The 2024 Elder Law Forum will take place in-person July 19 from 8:30 a.m. to 3 p.m. CDT at the Belmont University College of Law. This annual staple for Tennessee attorneys provides insight from top professionals while allowing attendees to meet with other lawyers in the practice area. This year’s forum features timely topics such as conservatorships, dementia, client intake, ethics, litigation in elder law and much more. Breakfast and lunch will be provided. Don’t miss this once-a-year opportunity to learn and earn CLE with colleagues.

Davidson County lawyer Eric Donn Miller was reinstated to the practice of law on June 14. He had been on inactive status since June 26, 2012. The Tennessee Supreme Court took the action after the Board of Professional Responsibility reported that Miller’s petition for reinstatement was satisfactory.

The DeKalb County Bar Association recently elected new officers. Gayla C. Hendrix will serve as president, Tecia Puckett Pryor was elected vice president, and Brad Hannah will fill the dual role of secretary/treasurer. Attorneys in the Smithville area should contact Hendrix at gaylachendrixlaw@gmail.com to get involved with the bar's activities.

The Department of Labor and Workforce Development announced that Tennessee's unemployment rate dropped to a historic low level, setting a record at 3%. WSMV reports that the rate decreased by 0.1% between April and May to 3% and made history as the lowest unemployment rate since the government began tracking the statistic in 1976. “Tennessee employers created 3,300 new nonfarm jobs between April and May. The accommodation and food services sector was responsible for most of those new jobs. The professional, scientific, and technical services sector was the next top job creator in May, followed by the health care and social assistance sector,” the department said.

Tennessee Attorney General Jonathan Skrmetti will not issue an opinion as to whether Donald Trump should remain on the state's presidential election ballot. The Tennessee Lookout reports that in a letter to Rep. Vincent Dixie, D-Nashville (who requested a formal legal opinion after Trump was convicted on felony charges in New York), Skrmetti said that after careful consideration, his office cannot opine based on a state law dealing with election eligibility. “The Attorney General’s statutory authority is limited to providing ‘written legal opinions’ on matters submitted by officials ‘in the discharge of their official duties.’” Skrmetti’s office notes, “And Tennessee’s election officials — not individual members of the General Assembly — enforce (the state law) in specific factual scenarios.” Dixie said in a statement he is “disappointed” but “not surprised” by the response.

An inmate in the Gibson County Correctional Complex in Trenton filed a lawsuit alleging unsafe living conditions and being denied access to file court documents. The Tennessean reports that Thomas Brandon Karnes is seeking $100,000 in mental and emotional damages and $100,000 for the jail's failure to pass inspection. The suit names Gibson County Sherriff Paul Thomas, who is currently facing misconduct charges, as well as other corrections employees. Records show the Gibson County jail passed inspections in 2020, 2022 and 2023; in 2021, two infractions were noted in terms of supervision and storage of medical and dental equipment.

The TBA Young Lawyers Division met last week at the TBA's 2024 Annual Convention in Memphis. On Friday, the group held its Annual Meeting during which Franklin attorney Sean Aiello took office as president. Others taking office were President-elect Alex McVeagh, Hamilton County General Sessions judge; Vice President Jen Sneed of Memphis; Secretary Ross Smith of Nashville; and Treasurer Darius Walker Jr. of Nashville. The 2024-2025 YLD Board met on Saturday for committee planning sessions and its first board meeting. On Friday evening, both the 2023-2024 and 2024-2025 boards met for the YLD annual dinner and gavel pass tradition. They were joined by members of the 2024 DLI Class for their graduation and the YLD Fellows for induction of new fellows. The YLD Fellows also elected new officers: Jackson lawyer Michelle Greenway Sellers, president; Memphis lawyer Mason Wilson, vice president; Chattanooga lawyer David McDowell, secretary; and Memphis lawyer Nicole Grida, treasurer. Click the links above to see photos from the events.

The Tennessee Democratic Party (TNDP) on Thursday announced the hiring of Brian Córdova as its new executive director. Córdova is joining the TNDP after almost a decade of working in Tennessee politics. He served as political director for the House and Senate Democratic Caucuses in 2022 and has worked on or consulted on races across Tennessee and around the country, including in New York, Pennsylvania, Maryland and Hawaii. Clarksville Online has more.

The U.S. Supreme Court has upheld a federal law that bans people under domestic violence restraining orders from owning firearms, rejecting a defendant’s challenge to the ban. The Hill reports that the 8-1 decision, with Chief Justice John Roberts writing for the majority, noted a tradition of disarming individuals found to pose a credible threat to the physical safety of another. Justice Clarence Thomas was the lone dissenter, writing that “not a single historical regulation justifies that statute at issue.”

HB2472/SB2682, sponsored by Rep. Kevin Raper, R-Cleveland, and Sen. Dawn White, R-Murfreesboro — both former teachers — was signed into law recently by Gov. Bill Lee. The new law requires a one-year suspension for students who assault teachers at school. According to data from the Tennessee Department of Education, there were 1,918 assaults of teachers and staff reported by schools across Tennessee during the 2022-2023 school year ― the highest number in the last five years and up nearly 700 from the 2021-2022 school year. “We have a teacher shortage,” Raper said. “And we are losing a number of these teachers because they just said 'I'm not going back to this situation, and I'll go work somewhere else.'” The Tennessean reports on the story.