Tennessee Attorney General Jonathan Skrmetti has sent letters to Walgreens, CVS and Rite Aid seeking confirmation that they will not sell or dispense the abortion-inducing drug mifepristone in Tennessee. Skrmetti says the move is consistent with the law as enacted by the General Assembly. Walgreens previously said it would not distribute mifepristone in 20 states, including six that border Tennessee.

Memphis city council members yesterday voted in favor of a measure designed to address police reform in the city on its first reading, WREG reports. But community members and reform advocates were upset that the version of the “Tyre Nichols Justice in Policing Ordinance” approved did not include a number of provisions approved in separate reform measures last week as reported by the Commercial Appeal. Council leadership said combining the reforms into one ordinance would clear up any ambiguity about the changes in the future. An ordinance dealing with the appropriate methods of enforcing traffic violations was tabled for the second time. Both ordinances will be up for consideration again at the next council meeting on April 4.

Sherrard Roe Voigt & Harbison officials have announced that the Nashville-based firm will relocate its offices to the midtown area of the city, the Nashville Post reports. The firm currently occupies space in the Pinnacle at Symphony Place building in the SoBro (south of Broadway) area of town. It will move to the Broadwest office tower at 1600 West End Ave., where it will occupy more than 32,000 square feet on the 17th and 18th floors. It will join Baker Donelson and Adams and Reese there. A move date was not announced. The firm is the third occupant of The Pinnacle to depart. Bass Berry & Sims and Pinnacle Financial Partners previously announced they would relocate to Nashville Yards.

The Mount Pleasant Commission has appointed longtime Columbia attorney Kevin S. Latta as the city's new municipal judge. Latta was selected from 11 applicants for the vacant position and was sworn in by the Hon. Caleb Bayless, 22nd Judicial District Circuit Court judge, in a brief ceremony on Feb. 27. Latta previously served as both an assistant district attorney general and as an assistant public defender. Most recently the Cumberland School of Law grad has served as an associate attorney at the Columbia firm Parks, Bryant & Snyder PLLC, where he will maintain his private practice while serving in the part-time judicial position. “I am simultaneously humbled an honored by the faith the mayor and commissioners have placed in me, and I look forward to operating an open, fair and expedient city court which reflects the values of this wonderful community,” Latta said.

Metro Nashville council members are scrambling to see how best to deal with the recently passed state legislation that cuts their number in half, Axios Nashville reports. Several council members have submitted proposals to the Metro Planning Department asking for it to draw maps with either 15, 16 or 17 districts. The remainder of the 20 seats under each would be at-large filled county wide. The city has also filed suit to block the law from taking effect before the 2023 election.

The federal judiciary is preparing to hire a chief information officer, a position the Government Accountability Office has said would bring needed oversight to its tech projects, Reuters reports. As part of a $9.1 billion budget request, the Administrative Office of the U.S. Courts told Congress it planned to hire a CIO, citing a "need for a strengthened role for IT leadership" within the judiciary.

Women are continuing to break barriers in the legal profession each day, and law school enrollment is no different, Above the Law reports. There are now more women in law school than ever before and they outnumber men for the seventh year in a row. The latest data from Enjuris, an independent legal resource, also shows that 16 of the top 20 schools (as ranked by U.S. News) had more women enrolled than men in 2022. And the majority of law schools had more female attendees than male attendees last year.

An attorney from Kansas City is seeking to do away with Tennessee’s professional privilege tax according to the Tennessee Journal. Thomas West has filed suit in Sumner County challenging the $400 tax for lawyers, investment advisers and lobbyists. He argues in the suit that the annual fee is “arbitrary, capricious and wholly unreasonable.” In 2021, Sumner County was designated as the court of origin for civil cases in which the plaintiff lives out of state. The case will be heard by a three-judge panel. In recent years, the state has eliminated the tax for other professions. The TBA is continuing its lobbying efforts to have the tax eliminated for Tennessee-licensed lawyers.

At a news conference Friday, the family of Tyre Nichols joined the family of Gershun Freeman in calling for justice for Freeman, who died after a “physical altercation” with officers at the Shelby County Correctional Facility. Shortly before the news conference, the families and attorneys, including noted civil rights attorney Benjamin Crump, met with Shelby County District Attorney Steve Mulroy, who has recused himself from the case. The investigation is being handled by Nashville District Attorney Glenn Funk. His office released video earlier this month showing Freeman being punched, kicked and pepper sprayed after running out of his cell. Eventually, officers can be seen kneeling on his upper back, the Commercial Appeal reports.

Recent episodes of Legal Services Corporation’s "Talk Justice" podcast have featured conversations with tech experts, attorneys and directors of innovative legal solutions — all focused on expanding access to justice through technology. Topics include using remote partnerships to develop a court forms database, utilizing a virtual assembly line to accelerate access to justice projects, an overview of the LSC’s Innovations in Technology Conference, and a new technology fellowship for judicial innovation. Check these and other episodes on Spotify, Apple Podcasts, Stitcher and other popular podcast platforms.