The Tennessee Bar Association and Tennessee’s American Inns of Court are now accepting nominations for the 2023 Judge Pamela L. Reeves Tennessee Professionalism Award. The annual award is presented to a lawyer or judge whose life and practice display sterling character and unquestioned integrity, coupled with ongoing dedication to the highest standards of the rule of law and the highest standards of the legal profession in Tennessee. The award will be presented to a lawyer or judge residing in the grand division of the state where the TBA's Annual Convention is held (this year, the East Grand Division). Nominees must be alive when their nomination is submitted but need not be an active member of an American Inn of Court or the TBA. The award will be presented at the TBA's Annual Convention, which will be held in Knoxville June 14-16. The deadline for submitting nominations is April 5.

The U.S. Sentencing Commission tomorrow at 9 a.m. EST will host the second day of a public hearing on proposed amendments to the federal sentencing guidelines related to areas including firearms, conflicts among the U.S. appeals courts, career offenders and criminal history. Arizona U.S. Attorney Gary Restaino will represent the DOJ at the hearing, and law professor Leslie Scott will represent the federal defender perspective. A livestream of the hearing will be available here.

University of Tennessee College of Law has announced that Tennessee Supreme Court Justice Sharon G. Lee will serve as the University of Tennessee College of Law’s Spring 2023 commencement speaker. “We are thrilled and honored to have Justice Lee as our 2023 commencement speaker,” Dean Lonnie T. Brown, Jr. said. “She truly epitomizes all that is good about the legal profession, and I am so glad that our 2023 graduates will get to hear from such a wonderful role model.” The College of Law’s commencement will take place on May 18 at 7:30 p.m. EST in Thompson-Boling Arena.

The Knoxville Bar Association’s Diversity in the Profession and Barristers Law School Mentor committees will facilitate a Law Student Discussion Group at LMU Duncan School of Law on Thursday from noon to 1:15 p.m. EST. The theme of the discussion is “Don't Say No to Change.” Studies on associate satisfaction have shown that the attrition rate of new lawyers can be as high as 75%. Panelists will share their personal and professional motivations and what made them open to changes during their careers. Register here for this free event.

The Women Law Students Association (WLSA) at Vanderbilt Law School is sponsoring career-oriented talks throughout March as part of Women’s History Month. Thursday from 12:30 to 1:30 p.m. CST is a conversation with a first-generation woman lawyer, Kris Reliford, a partner at Bradley. March 24 from 12:30 to 1:30 p.m. will be a conversation with Courtney Urschel, deputy chief of the human rights and special prosecutions section of the Department of Justice.

Belmont University Law School’s moot court teams were recently named regional champs at the National Appellate Advocacy Competition (NAAC) in Brooklyn, New York. Samantha McCaleb was named Eighth Best Advocate in the region, and Frank Toub and Carli Tuttle were Belmont’s regional semifinalist team. The regional champion team will travel to Washington, D.C., for the national finals in April. This is Belmont’s seventh year to compete in the NAAC competition, as well as its seventh straight year to be regional champions and advance to nationals.

The Tennessean reports that a Republican-backed proposal to rename of a portion of Nashville's Rep. John Lewis Way after former President Donald Trump is off the table. State Rep. Paul Sherrell, R-Sparta, who sponsored the bill along with state Sen. Frank Niceley, R-Strawberry Plains, withdrew the legislation on Monday night. The bill, HB1372/SB1407, drew outrage from Nashville leaders and residents. The Metro Council in 2020 renamed a section of Fifth Avenue after the civil rights activist and longtime Democratic member of Congress from Georgia. Lewis helped lead lunch counter sit-ins along the street during the early years of the civil rights movement.

Tennessee is outsourcing the testing of at least 550 rape kits to a private Florida lab through a $1.5 million federal grant, the Tennessee Bureau of Investigation (TBI) announced Monday in a move aimed at reducing processing times, reports the Associated Press. In a news release, the TBI said it plans to submit up to 1,000 rape kits if more grant funding becomes available by the end of the year, at a cost of $2,155 per kit. The state’s turnaround times for sexual assault kits entered the spotlight after the high-profile killing of teacher Eliza Fletcher in September. The man charged with killing Fletcher was charged in a 2021 rape of a different woman shortly afterward, when the rape kit from that case was finally processed.

The Hill reports that SoFi, a personal finance company that sells products for student loan refinancing, is suing to end the Biden administration’s pandemic-era pause on federal student loan payments, claiming it is an overreach of power. President Biden in November extended the federal pause on student loan payments and interest accrual, which was first enacted by then-President Trump at the beginning of the coronavirus pandemic. Biden said last year that the freeze was extended until beyond June while his administration faces legal challenges to its own debt forgiveness plan. In the SoFi filing, the company argues that the administration’s pause extension was to “alleviate ‘uncertainty’ for borrowers during the pendency of ongoing litigation regarding the debt-cancellation program,” as opposed to help borrowers impacted by the COVID-19 pandemic.

The state legislature has discussed several bills and resolutions regarding firearms this week, reports WBBJ 7 Eyewitness News. HJR0131 would establish: “…the declared public policy of the State of Tennessee relative to the right of the citizens and those within the boundaries of this State to keep, bear and wear arms.” HJR0038 would amend the Tennessee Constitution, removing the part that “authorizes the legislature to regulate the wearing of arms with a view to prevent crime and to clarify that citizens have a right to keep and bear arms for their defense, and not just for common defense.” HJR0080 would urge the attorney general and reporter to review “any newly passed federal statute, regulation or executive order that may affect the rights of Tennesseans to bear arms.” If passed, it would allow them to sue if found to be an infringement. HB1189 would add protections to manufactures, sellers and dealers of firearms.