According to a report released earlier this month by the Bureau of Labor Statistics, the legal services sector saw a slight decline in jobs for November, down 2,400 from the October total of 1,138,100 and down 100 from November 2017. In addition to lawyers, jobs in the legal services sector include secretaries, paralegals and other law-related workers. Read more about the report on The American Lawyer.

A host of private genetic testing companies have agreed to a set of voluntary privacy guidelines on how to handle DNA data. Ancestry, 23andMe Inc., Helix, MyHeritage and Habit agreed to the guidelines, including pledging to get express consent from consumers when sharing their data with third parties. LegalTech News reports that, while there are federal and local laws regulating the sharing of genetic information, a blind spot exists when it comes to what private companies can do with this data. Genetic testing companies have been thrust into the spotlight since a genealogy database was used to solve a string of murders and assaults by a man dubbed the “Golden State Killer."

According to a new report from the National Association for Law Placement (NALP), law school graduates in the class of 2017 are seeing median salaries of $70,000, up $5,000 from the previous class. Citing the NALP report, the ABA Journal writes that the salary increase comes as larger law firms hired more new graduates than at any time since the recession. Employment rates for law graduates are also at the highest point since the recession, but the NALP report attributes this to a decrease in graduates, rather than an increase in job numbers.

Created in 2016 as an initiative of former TBA President Bill Harbison, the TBA’s Special Committee on the Evolving Legal Market (ELM) was established to investigate and thoroughly examine new technology and innovations disrupting the legal market. The ELM committee’s top priority was and continues to be educating Tennessee lawyers to help them survive and thrive in a changing market.

A doggie daycare based in Nashville has filed a $2 million libel lawsuit against two women after they posted negative comments of the business in a Facebook group, The Tennessean reports. An attorney for The Dog Spot called the comments, in which the women claimed dogs had died in care of the business, “false, malicious and libelous." Daniel Horowitz, a Nashville lawyer representing one of the women, called the suit a “transparent attempt to silence The Dog Spot’s many deeply unhappy customers.”

In response to criticism from President Donald Trump, Attorney General Jeff Sessions released a statement Wednesday saying he’ll continue to "discharge (his) duties with integrity and honor," the Wall Street Journal reports. President Trump tweeted today about Sessions’ decision to refer a probe of the Justice Department’s handling of secret surveillance warrants to the agency’s inspector general instead of another office. Trump questioned the move and called his Attorney General "disgraceful."

Tennessee Highway Patrol officer Isaiah Lloyd was placed on desk duty Tuesday after a lawsuit was filed claiming he groped a Campbell County woman during a traffic stop and pulled her over again three hours later. Knoxnews reports Lloyd’s attorney, James A.H. Bell, said the accuser admitted to using the sleep aid Ambien during the initial traffic stop, prompting a “traditional stop and frisk” and several field sobriety tests. Bell says his client’s innocence will be proven by the video and audio recordings of the stops. It is unclear why Lloyd pulled the woman over a second time.

The Shelby County Environmental Court will hear arguments to declare the remains of the former Benchmark Hotel in downtown Memphis a nuisance on Thursday. The Commercial Appeal reports that the Downtown Memphis Commission hopes to make MNR Hospitality LLC of Nashville produce a timeline of when the building will be torn down. Among other claims, the lawsuit alleges the old building is a public nuisance under the Tennessee Neighborhood Preservation Act.

Court papers filed Friday allege longtime Channel 4 news reporter Dennis Ferrier was terminated after he “fabricated key details in a local news story he reported," according to The Tennessean. The allegation comes from Channel 4 owner, Meredith Corporation, in response to an age discrimination lawsuit filed by Ferrier and fellow WSMV personalities, Jennifer Johnson and Nancy Van Camp. Ferrier released a statement Monday saying he made a “simple misstatement on the air based on information given to me by the desk” and that he has “never fabricated a story in any way, shape or form."