Tennessee Supreme Court Chief Justice Holly Kirby will be honored next month with the Tennessee Bar Association’s (TBA) prestigious Justice Frank F. Drowota III Award. The award will be presented at the Bench Bar Luncheon set for June 13 as part of the association’s Annual Convention in Memphis. TBA President Jim Barry said the association is honoring Kirby for her efforts spearheading an increase in the hourly rate of reimbursement for attorneys who accept appointed cases. Before this year, Tennessee’s court-appointed attorneys had not seen a rate increase in 27 years, while the costs of maintaining a legal practice have continued to rise, leaving fewer and fewer attorneys able to afford to take these types of cases. In October 2023, Kirby made the case for increasing compensation for attorneys representing the indigent and announced the Administrative Office of the Courts (AOC) was requesting additional funding from the legislature. With the support of the TBA and others, lawmakers did approve a portion of that funding request. The TBA remains committed to working with the Supreme Court and other stakeholders to secure additional resources to fairly compensate lawyers who do this important work. The Drowota Award is given to a judge or judicial branch official who has demonstrated extraordinary devotion and dedication to the improvement of the law, the legal system and the administration of justice. Read more about Kirby's selection in the TBA's press release.

According to new data from the American Bar Association (ABA), white law students are more likely to land full scholarships and less likely to receive scholarships covering less than half their tuition compared with non-white classmates. Reuters reports that white students were awarded 70% of the full-tuition scholarships given by law schools this year while comprising about 61% of the national pool of full-time law students. By contrast, students of color make up nearly 32% of full-time law students but received fewer than 23% of full-tuition scholarships. They were awarded nearly 34% of scholarships worth less than half tuition. Hispanic law students, which represent nearly 13% of the national student pool, received 9% of full-tuition scholarships, while Black students, which comprise more than 7% of all law students, and got just 5.5% of full scholarships.

The city of Memphis has subpoenaed all correspondence, documents and communication between Shelby County District Attorney General Steve Mulroy and attorneys for Tyre Nichols’ estate, and any communication between Mulroy’s office and the U.S. Department of Justice (DOJ), reports the Daily Memphian. In the subpoena, the city is seeking any information that Mulroy’s office passed on to attorneys for Nichols’ estate. That information, if shared, could aid lawyers in their effort to prove the city’s police policies, training practices and a lack of supervision contributed to Nichols’ death, which is the crux of a civil case against the city.

The TBA’s 2023 Reporters Workshop has been selected to receive this year’s National Association of Bar Executives/LexisNexis Community & Education Outreach Award for state bar associations with 18,000 or fewer members. The award will be presented at a luncheon in Chicago on Aug. 1. Produced jointly by the TBA and the Tennessee Association of Broadcasters, the Reporters Workshop offers selected Tennessee journalists an opportunity to learn from lawyers, judges and other journalists about legal issues they face in their daily work. Those selected to participate receive a stipend to offset their travel costs for the two-day event. The workshop was first offered in 2019 under the leadership of then TBA Communications Section Chair Paul McAdoo. It took a hiatus in 2020 and 2021 and was revived in April 2022. 

Tennessee Attorney General Jonathan Skrmetti on Monday filed a lawsuit against the Equal Employment Opportunity Commission (EEOC) alleging federal agency overreach. The lawsuit claims that new sexual harassment guidance from the EEOC "unlawfully extends Title VII’s protections against sex-based discrimination to cover gender identity." The Tennessean reports that under the guidelines, an employer could be held liable under Title VII of the Civil Rights Act — which prohibits employment discrimination — if they (1) don't allow employees access to bathrooms consistent with their gender identity, (2) repeatedly and intentionally refer to an employee with pronouns inconsistent with their gender identity or (3) harass an employee because they dress or appear differently than the way typically "associated with that person’s sex."

The state Court of Appeals last week ruled that game wardens with the Tennessee Wildlife Resources Agency (TWRA) must obtain warrants before entering private property. The Tennessee Lookout reports that a three-judge panel concluded TWRA’s warrantless forays onto private property violate Article 1, Section 7 of the Tennessee Constitution, which reads in part: “The people shall be secure in their persons, houses, papers and possessions, from unreasonable searches and seizures.” The decision will require TWRA to seek judicial warrants based on probable cause that a crime has been committed before entering private property — the same rules that bind every other law enforcement agency in the state.

A jury has found Metro Nashville Fire Department (MNFD) guilty of discrimination against Deputy Fire Marshal Maggie Lawrence, and has awarded her $225,000 in compensatory damages. The Nashville Banner reports that the lawsuit, which was initiated in September 2022, alleged that Nashville Fire Chief William Swann promoted a younger and less experienced captain to the role of fire captain over Lawrence, despite the fire marshal at the time advocating for Lawrence as the more qualified candidate. The suit further claimed that Metro and Swann not only discriminated against Lawrence but also retaliated when she made her complaint public.

An investigation by WSMV found that several school districts have miscoded and misreported data surrounding "serious incidents" in their schools, which has led to an incorrect Safe Schools Report from the Tennessee Department of Education (TDOE). According to the news outlet, these often violent events include guns, weapons and explosives found on campus, as well as physical and sexual assaults. The Safe Schools Report breaks down the number of serious incidents reported at each school in every school district in the state, and the report is used by TDOE and state lawmakers to track guns and violence in schools and help guide policy on improving student safety. A data analysis found that miscoding of violent instances was to blame for a 50% spike in Clarksville-Montgomery County Schools.

Several health care entities in Middle Tennessee were impacted by a ransomware attack on St. Louis-based Ascension. A "cybersecurity incident" last week took down electronic health records, patient portal access and some systems used to order certain procedures and medications, reports the Nashville Business Journal. In an update Monday afternoon, Ascension said it worked over the weekend to respond to the attack and that it is "focused on restoring systems safely. We are making progress; however, it will take time to return to normal operations. As systems and services come back online, we will share those updates so that our patients and communities can plan accordingly."

The new Franklin law firm of Campbell Perky Johnson PLLC will hold an open house on May 23 to celebrate its new office space. The event will run from 4:30 to 7 p.m. CDT at 329 S. Royal Oaks Blvd., Ste. #205, Franklin 37064. Attorneys Neil Campbell, Sarah Richter Perky and Cathy Speers Johnson recently opened the firm to serve clients in family law matters. Campbell and Perky have nearly 20 years of experience in family law cases. Campbell is also a Rule 31 Family Law Mediator. Johnson has more than 25 years of experience in family law matters and is certified in collaborative law and as a divorce mediator. The Nashville Post has more from a press release from the firm.