A new episode of the TBA Legislative Updates podcast is now streaming with TBA Public Policy & Government Affairs Director Berkley Schwarz and Adams and Reese attorneys and TBA lobbyists Brad Lampley and Ashley Harbin. Tune in for news on the Senate redistricting lawsuit ruling, updates on HB2438/SB2257 concerning revisions to the Uniform Arbitration Act, an update on the professional privilege tax and more! To see a list of all of TBA’s bills, visit our online bill tracker. Legislative Updates airs every Thursday on the TBA’s Facebook page. It is also released as a podcast on the same day and can be found on the TBA’s website or wherever you listen to podcasts.

A list of those who passed the February 2022 bar exam will be released tomorrow by the Tennessee Board of Law Examiners. Check the TBA’s website for the complete list of successful applicants.

The Tennessee Senate has two weeks to fix issues with its new redistricting plan after a ruling from a three-judge panel yesterday, the Tennessean reports. Three voters, backed by the Tennessee Democratic Party, sued over the Republican-led redistricting plan for numbering Senate districts nonconsecutively, a requirement included in the state constitution. The panel of judges will impose its own map for this year’s election should the Senate fail to fix the issues within 15 days. Lt. Gov. Randy McNally, R-Oak Ridge, said they expect to appeal to the Tennessee Supreme Court, who he hopes will “reach down and deal with it quickly because it does impact the filing deadlines and can impact the election." The lawsuit also challenged the House redistricting map, which the panel did not block on Wednesday but ruled should go to trial to determine if the court should take action against it.

The U.S. Senate voted 53-47 today to confirm Judge Ketanji Brown Jackson to the U.S. Supreme Court, The Hill reports. She is the first female, Black high court justice and its first former public defender. Senators Susan Collins, R-Maine, Lisa Murkowski, R-Alaska, and Mitt Romney, R-Utah, crossed party lines and voted in favor of Jackson, who was nominated by President Joe Biden in February. Jackson would still need to be sworn in before she’s officially a justice on the Supreme Court. Justice Stephen Breyer, who she is succeeding, has said he will step down over the summer, assuming his successor was in place. 

The Legal Aid Society of Middle Tennessee and the Cumberlands will hold a free legal advice clinic on Saturday in Nashville. The in-person clinic will run from 8:30 to 10:30 a.m. CDT at McHugh Clinic at Belmont, 2005 12th Ave. S., Nashville 37204. Those coming in-person are required to wear a mask. To volunteer for a clinic, contact Kendra Cheek, 615-780-7131. See all April clinics.

Ever wanted to know more about the moving parts, projects and staffers of the Tennessee Bar Association? Starting next week, look for a #TeamTBA post on all our social media outlets and in TBA Today for a closer look at each staff member, their role in the association and maybe a fun fact or two! #TeamTBA profiles will be posted every Wednesday. Find us on Facebook, Twitter and Instagram.

The Claiborne County Bar Association has announced that Noah J. Patton was recently elected president of the organization and Meredith S. Bundren was elected secretary. Patton practices at Stanifer & Stanifer in Tazewell. He spent 15 years in the oil and gas industry before earning his law degree from Lincoln Memorial University Duncan School of Law. Bundren was licensed in 2017 after attending LMU Duncan School of Law and now practices at the Bundren Law Firm in Tazewell. Read the press release from the Claiborne County Bar Association.

Nashville law firm Spencer Fane Bone McAllester recently named partner Andrea Perry as co-chair of the firm’s Banking and Financial Services Practice Group. According to a press release from the firm, Perry focuses her practice on representing financial institutions and borrowers in loan transactions involving all types of collateral and projects. She also provides general advice to business clients from basic entity formation through all phases of their growth. Perry also represents landlords and tenants, both public and private, in the negotiation of commercial leases for a wide variety of uses. Read the press release. 

White Bluff Judge Leonard G. Belmares has announced he will not seek reelection to the municipal court and will instead seek the Republican nomination for circuit court judge. According to a release from his campaign, Belmares says he is “proud of what we have accomplished” since he was elected in 2014. “We have no backlog of cases, our court runs efficiently, and we are fair to everyone involved in the judicial process,” Belmares said in the release. “White Bluff was the first court in our Judicial District to submit a plan to provide continuous access during the COVID-19 shut down. I believe that efficiency and access are extremely important in the judicial system.” If elected, Belmares would serve Cheatham, Dickson, Houston, Humphreys and Stewart counties.

Death row inmate Oscar Franklin Smith yesterday filed a motion to reopen his case, claiming new DNA evidence shows an “unknown assailant” used the murder weapon in the 32-year-old Nashville triple slaying, the Tennessean reports. Smith was convicted in 1989 of the murders of his estranged wife and her two sons from another marriage and is scheduled to die by lethal injection later this month. The 13-page motion for post conviction relief was filed by Smith’s federal public defender Amy D. Harwell and Assistant Federal Public Defender Katherine Dix. Attorneys with the global law firm Baker Botts last month filed a clemency petition with Gov. Bill Lee asking Smith’s sentence to be commuted to life without parole. Smith’s lawyers have also asked Lee to grant a temporary reprieve while his appeals make their way through the system. Smith has maintained his innocence since his arrest.