The Tennessee Judicial Conference Foundation (TJCF) has passed a resolution to honor the late Judge James Curwood Witt Jr. with a legacy scholarship. The foundation will match funds up to $12,500, which will yield a $1,500 annual scholarship to the University of Tennessee Winston College of Law. Knoxville attorneys Ann Short and Eric Butler will serve as chairs of the effort. According to the TJCF, Judge Witt was a valued member of the court and Tennessee legal community. He served as a former presiding judge of the Court of Criminal Appeals, and at 27 years of service, was the longest-serving member in the court’s history. Donations may be made online or by check, payable to the TJCF, with a notation to fund the Judge Curwood Witt Scholarship. Checks should be mailed to Tennessee Judicial Conference Foundation, c/o Suzanne Keith, 629 Woodland St., Nashville, TN 37206. Questions may be directed to Ann Short, 865-637-2142 or Eric Butler, 865-546-4646.

Tennessee Rep. Jay Reedy, R-Erin, filed paperwork with the Federal Election Commission to run for the 7th Congressional District seat, which encompasses parts of Davidson, Montgomery and Williamson counties. The seat currently is held by U.S. Rep. Mark Green, who announced last month that he would take a job in the private sector. The Tennessee Lookout reports that Reedy has said he has been bothered by the federal government’s slow reaction to flood damage in Waverly in August 2021, and that he supports eliminating the U.S. Department of Education. Other Republican candidates for the post are former Tennessee General Services Commissioner Matt Van Epps, Springfield resident Jon Thorpe and Jason Knight of Clarksville. No Democrats have entered the race yet according to the paper.

President Donald Trump has nominated former U.S. Attorney Michael Dunavant to be the chief federal prosecutor for the Western District of Tennessee, a position he held during Trump's first term. The Daily Memphian reports that during his tenure, Dunavant oversaw a shift in the federal office, from a focus on reviewing police conduct and policies to a focus on backing law enforcement. Prior to his first stint as U.S. attorney, Dunavant served as district attorney general for Tennessee's 25th Judicial District, which covers Tipton, Fayette, Hardeman, Lauderdale and McNairy counties. He replaces career prosecutor Joe Murphy, who has been the interim U.S. attorney since Trump fired interim U.S. Attorney Reagan Fondren, who was appointed when U.S. Attorney Kevin Ritz stepped down.

TBA CLE Summer Camp is in session! Beat the heat this summer and take your CLE on demand from the comfort of your home, office or cabin in the woods. TBA CLE will be replaying popular titles throughout the month of July, whether you need one hour of credit or 15. Watch for a weekly update of upcoming courses in this publication and on social media. This week features Friends ... An Ethical Sitcom?; From Bonnie and Clyde to Bernie Madoff — What the Biggest Thieves in History Teach About Attorney Ethics; and Ethics Update: Current Developments from the Board of Professional Responsibility. Interested in something else? View all Summer Camp offerings, which include sessions on law tech, practice management, effective communication, ethics and more!

This on-demand webcast from the TBA covers changes to Tennessee’s foreclosure law, including a reduction in the number of required newspaper notices for foreclosure sales and a new requirement to post all sales and continuances online. Hosted by David Anthony of Exo Legal PLLC and Amy Heaslet of the Tennessee Bankers Association, the webcast includes a discussion on how to comply with the new regulations taking effect July 1. For more information and to register, visit the TBA website. 

The July 25 Elder Law Forum will feature a session on elder abuse and undue influence. Panelists Amy Bryant and Barbara Moss will detail warning signs of abuse and dementia, and how lawyers can use their position to spot it. Issues to be examined include what you can and can’t do when the client has diminished capacity, how to determine the difference between influence and undue influence, issues with joint representation of principal and agent, and more. Other topics at the forum include VA benefits, TennCare, strategies to protect IRAs using Medicaid annuities, ethics and more. Elder Law Section members receive a discounted rate to attend. Learn more and register here.

More than 100 new Tennessee laws go into effect today, many affecting criminal justice practice. Notable examples include the classification of all robberies as a crime of violence, addition of offenses to be considered “racketeering activity," a mandate for TBI to create and maintain a persistent domestic violence registry and new definitions for abortion exceptions. Tennessee District Public Defenders Conference Deputy Executive Director Chelsea Curtis and Director of Research and staff attorney Kirk Yoquelet have compiled a comprehensive list of Tennessee criminal law statutory updates for 2025. View the update here.

Read about the lawyers who have recently been reinstated, disbarred, suspended, censured or transferred their licenses to disability inactive status.

Chris Smith reviews Valley So Low: One Lawyer’s Fight for Justice in the Wake of America’s Great Coal Catastrophe by Jared Sullivan, which studies the Kingston coal ash disaster, the clean up, the lawsuits that followed after workers became sick and what he characterizes as "the near-total failure of the American tort system to hold powerful corporations to account when their wrongdoing devastates the environment and destroys people’s lives."

A good attorney would never purposely ignore relevant information or leads during discovery. But in the July/August cover story, Travis Vest argues that if you are not requesting and reviewing metadata, you may be inadvertently overlooking invaluable impeachment evidence or information that leads to an unexpected witness.