Teri Dobbins Baxter, Zack Buck, Sherley Cruz, Shamika Dalton, Jeff Groah, Becky Jacobs, Michelle Kwon, Tammy Neff, Teresa Peterson, Glenn Reynolds and Penny White. Awards also went to 28 students. See the full list.

The Governor’s Council for Judicial Appointments will consider seven applicants when it meets virtually on March 3 and 4 to select nominees for two vacancies on the Eastern Section of the Court of Criminal Appeals. Those under consideration are 10th Judicial District Circuit Court Judge Andrew Freiberg; Mark A. Fulks, university counsel and chief compliance officer with East Tennessee State University; 11th Judicial District Criminal Court Judge Thomas Greenholtz; 6th Judicial District Criminal Court Judge Kyle Hixon; Knox County General Sessions Court Magistrate Ray Hal Jenkins; 5th Judicial District Assistant District Attorney Tracy Jenkins; and 11th Judicial District Assistant Public Defender Jay Arthur Perry. The vacancies are due to Judge Norma McGee Ogle and D. Kelly Thomas Jr. deciding not to stand for retention in the August election. The council will livestream the hearing. Interested individuals may also attend the livestream at the Tennessee Supreme Court Building, 500 Main Street, Knoxville, TN 37902. Those who wish to make comments should contact Ceesha Lofton, 615-741-2687.

The Court of Workers’ Compensation Claims recently adopted a number of amendments to its rules, formally known as the Tennessee Compilation Rules and Regulations 0800-02-21. The court reviews its rules and makes changes about every two years Chief Judge Kenneth M. Switzer says. The last amendments were adopted in March 2020. Suggestions for rules changes may be made at any time. Learn more about the latest changes in the court’s blog.

Bass, Berry & Sims lawyer Ashleigh Karnell has begun a six-month fellowship with the Tennessee Innocence Project (TIP) as part of the firm’s Pro Bono Fellowship Program, which allows attorneys to provide pro bono legal service full-time while receiving their regular compensation. Karnell will continue the firm’s longstanding support of TIP and will continue to work to exonerate Artis Whitehead, a Memphis Black man currently serving a 249-year sentence in connection with a 2002 robbery. Firm attorney Danielle Dudding Irvine worked on the case during her fellowship with TIP in 2020. Whitehead has asserted his innocence and says there are issues with an eyewitness, a confidential informant and forensic evidence. An associate in the firm's Nashville office, Karnell practices in the Litigation & Dispute Resolution Practice Group. She earned her law degree from Belmont University College of Law in 2017.

The Knoxville Bar Foundation is accepting applications for its 2022 grant awards through 5 p.m. EST on March 4. Individual grant awards usually are $5,000 or less and funds cannot be used for operating expenses. Applications must be submitted online. The foundation was established in 1992 to improve the administration of justice, enhance the public’s understanding of and confidence in the legal system, and serve the legal profession. It has awarded $455,000 for local law-related projects and programs since its inception.

Volunteers are still needed for the Tennessee State High School Mock Trial Competition, which will take place in person in Nashville March 25-26. Presiding judges, attorneys, law students and paralegals can sign up here to volunteer as a judge, scorer or bailiff. Those who volunteer for at least three trial rounds will receive reimbursement for travel and lodging. The 2022 Tennessee State High School Mock Trial case and rules were released last fall. District mock trial competitions are taking place this month with winners from each district taking part in the state competition. The Tennessee champion will compete at the National High School Mock Trial Championship, which will be held virtually in May.

Davidson County Criminal Court Judge Mark Fishburn has confirmed that he will retire at the end of his term after nearly 25 years on the bench, the Tennessean reports. "It has been the most difficult decision I have ever made as a judge," he wrote in a letter this week. After serving General Sessions court in 1998, Fishburn was appointed by former Gov. Phil Bredesen to be the first presiding judge of Division VI of the criminal court in 2003. Prior to his appointment, Fishburn spent 18 years as a defense attorney. Earlier this month, he presided over the mass murder trial of Travis Reinking, who was found guilty of killing four people at a Waffle House in 2018.  "At least in my case, retirement is not the end of the road, but simply a turn in my travels down that road," Fishburn wrote.

Chattanooga attorney Lee Ann Adams of Gearhiser Peters Elliott & Cannon was recently sworn in as president of the Chattanooga Bar Association during the organization’s 124th Annual Meeting. The gavel was passed to Adams by Immediate Past President Jeffrey Maddux of Chambliss, Bahner & Stophel. New members of the board’s executive committee include: Judge Rob Philyaw, president-elect; Steve Smith, secretary; and Clerk & Master Robin Miller, treasurer. New board members are Zachary W. England, C. Scott Johnson, Mark W. Litchford, Richard C. Rose, Joseph C. Simpson, Nicole O. Watson and Melody Shekari who will serve as the YLD representative. The CBA also presented awards to: Wayne Peters, Albert L. Hodge Volunteer Award; Melody Shekari, YLD Volunteer of the Year; Judge Don Poole, Jac Chambliss Lifetime Achievement Award; Judge W. Jeffrey Hollingsworth, Ralph H. Kelley Humanitarian Award; Ellie Hill, Volunteer of the Year Award; Judge Rob Philyaw, President’s Award; and Mark Litchford, Volunteer of the Year Award.

The Tennessee Commission on Continuing Legal Education will send all 2021 annual report compliance statements via email by Feb. 28, using email addresses on file with the Board of Professional Responsibility. The commission recently launched an online portal for completion of reports. Attorneys in compliance do not need to act on the reports, but those not in compliance, such as needing to complete 2021 hours or owing a fee, should complete the statement online and file it with the CLE. To ensure you receive your report, make sure your email provider permits messages from info@cletn.com. Read more from the Administrative Office of the Courts.

The American Bar Association House of Delegates’ Nominating Committee on Sunday voted to make Illinois lawyer Mary Smith its next president-elect nominee, the ABA Journal reports. Smith’s nomination will likely become official at the close of the ABA Annual Meeting in Chicago in August. Smith is an enrolled member of the Cherokee Nation and would become the first Native American president of the ABA in her 2023-2024 term. She virtually accepted her nomination during the ABA House of Delegates meeting, where she also acknowledged the work of former TBA president, former ABA treasurer and Adams and Reese partner Lucian Pera, with whom she ran a contested race for the nomination of president-elect. Smith is a past president of the National Native American Bar Association and founder of the National Native American Bar Association Foundation. worked in the White House from 1997 to 2001, serving as associate counsel to the president and as associate director of policy planning for the Domestic Policy Council.