Two hundred sixty-six pretrial detainees and jail employees at 201 Poplar have been tested for COVID-19, with more than 70% testing positive, the Daily Memphian reports. According to numbers provided by Shelby County Health Department Director Dr. Alisa Haushalter on Wednesday, of those 266, 155 inmates and 37 employees were positive. Shelby County Sheriff Floyd Bonner said detainees who tested positive had been quarantined in a sterilized environment and that all of them were asymptomatic. The inmates who tested positive are in the jail on felony charges with the most serious charge being first-degree murder. Two jail employees are in the hospital and Jeremy Smith, a 201 Poplar corrections deputy, died from complications of the virus on April 21.

The impact of the COVID-19 pandemic has been detrimental for so many, but, according to Massachusetts attorney and author of the LawSites legal blog, Bob Ambrogi, the legal profession might be changed for the better. In an article he wrote for Above the Law, Ambrogi lists seven ways in which the pandemic has changed the practice of law. That list includes changes to legal education, an acceleration of innovation and online services in the courts and lawyers who are more likely to embrace technology rather than fear it. Ambrogi writes that he believes many of these changes will be for the “betterment of the legal system and those it is intended to serve.” Read Ambrogi’s “7 Ways The Pandemic Will Forever Change Law Practice” article at Above the Law.  

Tennessee Gov. Bill Lee issued an executive order yesterday allowing for the opening of all businesses except recreational services on May 1 after the state’s safer-at-home order expires in 89 of state’s 95 counties. The state’s six most populated counties are excluded from the order. According to the Nashville Post, the order restricts social gatherings of 10 people or more, not including faith-based services, and urges residents to stay at home except for essential travel. Residents are encouraged to wear a cloth face mask when near others in public. The order will expire on May 29 unless extended. Though Lee announced yesterday that personal services would remain closed, he announced today that hair salons and barbers can open next Wednesday, News Channel 5 reports. Bowling alley and bars along with concert venues, skating rinks and a host of other businesses will remain shuttered statewide until May 29. Another order issued today affects dental businesses.

As a result of bar exam delays, recent law graduates in New York state will be authorized to engage in the “limited practice of law” under the supervision of a more experienced lawyer, Law.com reports. The state’s chief judge said yesterday that recent law graduates who had planned to take the bar exam this summer will be temporarily allowed to practice law under the supervision of a qualified attorney until testing delays and capacity constraints are resolved. She had previously delayed the July exam to early September. The policy applies to any first-time exam taker irrespective of graduation year. Those participating must pass the exam by the end of 2021. Supervising attorneys must have been admitted to practice for at least three years.

U.S. Attorney General William Barr on Monday ordered federal prosecutors to identify coronavirus-related restrictions from state and local governments “that could be violating the constitutional rights and civil liberties of individual citizens.” The memo to U.S. attorneys states that if an ordinance “crosses the line from an appropriate exercise of authority to stop the spread of COVID-19 into an overbearing infringement of constitutional and statutory protections, the Department of Justice may have an obligation to address that overreach in federal court.” The move comes two weeks after the department filed a statement of interest in a civil case in Mississippi, siding with a Christian church where local officials had tried to stop Holy Week services broadcast to congregants sitting in their cars in the parking lot. The Times Free Press has the story from the Associated Press.

As companies start planning their reopening, business groups are pushing Congress to limit liability from potential lawsuits filed by workers and customers infected by the coronavirus, the Associated Press reports. President Donald Trump has floated the idea of shielding businesses from lawsuits and U.S. Senate Majority Leader Mitch McConnell said Monday that the issue would be a priority when lawmakers return. The debate comes as lawsuits are already starting to surface. WMCA News 5 has the story, which looks at suits that already have been filed and the issues involved.

All inmates at the Trousdale Turner Correctional Facility will be tested for COVID-19, the Tennessee Department of Corrections announced today. The Tennessean reports that of the 3,810 inmates tested so far at the facility, 93 are positive for the virus. Across the state, 756 inmates at seven facilities have tested positive. The vast majority of them are asymptomatic. Eight inmates were hospitalized, TDOC reported.

After six weeks of working from home, state legislative employees are headed back to the office on Monday, but under new protocols, the Tennessean reports. Those protocols will keep the Cordell Hull office building in Nashville closed to the public. Visitors, including lobbyists and constituents, will need to make an appointment with legislators to gain entry into the office, but few legislators are likely to be in the building for the next few weeks. The protocols also call for employees to wear masks, maintain six feet distance between other people and to wash their hands frequently. The legislature recessed on March 19 and will resume session on June 1, but will likely hold committee meetings in late May. The reopening comes as thousands of the state's executive branch employees have been told to work they will continue working from home until May 26, the Tennessee Journal reports.

The Pandemic Response Accountability Committee, a panel of two dozen federal inspectors general charged with coordinating oversight of the coronavirus relief effort, has named Robert Westbrooks as its director. Westbrooks, a certified public accountant and an attorney, previously served as inspector general of a federal retirement benefit program, and has held senior positions at the Small Business Administration, Department of Transportation and U.S. Postal Service. The committee is also being led by acting chair Michael Horowitz, the Justice Department’s inspector general, Politico reports. In addition to naming its leadership, the group unveiled a website that catalogues its ongoing review of the federal response and provides an option to submit allegations of waste, fraud, abuse or retaliation against whistleblowers; feedback about the government's response; and a clearinghouse for all U.S. attorney statements and filings related to the pandemic.

Finance Commissioner Butch Eley announced a state hiring freeze in a memo to department heads today, the Tennessee Journal reports. Departments are also instructed to put off equipment purchases not related to the COVID-19 response or work-from-home initiatives. Exceptions include “mission critical areas necessary for the public welfare.” Promotions, demotions, and transfers within agencies are not covered by the freeze unless they lead to an increase in the employee count. Eley writes that the “economic effects of the worldwide public health crisis brought on by COVID-19 will ripple through the state’s economy and have a negative impact on the state budget” thereby requiring “each agency begin to restrain discretionary spending … until further notice.”