TennBarU's "Traps for the Unwary -- Common Challenges Facing Business Lawyers in Tennessee" covers four key areas of challenge for Tennessee business lawyers in today’s competitive and complex practice environment: filings with the Tennessee Secretary of State; practice under the Tennessee Business Corporation Act; practice under the Tennessee Limited Liability Company Act; and intellectual property ownership in the context of business formations. Through panel discussions, the presenters will expose incomplete and unclear elements of law in these key practice areas and share their “practical and prudential wisdom.” Specifically, in each area, the panelists will describe common issues faced by business law practitioners in Tennessee and share their insights on how to best resolve those issues. The May 6 Nashville program is designed to be useful for both transactional lawyers and litigators practicing in both public and private practice settings.

GOPAC, the Republican Party’s education and training center, has named Sen. Mark Green, R-Clarksville, as one of the nation’s 21 “Emerging Leaders” for 2013. According to the Leaf Chronicle, the “Emerging Leaders” program is a yearlong initiative by GOPAC to coach, develop and promote promising state legislators. Green and the other honorees will attend an “Emerging Leaders’ Summit” in New York City, where they will take part in interactive seminars, leadership training and networking opportunities.

You're not crazy -- your job really IS more stressful than most. In the May Tennessee Bar Journal read the science behind thriving and well-being from David Shearon, as well as personal stories from your colleagues, Lisa Ramsay Cole, Sherie L. Edwards, Mary Griffin and Linda Warren-Seely. In Cole's article, read about the lifestyle transformations of Jason Long, Bill Harbison and John Tarpley. On the flip side of wellness and habits that are good for you, columnist Bill Haltom sides with Mississippi over his Constitutional right to buy a huge sugary orange soda.

The East Tennessee Lawyers Association for Women (ETLAW) held its annual Supreme Court Luncheon today honoring the justices and their work on behalf of the state. Each of the justices were scheduled to attend, with Chief Justice Gary Wade as the featured speaker. During the event, TBA Board of Governors member Tasha Blakney received the Spirit of Justice Award.

Gov. Bill Haslam signed the state’s new workers’ compensation reform into law this week. The law overhauls the system by moving disputed cases out of the courts and into a new state agency overseen by a governor-appointed administrator. Supporters said the changes will make the system more fair, certain and efficient, while opponents slammed it as taking money away from injured workers. The Tennessean has the story.

Curb Records has sued country music star Tim McGraw and his new label, Big Machine Records, in district court for alleged copyright infringement, the Nashville City Paper reports. After a failed 2011 suit for breach of contract, Curb is now asking a federal court to determine that McGraw’s new album “Two Lanes of Freedom” actually belongs to the Nashville label since it alleges he recorded the songs while still under contract with Curb. Further, the suit maintains that McGraw owes Curb a sixth album stemming from a 2001 settlement agreement.

Coffee County commissioner Barry West’s anti-Muslim Facebook post outraged a number of national and local Islamic advocacy groups who are calling for an apology. Although he removed the offending photo, West said he didn’t understand why he was being “singled out” for posting it. The American Muslim Advisory Council, a statewide council devoted to promoting understanding between Tennesseans and Muslims, tweeted a screen shot of West’s post and encouraged people to call him and demand he apologize. “Regardless of whether you have Muslim constituents or not, you shouldn’t post this," said Drost Lokoye, a council board member. "A shotgun with a wink behind it? I feel threatened. This is not OK." The Tennessean has the story.

The legal business climate in the South is booming according to the National Law Journal's Southern Report. Increasingly diverse local economies are helping legal professionals across the southern region recover from the recession. Nashville especially has become the “It” town of the moment, the report states. According to the most recent National Law Journal data, the 250 largest firms in the United States had 478 offices in the Southeast. Nashville’s Waller Landsen Dortch & Davis and Bass, Berry & Sims were ranked at numbers nine and 13, respectively, as the biggest of those offices by full-time equivalents. View the full list here.

Gender equality is the theme of an American Bar Association Law Day program tonight in Washington D.C., the ABA Journal reports. An ABA press release says the event will focus on topics such as realizing constitutional equality for women and appropriate roles of courts, legislatures and advocacy groups in advancing gender equality in our constitutional democracy. President Barack Obama issued a proclamation yesterday recognizing the Law Day theme of equality for all, and noting historical milestones such as the Emancipation Proclamation, Martin Luther King’s call for equality, the Civil Rights Act and other rights legislation.

Despite the repeal of similar laws in other states, Tennessee is moving ahead with a plan to drug test some welfare applicants, the Tennessean reports. Sen. Stacey Campfield, R-Knoxville, sponsored the bill last year, giving the Department of Human Resources until July 1, 2014, to implement it. Campfield and other proponents say the law would be considered successful if it drives down the number of welfare applicants simply because they knew they would be tested. Pam McMichael, executive director of the New Market-based Highlander Research and Education Center, opposes the law, saying "It doesn't take stigmas away, it doesn't make our neighborhoods safer … It's an extension of an already unsuccessful war on drugs." WBIR has this story on issues other states have faced trying to implement similar laws.