State Sen. Brian Kelsey, R-Germantown, and his legal team have filed a motion to change his plea of not guilty in his federal campaign finance case, the Tennessean reports. The motion doesn’t say what plea Kelsey would like instead, but the move could signal he’s reached an agreement to avoid his upcoming trial. Kelsey and Nashville club owner Joshua Smith were indicted after federal prosecutors said they illegally shuffled money from Kelsey’s state Senate campaign to his authorized federal campaign committee. Smith last week pleaded guilty and is scheduled to be sentenced in June. Kelsey is not seeking reelection.

Law firm Peppel & Palazzolo P.C. is seeking an attorney, or possibly two, to join its office located in east Memphis. Those with an established practice or who want to start a private practice in any legal discipline are encouraged to apply. The TBA’s JobLink site has more on the opening and information on how to apply.

A legal tech company founded by Siskind Susser co-founder Greg Siskind and several of his colleagues was recently featured in the Memphis Business Journal’s MemphisInno. The company, Visalaw.AI, began as an effort by staffers of the Memphis-based immigration law firm to standardize processes across the business and is now its own separate company with significant growth potential. “The products we’re developing are specifically looking for pain points immigration lawyers face in the work they do,” Siskind says. The business has several products on the market, including public access file manager that helps with the complicated process of H-1B visa filings. That tool is currently being used by 400 companies. Visalaw.AI is also working on a 50-state tool to help rural and inner-city employers recruit foreign doctors to underserved areas.

The Legal Aid Society of Middle Tennessee and the Cumberlands will hold a veterans clinic this Wednesday from 11 a.m. to 1 p.m. CDT at Operation Stand Down, 1125 12th Ave. S., Nashville 37203. To volunteer for the clinic, contact Kendra Cheek, 615-780-7131. See all October clinics.

Shelby County General Sessions Court Judge Deborah Means Henderson was recently sworn in as president of the Tennessee General Sessions Judges Conference. She is the first African American to serve as president of a Tennessee judicial conference and is the eighth female to lead the general sessions judges. Henderson is also the first judge from Shelby County to serve as president in more than 30 years. She was elected by her peers across the state and was sworn-in at the organization’s September meeting. Henderson, the first person in her family to graduate from college, joined the law office of Peete Higgs & Armstrong after passing the bar. She spent 17 years in private practice, and also served as a special master in Shelby County Chancery Court, a member of the juvenile defender staff in juvenile court and on the Tennessee Board of Accountancy. Henderson was elected to the bench in 2006. The Administrative Office of the Courts has more on her story.

Shelby County Circuit Court Judge Gina Higgins this week heard arguments in a lawsuit against the city of Memphis for negligence, stemming from the 2014 discovery of 12,000 untested rape kits, the Daily Memphian reports. Higgins heard from attorneys representing a group of rape victims yesterday who want to certify a class of claimants to make the case a class-action suit. Attorneys for the city filed for summary judgement. The hearings resumed today, where the city argued that testimony from retired Memphis Police Department detective Cody Wilkerson should be excluded because it is “irrelevant” and fails to meet several technical legal grounds. Wilkerson contends that incompetence and indifference led his former colleagues to close hundreds — possibly thousands — of rape cases without proper investigation. Higgins indicated she may rule within two weeks on a variety of motions.

Taylor English Duma LLP has expanded its practice into Nashville with the addition of new partner, Cole Dowsley. Dowsley has more than 15 years of experience representing businesses and individuals in complex commercial disputes. His litigation practice includes representing clients in issues involving breach of contract, partnership disputes, non-compete and non-solicitation violations, theft of trade secrets, business torts, fraud, and real estate or construction disputes. “I look forward to growing the firm’s presence in the Nashville market, with its objective, real-time compensation model, and its commitment to service,” Dowsley said. The new office is located at 424 Church St., Ste. 2000, Nashville 37219. Read the press release.

U.S. Attorney for the Western District Kevin G. Ritz today announced he has appointed Assistant U.S. Attorney Scott Smith as the district election officer for the Western District. Smith will oversee the district’s handling of election day complaints of voting rights concerns, threats of violence to election officials or staff and election fraud. The appointment is in connection with the U.S. Justice Department’s Election Day Program, which seeks to ensure public confidence in the electoral process by providing local points of contact for the public to report possible federal election law violations. Read the full press release.

Two attempts to block President Joe Biden’s student-loan forgiveness program faced setbacks yesterday, the ABA Journal reports. The first case, a challenge brought by the Wisconsin-based Brown County Taxpayers Association, was blocked by U.S. Supreme Court Justice Amy Coney Barrett, who handles emergency requests from Wisconsin. Barrett acted without referring the matter to the full court. The suit had been tossed out earlier by a federal judge who said the taxpayers group did not have standing. In the second case, U.S. District Judge Henry E. Autrey of the Eastern District of Missouri dismissed a challenge filed by six Republican-led states. Autrey also cited a lack of standing in his ruling.

University of Tennessee College of Law Professor Maurice E. Stucke has begun a one-year term working as a senior advisor to the Federal Trade Commission. He is expected to use his expertise to help the largest consumer protection, privacy and antitrust agency set strategic direction, while offering advice to leaders on legal issues concerning law enforcement activities that relate to these legal areas. Stucke is an expert on the subject matter and is the author and co-author of five books and more than 50 scholarly articles on consumer privacy, antitrust and consumer protection. He is the school’s Douglas A. Blaze Distinguished Professor and has more than 25 years of experience handling a range of competition policy issues in both private practice and as a prosecutor at the U.S. Department of Justice. The law school has more on the story.