Bradley attorney Todd Presnell and Kristi Arth, Belmont University College of Law assistant professor and director of field placements, have co-authored an authoritative guide on evidentiary privileges recognized under Tennessee law and federal law within the Sixth Circuit. "Privileges and Protections: Tennessee and Sixth Circuit Law" contains 16 chapters addressing over 40 evidentiary privileges and related protections, plus an extensive examination of conflict-of-laws issues and the historical origins and development of evidentiary privileges. Read more in a press release from the firm.

The Tennessee Bar Association is now 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.

TBA’s Legislative Updates podcast is new with attorney and TBA lobbyist Berkley Schwarz and Adams and Reese attorneys and TBA lobbyists, Brad Lampley and Ashley Harbin. Special guest Chloe Treadway, an intern with Adams and Reese for this legislative session, joins for this episode. This week they discuss HB1804/SB1690 (presumption of joint custody), HB2710/SB2254 (the TBA conservatorship bill) and HB2644/SB2633 (the adoption clean-up bill). Legislative Updates airs each week on the TBA’s Facebook page. It is also released as a podcast on the same day and can be found on the TBA’s website or wherever you listen to podcasts.

For the first time, geolocation, the identification of the location of an individual or an object using technology, will have its day in court. Law.com reports that Mata v. Digital Recognition Network Inc. (DRN), filed in the Superior Court of the State of California on behalf of 23 million California residents, is set to begin jury trial on May 17. The named plaintiff representing the class claims that DRN, a privately owned automatic license plate recognition (ALPR), captured images of his vehicle’s license plate over 70 times and used it to create a timeline of his movements by gaining access to his work and home addresses. That information was then added to a marketing database available for sale, in violation of the California License Plate Recognition Law. The plaintiff demands damages in the amount of $2,500 for each class member, amounting to $57.5 billion in total, along with attorney fees and an injunction forbidding DRN from engaging in “unlawful” practices.

Bass, Berry & Sims announced that Russell Stair has been appointed to serve as the managing partner of the firm’s office in Knoxville. Stair succeeds G. Mark Mamantov, who served in the role since the Knoxville office officially opened in 1991. Prior to coming to Bass, Berry & Sims, Stair worked with the U.S. Securities and Exchange Commission and practiced as a CPA for Ernst & Young. He was a member of the TBA’s Leadership Law Class of 2011 and he is active with the National Association of Bond Lawyers and the AHLA. 

The Toronto-based legal research startup Bench IQ, which claims to use artificial intelligence (AI) to help lawyers understand how individual judges think, announced today it raised $2.1 million in a pre-seed funding round, reports Reuters. The announcement claims Bench IQ uses large language model-based AI technology to offer "comprehensive insights into the decision-making patterns of judges, covering 100% of their rulings." The company will offer both "on-demand," per-hour pricing and annual subscription plans depending on the size of the firm and their billing rates.

The Tennessee Bar Association will be closed Friday for Employee Appreciation Day. The TBA's office will reopen on Monday at 8 a.m. CST. Visit the TBA.org website for information on CLE or other TBA programs and for staff contact information. Thanks to the TBA staff for the fantastic job they do!

This semester, Lincoln Memorial University's Duncan School of Law is offering the Police Law, Policy and Practices seminar for upper-level law students. The seminar is offered in collaboration with four other American Bar Association (ABA) Legal Education and Police Practices Consortium member law schools: Memphis, Penn State Dickinson, Quinnipiac and Roger Williams. Fifty students from all five law schools are enrolled in the course. Approximately 40 law enforcement officers are scheduled to participate, including several officers from the Knoxville Police Department.

Longtime University of Memphis Law Professor William Kratzke has announced he will retire at the end of this academic year. He has been on the faculty of the law school since 1979, serving in various roles including interim dean. Kratzke has taught tax law courses for several decades, as well as courses in trademarks, torts, civil procedure, world trade law, economic analysis and more. He was instrumental in helping the law school become an annual site for the IRS' Volunteer Income Tax Assistance (VITA) program. Read the full announcement.

A new episode of the TBA's BarBuzz podcast is available! Our guest this month is Ellen Hobbs Lyle, who is a mediator, arbitrator and neutral evaluator for JAMS-alternative dispute resolution. Prior to joining JAMS, Lyle had a distinguished 27-year career as a chancery court judge in Nashville for the 20th Judicial District of Tennessee. A native Nashvillian, Lyle has long-standing ties to and knowledge of the Nashville community. Lyle is joined for this episode by TBA's Executive Director Sheree Wright.