Rep. Bill Beck, who died of a heart attack this past weekend, will lie in state at the Tennessee Capitol tomorrow from 2-6 p.m. CDT. On Saturday, funeral services will be held beginning at 11 a.m. in the Polk Theatre at the Tennessee Performing Arts Center, 505 Deaderick St., Nashville 37243. Doors will open at 10:30 a.m. The Tennessee Journal reported the news.

The TBA Annual Convention in Knoxville next week will feature a two-part wellness program on how to improve personal and group well-being. Don’t miss our panel of judges and lawyers discussing topics such as the impact of well-being on productivity, establishing healthy and sustainable habits, seeking professional help, and using mentoring as a tool to promote individual and group wellness. The program will take place June 16 from 9:45-11:45 a.m. EDT at the Marriott Knoxville Downtown Hotel. Want to join colleagues just for this program? The TBA is making a select number of programs available for purchase separate from the full convention registration. Sign up here.

The TBA Elder Law Section’s recent program on conservatorship is now available on demand as a 1-Click package. The program features top experts providing specialized information relevant to conservators, guardians ad litem and attorneys ad litem. The sessions — “Neurocognitive Disorders and the Problems They Bring to Conservatorships” and “Preparing a Home for Comfort and Safety” — can be purchased separately or bundled together.

Bill Beck, a Nashville lawyer and Democratic state representative died Sunday at the age of 61. According to the House Democratic Caucus, he died unexpectedly after suffering a heart attack. Beck was first elected in 2014 to represent House District 51, which includes key areas of the city including East Nashville, downtown and Germantown. According to the Tennessean, he championed public education, health care, transportation and a higher minimum wage during nearly a decade at the Capitol. Beck graduated from Belmont University and served in the Tennessee Air National Guard before attending the Nashville School of Law. He practiced law at Beck & Beck firm alongside his mother Martha Lu Cone Beck, who recently retired. Colleagues and friends reacted to the news calling Beck a “dedicated servant,” “effective leader” and “powerful voice for the city of Nashville.” The Tennessee Journal has more reactions. Rep. Beck will lie in state at the Capitol on Thursday from 2 to 6 p.m. Funeral services will be Saturday at Polk Theatre in the Tennessee Performing Arts Center, beginning at 11 a.m.

Lincoln Memorial University Duncan School of Law (LMU Law) has hired John Rice as a tenure-track assistant professor of law. Rice will teach courses on business organizations, civil procedure, legislation and regulation beginning this fall. Rice is a former judicial clerk with the Tennessee Supreme Court and civil litigator in Knoxville. He previously taught at the University of Tennessee College of Law, University of Massachusetts College of Law and Thomas R. Kline School of Law at Duquesne University. Rice earned his law degree from the University of Tennessee College of Law and was an active member of the TBA Young Lawyers Division Board for a number of years. Read more in the school's announcement.

Paul Moyle has joined the Hamilton County District Attorney's Office as chief homicide prosecutor, Chattanoogan.com reports. Moyle, a second-generation prosecutor, is a former military police officer with the Alabama Army National Guard who deployed to Iraq in 2010. He graduated from Cumberland School of Law in 2007 and has been working as an assistant district attorney general in the 10th Judicial District, which serves Bradley, McMinn, Monroe and Polk counties. Most recently, he was team leader for Bradley and Polk counties. He also practiced law with a small firm in Cleveland and as a solo practioner and was an assistant public defender in the district.

An investiture ceremony for Denise E. Barnett, bankruptcy judge for the Western District of Tennessee, will take place July 14 at 2 p.m. CDT. The ceremony will be held at Memphis City Hall, 125 N Main St., Memphis 38103. A reception will follow in the Hall of Mayors. Please RSVP by June 30 to barnett.rsvp@tnwb.uscourts.gov. Barnett was appointed to the post in 2021 by the U.S. Court of Appeals for the Sixth Circuit. She previously was a trial attorney with the U.S. Justice Department’s trustee program. Read more about her career in this release from the court.

The state Department of Children’s Services (DCS) held a “surge” over the weekend designed to reduce caseload backlogs, Tennessee Lookout reports. The goal was to visit up to 200 families who had been reported to the DCS on suspicion of child abuse or neglect, interview parents and kids, and close cases where there was no longer fear about child safety. The initiative is one of several new strategies being deployed to address extraordinary high caseloads, which have led to social workers leaving in droves over the past year and children sleeping on office building floors. DCS Commissioner Margi Quin says department needs to reduce backlogs by a third.

Just after midnight Friday, federal Judge Thomas Parker struck down Tennessee's law restricting drag performances, finding it to be an unconstitutional restriction on freedom of speech. He also found the law to be “unconstitutionally vague and substantially overbroad," the Commercial Appeal reports. While Parker recognized the state has a “compelling interest in protecting the psychological and physical wellbeing of children” he questioned the law’s necessity noting that Tennessee law already bans obscenity. The law, signed by Gov. Bill Lee in March, would have banned "adult-oriented performances that are harmful to minors" from public places and venues where children are present. It was challenged in the western district of the state by Memphis-based theater group Friends of George's. Parker had imposed a temporary restraining order on implementation of the law in April. Tennessee Attorney General Jonathan Skrmetti said Saturday the state plans to appeal “at the appropriate time.” He also disputed claims that Parker’s order applies across the state. "The Adult Entertainment Act remains in effect outside of Shelby County,” he told the paper. 

The 2023 edition of the “Black Guide to Law School” is out but with a big change, Above the Law reports. The annual publication from Lawyers of Color typically provides a single, comprehensive ranking of schools designed to help Black prospective law students choose a school. This year, the group abandoned the ranking, instead publishing information from law school reports filed with the ABA. “We are marking this as the end of the rankings era,” the publication explains. Instead, the group reports on “data that is objective and verifiable” and leaves the significance up to students to decide. Read the full report.