The Tennessee Lawyers Assistance Program (TLAP) is withdrawing its request for a $5 fee increase. TLAP yesterday issued a motion to withdrawal its petition to amend Rule 33 of the Supreme Court. Since Rules 9, 21, 25, 33 and 43 were amended by Orders of the Court on Aug. 30, TLAP said it is requesting to withdraw the petition to amend Rule 33, without prejudice as to the filing of a similar petition to amend Rule 9, Section 10.2, at a later date.

The Department of Children’s Services is receiving leeway from U.S. officials in spending money intended for foster children, with the goal of keeping children out of foster care, the Tennessean reports. Until now, DCS has had to spend approximately $40 million in annual federal dollars, known as federal title IV-E funds, to pay foster parents and provide services to kids who have already been taken from their families and placed into state custody. Beginning next October, the agency will be able to use "waivers" to spend grants on a wider variety of interventions designed to keep kids safely out of the foster care system. 

The Tennessee Supreme Court has agreed to hear a civil case regarding an Anderson County employee who was injured at work and raised a claim against the county’s liability coverage provider, Tennessee Risk Management Trust. TRMT filed for summary judgment on the theory that the employee was excluded from uninsured coverage under the coverage agreement with the county. The Raybin Perky Hot List has a summary and forecast of the case.

State Rep. Charles Sargent, R-Franklin, was honored by the 21st Drug Court organization for his support of the Drug Court program over the last several years. “Providing treatment alternatives for non-violent drug and alcohol offenders saves space in Tennessee jails and money for Tennessee taxpayers," Sargent said. "It’s a win-win situation for our state, and I am happy to support the mission of the 21st Drug Court on a daily basis.” The Tennessean has more.

Knox County Criminal Court clerk Joy McCroskey said yesterday she is preparing to fire back at critics and spend the week getting to the bottom of the myriad problems raised by Knox judges, Knoxnews reports. “If we made mistakes, we’re going to admit that,” McCroskey said in a News Sentinel interview. “If someone else made the mistakes, I’m going to show that too. I’ll have an answer for (critics) and will prepare a statement.” McCroskey has declined to discuss specifics of the internal goings on in her office in the wake of the controversy surrounding her staff’s work.

Gov. Bill Haslam has been chosen to chair the National Governors Association Health and Human Services Committee, the Nashville Business Journal reports. The committee is one of five standing committees, and handles issues related to Medicaid, federal-state safety net programs such as TANF, Supplemental Nutrition Assistance and other social services.

The legal sector added 1,100 jobs in September, its third straight month of gains, the ABA Journal reports. The legal sector now employs 1.13 million people, a gain of 6,600 since September 2012. The number is still 50,000 less than the all-time high set in May 2007.

LSAT scores of this year’s entering law school class are the lowest of any class since 2002, University of St. Thomas law professor Jerry Organ says, and that may impact bar exam passage when the class graduates in 2016. He also looked at LSAT scores and found that, from 2010 to 2013, the number of applicants with a highest LSAT of 165 or more declined by 38 percent, while the number of applicants with a lower score -- below 150 -- declined by only 22.5 percent. “The pool of applicants is not only smaller in the 2012-13 admissions cycle as compared to 2009-10, but it is ‘weaker’ in terms of the LSAT profile,” he writes. The ABA Journal has the story.

The Tennessee Supreme Court ruled today that a parent seeking to modify a residential parenting schedule after establishing a permanent parenting plan is not required to prove the parents did not anticipate a significant change in circumstances at the time of the initial parenting agreement, the Administrative Office of the Courts reports. The Court emphasized that the trial court properly applied the law in Andrew K. Armbrister V. Melissa H. Armbrister and modified the residential parenting schedule consistently with other statutes instructing courts to structure residential parenting schedules so that both parents enjoy the maximum participation possible in the life of the child.

Whether your blood runs orange or black and gold, start your preparations for this year's annual UT-Vandy football game in Knoxville with the TBA's Pre-Game CLE Ppogram on Nov. 22. Mix and mingle with your colleagues from these two proud Tennessee schools the afternoon before the big game, while also learning about  legal issues facing the sports world today. Topics will touch on the law, ethics, and complexity of amateur athlete compensation and managing relationships between schools, players, and the NCAA.