This year's Dispute Resolution Forum makes its return in person, also offering a Zoom simulcast. Join colleagues for carefully crafted sessions tailored to both lawyers and mediators featuring accomplished speakers from the ADR vocation. Topics include crafting a settlement, the art of negotiation, a discussion of litigation and/vs. arbitration in court, handling pro-bono cases, and more. The forum will take place on May 19 from 9:30 a.m. to 2:30 p.m. CDT at the Nashville office of Butler Snow, 150 3rd Ave. S., Nashville 37201.

The Daily Memphian reports that Shelby County Mayor Lee Harris gave Shelby County Clerk Wanda Halbert a deadline of Mar. 24 to choose another location for her satellite office in Poplar Plaza. If she does not, he says she could be derelict in her duty. The clerk’s lease at its Poplar Plaza office runs out at the end of June and is not being renewed. Halbert has called for more office locations as a solution to last year’s backlog in the renewal of car tags, which resulted in her office’s closure for two weeks to deal with the surfeit. However, a planned office on Riverdale Road has not yet opened, and she has not found a new location in Poplar Plaza.

A new Legislative Updates podcast was released on March 17 with TBA Director of Public Policy & Government Affairs Berkley Schwarz and Adams and Reese attorneys and TBA lobbyists Brad Lampley and Ashley Harbin. This week they discuss HB854/SB919 and HB855/SB921, TBA's adoption bills; HB647/SB1313, medical records legislation; HB1162/SB775, the Tennessee Revised Uniform Arbitration Act; and HB1177/SB710, the Tennessee Domestic Relations Arbitration Act. Legislative Updates airs each week the legislature is in session on TBA’s Facebook page. It is also released as a podcast on the same day and can be found on the TBA’s website or wherever you listen to podcasts.

Guardians ad litem in the state have not had a pay increase since since it was set at $50 per hour in 1997, the Tennessean reports. That's created a problem for the court-appointed attorneys taking on the cases and made it harder to recruit new attorneys. One source of new funding could be a federal program under the Social Security Act, and Tennessee’s Department of Children’s Services and the state Administrative Office of the Courts tells the Tennessean that they "are working collaboratively to develop a model for potential use of IV-E funds that fits Tennessee's specific needs, with a particular focus on prevention opportunities.”

James S. Tipton Jr., 74, died on March 20. A Knoxville native, Tipton was a graduate of the University of Tennessee and Duke University College of Law, where he was a member of the Order of the Coif. He practiced with Gentry Tipton & McLemore and was a member of the Knoxville, Tennessee and American Bar Associations. Active in the community, Tipton served for years as director and/or attorney for various non-profit charitable organizations, including Oak Home, YOKE, YMCA of Metropolitan Knoxville, Ethel Brickey Hicks Charitable Corporation, Bleak House Historical Library, Tau Beta Pi Engineering Honor Society and various local churches. Visitation is Friday from 4-8 p.m. EDT at Berry Funeral Home, 3704 Chapman Highway, Knoxville 37920. A funeral service will take place Saturday at 1 p.m. EDT at New Hopewell Baptist Church, 943 Kimberlin Heights Rd, Knoxville 37920, with a graveside service immediately following.

University of Memphis Cecil C. Humphreys School of Law will host the 2023 Herff Chair of Excellence Symposium on Household Finance and Community Development: Assessing Challenges, Inequities, and Opportunities on March 31. Click here for information about the schedule, panelists and to register.

Join the Nashville YWCA for a special Women’s History Month Stand Against Injustice webinar — Women Empowering Women — featuring community leaders and historians. This virtual lunch and learn is taking place on March 29 from noon–1 p.m. CDT. Click here to register for this free event. The webinar will focus on the legacy of the Blue Triangle Branch of the YWCA and the trailblazing African-American women who dedicated themselves to civil and human rights.

The Tennessee Lookout reports that legislation seeking to block Tennessee’s Medicaid program from contracting with any insurance company that covers gender transition healthcare in another state has stalled in the Senate. HB1215/SB1339, sponsored by House Speaker Cameron Sexton, R-Crossville, and Lt. Gov. Randy McNally, R-Oak Ridge, would eliminate all of TennCare’s contracts with managed care organizations covering gender-affirming care in other states. BlueCross BlueShield, United Healthcare and Anthem are currently allowed to sell TennCare plans and all three cover gender transitions in other states — but not through TennCare. TennCare covers over 1.7 million income-qualifying Tennesseans, half of which are children.

The Memphis Police Department (MPD) says it will move forward with a decertification request for MPD Lt. Dewayne Smith, who was on the scene of the Tyre Nichols beating but retired with benefits a day before a hearing to fire him. The Tennessee Peace Officer Standards and Training Commission (P.O.S.T.) scheduled a hearing Thursday about the decertification request, but MPD then asked to rescind the request. P.O.S.T. called on the department to answer questions as to why it was going back on the decertification request. Then this morning, MPD halted that request to stop the decertification, calling the request “a misunderstanding.” ABC24 has the full MPD statement and additional details about Smith’s actions the night Nichols was beaten.

The U.S. Supreme Court today heard arguments on whether a dog toy, which looks like a bottle of Jack Daniel’s whiskey but carries the words "Bad Spaniels" on the label, violated the Jack Daniel’s trademark or whether it is protected as parody under the First Amendment. At issue is whether humorous products that parody a brand enjoy special protection from trademark claims under the First Amendment, or whether funny knock-offs violate trademark law because they could confuse consumers or disparage the original product. The U.S. Court of Appeals for the 9th Circuit sided with toy maker, ruling that – because the product is a parody – it enjoys special protection from trademark claims. The Tennessean has more details.