Retired U.S. District Court Judge John Trice Nixon died last Thursday in California. He was 86. Nixon earned his law degree from Vanderbilt University Law School in 1960 and worked in private practice and then as city attorney in Anniston, Alabama. He later joined the U.S. Department of Justice as a trial attorney in the Civil Rights Division. He returned to Tennessee to serve as staff attorney with the state comptroller, as a circuit court judge and as a general sessions judge. In 1980, Nixon was named to the U.S. District Court for the Middle District of Tennessee by President Jimmy Carter. He served as the court’s chief judge for seven years and took senior status in 1998. He assumed inactive senior status in 2016. Funeral arrangements are pending. The Tennessean has more on his life.

Stephen Deaderick Potts died Dec. 12 at the age of 89 years. Originally from Memphis, Potts graduated from Vanderbilt University Law School and joined the Judge Advocate General’s Corps. In 1961, he joined his older brother, Ramsay Potts, at the law firm of Shaw Pittman Potts & Trowbridge in Washington, D.C. and served there for 30 years. In 1990, President George H.W. Bush nominated Potts to head the U.S. Office of Government Ethics. He served two five-year terms there. In 2001, he became interim president of the Ethics Research Center and later served as chair of the center’s board of directors. He returned to public service when President George W. Bush asked him to join the White House Counsel’s Office. A memorial service will be held Dec. 20 at 2 p.m. at National United Methodist Church, 3401 Nebraska Ave., NW, Washington, D.C. In lieu of flowers, donations may be made to the Ethics Research Center, 2650 Park Tower Dr., Ste 802, Vienna, VA 22180.

Signal Mountain lawyer L. Hale Hamilton died yesterday after a long battle with Parkinson’s disease. He was 77. Hamilton earned his law degree from the University of Tennessee College of Law in 1968 and began practicing with Spears, Moore, Rebman & Williams in Chattanooga. He served at the firm for 40 years until his retirement. Hamilton also worked on the Signal Mountain Planning Commission for 20 years and served as an auxiliary policeman. In lieu of flowers, donations may be made to the Parkinson’s Research Foundation or Hospice of Chattanooga. Visitation will be held on Saturday from 2:30 to 5 p.m. at Lane Funeral Home, 601 Ashland Terrace, Chattanooga 37415. The family will hold a private committal.

Gallatin lawyer James Barrett Hawkins died Friday following a battle with lymphoma. He was 63. Hawkins was a high school teacher in Danville, Kentucky, before earning a master's degree in educational policy studies from Vanderbilt University and a law degree from Duke University. He clerked for the Tennessee Supreme Court, worked with Harsh, Kelly & Smith and BellSouth Corporation, served as managing attorney of the Legal Aid Society’s Gallatin office, and, in 2009, opened a general practice law office in Gallatin. A funeral service will be held Wednesday at noon at the First United Methodist Church, 149 W. Main St., Gallatin 37066. Visitation will be held Tuesday from 4 to 8 p.m. at the Family Heritage Funeral Home, 100 Albert Gallatin Ave., Gallatin 37066, and again on Wednesday from 11 a.m. to noon at the church. Memorial donations may be made to the church or a charitable organization of the donor’s choice.

Nashville attorney Robert "Bob" Mansell Moses died Wednesday. He was 71. Moses and his wife, Marlene Eskind Moses, also a lawyer, practiced at the firm of MTR Family Law PLLC. He had earned a masters degree in business administration from Tulane University and a law degree from the Nashville School of Law. Before practicing law, he was president of a sound studio and worked in the wholesale liquor and wine business. A Celebration of Life will be held Sunday at 1 p.m. at the Temple Congregation Ohabai Sholom, 5015 Harding Pike, Nashville 37205. A private burial will precede the service. In lieu of flowers, donations may be made to Abe’s Garden, Harding Academy or the W.O. Smith Music School.

Marcia Gaile Owens, whose death sentence was commuted by Gov. Bredesen in 2010, died last weekend after being found unresponsive at a friend’s home, the Tennessean reports. Owens was sentenced to death for hiring a hitman to kill her husband in 1984. Her attorneys and other high profile Nashvillians argued she should be spared the death penalty given that she had suffered years of emotional, physical and sexual abuse at the hands of her husband. After Bredesen commuted her sentence, she was granted parole in 2011. Funeral information is not yet available.

Services were held today for former 8th Judicial District Circuit Court Judge Conrad E. Troutman Jr., who died Nov. 27 at 91. Originally from LaFollette, Troutman served in the U.S. Army during the Korean War and then attended the University of Tennessee College of Law. After graduating, he returned to LaFollette and practiced law with his father and brother. He also served as attorney for the LaFollette Hospital Board, the LaFollette Housing Authority, the Campbell County School Board and the City of LaFollette. Troutman later was elected Campbell County attorney and in 1974 was elected to the circuit court, serving Campbell, Claiborne, Fentress, Scott and Union counties. He served 30 years on the bench until his retirement in 2004. In lieu of flowers, memorial contributions may be made to Holston United Methodist Home for Children, 404 Holston Dr., Greeneville 37743.

Nashville lawyer Paul Johnston Morrow Jr. died Nov. 11 at 70. A graduate of Washington and Lee University and the University of Alabama School of Law, Morrow moved to Tennessee to work for the attorney general’s office. He then practiced with Ted Walker and Keith Hope in the early 1980s and later joined the Capital Case Resource Center, which has since changed its name to The Post Conviction Defenders Office. Morrow served there defending death penalty inmates until his retirement in 2012. A Celebration of Life Service will be held Saturday from 1 to 5 p.m. at 1312 Adams St., Nashville 37208. Tributes will begin at 3 p.m. Friends and colleagues are invited to attend.

Knoxville lawyer John Robert “Jay” Dunlap Jr. died Nov. 5 at the age of 60. Dunlap grew up in Memphis but moved to California after college to work on the election campaign of Ronald Reagan. He returned to Tennessee to attend the University of Tennessee College of Law with his brother, David, and they were sworn in before the Tennessee Supreme Court together. Dunlap pursued a career in real estate development, leasing and management in the Knoxville area. Services were held Nov. 23 at Second Presbyterian Church in Memphis. In lieu of flowers, the family requests that donations be made to Second Presbyterian Church, St. Jude Children's Research Hospital, or the charity of the donor’s choice.

Chattanooga lawyer John B. Phillips Jr. died Nov. 14 at the age of 72. Originally from Winchester, Phillips earned his law degree from the University of Tennessee College of Law and moved to Chattanooga to practice law. He was a long-time member at Miller & Martin and served as the firm’s managing partner for five years. Phillips also served as deputy general counsel and vice president of employment and labor at Coca-Cola Enterprises Inc., and as senior vice president and general counsel of Craftworks Restaurants & Breweries Inc. A memorial service was held Nov. 20 in Chattanooga. In lieu of flowers, donations may be made to St. Paul’s Episcopal Church, the Boys and Girls Club of Chattanooga, Children’s Hospital at Erlanger or the Tennessee Aquarium. The Times Free Press has the full obituary.