The Tennessee Bar Association, through its online news outlet "TBA Today," has picked up on a Tuesday filing by the Tennessee Supreme Court that solicits comments on a proposed rule exempting federal judges and federal officials — who are prohibited from the practice of law — from paying annual registration fees to maintain their attorney license in the state.

The deadline for submitting comments on the rule change is Nov. 16. Click here for more details.

A new website that allows Tennesseans to seek free legal advice from volunteer lawyers is now available at OnlineTNJustice.org.

Local attorney Buck Lewis and others at Baker, Donelson, Bearman, Caldwell & Berkowitz PC, created the site which according to Lewis is the first of its kind in the country. The Tennessee Alliance for Legal Services and the Tennessee Bar Association combined to help with the effort.

"This is the first statewide resource of its type in the country. From the start, it has been our fervent hope that this site would be a convenient way for more lawyers to provide help to those in need," Lewis said in a press release.

In August, Democrats may have their chance for revenge as Kurita will face primary opposition from Tim Barnes, a Clarksville attorney. Part of Barnes’ area of legal practice includes DUI defense, although he is not a certified specialist. Barnes advertises that he does DUI defense work, as well as several other areas, in the Yellow Pages, in a local newspaper and on radio stations. While Barnes says his ads don’t promote what Kurita’s amendment bans — and therefore may not be affected — Barnes said Kurita’s move had “three or four constitutional problems.” “Even a fundamental understanding of the Constitution would inform somebody that that’s an amendment that you can’t have — that’s a First Amendment right,” Barnes said. Barnes said the only DUI attorney he could recall who noted a DUI specialty was the late “DUI Mike” Fox. Kurita said Barnes’ advertising activities didn’t have “any bearing” on her amendment. “I certainly would not want that to color my intensity on this issue,” Kurita said of cracking down on drunken drivers. “I can’t help extraneous activities.”