Reuters reports that artificial intelligence can now outperform most law school graduates on the bar exam, according to a new study released yesterday. GPT-4, the upgraded AI model released this week by Microsoft-backed OpenAI, scored 297 on the bar exam in an experiment conducted by two law professors and two employees of legal technology company Casetext. That places GPT-4 in the 90th percentile of actual test takers and is high enough to be admitted to practice law in most states, the researchers found.

The Judicial Innovation Fellowship (JIF), an initiative of Georgetown University Law School’s Institute for Technology Law & Policy, is an 11-month fellowship for technology leaders to help transform justice across state, local, territorial and tribal courts. Applications for JIF fellows are open through April 7 at 3 p.m. EDT. One of the three JIF projects will be with the Hamilton County General Sessions Court and Hamilton County Mayor’s Office. The JIF fellow will audit and improve how courts and information technology departments share data to understand court patron experiences across government services, the criminal justice system, and court debt obligations in an effort to break cycles of debt, homelessness and criminal recidivism. 

The Judicial Conference of the United States is recommending that Congress create new district and court of appeals judgeships to meet workload demands in certain courts. The recommendation, approved Tuesday by the federal Judiciary’s national policy-making body, asks Congress to create two permanent judgeships in the courts of appeals and 66 permanent district court judgeships, convert seven temporary district court judgeships to permanent status, and extend two existing temporary district court judgeships for an additional five years. More information is available at www.uscourts.gov/judiciary-news.

The 21st edition of the Alimony Bench Book is now available. Published by the TBA’s Family Law Section, the book provides a ready resource for dealing with alimony cases in Tennessee. Current Family Law Section members can access their copy at no cost on the Family Law eCommunity page, but must be logged into their TBA account. Others may purchase an electronic copy for $25, a hard copy in loose-leaf format for $40, or a hard copy in a binder for $50 from the TBA Store.

Tennessee Attorney General Jonathan Skrmetti joined a coalition of 19 state attorneys general in filing an amicus brief asking the U.S. Supreme Court to hear Gregory Tucker vs. Faith Bible Chapel International. The case will test if the “ministerial exception” to the First Amendment was properly applied in a lawsuit challenging the hiring decisions of a faith-based Colorado school. Read more in a press release.

U.S. President Joe Biden yesterday issued an executive order designed to reinforce gun sale background checks. The order calls for greater enforcement of existing background check laws, promoting awareness of red flag laws and gun safety, and developing more resources for gun violence survivors. Read a fact sheet on the order from the White House.

Tennessee Right to Life is supporting a measure that would add two narrow exceptions to the state’s abortion law, WPLN reports. The group announced support for the change after working with legislators and doctors to craft new language that would allow doctors to terminate ectopic pregnancies and provide treatment for miscarriages. The exclusions are narrower than what was included in a bill that stalled last month.

The Bureau of Workers’ Compensation has extended the deadline for submitting nominations for the Sue Ann Head Award for Excellence in Workers’ Compensation. Nominations are now due March 22. Nominees should have contributed significantly to the success, overall fairness and efficiency of the workers' compensation system in one or more of the following areas: as an employer or employer’s representative, employee representative, service provider, claims professional, medical provider or legal professional. Read more or make a nomination on the bureau’s website.

PricewaterhouseCoopers LLP has introduced a chatbot service for its 4,000 lawyers, joining the ranks of professional services firms using artificial intelligence to boost productivity, Bloomberg Law reports. The project will be delivered through a 12-month partnership with AI startup Harvey. The firm said it is also looking to extend the service to its tax practice. “Harvey’s AI solution marks a huge shift in the way that tax and legal services will be delivered and consumed across the industry,” said Carol Stubbings, global tax and legal leader at PwC UK.

The U.S. government on Monday sued Rite Aid Corp., accusing the pharmacy chain of missing "red flags" as it illegally filled hundreds of thousands of prescriptions for controlled substances, including opioids. In a complaint filed in an Ohio federal court, the Department of Justice said Rite Aid repeatedly filled prescriptions from May 2014 to June 2019 that were medically unnecessary, for off-label use, or not issued in the usual course of professional practice. Pharmacists also are accused of ignoring “obvious” signs of misuse. Yahoo News has the story from Reuters.