Nashville firefighter Joshua Lipscomb is set to receive a $450,000 settlement after he was suspended from his city job for calling Nashville Council members “white supremacists” in a social media post, the Tennessean reports. Lipscomb was suspended for 16 days after a Nashville Fire Department panel determined his post violated policy. He then filed suit against the fire department in August, claiming the suspension was an unconstitutional restriction of his right to free speech. Lipscomb was represented by Tricia Herzfeld of Branstetter, Stranch & Jennings and Nashville civil rights attorney Abby Rubenfeld of Rubenfeld Law Office. “You don’t give up your rights to free speech just because you work for the government,” Herzfeld said in a release. Per the conditions of the settlement, Lipscomb must resign from his job, and the fire department policies at issue in the suit have been changed.  

Shelby County District Attorney Steve Mulroy said yesterday that the decision on whether to file charges against police officers who shoot someone will no longer be made by assistant district attorneys, the Commercial Appeal reports. Instead, that decision will now fall to the county’s new Justice Review Unit – an independent body assembled to look at previous convictions and sentences to make sure they were correct and justly given. Mulroy announced the change during a speech marking his first 100 days in office. Mulroy also rebuked the idea that the Shelby County justice system is a “revolving door” during the speech, citing longer prison sentences and more juveniles tried in adult court as causes of people being repeat offenders.

Tennessee Supreme Court Justice Sharon G. Lee recently presented awards to employees in the Tennessee Appellate Court’s Eastern Division for their years of service. The following employees were recognized: Missy McConkey, 25 years; Renee Hammond, 20 years; Jennifer Rosser, 15 years; Sally Goade, Tammy Capps and Rebekah Bradley, 10 years; and Daniel Parkhurst, Amy Sosinski and Lilas Taslimi, 5 years. The Administrative Office of the Courts has more pictures.

Throw on your best holiday sweater, grab some eggnog and settle in for a special holiday episode of the TBA BarBuzz podcast! Nashville attorney Courtney Leyes of Fisher Phillips co-hosts this month’s episode to discuss upcoming events at the TBA, legal news and special holiday traditions. BarBuzz is part of the TBA Podcast Network and is available on the TBA’s website or wherever you listen to podcasts.

The last of the so-called T-14 law schools has made its decision about participating in the U.S. News & World Report rankings, Law.com reports. The University of Virginia School of Law will also boycott participation in the process. A number of other schools also have announced they will follow suit. These include Campbell University Law School, George Mason University Antonin Scalia Law School, NYU School of Law and University of New Hampshire Franklin Pierce School of Law. Law.com reports on each of these. (Subscription required)

Effective Jan. 1, 2023, there will be a new county court for Lafayette County, Mississippi. The county has created the court now that it has exceeded 50,000 in population in the most recent national census. The judge for the new court will be Tiffany Kilpatrick. Offices will be located on the third floor of the Lafayette County Courthouse, 1 Courthouse Drive, Ste. 101, Oxford, MS 38655. The court can be reached at 662-234-4954 or by fax at 662-232-2883. All filing fees are the same as the circuit court and filings will remain at the same location, the main floor of the courthouse. Read more about the court in the attached FAQ from the county.

The Nashville law firm of Tune Entrekin & White is honoring local artist Phil Ponder with a display of his artwork in the firm’s new Capitol View office. Ponder uses watercolors and his own mathematical technique to create detail-oriented work that often represents buildings down to the exact number of bricks. A Navy veteran and former Nashville Metro councilman, Ponder did not begin painting until "retirement" — yet still has more than 700 works to his name. Tom White, the firm's managing partner, said that “Phil Ponder is a Nashville Icon and we were pleased to recognize him with this event.” Ponder was on hand for the unveiling and to sign copies of his book “Phil Ponder.”

The very first arguments for the Tennessee Workers’ Compensation Appeals Board took place at Belmont University College of Law in Nashville in 2016. The court announced today that it will return there on Jan. 27, 2023, for another set of arguments. The proceedings will begin at 9 a.m. CST. The docket is available here. The court will hear four cases: Acevedo v. Crown Paving, Earheart v. Central Transport, Stone v. Lowe’s Home Centers and Mitchell v. AECOM, d/b/a Shimmick Construction. Read more about the cases in a blog post from the court.

This year’s crop of new law students is the most diverse on record by a significant margin, new data from the American Bar Association shows. Reuters reports on the finding that the percentage of first-year law students who are racial or ethnic minorities jumped nearly 2% this year.

The TBA will close at noon CST tomorrow and remain closed through Monday in observance of the Christmas holiday. The office will reopen Tuesday at 8 a.m. There will be no issues of TBA Today published on Friday or Monday. Online CLE programming will remain available throughout the holidays. Don't miss our many Year End CLE programs!