Five states have announced they intend to administer the new “NextGen” bar exam, which is scheduled to eventually replace the licensure test currently given to aspiring attorneys. The National Conference of Bar Examiners (NCBE) reports that admission agencies in Maryland, Missouri and Oregon intend to administer the new exam in July 2026. Wyoming intends to administer the exam in July 2027. Connecticut has announced it also will administer the new exam but it has not set its first administration date. The NCBE also reports that it has updated its website to include information about the exam and has produced a fact sheet to provide context for the transition.

The Nashville Business Journal recently recognized TBA Chief Diversity Officer Mary Beard as an inaugural recipient of its Leaders in Diversity Award. The honorees include individuals and companies who are leading the charge to advance diversity and inclusion practices in the workplace, showing progress over perfection and speaking out for others in the business community. Beard is Senior Human Resources Counsel for HCA Healthcare Inc. “The biggest challenge is for individuals to recognize that unconscious bias exists and that they act on those biases,” said Beard in a feature profile. “Educating stakeholders on the use of micro-inclusions assists in overcoming the challenging effects of those micro-aggressions.” The Nashville law firm Sherrard Roe Voigt & Harbison PLC also was recognized with an award for its DEI efforts.

Indianapolis-based Barnes & Thornburg LLP, one of the nation’s 100 largest law firms, has signed a 26,000-square-foot lease in the Broadwest office tower in Nashville, reports Nashville Business Journal. The firm announced the opening of its office in May. The move will more than double its current temporary space. The arrival of Barnes & Thornburg intensifies the competition within the metro legal scene. Earlier this year Holland & Knight added Nashville firm Waller Lansden Dortch & Davis into its company.

Shelby County Criminal Court Judge Lee Coffee removed himself Friday from the murder trial for the suspects accused of killing Memphis rapper Young Dolph, reports WREG-Memphis. The case will now be sent to the criminal court clerk to be reassigned. An appeals court reversed Coffee’s September decision to reject a motion for recusal. Young Dolph, whose real name was Adolph Thornton Jr., was shot to death at Makeda’s Cookies in Memphis on Nov. 17, 2021. The request for Coffee to recuse himself came after Coffee restricted phone privileges for Justin Johnson, one of the men charged with first-degree murder for the death of Young Dolph.

The American Bar Association Standing Committee on the Law Library of Congress is launching a new traveling exhibit, “100 Years After the Indian Citizenship Act: The Continuing Struggle to Guarantee Voting Rights to Native Americans,” in celebration of Native American Heritage Month in November. The exhibit explores Native American Voting Rights before the Indian Citizenship Act of 1924 and will build off the success of its predecessors that reached more than 225 venues nationwide: Magna Carta (2015-18), 19th Amendment (2019-22) and Mayflower Compact (2022-23). The new exhibit will be on display nationwide at law schools, state capitol buildings, state and local bar associations, courthouses, law firms and national and local conferences. Visit the ABA website for the full press release and current exhibit locations.

President Biden issued a new executive order Monday on AI requiring new safety assessments, equity and civil rights guidance and research on AI’s impact on the labor market, reports The Hill. The order directs federal agencies to take steps to prevent AI algorithms from being used to exacerbate discrimination in housing, federal benefits programs and the criminal justice system. In addition, the order directs the Commerce Department to create guidance for watermarking AI-generated content to mitigate the spread of AI-generated misinformation. Read the full executive order.

Authorities in Dickson County have settled a First Amendment lawsuit for $125,000 filed by a man who said he was arrested over a disparaging social media post about a law enforcement officer killed in the line of duty, News Channel 9 reports. Joshua Andrew Garton was arrested in 2021 after posting a meme depicting two people urinating on a gravestone with a photo of a Dickson County sheriff’s officer who was fatally shot in 2018. The officer's face was pasted into the image. Garton was charged with harassment and jailed for almost two weeks until a Dickson County judge dismissed the charges. Garton's attorneys, who filed a federal lawsuit in Nashville, said Monday the settlement compensated Garton for malicious prosecution, false arrest, and violations of his First Amendment rights.

A judge in Kansas blocked a state law Monday requiring healthcare providers to tell patients that medication abortion can be reversed and that abortion is linked to breast cancer, reports Reuters. Judge K. Christopher Jayaram of the District Court of Johnson County said the law, which passed in April, violated doctors' right to free speech and patients' right to abortion, which the state's highest court recognized in 2019. Jayaram's order is a preliminary injunction and will remain in place while he considers a lawsuit by abortion providers and Planned Parenthood.

The widow of audio engineer Mark Capps is suing Metro Nashville and the police officer who shot and killed Capps at his home in January, reports the Tennessean. The lawsuit contends the Nashville Police Department fostered a "culture of fear, violence and impunity" among its officers and failed to adequately reform its policies and practices to prevent mental health-related police shootings. In January, three Nashville SWAT officers responded after Capps threatened to kill himself and his family. Capps was shot after he opened the front door once the officers were on his porch. The lawsuit challenges MNPD's narrative that Capps was armed.

United Auto Workers (UAW) President Shawn Fain announced today a new contract between autoworkers and GM and suspended the stand-up strike in effect for the three largest U.S. automakers, reports the Tennessean. UAW reached a tentative agreement with Ford on Wednesday and another with Stellantis on Saturday. If ratified, Fain said GM salaried workers will be given a 25% general wage increase and the return of cost of living adjustments. Ford, G.M. and Stellantis have announced car prices would increase to maintain their profits. The GM assembly plant in Spring Hill is GM's largest in North America with nearly 4,000. According to the Tennessee Economic and Community Development department, the state is the number one auto employer in the southeast.