The U.S. Senate Judiciary Committee last week approved the nomination of U.S. Attorney Kevin Ritz of the Western District of Tennessee to serve on the Cincinnati-based 6th Circuit. The committee voted 11-10 along party lines, Reuters reports. Tennessee’s senior Republican senator, Marsha Blackburn, who serves on the committee, accused the White House of rushing the nomination through without meaningfully consulting her. She and other Republicans also had questioned Ritz during his confirmation hearing about an ethics complaint they said was filed against him. Ritz denied doing anything wrong and said he was unaware that a complaint had been filed.

This year's Federal Practice Forum, presented virtually via Zoom, will offer three sessions beginning at 9 a.m. CDT on July 26. Topics will include ADR in federal district court, ramifications of the Chevron decision, and an update on Racketeer Influenced and Corrupt Organizations (RICO) Act cases in Tennessee. Be sure to sign up by 8:15 a.m. the morning of the program to receive the link to watch by email.

The TBA’s Court Square Series is back with stops planned in Cookeville and Chattanooga this spring and summer. The Cookeville program will take place the afternoon of May 30 and feature a panel of three judges, Beverly Sharpe with the Board of Professional Responsibility and a legislative update with Nathan Ridley. The Chattanooga program will take place June 7 and feature Judge Marie Williams talking about courtroom best practices, Judge Barry Steelman discussing criminal law and Rob Malin providing an update on estate planning. The Court Square Series is intended to bring top speakers to local legal communities and foster relationships and collegiality among lawyers across the state.

The TBA YLD held its inaugural Trial College event at Belmont University College of Law in Nashville last week. The program covered a range of litigation topics including getting prepared for trial, putting together a trial notebook, prepping witnesses, conducting voir dire, and planning and presenting opening statements. It concluded with a panel of experienced judges designed to provide insights from the judicial perspective. TBA YLD President Quinton Thompson and TBA YLD Past President Billy Leslie served as host and moderator. See photos from event.

The TBA’s 2024 Litigation Forum is a live virtual event this week on May 16. Programming will include a session covering Tennessee summary judgement, evidentiary privilege and the ethical implications of artificial intelligence from the perspective of the Board of Professional Responsibility. Speakers include Chattanooga attorney David Nagle with Legal Aid of East Tennessee, Nashville attorney Todd Presnell with Bradley Arant Boult Cummings and Tiffany Tant-Shafer with the Tennessee Board of Professional Responsibility. The program will run from 9 a.m. to 12:30 p.m. CDT.

Longtime Chattanooga City Court Judge Russell Bean, who served on the bench for more than two decades and retired in 2022, was honored Friday with a portrait unveiling at the Chattanooga Courthouse. Bean said he was most grateful to have had the opportunity to help young people who came before him in the courtroom, where he mostly heard traffic violations. Local 3 News has the story. See photos from the event on Facebook.

The Center for Biological Diversity (CBD) has filed suit against the U.S. Fish and Wildlife Service over its refusal to grant a rare southern salamander Endangered Species Act protections. The Tennessee Lookout reports that the Berry Cave Salamander, which stretches to a little over 9 inches long, has been found in only a handful of isolated caves — most in east Tennessee — where rapid growth combined with farm runoff, climate change and a legacy of contamination from old quarry mines continues to degrade the creatures’ environment. The largest known population of the salamander lives in the Mead’s Quarry Cave in Knoxville, where its numbers have shrunk by at least 60% over the last decade, according to the Southern Environmental Law Center, which is representing the CBD.

Barnes & Thornburg’s Nashville office has relocated to a new building and larger office space of the Broadwest office tower at 1600 West End Ave., Ste. 800, Nashville, TN 37203. Jay Knight, partner-in-charge of the Nashville office, talked about the move in a release saying, “Moving to the Broadwest office tower is a strategic move that will empower our attorneys and business professionals to better serve our clients, foster innovation and deepen relationships in the local community.” The Nashville Business Journal notes that the firm entered the Nashville market last year with the opening of an interim office in The Moore Building at 827 19th Ave. S. The new Broadwest office is more than double the size of its previous space.

Thirteen federal judges on Monday sent a letter to Columbia University's president stating they will not hire law clerks from the university in response to what they called the school’s "failure to deal with pro-Palestinian protests over the war in Gaza." Law.com reports that the letter says, “As judges who hire law clerks every year to serve in the federal judiciary, we have lost confidence in Columbia as an institution of higher education. Columbia has instead become an incubator of bigotry. As a result, Columbia has disqualified itself from educating the future leaders of our country.” According to reporting from Reuters, the head of Columbia's law school responded with a statement asserting that its graduates are "consistently sought out by leading employers in the private and public sectors, including the judiciary." A law school spokesperson did not comment on whether any of the 13 judges had ever hired Columbia Law graduates as clerks.

The Administrative Office of the Courts (AOC) has released new episodes of its Court Talk podcast. In "The Mechanics of Appellate Opinions," host Joe Byrd welcomes Stacy Lynch, director of the Court Improvement Program to discuss how attorneys can navigate the juvenile court system effectively, including discussion of Rule 13, Rule 40, and necessary information regarding guardian ad litems, CASA volunteers, Safe Baby Court, court findings of potential dependency and neglect, and more. In "Appointed Counsel," hosted by Judge Jeffrey Usman, judges of the Tennessee Court of Appeals and Court of Criminal Appeals pull back the curtain on appellate courts. Judges Jill Ayers, Frank Clement, Tom Greenholtz and Steve Stafford explore a wide variety of topics ranging from arguing cases before appellate courts to the issuance of opinions.