The American Bar Association (ABA) is pausing a plan to allow law schools to go fully test-optional for admissions by 2025, Reuters reports. The council of the ABA’s Section of Legal Education and Admissions to the Bar had planned to resubmit the proposal to the ABA House of Delegates for consideration at its August meeting after the House rejected the proposal in February. Now, the council has decided to remove the agenda item from the August meeting in response to concerns from hundreds of law school deans and stakeholders. The pause will allow the council “to evaluate the concerns and determine what is best for law schools and applicants,” a spokesperson said. Reuters reported earlier that deans from more than half the nation’s law schools were backing a compromise that would allow them to admit up to 25% of students without a standardized test score — up from the current 10% allowance.

The Shelby County District Attorney’s Office has joined a motion filed by Memphis defense attorney Robert Hutton to prevent the Tennessee attorney general from handling a post-conviction case for his client. The motion challenges a new law, which removes power from local district attorneys to litigate death penalty post-convictions, often referred to as collateral reviews, when new evidence and competency questions are raised. The motion argues that the law is “unconstitutional” and violates voters’ rights, the Commercial Appeal reports. District Attorney Steve Mulroy tells the paper that he believes the law improperly infringes on “the inherent prosecutorial discretion of local elected district attorneys” and that it also violates the rules regarding the captions of bills. The bill in question originally dealt with rape-kit backlogs, but an amendment stripped that language and inserted the collateral review provision. The bill’s sponsor argued that the process needed streamlining and that under the law, the “attorney general will be able to move seamlessly up and down the trial court as necessary, and back into the appeals process” rather than turn cases temporarily over to local prosecutors.

Soliciting clients can be an ethical minefield. In fact, it is so tough to navigate that the American Bar Association has issued a new opinion on the subject. Join the CLE Performer Stuart Teicher on June 23 at 10:15 a.m. CDT for one hour as he explains the rules on solicitation and talks about the weird “hybrid” situation that arises when a lawyer talks to a potential client. Specific rules to be covered are Rule 1.18, Prospective Client Relationships; Rule 7.2, Communicating About Lawyer Services; and Rule 7.3, Soliciting Clients. One hour of dual credit will be offered. The session follows Teicher’s presentation on legal writing at 9 a.m. the same day.

Chattanooga lawyer Russell Fowler will receive the prestigious Justice Joseph W. Henry Award for Outstanding Legal Writing on June 16 during the Tennessee Bar Association’s (TBA) Annual Convention in Knoxville. The award, which will be presented at the Lawyers Luncheon, was established nearly 40 years ago and is given each year to the lawyer who writes the most outstanding article published in the Tennessee Bar Journal for the preceding year.  Fowler is being recognized for his article "Tennessee Lawyers Impact America: A History of Advancing the Right to Vote" and companion piece "Dunn v. Blumstein: A Young Tennessee Lawyer Wins Expansion of the Right to Vote, which ran in the March/April 2022 issue of the Journal. Fowler is director of litigation and advocacy at Legal Aid of East Tennessee. He has written many pieces on law and legal history, and is a regular columnist for the Journal. Read the full release.

A federal judge in Florida blocked the Biden administration’s plan to release some migrants into the U.S. on “parole,” shortly before Title 42 expired at midnight last night, The Hill reports. U.S. District Judge T. Kent Wetherell granted Florida’s request for a temporary restraining order on the parole policy, finding that the policy is not substantially different from one he struck down in March. Under the parole program, migrants are released into the United States without a court date and asked to schedule an appointment with U.S. Immigration and Customs Enforcement within 60 days.

Gov. Bill Lee told reporters yesterday that he hopes the state can forge a better path with whoever succeeds current Nashville Mayor John Cooper, WPLN reports. “I look forward to working with the next mayor, whoever that is, to make sure that we keep Nashville one of the most exciting cities in America — keep it moving in that direction and to minimize the politics at play,” Lee said. Republicans in the General Assembly made their displeasure with city officials known throughout the past legislative session, passing measures to cut the Metro Council in half, changing the makeup of the city’s sports and airport authorities, and disbanding the community oversight board.

The Memphis Bar Association will hold its Second Saturday Legal Clinic tomorrow from 10 a.m. to noon CDT at the Benjamin Hooks Central Library, 3030 Poplar Ave., Memphis 38111. The association’s Family Law Section is sponsoring the day’s event. Volunteers should arrive by 9:30 a.m. for instructions. Sign up here to volunteer.

During a special called meeting last night, the Johnson County Commission voted to select former Rep. Timothy Hill to temporarily fill a vacancy created by the recent resignation of Rep. Scotty Campbell. The commission chose Hill over fellow candidates Neal Kerney, Angie Stanley, Stacy Vaughan and Lori Love, WJHL reports. Hill was a member of the House of Representatives from 2013-2020 but stepped down from his seat when he unsuccessfully ran for Congress. Campbell replaced him in the state legislature. A primary election will be held on June 22 followed by the general election on Aug. 3 to fill the seat for the remainder of the term.

The U.S. Sixth Circuit Court of Appeals this week struck down a Nashville ordinance that denied certain new building permits unless property owners installed a sidewalk or paid into a fund used to build sidewalks elsewhere. The court ruled that the policy was an unconstitutional taking. The court found that so-called legislative exactions are not regulatory takings and are subject to the same degree of constitutional scrutiny any time a government takes property that would ordinarily require compensation. How the ruling will impact those who already paid the fee is unclear. The Metro Law Department said it was “still digesting” the ruling. Read more in the Tennessean or access the opinion.

An American Bar Association committee voted today to allow law students to take up to half their classes online, an increase from the previous rule allowing students to take up to one-third of their classes remotely. The proposed change also eliminates the rule that students take no more than 10 credit hours of distance education classes during their first year of law school. The Council of the Section of Legal Education and Admissions to the Bar said the changes will allow law schools to bolster their online course offerings. Reuters has more on the story.