It is the age of YouTube where you can learn anything from a 10-minute video online. In today’s culture where clients take pride in doing everything themselves, lawyers need tools to stay competitive and capitalize on clients’ desires. Take this free tutorial video on Staying Competitive in a DIY World and learn how to take administrative burdens off yourself, all while commanding a higher hourly rate for the work clients value. See more resources for your practice in TBA’s Practice Management Center.

In business, a few simple numbers can show owners everything they need to know about the health of their business. Law firms are no exception. Take this free tutorial on Moneyball for Lawyers: Using Data to Build Your Practice to learn how to use the information you already have to make confident, informed decisions to plan your firm’s future, including knowing which numbers to measure, where to find them and how to improve them. See more resources for your practice in TBA’s Practice Management Center.

If you normally work out of an office but find yourself on the go more than ever, this free tutorial on "The $1,500 Mobile Lawyer" addresses the problems of a mobile lawyer and presents an actionable $1,500 budget that will allow you to work from anywhere whenever you need to do so. See more resources for your practice in TBA’s Practice Management Center.

Simply fixing or replacing technology that breaks will never improve your practice. Most lawyers often feel technologically adrift, although they have a general idea of problems they need to fix and new initiatives they want to launch. A technology plan remedies this lack of direction. A free tutorial on Technology and Business Planning will show you how to build a technology plan that identifies problems, addresses inefficiencies and problems, and proactively improves your practice. A business plan also provides direction and continuity for your overall business objectives. See more resources for your practice in TBA’s Practice Management Center.

A book reading and signing with former Tennessee Bar Journal Editor Suzanne Craig Robertson will take place in Knoxville on April 27 at 7 p.m. EDT at the Church of the Good Samaritan, 425 N. Cedar Bluff Rd., Knoxville 37923. The event, hosted by Union Ave. Books, will feature a reading from Robertson’s new book “He Called Me Sister” and a conversation between Robertson and Bishop Brian Cole. The book documents the relationship between death row inmate Cecil Johnson and Robertson’s family as Johnson’s case winds its way through the legal system ultimately culminating in his execution. The event is free but reservations are required. A similar event in Nashville a few weeks ago brought current and former TBA staff members and area lawyers and judges out for a memorable evening. See pictures from that event.

The American Bar Association today named Alpha M. Brady as its interim executive director. Brady succeeds Jack L. Rives, who left the association last week after more than 12 years as executive director. The association is currently conducting a nationwide search for a new director. Brady joined the ABA in 1988 after a year as assistant corporation counsel with the city of Chicago. She started her ABA career as assistant director of the Commission on Opportunities for Minorities in the Profession (now the Commission on Racial and Ethnic Diversity in the Profession). Later, she became special assistant to the president, director of policy administration, senior manager of the Governance and Public Services Group, and senior associate director and chief governance officer. Most recently, she was named deputy executive director in September 2022.

Tennessee Attorney General Jonathan Skrmetti filed a motion today asking the Davidson County Chancery Court to enforce a request for information (RFI) served on TikTok Inc. in March 2022. The RFI requires the company to preserve relevant documents and produce internal messages in an appropriate and useable format. The attorney general’s office says the company has had ample time to respond and is engaged in a pattern of delay. The office is investigating whether TikTok is in violation of the state’s consumer protection statute by providing and promoting the use of its platform to minors, children and young adults. Read more or view the motion.

The Tennessee Bar Association is now accepting nominations for its 2023 Claudia Jack Award and Justice Frank F. Drowota III Outstanding Judicial Service Award. The Claudia Jack Award honors an outstanding public defender or court-appointed private practitioner who has served the legal community and clients in an exemplary fashion. It is named after the late Claudia Jack, a public defender and long-time champion of the poor and underprivileged. The Drowota Award is given to a judge or judicial branch official of a federal, state or local court in Tennessee who has demonstrated extraordinary devotion and dedication to the improvement of the law, the legal system and the administration of justice, as exemplified by the career of former Tennessee Supreme Court Justice Frank F. Drowota III. The deadline to submit nominees for both awards is April 3.

A Tennessee man on death row, who was forced to act as his own lawyer, is seeking a new trial, claiming multiple violations of his constitutional rights, the Times News reports. Howard Willis went through nine lawyers before a judge ruled that he would have to represent himself, accusing him of creating conflict with counsel to avoid a trial. Willis was sentenced to death in 2010 for the murders of teenage newlyweds. In his bid for a new trial, Willis claims the original trial was unfair because he was forced to act as his own attorney and could not afford sufficient resources to defend himself. A hearing on Willis’ petition for post-conviction relief started today in Washington County Criminal Court.

Victims in a rape kit lawsuit must wait at least two more weeks for a ruling on whether the case can move forward as a class action, the Commercial Appeal reports. Three women, whose rape kits went untested for years, are suing to certify their suit as a class action. The judge in the case, Shelby County Circuit Court Judge Gina Higgins, said last October that she would have rulings to issue this month. But last-minute filings from plaintiffs' attorneys, city attorneys and the Tennessee Bureau of Investigation added another hearing to the docket. Higgins now is expected to deliver a ruling on March 22.