University of Tennessee College of Law student Kevin Escalona won "The Closer," the nation’s most challenging transactional law competition, on Jan. 14. Hosted by Baylor Law School in Waco, Texas, 14 law schools are invited annually to compete. Unlike most competitions, each school can send only one student. Each competitor is given only 24 hours to digest their client’s extensive files and prepare to negotiate a deal. This year’s competition challenged the law students to negotiate an agreement between Hotel 1928 (a historic hotel renovated by Chip and Joanna Gaines of Magnolia and Fixer Upper fame), and Neighborly Inc., a Waco-based home service provider. The competitors learned that Neighborly Inc. wants to host a conference at Hotel 1928 during the April 2024 solar eclipse. The competitors negotiated use of the hotel and its restaurants and terms for employment of entertainers, insurance for outdoor liquor sales, use of trademarks and advertising. 

The Barristers, the Young Lawyer’s Division of the Knoxville Bar Association (KBA), annually hosts the Regional High School Mock Trial Competition for Competition Districts 2, 3 and 4 every year. The 2024 regional competition is slated to occur at the Knoxville City-County Building on Feb. 16 (Round 1) and Feb. 17 (Rounds 2-4). The Regional Championship (Round 5) will be held Feb. 18 in the Business Courtroom at LMU’s Duncan School of Law. Volunteers are needed to serve as bailiffs, scoring judges and presiding judges. To volunteer, fill out this form. Read the press release from the KBA.

State lawmakers have so far filed more than a dozen firearm-related bills to be considered during this session, and they can continue to file legislation through the end of January, reports the Tennessean. Rep. Ryan Williams, R-Cookeville, filed HB 1202 in January 2023, which would allow school staff to carry concealed handguns on campus. It was tabled following criticism from gun-reform advocates after the Covenant School shooting in March, but could be brought for a full House vote at nearly any time. The bill still has to go through the committee process in the Senate. SB 1693, sponsored by Sen. Raumesh Akbari, D-Memphis, would create a state gun violence prevention office within the Tennessee Department of Safety, which would be tasked with collecting data on gun violence with an aim at developing prevention strategies. The proposal needs a House sponsor before it can move forward. Rep. Gino Bulso, R-Brentwood, and Sen. Joey Hensely, R-Hohenwald, have filed HB 1631, which they say would clarify existing state law that allows private schools serving kindergarten through 12th grade to adopt a handgun carry policy. HB 1667, filed by Rep. Caleb Hemmer, D-Nashville, and sponsored in the Senate by Sen. Jeff Yarbro, D-Nashville, authorizes local governments to regulate gun storage in unoccupied vehicles. The proposal would apply only to counties with a population over 98,800. House Majority Leader William Lamberth, R-Portland, and Sen. Jon Lundberg, R-Bristol, introduced HB 1640 which would block criminal defendants who are deemed mentally incompetent and unable to stand trial from legally buying or possessing a gun. The legislation would also require courts to report the incompetency findings to the FBI and Tennessee Department of Safety.

Hamilton County Criminal Court Division II Judge Amanda Dunn has drawn no opposition in her bid to seek reelection, Chattanoogan.com reports. According to the news source, the Hamilton County Election Commission voted last week to finalize the ballot for the county’s primary elections. Dunn, who is running as a Republican, will not face a primary or general election opponent.

The Tennessee General Sessions Judges Conference recently sent a letter to Gov. Bill Lee, Lt. Gov. Randy McNally, House Speaker Cameron Sexton and members of the Tennessee General Assembly in support of efforts to increase funding for indigent representation in the state. The letter states, in part, that "the current rate of pay was originally set in approximately 1997, and it has not been raised, except for the equalization of the out-of-court rate and in-court rate several years ago. Certainly, the current hourly rate of pay for court-appointed attorneys has made it very difficult for the Tennessee General Sessions Courts to find a sufficient number of attorneys able and willing to represent indigent litigants, especially indigent criminal defendants, and constitutes an ongoing problem for our state's judicial system." Read the full text of the letter. Learn more about funding for indigent representation from TBA's Government Affairs team. 

The law firm of Baker Donelson has announced a renewed commitment to the American Bar Association's (ABA) Free Legal Answers (FLA) with a major investment of financial and technology resources that will ensure the tool continues to increase access to advice and information about non-criminal legal matters for those who cannot afford a lawyer. Baker Donelson technicians will work over a period of six months to rewrite and update the code for FLA while also improving the data security of the website. The firm is also making a $250,000 donation to ensure the ABA has the resources to further develop and maintain this next-generation version of FLA. The virtual legal advice platform that would become FLA was launched in Tennessee in 2009, via a collaborative effort between Baker Donelson, the TBA, Tennessee Alliance for Legal Services and the Tennessee Supreme Court's Access to Justice Commission. Since its inception, FLA has received more than 330,000 questions from program participants seeking pro bono legal advice from volunteer attorneys.

The city of Memphis reports that it spent nearly $50,000 for 15 employees to travel to Puerto Rico in July with the intent of recruiting for hard-to-fill jobs, like police officers. The trip did not result in a single applicant. The Daily Memphian reports that the employees — representatives of the public works, parks and police departments — spent hundreds of taxpayer dollars on meals, thousands on flights, more than $500 on tips and $13,566.06 on rooms at the Sheraton Hotel & Casino in San Juan. There was a $14,348.32 catering bill at the hotel for a job fair that 300 people attended. “It was a strategy used by some other cities — Louisville, Dallas and Baltimore — to recruit bilingual employees. It was not successful for us,” the city said in a statement.

Effective Jan. 18, the Supreme Court of Tennessee suspended Knox County lawyer Matthew David Barocas from the practice of law for one year, with three months to be served on active suspension and the remainder to be served on probation. The suspension is conditioned on Barocas incurring no new complaints of misconduct related to this suspension during the year, engagement of a practice monitor, completion of the Board of Professional Responsibility's Trust Account Workshop and additional continuing legal education hours, and payment of disciplinary costs. Barocas agreed to a conditional guilty plea, acknowledging his conduct violated Tennessee Rules of Professional Conduct 1.1, 1.5(e), 1.15(a), (d) and (e), 3.3(a), 3.4(b), 3.5(e) and 8.4(a)-(d) and (g).

Davidson County attorney James Daniel Marshall was issued an order of temporary suspension by the Tennessee Supreme Court after the court found that he failed to respond to the Board of Professional Responsibility concerning a misconduct complaint.

Join your colleagues for a live webinar Tuesday at noon CST to learn about recent legislative and case law updates that affect Tennessee domestic lawyers. Lisa Gill of Gill Family Law will present a legislative update for the first hour, while Greg Smith of Stites & Harbison will provide a case law update during the second hour. Register here.