The University of Tennessee College of Law has announced that Professor Emeritus Otis Stephens died today. Stephens joined the university in 1967, teaching in the undergraduate political science department and the law school. He was named the law school’s Resident Scholar of Constitutional Law in 2000. He retired in 2012. During his long academic career, Stephens authored, co-authored, or edited six books on the U.S. Constitution and Supreme Court, held a fellowship at Harvard Law School and taught at Johns Hopkins University and Georgia Southern College. He earned his doctorate from Johns Hopkins in 1963 and his law degree from the University of Tennessee in 1983. Funeral arrangements were not yet available.

McMinnville lawyer Frank Davis Farrar died Nov. 29 at the age of 74. Visitation will take place Sunday from 11:30 a.m. to 2 p.m. at the Farrar residence, 349 W. Main Street in McMinnville. A graveside funeral service will follow at 2:30 p.m. at Mt. View Cemetery. Farrar earned his law degree from the University of Tennessee College of Law in 1972 and practiced law throughout Middle Tennessee for 44 years. He was a founding partner of Farrar, Holliman & Butler in Lafayette and Farrar, Holliman & Medley in McMinnville. He was active in the Warren County Bar Association and served as president of the Seven County Bar Association in the Upper Cumberland. High Funeral Home has more on his life.

Ernest Wilson “Ernie” Williams died Nov. 30 at the age of 69. After serving in the U.S. Marine Corps, with a tour of duty in Vietnam, Williams earned his law degree from the Nashville School of Law. He practiced law in Franklin until being appointed U.S. Attorney for the Middle District of Tennessee by President George H.W. Bush. He held that post from 1991 to 1993. He later served as a Williamson County commissioner and general sessions judge. Visitation will take place from 4 to 8 p.m. Saturday at Williamson Memorial Funeral Home and from 1 to 2 p.m. on Sunday at Bethlehem United Methodist Church. Funeral services will be held Sunday at 2 p.m. at the church. Burial will follow in Williamson Memorial Gardens.

Jackson lawyer and former Kirkland's CEO Robert Edwin Alderson, 70, died Nov. 22 from complications of endocarditis. Prior to graduating from the University of Tennessee College of Law, Alderson served in the Army as an advisor to Vietnamese forces. In his later years, he was a guest speaker at the school and an honorary professor and mentor for the school's lecture series. Alderson clerked for U.S. Sen. Howard Baker Jr. and then practiced law with Menzies, Rainey, Kizer and Alderson, where he was a senior partner. He joined Kirkland’s in 1986, first as a senior vice president and later as president and CEO. He retired in 2015. Visitation will be held Friday from noon to 2 p.m. at the First Baptist Church of Jackson. Funeral services will follow at 2 p.m. The Jackson Sun has more on his life.

Vanderbilt University Law School graduate Adam Ramsay Michael died Nov. 22. He was 39. A Nashville native, Michael served as Sumner County public defender for two years. Desiring a change of career, he joined Vanderbilt’s Blair School of Music as a development officer, and later joined the Nature Conservancy of Tennessee. Services were held last Friday. In lieu of flowers, contributions may be made to the Nature Conservancy of Tennessee, Vanderbilt Blair School of Music, Congregation Micah or a charity of your choice. The Tennessean has more on his life.

Jackson lawyer Clayton F. Mayo died Nov. 8 at the age of 52. A graduate of Lambuth College and the University of Tennessee College of Law (1989), Mayo served as an assistant district attorney and in private practice for many years. Funeral services were held Nov. 13. Memorial donations may be sent to First Presbyterian Church, 1573 N. Highland Ave., Jackson, TN 38301 or to the Great Smoky Mountain National Park via the National Park Foundation, 1110 Vermont Ave., NW, Suite 200, Washington, D.C., 20005 or online at nationalparks.org. The Jackson Sun has more on his life.

Bradley County Assistant Public Defender Kevin Eugene Miller died Wednesday after a two-year battle with cancer. He was 46. Miller earned his law degree from Washington & Lee College of Law. He was a member of the Bradley County and Tennessee Bar Associations. Funeral services will be held tomorrow at 2 p.m. in the chapel of Grissom Serenity Funeral Home in Cleveland. Visitation will take place prior to the service from 10 a.m. to 1:30 p.m. Miller will be buried at Sunset Memorial Gardens. Chattanoogan.com has more on his life.

Janet Reno, the first woman to hold the post of U.S. attorney, died today at her home in Miami-Dade County, Florida. She was 78 and had suffered from Parkinson’s disease since 1995. Reno served as the nation’s top law enforcement officer for eight years, which included some of the most divisive times of the Bill Clinton presidency and two events that garnered national attention: a deadly federal raid on the compound of a religious cult in Waco and the return of refugee Elián González to his father in Cuba. Key cases included the prosecution of the World Trade Center and Oklahoma City federal building bombers, and the filing of an antitrust suit against Microsoft and a suit against the tobacco industry. The New York Times has more on her life.

Jackson lawyer Jerry Bob Cullen died Oct. 26 at the age of 89. Cullen served in the U.S. Navy from June 1945 to August 1946, obtaining the rank of Seaman First Class. After discharge, he attended Vanderbilt University Law School and earned his law degree in 1951. Cullen worked for United States Fidelity Company as a claims adjustor for 39 years. He retired in 1991. Visitation and funeral services were held this past weekend. Cullen was buried at Ridgecrest Cemetery. Memorials may be directed to the First Baptist Church of Jackson, 1627 N. Highland, Jackson, TN 38305. The Jackson Sun has more on his life.

Long-time 23rd Judicial District Circuit Court Judge Robert E. Burch died Friday at the age of 69. A graduate of the Citadel and Vanderbilt Law School, Burch served on the court for 34 years, creating the district’s drug court in 2000. Burch retired in 2014 as presiding judge but returned to the bench this summer under a special appointment to assist with the district’s heavy caseload. He was still serving in that capacity at the time of his death. Visitation will be held at the Taylor Funeral Home tomorrow from 1 to 4 p.m. and 6 to 8 p.m., and at the First Baptist Church of Dickson on Wednesday from 11 a.m. to 1 p.m. Funeral services will follow at 1 p.m. Wednesday at the church. Burch will be buried at New Hope Baptist Church Cemetery in Bon Aqua. The family suggests memorial donations be made to the 23rd Judicial District Drug Court. The funeral home has more on his life, while the drug court provides this reflection.