Bartlett-based CloseTrak LLC, a law firm that provides real estate title and closing services, is expanding to a new office in the Ridgeway Center in East Memphis and adding a satellite office  in the Law Offices of Mitzi Johnson, a domestic relations law firm in Collierville. The firm has also added three new attorneys. The Memphis Business Journal has more.

U.S. Supreme Court Justice Clarence Thomas will give the 2014 Cecil Sims Lecture at Vanderbilt Law School on March 18, the Tennessean reports. In an email to alumni, law school dean Chris Guthrie said Thomas also would spend a day meeting with students and faculty. The lecture is an invitation-only event exclusively for the Vanderbilt community, with no reporters or photographers – or even cell phones – allowed in.

Candidates in Blount, Cumberland, Monroe, Putnam and Rutherford counties have submitted qualifying petitions for the May 6 primary. See how the races are shaping up.

Tennessee is among at least 17 states that are proposing legislation to address the backlogs of untested rape kits dating as far back as the 1980s, the Chattanooga Times Free Press reports. State Sen. Majority Leader Mark Norris, R-Collierville, is the sponsor of one bill requiring law enforcement agencies to inventory their rape kits. Another proposal, sponsored by Rep. Antonio Parkinson, D-Memphis, would require law enforcement agencies to submit rape kits to the Tennessee Bureau of Investigation within 10 days and require they be analyzed within six months.

U.S. Attorney General Eric Holder is urging Congress to require businesses to quickly alert consumers and law enforcement agencies of significant data breaches like those at Target and Neiman Marcus. In a video posted on the Justice Department's website, Holder said Congress should create a strong, national standard for notifying consumers whose information may have been compromised, empowering members of the public to protect themselves if they are at risk of identity theft. WSMV has more.

Proposed bills in the state House and Senate would limit or cut funding for University of Tennessee student groups to host campus speakers, the Columbia Daily Herald reports. In a backlash against the student-organized Sex Week — a week-long event promoting sexual health — Sen. Stacey Campfield, R-Knoxville, has introduced SB 1608, which would allocate speaker fees based on the membership size of student organizations. A companion bill, HB 2378, has been introduced in the House by Rep. Susan Lynn, R-Mt. Juliet. A second proposal, SB 2493 / HB 2450, sponsored by Campfield and Rep. Jimmy Matlock, R-Lenoir City, would eliminate funding for all speakers. UT President Joe DiPietro said it was the first time in 40 years there was such concern over campus activities, but defended the university's open speaker policy.

The May 6 primary ballots are set for Bradley, Cocke, Hamblen, McMinn and Sevier counties. Learn more about the qualifying candidates.

Five applicants will be considered for a vacancy on the Tennessee Supreme Court when the Governor’s Commission for Judicial Appointments meets March 5 in Nashville. The candidates are Jeffrey S. Bivins, Gerardo A. Gonzalez, Linda W. Knight, Paul C. Ney Jr. and Larry K. Scroggs. The vacancy was created by the announcement from Justice William C. Koch Jr. that he will retire in July. The Administrative Office of the Courts has more. 

Accounting, statistics and financial analysis skills are among the most important for equipping students to practice at a big law firm, a study from Harvard Law School reports. Harvard polled 124 lawyers at the 11 major firms that employ the most Harvard law grads and found that in addition to accounting, the attorneys advised students to take courses in corporate finance, negotiation, business strategy, corporations and securities regulation. The Wall Street Journal Law Blog has the story.

Twenty-seven liberal groups have expressed strong opposition to Michael Bogg’s nomination to the U.S. District Court for the Northern District of Georgia, citing his record as a state legislator from 2001 through 2004. In a letter to 10 Democrats on the Senate Judiciary Committee, the groups said Boggs “lacks a demonstrated commitment to fairness and equal justice with respect to issues of reproductive freedom, civil rights, and lesbian, gay, bisexual, and transgender equality.” White House spokesman Josh Earnest said the administration had not seen the letter and declined to comment, the Nashville Ledger reports.