The U.S. Department of Labor’s (DOL) Office of the Solicitor has ordered Morristown manufacturer Tuff Torq Corporation to pay a $296,951 penalty for illegally employing children as young as 14 years old. The Knoxville News Sentinel reports that the DOL's Wage and Hour Division confirmed several children worked for the manufacturer, which supplies parts for John Deere and Yamaha. Additionally, Tuff Torq will set aside $1.5 million from profits made during the children's employment, which will go to the children.

Make plans now to join colleagues from across the state at the TBA’s 2024 Annual Convention, set for June 12-15, at the Peabody Hotel in Memphis. Perennial favorites such as the Bench Bar program and lunch, Lawyers Lunch and joint event with the Tennessee Judicial Conference return to the agenda alongside new offerings including a Wednesday night dine-around for all attendees; a Public Service breakfast, where TBA will honor legal aid, private practice and law student pro bono work; a ticketed reception on Thursday night open to the entire legal community; and a chance to be the honorary Peabody Duck Master! This year’s theme — “A Bridge to the Future” — also will bring compelling CLE programs focused on artificial intelligence and how this rapidly expanding technology will impact the practice of law. During the week, the Tennessee Lawyers' Association for Women, Tennessee Alliance for Black Lawyers and Tennessee Trial Lawyers' Association also will hold meetings and events at the Peabody, making Memphis the place to be this June. Access registration, hotel reservation information and more on the event website.

The Tennessee Bar Association is accepting nominations for its 2024 Claudia Jack Award and Justice Frank F. Drowota III Outstanding Judicial Service Award. The Claudia Jack Award honors an outstanding public defender or court-appointed private practitioner who has served the legal community and clients in an exemplary fashion. It is named after the late Claudia Jack, a public defender and long-time champion of the poor and underprivileged. The Drowota Award is given to a judge or judicial branch official of a federal, state or local court in Tennessee who has demonstrated extraordinary devotion and dedication to the improvement of the law, the legal system and the administration of justice, as exemplified by the career of former Tennessee Supreme Court Justice Frank F. Drowota III. The deadline to submit nominees for both awards, which will be presented at the TBA Annual Convention in June, is April 1.

The American Bar Association (ABA) has garnered dozens of pages of comments in response to a proposal to allow fully online law schools to become eligible for provisional and full ABA approval. Law.com reports today that those comments indicate “overwhelming support” for the idea. The ABA began soliciting comments on the proposal in January.

Tennessee’s population growth puts it on track for an additional U.S. House seat in 2032, Tennessee Lookout reports. According to the latest U.S. Census data, Tennessee’s population grew to 7.1 million people in 2023, which, if maintained, would mean it would gain another seat during the next redistricting cycle eight years from now. The paper reports that the state has not had more than nine House seats in some 80 years. After the Civil War, Tennessee had 10 congressional districts before losing one during the 1930 redistricting process, regaining it in 1940 and losing it again in 1950.

The 22nd edition of the Alimony Bench Book is now available. Published by the TBA’s Family Law Section, the book provides a ready resource for dealing with alimony cases in Tennessee. Current Family Law Section members can access their copy at no cost on the Family Law eCommunity page but must be logged into their TBA account. Others may purchase an electronic copy for $25 from the TBA Store.

Knoxville lawyer Ford Little has been named to the Tennessee Fish and Wildlife Commission where he will represent District 2, which consists of 11 counties. Little is an attorney with Woolf-McClane, where he handles construction law, commercial litigation and product liability/toxic tort cases. His appointment will run through February 2029, the Wildlife Resources Agency reports. Read more about Little’s career in a news release from the agency.

A news item in Thursday's issue of TBA Today incorrectly identified the U.S. 6th Circuit Court of Appeals judge that Kevin Ritz, current U.S. attorney for the Western District of Tennessee, will replace if confirmed to the court. Ritz was nominated by President Joe Biden last week to replace Judge Julia Smith Gibbons, who last August announced her intention to take senior status on the court following confirmation of a successor. Read the corrected story from the Daily Memphian.

The University School of Nashville was named the 2024 Tennessee State High School Mock Trial champion Saturday night after two days of preliminary rounds. The school prevailed over Montgomery Bell Academy, also from Nashville. Tennessee State Supreme Court Justice Dwight Tarwater presided over the round, while members of the TBA Young Lawyers Division's (YLD) Executive Committee, TBA President Jim Barry and TBA Vice President Heidi Barcus served as jurors. Earlier in the day, the top eight teams were announced, an MVP for each team was recognized, individual awards were presented to the best advocates and witnesses, and Sevier County High School was awarded the 2024 Sportsmanship Award.

Special thanks to YLD Mock Trial Committee Chair Ashley Tipton and Vice Chair Michael Holmes, and members of the committee for organizing this year's event, which involved 14 teams, close to 200 participants and more than 100 volunteers, including sitting Tennessee judges, lawyers and the YLD's Diversity Leadership Institute's law students. The University School of Nashville will now represent Tennessee at the National High School Mock Trial Competition in Wilmington, Delaware in May. The team is coached by Nashville attorneys Ned Hildebrand with Dunham Hildebrand, Maureen Timoney Joyce and Ben Raybin with Raybin & Weissman. See more competition results and photos from the event.

On Monday, Tennessee Attorney General Jonathan Skrmetti led 24 states in sending a letter to the Department of Labor stating that its proposed rule to embed diversity, equity and inclusion (DEI) into the National Apprenticeship System "exceeds congressional authority, illegally promotes racial-discrimination and is antithetical to the American ideal of equality." On Thursday, the AG's office joined a coalition of 22 states in filing an amicus brief at the U.S. 5th Circuit Court of Appeals in support of Texas’s state law SB4, which would allow state officers to arrest people suspected of entering the country without documentation, and state magistrates and judges to order them back to the country from which they entered. Also on Thursday, Skrmetti, alongside 15 state and district attorneys general, joined the U.S. Department of Justice in filing a civil antitrust lawsuit against Apple for monopolization or attempted monopolization of smartphone markets in violation of Section 2 of the Sherman Act. Today, Skrmetti praised Tennessee’s Opioid Abatement Council for releasing its first ever round of community grants totaling $80,936,057. Programs funded through the grants will support work in response to opioid addiction throughout Tennessee for up to three years.