A recent episode of the Legal Services Corporation’s Talk Justice podcast looks at how 2021 impacted access to justice issues, the adoption of new technology and legal regulatory reform in the country. The episode also highlights the Biden administration’s reinstitution of the Office of Access to Justice at the Department of Justice and renewed discussions in the White House Legal Aid Interagency Roundtable. LSC Emerging Leaders Council member Jason Tashea hosts the conversation with legal technology guru Bob Ambrogi; Zac DeMeola, director of legal education and the legal profession at the Institute for the Advancement of the American Legal System; and LSC President Ron Flagg. Tune in here.

Tennessee Court of Appeals Judge W. Neal McBrayer visited with a group of 20 students at the University School of Nashville recently to answer questions during their contemporary civics class. “Classes like these are so important for proper function of a democracy,” McBrayer said. “People need to know how governmental systems work and this is where it starts, in the classroom.” McBrayer fielded questions on age limits for judges, how he prepared to become a judge and the types of cases that keep him up at night. The students in the class are tasked with selecting a specific area of study, whether local, national or international. They then invite speakers to their classroom based on that focus. “And, so, if ever there is a civics class that wants to hear from a judge, I am there. I am there because it’s that important,” McBrayer said. Read the full story from the Administrative Office of the Courts.

A ban on abortions because of a prenatal diagnosis of Down syndrome or because of race or gender of the fetus has again been reinstated by the 6th U.S. Circuit Court of Appeals, the Associated Press reports. The ban was part of Gov. Bill Lee’s 2020 anti-abortion measure that also banned abortion as early as six weeks. That portion of the bill has remained blocked from going into effect. The appeals court had blocked the so-called reason ban from being enforced in September, but yesterday temporarily allowed it to take effect at the request of the attorney general’s office. In her dissent, Circuit Judge Karen Nelson Moore wrote that the appeals court is waiting to see if the U.S. Supreme Court’s decision in Mississippi’s ban on abortions will affect Tennessee’s case. She wrote that such “stay-and-delay tactics” are “harming both the substance of our ultimate decision and our court’s legitimacy.”

The Tennessee Court of Appeals on Tuesday upheld a lower court’s ruling that the Knox County Sheriff’s Office wrongly withheld public records from a University of Tennessee professor and should pay legal fees in the case, the Knoxville News Sentinel reports. However, the court also ruled that the sheriff’s office won’t have to pay nearly as much as the $78,000 in fees originally ordered. According to the court, professor Meghan Conley was eligible only for attorney’s fees related to the records that were “willfully denied,” or two of the 12 she sought. The case will likely go back to Knox County Chancellor John Weaver who will determine the new amount of fees or double down on his decision and keep the fees where they are. Conley’s attorney Andrew Fels, who worked the case for free, was originally awarded $55,762.50; Dean Hill Rivkin was awarded $19,440 for arguing attorney fees on Conley’s behalf; and Conley was awarded an additional $2,805.25.

The state Senate Judiciary Committee on Tuesday unanimously recommended that Gov. Bill Lee’s Tennessee Supreme Court nominee, Sarah Campbell, be confirmed to the bench, the Daily Memphian reports.  Campbell, 39, is a lawyer in the state attorney general’s office where she has defended the executive branch in lawsuits since she took the job in 2015. She was appointed to the high court by Lee in January and would replace the late Justice Cornelia A. Clark, who died in September. When asked what she would do when the state attorney general argues cases before the Supreme Court, Campbell replied that she would recuse herself if it was a case in which she had “substantial personal involvement.” She said her ethical decisions about conflicts of interest would be guided by the Tennessee Code of Judicial Conduct. 

TBA Director of Public Policy & Government Affairs Berkley Schwarz and Adams and Reese attorneys and TBA lobbyists Brad Lampley and Ashley Harbin are back for another episode of TBA Legislative Updates. In this edition, Schwarz and Lampley review the governor’s State of the State address and give an update on the professional privilege tax. Harbin also details Tuesday’s Senate Judiciary Committee meeting at which Tennessee Supreme Court nominee Sarah Campbell was interviewed by state lawmakers. Legislative Updates airs every Thursday on the TBA’s Facebook page. It is also released as a podcast on the same day and can be found on the TBA’s website or wherever you listen to podcasts.  

The University of Tennessee at Knoxville has reinstated Professor Anming Hu two years after he was accused of espionage by the U.S. government, the Knoxville News Sentinel reports. The university terminated Hu after he was indicted in 2020 on three counts of wire fraud and three counts of making false statements related to his interactions with a China-based university. Those charges were thrown out by a federal judge in 2021. Hu’s attorney, Phil Lomonaco, said his client, a nanotechnology expert, returned to UT this week with tenure. He received $300,000 worth of funding to restart his research program and has been provided similar lab space.

The Belmont University College of Law Student Bar Association will hold its annual Barristers Ball on March 4 but already has started raising funds for AWAKE Tennessee, a grassroots nonprofit organization that advocates for female and child advancement through education and policy change. Donations may be made online or mailed to Belmont University College of Law, C/O Grace Benitone, SBA Vice President, 1901 15th Ave. S., Nashville, TN 37212. Checks should be made out to AWAKE Tennessee. All funds raised will be presented to the organization at the Barristers Ball.

The Tennessee Attorney General’s Office and the Tennessee Department of Commerce & Insurance are participating in a consolidated enforcement action to stop a fraudulent precious metals scheme that resulted in solicitations exceeding $68 million from at least 450 investors across the country. The state entities have joined a complaint filed by the U.S. Commodity Futures Trading Commission and 26 other state regulators to file a complaint in the U.S. District Court for the Central District of California. The suit alleges that Safeguard Metals and Jeffrey Santulan, aka Jeffrey Hill, solicited investors nationwide by touting precious metals at grossly inflated prices that were not disclosed. In Tennessee, nine investors were defrauded out of $2.1 million.

Gov. Bill Lee is planning to create an Institute of American Civics at the University of Tennessee’s Howard Baker Center for Public Policy, the UT Daily Beacon reports. Lee made the announcement in his State of the State address Monday night. Lee said the institute would educate students on American civics and instill patriotism at the university. He also announced a partnership with Hillsdale College in Michigan to bring that school’s philosophy on civics education to Tennessee. Lee said he hopes the institute will be a center of civics, not just for the state, but also for the country. “This will be a flagship for the nation — a beacon celebrating intellectual diversity at our universities and teaching how a responsible, civic-minded people strengthens our country and our communities,” he said.