A local attorney is expected to be named a temporary judge in Hamilton County's General Sessions Court today.
Alex McVeagh, an associate at Chambliss, Bahner & Stophel P.C., is filling David Bales' vacant seat, according to a Tuesday email from the Administrative Office of the Courts.
Gov. Bill Haslam selected McVeagh, who could not be reached for comment Tuesday night, after Bales asked for a special replacement earlier this month.
Bales went on medical disability leave in March, missing at least 45 days on the bench after he was diagnosed with cancer in fall 2016.
In a letter to Haslam in March, Bales said he intends to return to his duties as judge as "soon as possible" and that he returned to the bench Feb. 20 too soon after receiving radiation and chemotherapy.
McVeagh, who grew up in Lafayette, La., accepted a job offer at Chambliss while finishing law school at Vanderbilt University in 2013, news accounts show.
He practices municipal law, bankruptcy and product liability defense as a civil litigation attorney. General Sessions Court handles about 50,000 mostly criminal cases every year and has a civil docket, too.
Chambliss, Bahner & Stophel P.C. nominated him in 2016 to the Legal Aid of East Tennessee board of directors, news accounts show.
That same year, the Chattanooga Bar Association also named him the Young Lawyer's Division Volunteer Lawyer of the Year.