In the single criminal case it granted review this week, the Tennessee Supreme Court will be considering whether it should modify the existing rule classifying the victim of statutory rape as an accomplice and requiring corroboration of the victim’s testimony. Read more about the case and a forecast in the Raybin and Perky Tennessee Supreme Court Hot List.

Annie Christoff of Bass, Berry & Sims has been voted the new 2013 president of the Young Lawyers Division of the Memphis Bar Association. The Memphis-native and Georgetown University Law School graduate hopes to continue the group’s focus on the mentoring of young lawyers and  increased pro bono participation. Christoff also works with local nonprofits Church Health Center and the American Cancer Society, which she hopes to parlay into her coming year as president. Read the full feature on Christoff in the Memphis Daily News.

Gov. Bill Haslam announced yesterday he plans to boost Tennessee college graduation rates by 23 percent by 2025. Currently only 32 percent of adults in the state hold a post-secondary degree, which is not enough to meet the requirements of the modern job market, Haslam said. He appointed Randy Boyd to lead a group consisting of heads of the Tennessee Higher Education Commission, Board of Regents, and University of Tennessee systems to find ways to tackle the “iron Triangle” of affordability, access, and quality issues for public colleges and universities across the state.

The Tennessee Supreme Court affirmed two prior rulings in which it held an employer’s subrogation right against an employee’s recovery from a third party in a negligence case does not include the amount of future medical benefits be provided to the employer. In Joshua Cooper v. Logistics Insight Corp., Cooper sought workers compensation benefits from his company MasterStaff after being assigned to work at ProLogistics, Inc and being injured by a ProLogistics employee. After winning his negligence case against ProLogistics, Cooper reimbursed MasterStaff for the medical expenses paid on his behalf. MasterStaff then asserted that the settlement did not dispose of all the claims regarding future medical expenses. 

President Barack Obama unveiled today a $500 million program to curb gun violence that includes requiring federal agencies to make more data available for background checks, appointing a full-time director of the Bureau of Alcohol, Tobacco, Firearms, and Explosives, and directing the Centers of Disease Control to research gun violence. Obama issued 23 orders that do not require congressional approval, but said Congress must act soon to implement the rest of the changes,  the Tennessean reports.

An Ohio high school teacher has sued her district for allegedly violating the Americans with Disabilities Act by reassigning her to an elementary school, the ABA Journal reports. The suit contends the transfer constituted disability discrimination since she has a phobic fear of young children.

Republican Rep. Chuck Fleischmann has been appointed to the House Appropriations Committee’s Energy & Water Development Subcommittee, the Chattanooga Times Free Press reports. The committee oversees funding for the U.S. Department of Energy, and handles Tennessee Valley Authority issues. According to a committee news release, Fleischmann will also serve on appropriations subcommittees dealing with homeland security and labor, and health and human services.

The American Bar Association will hold a Town Hall Discussion “Advocating for Equality in the Next Generation-Disability Rights” at Vanderbilt University Law School on Jan. 25 at 3 p.m. in the Moore Room. The ABA Town Hall Series is designed to encourage dialogue among law students, young lawyers, experienced members of the bar, and others in the community about how the legal profession should address issues of inequality, intolerance and discrimination in the profession and in society. Paula Pearlman, executive director of the Disability Rights Legal Center will be the keynote speaker. Registration is free. RSVP by Jan. 23 to irr@americanbar.org

President Barack Obama has signed into law the expansion of the State Department’s Rewards for Justice program, which is aimed at capturing the world’s most serious human rights abusers, WRCB.com reports. Established in 1984, the program gives the secretary of the state the authority to offer a reward for information leading to the arrest or conviction of anyone who plans, commits, or attempts international terrorist acts. The new law, which passed Congress with bipartisan support, now allows the State Department to publicize and pay rewards for information about people involved in transnational organized crime or foreign nationals wanted by any international criminal tribune for war crimes or genocide.

The Nashville Business Journal offers a top 10 list of jobs where you are more likely to find psychopaths, based on an AOL.com review of the book “The Wisdom of Psychopaths: What Saints, Spies, and Serial Killers Can Teach Us About Success.” Lawyers rank number two on the list, right behind CEOs, the newspaper reports.