This year's Immigration Law Forum will cover timely topics affecting immigration attorneys. Sessions will include the discussion of the Southeastern Provision plant raid, family law immigration updates and the intersection of criminal and immigration law. More information and additional sessions to be announced! Join us in person May 10 at 1212 Germantown. Registration is from 8:30-9 a.m. CDT with programming running from 9 a.m.-3:30 p.m.

Voting for the 2023 TBA election will end at 11:59 p.m. CDT on Monday. Access to the electronic ballot was emailed on March 1 and 22. It was sent from the email address TBA.Election@intelliscanvotes.com. Please check your spam filters if you did not receive a ballot notification. Reach out to elections@tnbar.org if you have any questions or concerns.

The Women’s Political Collaborative released a statement today saying it will postpone its 50th Anniversary Celebration "out of respect for the lives lost in the tragic Covenant School shooting on Monday. Our hearts go out to everyone affected by the shocking and devastating tragedy." The group will keep event registrations on file and communicate more information when a new date is chosen. Contact Joyce at WPC with questions.

West Tennessee Legal Services (WTLS), Tennessee Department of Labor and the Tennessee Supreme Court Access to Justice Commission will host an expungement clinic in Madison County on April 6. All attorney work will be completed virtually prior to the event. Attorney volunteers will be needed April 3-5. All applicants will be prescreened for expungement eligibility and WTLS will provide forms to completed via phone. WTLS is also available to answer any questions related to the clinic. Volunteers can register here.

The Hill reports that Democrats in the U.S. House of Representatives are considering an attempt to force votes on stricter gun laws following yesterday’s shooting in Nashville. The group is considering using a discharge petition, which would force proposed gun law reforms, now pending before various committees, to come straight to the House floor. A simple majority vote is needed to bring the bills up for consideration. Some House Republicans have shown little interest in strengthening gun laws, even though both sides of the aisle have condemned the violence. Rep. Tim Burchett, R-Knoxville, told reporters that there is no way to “fix” gun violence. “It’s a horrible, horrible situation,” Burchett said. “And we’re not gonna fix it. Criminals are gonna be criminals.” Burchett also said he doesn’t see “any real role” for Congress to play in reducing gun violence, other than to “mess things up.”

A federal whistleblower lawsuit filed against Erlanger Health System accuses hospital leaders of illegal billing practices by knowingly overlapping surgeries and allowing trainees to operate on patients without physician supervision, among other patient safety and compliance issues. The Chattanooga Times Free Press reports that the complaint, brought under the federal False Claims Act and Tennessee Medicaid False Claims Act and filed in April 2021 in federal district court, alleges that surgeons who practice at Erlanger violated state and federal law by regularly billing for two or three different surgeries in the same timeframe while leaving residents and interns alone to complete operations without proper oversight or patient consent. 

Tenth Judicial District Attorney General Stephen Crump will step down in July for a job as executive director of the Tennessee District Attorneys General Conference in Nashville. "My last day in the DA's office will be July 15, and my first day as executive director will be July 16," Crump, said Monday in a phone interview. The 10th Judicial District consists of Bradley, Polk, McMinn and Monroe counties. Crump said he will fulfill the remaining term of the conference's retiring executive director Guy Jones, and then will serve at the pleasure of the group if it reappoints him in June 2024. Jones has held the post since 2020. Along with serving as a liaison between state district attorneys and the General Assembly and other state departments, the conference handles all bill paying, payroll, human resources, hiring policies and technological support for DAs across the state. The Chattanooga Times Free Press has the full story.

The Commercial Appeal reports that Shelby County District Attorney Steve Mulroy will seek the death penalty in the case against Ezekiel Kelly, who is accused of driving around Memphis and shooting people at random on Sept. 7, 2022. Kelly, 19, has been charged with three counts of first-degree murder, along with 23 additional charges. The shooting spree left three additional people injured. Mulroy said four factors affected the decision to pursue the death penalty. He cited a previous aggravated assault conviction, along with alleging Kelly committed "mass murder" during the spree. Mulroy also said the murders were "committed in the course of an act of terrorism." His fourth factor was the randomness of the shooting.

Four of five former Memphis police officers charged in the killing of Tyre Nichols, a Black man who was handcuffed, brutally beaten and ignored by first responders for crucial minutes despite being barely conscious, can no longer work as law enforcement in Tennessee. The Associated Press reports that the Peace Officer Standards & Training Commission, or P.O.S.T., voted Friday to decertify Demetrius Haley, Emmitt Martin and Justin Smith. The state panel also approved the decision by Desmond Mills to surrender his certification. The former officers have 30 days to appeal.

Judge James G. Martin III retired from the bench after 16 years as circuit court judge in Williamson County's 21st Judicial District. He now is of counsel to Schell & Oglesby in Franklin. Martin practiced law in Middle Tennessee from 1974 to 2008; additionally, he served as city attorney of Franklin for over a decade. While serving as judge, he worked to revise the statutes and rules that govern the practice of marriage and family law. Martin also served as presiding judge for the 21st Judicial District Recovery Court from 2014-2022. He was named the 2019 Judge of the Year by the Tennessee Association of Recovery Court Professionals and recipient of the TBA's Justice Frank F. Drowota III Outstanding Judicial Service Award in 2022. Martin now will focus on general civil and family law as well as mediation services as a Licensed Rule 31 Mediator.