The Memphis Bar Association (MBA) will hold a reception on May 2 to honor newly-confirmed Tennessee Supreme Court Justice Mary Wagner. The event will take place from 4-6 p.m. CDT on the second floor of the Judge D’Army Bailey Courthouse, 140 Adams Ave., Memphis 38103. Drinks and hors d’oeuvres will be provided. RSVP by April 29 to info@memphisbar.org or 901-527-3573. Wagner, who currently serves on the Shelby County Circuit Court, was confirmed by the Tennessee General Assembly on March 11. She will join the court after Justice Roger A. Page retires on Aug. 31.

The list of those applicants who achieved a passing score on the February 2024 Uniform Bar Examination in Tennessee will be released tomorrow by the Tennessee Board of Law Examiners. Results will be posted by the board by 2 p.m. CDT and will be available on the TBA.org website as soon as they are released.

A number of legal groups will hold a free virtual name change clinic via Zoom at 4:30 p.m. EDT tomorrow and lawyers are needed to volunteer for the clinic. Those interested may sign up here. After the virtual clinic, clients will gather on the fifth floor of The Edney on April 16, from 10 a.m. to 1 p.m. EDT to sign and notarize completed documents. The clinic is sponsored by Legal Aid of East Tennessee (LAET), the Chattanooga Bar Association, the TBA Young Lawyers Division, Chattanooga Trans Liberation Collective and the Legal Aid Society of Middle Tennessee and the Cumberlands. View a flyer for the event.

The Tennessee Advisory Commission on the Rules of Practice and Procedure has started broadcasting its quarterly meetings. The video feed from the April 5 meeting is now available to view on YouTube.

Hawkins County lawyer James Nelson Point died March 26 at the age of 79. A graduate of the University of Tennessee College of Law, Point also held a master's degree in city planning. He served in the U.S. Navy as intelligence officer, stationed in Guantanamo Bay, Cuba. He later joined the Tennessee Valley Authority and then opened a law practice in Hawkins County in 1982. Among his clients, he represented the Holston Electric Cooperative, Rogersville Water Commission, Chip Hale Center and McKinney Cemetery. He also was delinquent tax attorney for 42 years. An active member of his local community, Point was a member of the United Way Board of Directors, a Rotary Club member for more than 20 years, and a volunteer basketball and softball coach for 30 years. Services were held last month. Memorial contributions may be made to the United Way of Hawkins County, P.O. Box 277, Rogersville, TN 37857.

The Tennessee Supreme Court has appointed University of Tennessee College of Law Associate Professor and Clinical Director Joy Radice to serve as the next chair of the Access to Justice Commission. Her two-year term began on April 1. The court also appointed two new members to the commission. They are Junaid Odubeko, a partner in Bradley’s Nashville office, and Sevier County General Sessions Court Judge Dwight E. Stokes. The court also reappointed McKenna Cox for a second three-year term, which will end on March 31, 2027. Finally, the court thanked two term-limited members — Nashville lawyer John Farringer with Sherrard Roe Voigt & Harbison and Hamilton County General Sessions Court Judge Alexander McVeagh — for their service. The commission exists to provide collaborative leadership to create solutions and resources that address and eliminate barriers to justice for all. Read more from the Administrative Office of the Courts.

Republican lawmakers have backed away from an effort to abolish Tennessee’s 60-year-old independent Human Rights Commission and reconstitute the agency within Attorney General Jonathan Skrmetti’s office, the Tennessee Journal reports. Instead, the House this week went along with a Senate amendment that tasks Skrmetti with examining the agency’s operations and deciding if his office should take over its functions.

The House on Monday approved its version of Gov. Bill Lee’s proposed business franchise tax-cut bill, which would provide one-year refunds of $700 million to companies but require they first agree to public disclosure of their names and rebate amounts before seeing any of the money. The move sends the bill back to the Senate, where Lt. Gov. Randy McNally, R-Oak Ridge, has voiced support for the disclosure provision, the Tennessee Journal reports. Bill negotiators also will have to resolve differences in the length of the program as the Senate had approved a three-year benefit, and whether to accept a House provision requiring participating companies to waive their right to sue over the tax. The Tennessean reports on those differences.

House and Senate Republicans began meeting privately on Tuesday morning to negotiate differences between two chambers’ approaches to Gov. Bill Lee’s proposal to create a statewide school voucher system. The talks are a continuation of discussions held between Senate Education Chair Jon Lundberg, R-Bristol, and House K-12 Subcommittee Chair Kirk Haston, R-Lobelville, on Monday night, the Tennessee Journal reports.

Maury County lawyer James Thomas Dubois Jr. has been reinstated to the active practice of law today. Dubois had been on disability inactive status since Feb. 13, 2023. He filed a petition for transfer to active status on March 14. The Board of Professional Responsibility found that Dubois demonstrated he no longer suffers from a disability and the petition was satisfactory.