The Washington County Bar Association has announced new officers and board members for 2022. Officers are: President Devon Muse with Pioneer Advocacy; President-elect Hunter Shepard with Herrin, McPeak & Associates; Vice President Thomas J. Smith with the Law Offices of Tony Seaton & Associates; Secretary Christa Morton with Legal on Main; and Treasurer Joseph Matherly with Hunter, Smith, and Davis. Board members are: Immediate Past President Jesse J. Campbell with Tom Bible Law; Brandon Casey with Grimes, Teich Anderson; Elizabeth Jones with the Elizabeth Jones Law Office; Nora Koffman with Baker Donelson; Solange McDaniel with Herndon, Coleman, Brading & McKee; Grace Studer with Spurrell & Studer Law Group; and Morgan Taylor with East Tennessee State University. All work in Johnson City except Jones, who practices in Erwin.

U.S. Supreme Court Justice Sonia Sotomayor is releasing her third children’s book tomorrow, the Associated Press reports. “Just Help! How to Build a Better World,” challenges kids to ask how they will help others, something she asks herself every night before going to sleep. The book offers practical suggestions for ways to help such as sending care packages to American soldiers overseas, recycling plastic bags, cleaning up a park or donating toys to a children's hospital. Sotomayor's other books include “Turning Pages: My Life Story” and "Just Ask! Be Different, Be Brave, Be You,” about children with challenges including autism, dyslexia and Down syndrome. All of her books are published in English and Spanish.

U.S. Judge Jeffrey Brown ruled Friday that the Biden administration may not require federal employees to be vaccinated against the coronavirus or discipline employees who failed to comply, The Hill reports. The case is about whether the president can, “with the stroke of a pen and without the input of Congress, require millions of federal employees to undergo a medical procedure as a condition of their employment," Brown wrote. The U.S. Justice Department immediately said it would appeal.

Knox County District Attorney General Charme Allen recently appointed new members to the Domestic Abuse Death Review Team, which identifies and reviews domestic abuse deaths, including homicides and suicides, and facilitates communication between agencies involved in domestic abuse cases. Lawyers among the group are TBA President-elect Tasha Blakney, Robert Downs with Legal Aid of East Tennessee, and Kathryn Ellis with the Knoxville Family Justice Center. In addition, Deb House, executive director of Legal Aid of East Tennessee, was on hand to support the new members.

The Tennessee Court of Workers’ Compensation Claims Appeals Board will hold its next docket on Tuesday beginning at 8:30 a.m. CST. See the list of cases and links to watch via Microsoft Teams. The court also announced that it will not hold any settlement approvals starting the afternoon of Jan. 26 through Jan. 28 due to a judicial conference.

The funeral service for 6th U.S. Circuit Court of Appeals Judge Gilbert Stroud Merritt Jr. will take place tomorrow beginning at 11:30 a.m. CST at Christ Episcopal Cathedral in Nashville. The service will be live streamed on the church’s YouTube channel for those who cannot attend in person. For those attending in person, a visitation and reception will take place after the funeral at the Grand Hyatt Hotel. Merritt died Monday after a battle with metastatic prostate cancer.

U.S. District Judge Waverly D. Crenshaw this week denied the state's request for him to set aside his December order blocking a new law that generally bans school districts from implementing mask mandates. The state had asked Crenshaw to defer his decision while it pursues an appeal, the Tennessean reports. Crenshaw instead reaffirmed his initial injunction saying the state has not proven the harm in allowing school districts to make their own decisions. He also questioned the filing saying, the state’s motion reads more like a “motion for reconsideration than a motion to stay" and reminded the state that he provided a “detailed and reasoned basis” for each of his initial conclusions in a 50-page memo released along with the order.

Anderson County native Brandon Pelizzari has been named the new assistant district attorney general in the Seventh Judicial District, the Oak Ridger reports. He will work out of the Clinton office and focus on prosecuting criminal offenses in the Anderson County General Sessions Court. Pelizzari joins the office after serving as DUI prosecutor in the Eighth Judicial District — mostly assigned to Campbell County for the past several years. Before that assignment, he was in private practice in Oak Ridge and a prosecutor for the Tennessee Department of Children’s Services. Pelizzari earned his law degree from the Nashville School of Law.

Nashville-based legal services provider Latitude recently announced it has opened a new office in Minneapolis. The expansion marks the third new office opening for the company since September, when it announced openings in Boston and Austin. “The demand from legal department and law firm leaders for the associate- to partner-level flexible legal talent we specialize in has significantly increased since the pandemic began,” said Latitude CEO Ross Booher. “Because of our extensive roster of attorneys with sophisticated in-house and Big Law experience in those and other Twin Cities industries, Minneapolis is a natural location for us.” Read more from Latitude.

Gov. Bill Lee is set to deliver the annual State of the State speech on Jan. 31, the Tennessee Journal reports. The address will mark Lee’s final State of the State during his first term in office. The event will air on Lee’s Facebook page and YouTube channels at 6 p.m. CST. “I look forward to sharing my vision for Tennessee, including my budget and legislative priorities for the year,” Lee said in a statement. “Tennessee shows the rest of the country that America hasn’t lost her way, and with the support of the General Assembly, we’ll continue to ensure Tennessee is a national leader for opportunity and freedom.”