Davidson County Probate Court will hold a legal name change docket in observance of Pride Month on June 28 at 1:30 p.m. CDT in Courtroom 608. Davidson County residents over age 18 are eligible. Download this form and follow the instructions on page 1 to participate.

Gov. Bill Lee has announced the appointment of Jeff Rader as special judge in the 4th Judicial District for Cocke, Grainger, Jefferson and Sevier counties. Prior to becoming a general sessions and juvenile court judge in Sevier County in 1998, Rader practiced law at Ogle, Wynn and Rader from 1991-1998. He also has held numerous leadership roles, including founder of the Sevier County Safe Baby Court and Sevier County Workforce Probation and Recovery Court. Rader earned his law degree from the University of Tennessee College of Law. This special appointment follows Judge Rex Ogle’s decision to take disability status effective June 3.

The Metro Nashville Airport Authority (MNAA) has announced changes to its leadership. The commissioners have elected board member Nancy Sullivan as their new chair, effective July 1. Sullivan will serve a two-year term, succeeding Joycelyn Stevenson. Stevenson, a former TBA executive director, has been renominated to the board by Mayor Freddie O'Connell and if confirmed by Metro Council, will serve a seven-year term. O'Connell has chosen Glenn Farner Jr. to fill the board's current open seat for a term ending in early 2031. The seat opened in March when Bill Freeman stepped down. Farner must also be confirmed by Metro Council. The Nashville Business Journal has more.

Coming up on July 11 is the always engaging CLE Performer Stuart Teicher with three hours of ethics CLEs. Join your colleagues for these webcasts beginning at 9 a.m. CDT: What Emojis Teach About Lawyer Legal Ethics, Cat Proverbs and Attorney Ethics and What Overrated Rock Bands Teach About Attorney Ethics. Want to get ethics credits now? Check out the latest ethics programming available on demand, including Taylor Swift is a Genius: Even About Legal Ethics and Learn By Doing: An Hour of Legal Writing Exercises.

The TBA Young Lawyers Division (YLD) will host a CLE during next month's TBA Convention focused on the expanded use of technology and virtual work that has become the new normal. Panelists will discuss challenges that attorneys, law firms and other practitioners face in maximizing their familiarity and skills outside traditional office and courtroom proceedings and into the “virtual office” with remote hearings and trials and fully virtual client relationships. Moderated by TBA YLD President Quinton Thompson, the program will take place June 14 from 10-11:30 a.m. CDT in the Venetian Room of the Peabody Hotel in Memphis. Learn more about this and other CLE being offered at the annual Convention.

Gov. Bill Lee has signed SB2763, a preemption bill that blocks any local Tennessee municipality from passing its own version of an extreme risk protection order or "red flag" law, which could remove guns from individuals deemed a threat. The bill passed in the final days of session, a year after Lee failed to pressure lawmakers into a vote over his version of an extreme risk measure following the Covenant School shooting. The Tennessean has the story.

The National Collegiate Athletic Association (NCAA) along with the Atlantic Coast Conference, Big Ten, Big 12, Pac-12 and Southeastern Conference last week announced they will pay nearly $2.8 billion to settle several antitrust claims that could force schools to share athletics-related revenue with their athletes, reports the AP. Tennessee Attorney General Jonathan Skrmetti on Friday released the following statement: "While our case is a little different than House v. NCAA, it seems like by and large we all want the same thing: for the NCAA to follow the law and for our student-athletes to have a clearly defined set of rules that give them a fair share of the revenue they generate. For decades, the NCAA and adjacent entities have made billions of dollars from the tireless work of kids playing sports, while fighting to keep these student-athletes from negotiating market compensation. The NCAA’s behavior has been illegal and unfair, which is why we filed our suit and why a federal judge ruled in our favor and issued a preliminary injunction to stop the NCAA’s illegal behavior. We will run every legal play in the book to protect Tennessee’s student-athletes."

U.S. Supreme Court Justice Neil Gorsuch on Tuesday urged Arizona, Connecticut, Florida, Indiana, Massachusetts and Utah to stop using juries with fewer than 12 people in some criminal trials as the high court declined to revisit a 50 year old precedent that has allowed them to do so. The court declined to hear an appeal that raised the question of whether the U.S. Constitution bars juries with as few as six people from deciding felony cases. Williams v. Florida was a 1970 case in which the Supreme Court ruled that the 6th Amendment does not require 12-member juries. Reuters has more.

State Sen. Brent Taylor, R-Eads, asked Gov. Bill Lee to hire William Bratton, a former two-time New York Police Department commissioner known for his enforcement of petty crimes, to have him study Memphis’ crime problem. In a letter to the governor, Taylor described the city as a "warzone" with a diminishing quality of life, noting that businesses are closing and people are leaving because of the crime rates. The Daily Memphian reports that according to data released last week, the U.S. Census Bureau estimated the city lost 5,200 residents from 2022 to 2023. Sen. London Lamar, D-Memphis, said "Yes, we need to hold criminals accountable, but, more importantly, we need to break the cycle of violence with initiatives that prevent crime before it happens ... This isn’t rocket science. When people’s basic needs are being met and you target illegal guns, crime goes down."

Sen. Ken Yager, R-Kingston, filed a collusion complaint with the Registry of Election Finance against the East Tennessee Conservatives PAC. The Registry has now referred the complaint to the Tennessee Attorney General's Office for investigation. The Tennessee Journal reports that the complaint states the treasurer of the PAC, which has published ads attacking incumbent Sen. Jon Lundberg, R-Bristol, is also the treasurer for U.S. Rep. Diane Harshbarger, a Kingsport Republican. Harshbarger's son, Bobby, is challenging Lundberg for the District 4 seat.