Nominations for two of the Tennessee Bar Association’s annual awards are due Monday. The Justice Frank F. Drowota III Outstanding Judicial Service Award honors 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, our legal system and the administration of justice as exemplified by the career of Justice Frank F. Drowota III. The Claudia Jack Award honors an outstanding public defender or court-appointed private practitioner who has served the legal community and their 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 Tennessee Court of Workers' Compensation Claims announced today that it will return to in-person settlement approvals on April 4. The court also said that it is reviewing the procedures for settlement approvals, which differ among its eight offices, and will report soon on revised procedures.

Attorney General Herbert H. Slatery III is urging all Tennessee residents who may have been affected by a data breach announced by T-Mobile in August 2021 to take appropriate steps to protect their information from identity theft. T-Mobile said at the time that the breach involved the sensitive personal information of 53 million current, former and prospective customers, including 757,354 in Tennessee. Slatery said today that a large subset of the compromised information has now emerged for sale on the dark web. A statement from his office outlines the action individuals can take to protect themselves.

Attorney General Herbert H. Slatery III, along with a bipartisan group of attorneys general, is leading a nationwide investigation of the social media platform TikTok to determine whether the company violated state consumer protection laws that put the public, especially children and young adults, at risk. The investigation will look into physical and mental health harms associated with use of the platform and what TikTok knew about those harms, as well as the techniques it used to engaged young users.

Tennessee Gov. Bill Lee yesterday sought a federal disaster declaration for damage in the Memphis area following an ice storm on Feb. 3, the Daily Memphian reports. The Memphis City Council had earlier approved a resolution urging Lee to seek such a declaration and U.S. Rep. Steve Cohen, D-Memphis, had called on the governor to make the request. Last month, Lee asked FEMA to assess damage from the storm, which resulted in downed trees and more than 100,000 homes and businesses going without electricity, some for more than a week.

A law firm's commitment to well-being and an attorney’s sense of control over their own work are the most important factors in whether they feel overwhelmed by job demands, according to a new survey from the Institute for Well-Being In Law. In fact, these elements can help ward off burnout. With a high turnover rate in associates (25% according to the 2022 State of the Legal Market Report), some firms are trying to pay their way out of the problem, says institute Vice President Anne Brafford. But that approach is not working, and in fact, the employers that did the best job of retaining people did not engage in the compensation war, she says. The takeaway for Brafford is that the actions of supervisors, and the structures a law firm builds to support those relationships, are the best mechanisms to avoid employee burnout. Law.com has more on the survey.

The news item “Pulaski Working to Overcome Past” from Feb. 23 should have attributed advocacy for the relocation of the statute of Sam Davis and renaming of a park and sports stadium to Keidron Turner individually instead of the Community Advisory Council on Inclusive Recognition & Acknowledgement (CACIRA). CACIRA is not advocating for relocation, removal or renaming of any statue, plaque or stadium. This news item has been corrected on the TBA Today webpage.

Howard University School of Law will be hosting a free virtual screening and discussion of the documentary “In the Executioner's Shadow” on Wednesday. The event will begin at 4 p.m. EST. All are invited to attend. Email tmcivilrightscenter@gmail.com to RSVP and receive the log in instructions.

Read about the lawyers who have recently been reinstated, disbarred, suspended, censured, or transferred their licenses to disability inactive status.

Tennessee Bar Association members who have died recently are memorialized.