Scrambling to get those last-minute CLE hours in before the Dec. 31 deadline? The TBA is here to help! Check out TBA Year End CLE to choose from a quality mix of CLE packages ranging from six hours to 15 hours of credit on a variety of topic areas. Or, shop our online CLE products at cle.tba.org where you can access more than 30 practice areas and 200 on-demand programs. Don’t forget to use the prepaid credits that come with your TBA Complete Membership and save on your CLE costs. Not a member? Join now to start saving.

The TBA will be closed Monday in observance of New Year’s Day. The office will reopen at 8 a.m. CST on Tuesday. Happy New Year!

Metro Nashville Vice Mayor Jim Shulman expects to meet with Tennessee House Speaker Cameron Sexton, R-Crossville, in the coming weeks to discuss rumored legislation that would decrease the size of Metro Council, the Tennessean reports. The potential legislation is allegedly in retaliation for councilmembers not supporting efforts to bring the 2024 Republican National Convention to the city. Metro Council’s 40-member size is one of the largest in the country. There is no set meeting between Shulman and Sexton yet, but Shulman says there is a need for “better lines of communication.”

Chattanooga attorney Thomas Swain Kale died Dec. 20 after a battle with cancer. He was 83. Kale earned his law degree from Duke University Law School before moving to Chattanooga and joining the law firm of Spears, Moore, Rebman & Williams. Kale spent his 53-year legal career at the firm where he retired as senior partner. After retirement, Kale remained head of the firm’s Business Section and maintained an office there until his death. Kale was a member of the Tennessee, American and Chattanooga bar associations, the Tennessee Defense Lawyers Association and the Estate Planning Council of Chattanooga and was active on a number of boards in the community. A memorial service will be held at a later date. Memorial contributions in Kale’s honor may be made to St. Paul’s Episcopal Church, Metropolitan Ministries or to any other charity of the donor's choosing.

Legal Aid Society of Middle Tennessee and the Cumberlands will host an event in February to launch a new book written by its former executive Ashley Wiltshire. “Everyday Justice: A Legal Aid Story” explores key legal figures who helped establish LAS, its relationship to the Nashville Bar Association and the trials and tests of establishing what is now Tennessee’s largest nonprofit law firm. The book launch will take place on Feb. 8 from 5-7 p.m. CST at Bass Berry & Sims PLC, 150 3rd Ave. S., Nashville. It will feature conversation between Wiltshire and former Legal Aid attorney Margaret Behm. Reserve your spot at the event by Jan. 16.

Gov. Bill Lee last week granted clemency to 16 people, including two inmates who will be eligible for parole, the Associated Press reports. The governor approved 13 pardons and three commutations, including the elimination of parole restrictions for one 78-year-old man who has been out of prison for 18 years. Fourteen of the 16 are no longer in prison. Lee also issued expedited parole eligibility to 30 people in prison related to changes to a drug-free school zones law. This is Lee’s second round of clemency actions since taking office in 2019. The AP has more on all 16 who were granted clemency.

New court records show the City of Memphis is denying or objecting to several claims in a negligence lawsuit filed against them by rape victim Alicia Franklin. In the 25-page document filed yesterday, attorneys for the city object to the claim that the abduction and murder of jogger Eliza Fletcher could have been avoided if police had properly investigated Franklin’s 2021 rape. In the new filing, called an answer to the plaintiff’s request for admissions, the city admits it didn’t dust for fingerprints at the Franklin scene, didn’t seek to interrogate the alleged rapist and murderer Cleotha Abston and didn’t request expedited DNA testing. The Daily Memphian has the full story.

The U.S. Supreme Court today ordered that the Title 42 border policy remain in place for the time being, The Hill reports. Justices voted 5-4 to reverse an order from a federal judge in Washington, D.C., who ruled last month that the border policy must end. The ruling comes in response to an emergency request filed by 19 Republican state attorneys general asking to maintain the policy, which was scheduled to expire this week.

U.S. Rep. Jim Cooper last week announced that a bill to name a Nashville post office after late state Sen. Thelma Harper had cleared the House and Senate and was headed to President Joe Biden’s desk. Harper was a Nashville Democrat who became the first African-American woman elected to the state Senate. She died in April 2021 at the age of 80. According to the White House, Biden signed off on the bill today and the U.S. post office at 2245 Rosa L Parks Blvd. has been renamed as the Thelma Harper Post Office Building.  

Tennessee Attorney General Jonathan Skrmetti last week joined 13 state attorneys general in calling on U.S. Attorney General Merrick Garland and the U.S. Department of Justice to speak out against threats posed by foreign third-party litigation funding (TPLF). The coalition penned a letter to Garland expressing significant concern over foreign adversaries leveraging the U.S. judicial system to undermine the nation’s interests. They’re asking Garland to communicate what steps are being taken to preserve the independence of the court system and protect the U.S. against hostile foreign entities. Read more from the Attorney General’s Office.