TBA hosted its inaugural Conference on Artificial Intelligence (AI) and the Law (TCAIL) Friday at the Tennessee Bankers Association Training Center in Nashville. The daylong program covered topics from AI in ethics, to the judiciary, to access to justice. AI Task Force chair A.J. Bahou kicked things off with an introduction to using AI in the practice of law, complete with real-time AI demonstrations. Bill Ramsey of Neal & Harwell, Clinton Sanko of Baker Donelson, Kyle Turner of Vanderbilt Law School, and David Wood of Prudent Jurist focused their panel discussion on practical changes that AI will bring to the practice of law. Their topics included how various technologies will enable lawyers to engage differently with technology to support client needs, how AI will transform legal research, and how tools are changing in document review and discovery. The second panel focused on AI in the courtroom and featured Tennessee Supreme Court Justice Sarah Campbell, Court of Criminal Appeals Judge Tom Greenholtz, Circuit Judge Jimmy Turner and former judge Penny White now with the University of Tennessee (UT) College of Law. Up next, UT Law professors Ben Barton and Eliza Boles discussed AI's ramifications in the access to justice sphere, while Brian Faughnan focused his session on current and likely future ethical implications for attorneys. The day wrapped up with a session on digital evidence and AI use in public safety with Matthew Drewes, an enterprise business solutions architect for the state, and Richard Littlehale with the Tennessee Bureau of Investigation. See photos from the event.

Rural Bledsoe County, with a population of 15,060 and a poverty rate of 26% — one of the highest in the state — received about $69,000 in opioid settlement money last year from Tennessee's Opioid Abatement Council. County Mayor Greg Ridley felt that the money would be most impactful in funding an opioid prevention program in the school district. Director of Schools Selina Sparkman and School Health Director Michelle Rains developed a program based on grant guidelines to deliver opioid prevention classes within already-required health courses for high school freshmen. Bledsoe County is the only system in the state to hire a teacher focused entirely on opioid prevention education. The Tennessean has the story.

After a friend was pulled over and arrested for DUI despite being sober, state Rep. Lowell Russell, R-Vonore, asked the Tennessee Bureau of Investigation (TBI) to calculate the number of sober DUI arrests over the last few years in Tennessee. According to TBI data, since 2107, 609 people were charged with DUI, whose alcohol and drug test results ultimately came back negative. News Channel 9 reports that Russell, a former highway patrol officer, also officially asked the agency to post lab test results for all DUI arrests in the Tennessee Incident-Based Reporting System (TIBRS) database. He also says he wants to work with the Administrative Office of the Courts on its new $75 million database to make sure dismissed DUI cases are clearly posted, or that the information can be easily given to the public if requested.

After a 16-monthlong investigation, the Justice Department (DOJ) released a report finding that the Memphis Police Department (MPD) and the city of Memphis engage in a pattern or practice of conduct that violates the U.S. Constitution and federal law. According to a press release, the DOJ found that MPD uses excessive force; conducts unlawful stops, searches and arrests; unlawfully discriminates against Black people when enforcing the law; and the city and MPD unlawfully discriminate in their response to people with behavioral health disabilities. The DOJ also identified serious concerns about MPD’s treatment of children, as well as deficiencies in policy, training, supervision and accountability that contribute to MPD’s and the city’s unlawful conduct. This morning, the city of Memphis published letters from Mayor Paul Young and Interim Police Chief C.J. Davis that acknowledged some of the DOJ's findings but also noted progress has been made on some of the issues. The city has notified the DOJ that it will not enter into negotiations for, or sign, a consent decree, reports the Daily Memphian. The DOJ said it could possibly sue the city and file an injunction, forcing negotiations, but did not commit to taking that step yet, according to the Commercial Appeal.

Vanderbilt Law School has received a $10 million commitment from Sara J. Finley, a 1985 graduate, to advance the school’s leadership in the study of how law, regulation and policy impact equality, equity and opportunity for women. The gift will be used to establish a chair and to endow a program for research, education and advocacy relating to equal rights, equal opportunity and nondiscrimination. “This is an extraordinary gift that will advance our understanding of the ways in which law and policy shape our experiences in leadership, in the workplace and across so many other spheres,” Provost C. Cybele Raver said. Read more in a press release from the law school.

The Tennessee Supreme Court reinstated Knox County lawyer Jedidiah Charles McKeehan to the active practice of law on Dec. 5. On Dec. 3, the court suspended McKeehan for 30 days. The next day, the Board of Professional Responsibility notified the court that the motion to suspend had been filed prematurely and filed a joint motion with McKeehan requesting that the court vacate the order. The new order reinstates McKeehan to the active practice of law.

Get CLE hours in your specific practice area with TBA's curated packages! As the year comes to a close, choose from packages that include sessions from the 36th Annual Health Law Forum, Corporate Counsel Forum, Elder Law Forum, Labor and Employment Law Forum, Hot Topics in Real Estate and more. See all package options or build your own any time by visiting cle.tba.org to access more than 200 on-demand courses.

In this webcast, ethics expert Stuart Teicher will tell true stories about lawyers who break the law and the ethics rules they break (or could have broken). Ethics topics will include the connection between competence, withdrawal and mental health issues; how sexual harassment creates problems; the duty to report lawyer and judicial misconduct; and how the rule on supervision guides lawyers in creating an ethically positive office environment. Tune in at noon CST on Dec. 12 and receive one hour of dual credit.

Following a jury trial, a Cheatham County jury convicted Defendant, Jared A. Smith, of three counts of Rape of a Child, four counts of Aggravated Sexual Battery, and three counts of Incest, for which he received a total effective sentence of seventy-eight years’ incarceration. On appeal, Defendant contends that: (1) the trial court erred by limiting his cross-examination of a police witness; (2) the State’s election of offenses was “vague, ambiguous and unsupported by the evidence,” in violation of his right to a unanimous jury verdict; and (3) the trial court erred by declining to instruct the jury on generic evidence. Following a thorough review of the record and applicable law, we affirm.

Petitioner, Rico Eugene Mallard, appeals the summary dismissal of his petition seeking post-conviction relief from his 1999 especially aggravated robbery conviction, for which he was sentenced to twenty-two years’ incarceration to be served consecutively to his life sentence for first degree murder. The post-conviction court found that State v. Booker, 656 S.W.3d 49 (Tenn. 2022), did not establish a new constitutional right applicable to Petitioner’s case, and therefore, the statute of limitations was not tolled, and the petition was time-barred. Discerning no error, we affirm the judgment of the trial court.