The Legal Aid Society of Middle Tennessee and the Cumberlands (LAS) on Wednesday raised over $140,000 at its fifth annual Breakfast of Champions. This event brings together Middle Tennessee’s legal community and businesses in support of LAS. The funds raised at this event directly impact the low-income and vulnerable communities of Middle Tennessee by providing free community education and legal representation against illegal evictions, domestic violence, predatory lending and elder abuse.

The annual Robert Ballow Excellence in Writing Awards were presented to Nashville School of Law students on March 22. Eight students were recognized for their performance in the Rigorous Writing Exercise program. The Rigorous Writing Exercise is a project all Nashville School of Law students embark on as a requirement of graduation. Working with a volunteer mentor from the legal community, students research and write a 15–20-page paper on the topic of their choice. First prize went to Allison Wilson’s “Felony Voter Disenfranchisement: Putting an End to Second-Class Citizenship in Tennessee with the Implementation of Automatic Voter Restoration.” Visit NSL’s website for a complete list of the winners, their mentors and to read their submissions.

“Show Cause,” a Memphis Law School podcast, released a new episode featuring Prof. Daniel Kiel talking about his forthcoming book, “The Transition: Interpreting Justice from Thurgood Marshall to Clarence Thomas.” Kiel makes the case that not only did this particular transition shift the ideological balance on the court, it was inextricably entangled with the persistent American dilemma of race. He explores the lives and writings of the first two African American justices on the court, touching on lasting consequences for understandings of American citizenship as well as the central currents of Black political thought over the past century.

The U.S. Justice Department is appealing a decision by U.S. District Judge Reed O'Connor in Fort Worth, Texas, that blocked the federal government from enforcing requirements that insurance plans cover preventive care, including screenings for certain cancers and pre-exposure prophylaxis against HIV (PrEP). Reuters reports that if the judge’s ruling is not paused or overturned on appeal, insurers will be able to charge patients copays and deductibles for such services in new insurance plans.

The family of Gershun Freeman has filed a wrongful death lawsuit against Shelby County Sheriff Floyd Bonner, Chief Jailer Kirk Fields and the Shelby County government, the Commercial Appeal reports. Freeman was an inmate at the Shelby County Jail who died after corrections officers pepper sprayed him, hit him and kneeled on his back for multiple minutes. The lawsuit accuses corrections officers and Shelby County leadership of disregarding the jail's standard procedure, interfering with the Tennessee Bureau of Investigation and displaying a pattern of violence against inmates.

The deadline has been extended to April 21 for nominations for the Fourth Estate Award: Honoring Courageous Reporting on Justice and the Law. The Tennessee Bar Association this year will again honor the good works of Tennessee journalists through this award, which includes a $250 honorarium for the winner. The TBA strongly supports our freedom of expression under the First Amendment, as exercised by lawyers on behalf of their clients and by journalists on behalf of the public, and it particularly wants to recognize and encourage journalists who promote public understanding of the rule of law and our system of justice through vigorous exercise of their First Amendment rights. Prior winners include the WSMV News 4 I-Team, Steven Hale of the Nashville Scene, the Bristol Herald Courier, Marc Perrusquia’s work for the Daily Memphian and the Institute for Public Service Reporting, and the Kingsport Times News. Read more about this year's award process.

The Tennessee Bar Association’s online renewal for 2023-2024 is now open! Renew your membership to continue your access to CLE programming with three pre-paid credits, TBA’s Practice Management Center, free online legal research through Fastcase, and timely information through TBA Today, TBA Podcasts and the Tennessee Bar Journal. Be sure to check out the new career center and watch this fall for TBA’s Group Health Insurance enrollment. Attorneys not participating in the TBA's firm billing program can login and access renewal information through their MyTBA dashboard.

The TBA will hold its annual Public Service Awards Ceremony as a brunch this year. The event will take place April 15 from 10 a.m. to noon CDT at the Margaritaville Hotel, 425 John Lewis Way, in downtown Nashville. The event is free, but please RSVP. That evening, the Corporate Counsel Pro Bono Initiative Gala will be held at the Nashville Public Library’s Main Branch at 615 Church St. in downtown Nashville. The event will run from 6-8:30 p.m. with a program at 7:15 p.m., and include a cocktail supper, live music and award recognitions. See details for the day or RSVP for the Public Service Awards Ceremony or get tickets for the Corporate Counsel Gala.

The University of Memphis School of Law recently announced that retired judge Bernice B. Donald, now a senior judge on the U.S. Court of Appeals for the Sixth Circuit, will serve as the school’s 2023 commencement speaker. The graduation will be held on May 13 at the Orpheum Theater in downtown Memphis beginning at 3 p.m. CDT. Memphis Law Dean Katharine T. Schaffzin praised Donald for being a trailblazer throughout her career saying, “The example she has set in the legal profession and in her community is one that our students can learn from and aspire to throughout their legal careers.”

Aspiring lawyers will be able to take the Law School Admission Test (LSAT) at home or at a testing center starting in August. The Law School Admission Council, which designs and administers the test, will offer most test takers a choice after moving the exam exclusively online in May 2020 due to the COVID-19 pandemic and restrictions on in-person gatherings. Prior to that, the LSAT was only offered in-person. Read more about the change from Reuters.