The Tennessee Bar Association’s online renewal for 2024-2025 is now open! Renew your membership to continue your access to TBA Today, the Tennessee Bar Journal, three free hours of CLE, the TBA’s Practice Management Center and free legal research through Fastcase, as well as savings on a range of products and services. Be sure to check out TBA's Preventing Legal Malpractice providers and new pet insurance program, and watch for more information this fall about TBA’s Group Health Insurance enrollment. Attorneys not participating in the TBA's firm billing program can log in and renew through their MyTBA dashboard. The TBA membership team will be working with firm administrators for those participating in firm billing.

Launching a new firm, whether fresh out of law school or starting a new career stage, can be exhilarating and terrifying. You can do everything the “right” way, but a lot of factors go into launching a business, and you probably haven’t thought about all of them. Let us help! Get checklists, white papers and technology advice in the Opening a Firm section of TBA’s Law Practice Management Center.

The Tennessee Supreme Court on March 22 suspended 20 attorneys for failure to pay the annual registration fee; 12 of them also failed to file proof that client funds are held in an IOLTA-compliant account. View the fee suspension order and IOLTA suspension order. See the list of all lawyers suspended and reinstated for fee and IOLTA violations in 2024 or access all administrative suspensions dating back to 2005.

Make plans now to join colleagues from across the state at the TBA’s 2024 Annual Convention, set for June 12-15, at the Peabody Hotel in Memphis. Perennial favorites such as the Bench Bar program and lunch, Lawyers Lunch and joint event with the Tennessee Judicial Conference return to the agenda alongside new offerings including a Wednesday night dine-around for all attendees; a Public Service breakfast, where TBA will honor legal aid, private practice and law student pro bono work; a ticketed reception on Thursday night open to the entire legal community; and a chance to be the honorary Peabody Duck Master! This year’s theme — “A Bridge to the Future” — also will bring compelling CLE programs focused on artificial intelligence and how this rapidly expanding technology will impact the practice of law. During the week, the Tennessee Lawyers' Association for Women, Tennessee Alliance for Black Lawyers and Tennessee Trial Lawyers' Association also will hold meetings and events at the Peabody, making Memphis the place to be this June. Access registration, hotel reservation information and more on the event website.

The Arts & Business Council's Volunteer Lawyers & Professionals for the Arts (VLPA) and the law firm Bradley partner each month to provide free business-oriented legal services to Black-owned small businesses and nonprofits. Assistance includes business formation and corporate governance, review of contracts, and guidance in navigating local ordinances and state regulations. Client registration for the April 18 clinic is open through April 15. Then on May 1 from 6-8 p.m., the Arts & Business Council will hold a Creatives Pro Bono Legal Clinic. These clinics offer 30-minute in-person sessions to income-qualified artists, musicians and creatives. These clients should register here.

The TBA’s 19th Annual Bankruptcy Law Forum will take place April 12-14 at The Westin Chattanooga, 801 Pine St, Chattanooga 37402. Join colleagues for this three-day experience, learning from some of the region’s top bankruptcy practitioners, Chapter 13 trustees and sitting judges. The forum’s most unique element — pairing attendees with judges in small groups to discuss specific consumer and commercial case problems — also is back to help attendees analyze the real-world problems bankruptcy lawyers face. Other topics include developments impacting mortgages in bankruptcies, new amendments to Article 9 of the UCC, ethical issues that arise in bankruptcy and case law updates. Finally, attendees will join faculty and judges on Saturday evening for dinner.

The Tennessee Department of Revenue will host a free webinar tomorrow from 8:30-11:30 a.m. CDT specifically designed for new businesses. Participants will learn about state tax obligations for new businesses and other resources that may help new business. Learn more or register here. The webinar is one in a series of educational sessions held by the department each month.

The Tennessee Supreme Court will be at the University of Memphis Cecil C. Humphreys School of Law on Wednesday to hear oral arguments in three cases. The proceeding will begin at 9 a.m. CDT with the case of State of Tennessee v. Christopher Oberton Curry Jr., which will test whether there was sufficient evidence to support Curry’s conviction and whether the trial court jury instructions properly defined the term “crime of violence.” At 10:15 a.m, the court will hear arguments in the case of Leah Gilliam v. David Gerregano, Commissioner of the Tennessee Department of Revenue et al. Gilliam is challenging the department’s revocation of her vanity license plate more than 10 years after issuing it. At 1:15 p.m., the court will hear the final case, State of Tennessee v. Andre Jujuan Lee Green, which will test whether the scent of marijuana detected by a canine is probable cause for a warrantless search. Green will argue that a canine cannot distinguish between the smell of illegal marijuana and legal hemp. The proceedings will be livestreamed on the court’s YouTube page.

The Tennessee Registry of Election Finance has ended an 18-month inquiry into Tennessee Stands founder Gary Humble’s 2022 Senate campaign, the Tennessean reports. The registry had been looking into Humble’s records to determine whether his campaign unlawfully coordinated with the group.

The 16th Judicial District Recovery Court recently celebrated the graduation of five individuals who completed an 18-month program focused on intervention, treatment and rehabilitation for substance use disorders. At an event marking the occasion, Tennessee Supreme Court Justice Sarah K. Campbell delivered remarks and congratulations to the participants. Also on hand were Rutherford Mayor Joe Carr, Recovery Courts Support Foundation President and attorney Thomas Parkerson, Recovery Courts Director LaChelle Ricks and Circuit Court Judge Jimmy Turner. Yahoo News has more in a story from the Daily News Journal. The court, which serves Cannon and Rutherford counties, has seen 400 participants graduate since the program was founded in 2000, by now retired Circuit Court Judge Don R. Ash. More information is available online or in this YouTube video.