The Law Tech 2022 series kicks off Thursday with two sessions and a chance to win some techy prizes. The Virtual Law Firm, is it Right For You? premieres at 10 a.m. CST and is a one-hour program that will explore the concept of virtual law firms. Registrants for the program could win a HidrateSpark STEEL Smart Water Bottle. Then at 1 p.m. CST, watch Drowning in Email - An Outlook Power Hour, which will provide a how-to on using Outlook’s feature set to efficiently store, organize email and attachments, and successfully deal with high email volume. One lucky registrant will win a set of Beats Studio Buds during that session. This year’s Law Tech CLE will be offered virtually in February with six sessions over three days – Feb. 10, Feb. 17 and Feb. 24. Find all Law Tech 2022 courses here.

Germantown resident Brandon Toney yesterday pulled a petition to challenge state Sen. Brian Kelsey, R-Germantown, in the Republican primary, the Daily Memphian reports. Toney says Kelsey’s federal indictment on campaign finance charges fueled his decision to run. “He is embarrassing our party,” Toney said. “He’s embarrassing our state legislature. He is embarrassing all of us.” Toney owns Collierville small business First Fruit Collection and is a nurse practitioner. He wants to see the state put a better emphasis on health, noting Tennessee is consistently ranked among the unhealthiest of states. Toney currently serves on Germantown’s Economic Development Commission. “I’m not a politician. I’m just an everyday guy that wants to go and serve his community,” he said.

Shelby County commissioners yesterday agreed to delay making decisions about filling the seat of former state Sen. Katrina Robinson, D-Memphis, the Daily Memphian reports. The Senate last week expelled Robinson following her October conviction on four counts of federal wire fraud. U.S. Judge Sheryl Lipman later threw out two of those convictions. The county commission is responsible for appointing someone to finish Robinson’s term, but whether they will is an open question. Commissioner Van Turner said appointing someone would “give credence to what we think would be a grave injustice.” According to the Tennessee Lookout, federal prosecutors have asked a judge to impose a two-and-a-half-year sentence on Robinson, claiming she has shown a “defiant refusal to accept responsibility” for the convictions. They are also appealing Lipman’s decision to toss of the convictions. Robinson is appealing her conviction.

TBA Executive Director Joycelyn Stevenson has been named a 2022 Women of Influence honoree by the Nashville Business Journal. The 35 honorees are businesswomen leading top companies and nonprofits, supporting their communities and inspiring those coming behind them. They are selected for the honor based on their positive impact on the profession and the community. Stevenson, the first Black woman to the lead the bar association, previously spent 12 years at Bradley Arant Boult Cummings before becoming a shareholder at the world's largest labor and employment firm, Littler Mendelson PC. She is a past president of the Nashville Bar Association, the Lawyers' Association for Women in Nashville and the Council on Aging of Greater Nashville. She will be honored at an awards celebration on May 10. Meet the 2022 Women of Influence.

U.S. Rep. Mark Green, R-Clarksville, yesterday announced he’ll be running for a third term in that state’s newly redrawn 7th Congressional District, the Tennessean reports. "As your representative in Washington, I will work to protect the rights of Tennesseans to govern themselves," Green said. The announcement comes just days after Gov. Bill Lee signed off on a set of new Senate, House and congressional district maps. According to the new map, the 7th District will now include downtown Nashville, northwest Davidson County and western Williamson County, in addition to Stewart, Montgomery, Robertson, Houston, Dickson, Cheatham, Humphreys, Hickman, Perry, Wayne and Decatur counties and most of Benton County.

Tennessee Court of Appeals Judge W. Neal McBrayer visited with a group of 20 students at the University School of Nashville recently to answer questions during their contemporary civics class. “Classes like these are so important for proper function of a democracy,” McBrayer said. “People need to know how governmental systems work and this is where it starts, in the classroom.” McBrayer fielded questions on age limits for judges, how he prepared to become a judge and the types of cases that keep him up at night. The students in the class are tasked with selecting a specific area of study, whether local, national or international. They then invite speakers to their classroom based on that focus. “And, so, if ever there is a civics class that wants to hear from a judge, I am there. I am there because it’s that important,” McBrayer said. Read the full story from the Administrative Office of the Courts.

Vanderbilt University will honor the history, experience and accomplishments of Black people on the Vanderbilt campus, across the country and globally with its month long series of events for Black History Month. The celebration series will include presentations, panel discussions, trivia, yoga sessions and more, many to be held virtually. On Feb. 9 at 5 p.m. CST, the virtual program “He Black, He Boss, He Vandy!” will celebrate Black male alumni leaders and entrepreneurs from Vanderbilt. Then on Feb. 10 at noon CST catch “’Dores in Dialogue: A Conversation on the Past, Present and Future Black Experience at Vanderbilt,” which will explore decades of the Vanderbilt Black experience through the lens of alumni memories, current student life and new leadership initiatives for the future. Read a full list of all events.

The Tennessee Supreme Court today suspended Jody Rodenborn Troutman from the practice of law for four years, with one year to be served on active suspension and the remainder on probation. The court conditioned the probation on compliance with any monitoring agreement recommended by the Tennessee Lawyers Assistance Program and the requirement that Troutman incur no new complaints of misconduct related to the violations that led to this suspension. Troutman entered a conditional guilty plea acknowledging that her theft of property and driving under the influence convictions and her appearance in court while under the influence violated the Tennessee Rules of Professional Conduct.

Johnson City criminal defense attorney Steve Finney is running for district attorney in the state’s 1st Judicial District, WJHL reports. Finney is currently running unopposed on the Republican ticket after current District Attorney Ken Baldwin announced he would retire. Finney was previously an assistant district attorney under David Crockett and Joe Crumley. He has practiced criminal defense law for 17 years. Finney said he’ll run his campaign on three major platforms: communication, commitment and experience. The 1st Judicial District covers Washington, Unicoi, Carter and Johnson counties. 

A ban on abortions because of a prenatal diagnosis of Down syndrome or because of race or gender of the fetus has again been reinstated by the 6th U.S. Circuit Court of Appeals, the Associated Press reports. The ban was part of Gov. Bill Lee’s 2020 anti-abortion measure that also banned abortion as early as six weeks. That portion of the bill has remained blocked from going into effect. The appeals court had blocked the so-called reason ban from being enforced in September, but yesterday temporarily allowed it to take effect at the request of the attorney general’s office. In her dissent, Circuit Judge Karen Nelson Moore wrote that the appeals court is waiting to see if the U.S. Supreme Court’s decision in Mississippi’s ban on abortions will affect Tennessee’s case. She wrote that such “stay-and-delay tactics” are “harming both the substance of our ultimate decision and our court’s legitimacy.”