Members of the Memphis City Council have begun the process of eliminating the elected office of city court clerk and reinstating the Division of Traffic Violations under city administration, the Commercial Appeal reports. Council members are considering allowing voters to decide next year whether to recreate the elected position. City attorneys advised the Memphis City Council that the 1975 ordinance that created the office of city court clerk was never formerly adopted as a charter amendment. City Court Clerk Myron Lowery, whose term ends Jan. 1, 2024, said he had not been informed of the vote.

Farrar & Bates LLP announced the firm will transition to be called Farrar, Bates & Berexa. Kristin Berexa, Laura Hight and Casey Crane have been named new partners in the firm following the retirement of Bill Bates. “I am extraordinarily pleased to have Kristin, Laura, and Casey join me in leading the firm as we continue to provide excellent service to our clients,” said founder Russ Farrar in a press release. Berexa joined Farrar & Bates in 1994 after serving as an assistant attorney general with the office of the Tennessee attorney general. Hight leads the firm’s real estate litigation department while Crane focuses on defending local governments and their employees in civil rights, employment and GTLA matters.

A group of parents whose children attend The Covenant School in Nashville where a deadly shooting killed three students and three teachers in March filed a motion Wednesday seeking to keep the shooter’s writings from public release, WSMV reports. The motion comes after Nashville police denied public records requests, claiming the material was protected from release during an open investigation. Last week, House Republican Caucus Chairman Jeremy Faison sent a letter to Metro Nashville Police Chief John Drake signed by 66 caucus members calling for the release of the writings, which are said to include the shooter’s other intended targets. In addition, The Tennessee Firearms Association, Star News Digital Media and the National Police Association have filed lawsuits seeking their release.

Gov. Bill Lee signed legislation Wednesday to disband community led police oversight boards funded by taxpayers throughout the state, as reported by the Tennessean. In April, the House voted 67-19 to replace them with police advisory and review committees. Under the new legislation, review board members will be appointed by city mayors and approved by municipal governments. Review boards will only be allowed to review department-led investigations. 

Tennessee Gov. Bill Lee continues to sign legislative proposals into law, recently approving new regulations on Delta 8 products, protecting gun manufacturers from lawsuits and reorganizing Nashville’s Music City Center convention board. Three members of the governor’s cabinet now have automatic non-voting seats on board, WPLN reports. One bill the governor has not yet signed is a measure restructuring local police oversight boards, according to News Channel 5.

A federal judge in Virginia has ruled that a law banning licensed federal firearms dealers from selling handguns to young adults under 21 violates the Second Amendment and is unconstitutional. The ruling, if not overturned, would allow dealers to sell handguns to 18, 19 and 20-year-olds, the Associated Press reports. The judge stated that many of the rights and responsibilities of citizenship are granted at the age of 18 and gun ownership should not be any different.

Lewis Brisbois Bisgaard & Smith has named New York attorney Gregory Katz as the firm’s new managing partner, Bloomberg Law reports. Katz replaces firm founding partner Robert Lewis, who stepped down last week after 110 lawyers left to join a new venture launched by two former practice chairs. Lewis Brisbois has offices throughout the U.S. including Nashville. In January, 32 cybersecurity lawyers left the firm to join Constangy, Brooks, Smith & Prophete, which also has offices in Nashville.

The Memphis Police Department is beginning a town hall series, relaunching a podcast and working on what the department calls "a special project" to make Memphians more aware of department initiatives, the Commercial Appeal reports. The projects are meant to "foster more open lines of communication” to address crime issues and encourage discussion of solutions to move the city forward. The efforts follow a commitment by department leaders to communicate more consistently with the Memphis community after the death of Tyre Nichols. 

The Covenant School in Nashville is asking a Davidson County court not to release some of the writings of a shooter who killed six at the school last month, NewsChannel 5 reports. Attorneys for the school filed motions in two of the three lawsuits requesting that the assailant's writings not be released. The filings suggest the documents may include sensitive information, including schematics of the facility and confidential information about school employees and students.

Former Memphis attorney Leigh M. Chiles pled guilty in connection with a scheme to defraud an estate over which she was appointed to serve as executrix, U.S. Attorney Kevin G. Ritz recently announced. Chiles was appointed executrix in 2018 and was responsible for collecting estate assets and distributing them to heirs and beneficiaries. In violation of her fiduciary duty, Chiles used approximately $124,000 in estate funds to write checks to herself and to pay her personal credit card. The ABA Journal reports that Chiles had worked at Baker Donelson in Memphis but was no longer with the firm when the criminal activity occurred. She was suspended from practicing law in July 2018. Chiles, currently of Little Rock, will face sentencing before Memphis-based federal judge John T. Fowlkes on July 17.