The TBA Young Lawyers Division recently concluded the application process for the 2021-2022 bar year. Congratulations to Billy Leslie of Nashville who will take office as president of the group in June and Brittany Faith of Chattanooga who will serve as president-elect and then take over as president in June 2022. Other officers and district representatives were deemed to be elected because they did not draw opposition. A number of other positions will need to be filled by the YLD Board. Those interested in serving in any of these posts should apply online by March 5. Get all election details here.

Bradley Arant Boult Cummings attorney and TBA member Alé Dalton has been selected as a 2021 Leadership Council on Legal Diversity Pathfinder. The LCLD Pathfinder program aims to increase diversity at the leadership levels of the nation’s law firms and corporate legal departments. As a Pathfinder, Dalton will connect with other high-potential attorneys for a year-long professional development series focused on leadership and relationship building. Dalton is part of Bradley’s Nashville office and her practice covers a wide range of transactional, operational and regulatory healthcare matters. She is a member of the TBA Young Lawyers Division and a TBA Health Law Section member.

Belmont University College of Law associate professor Dr. Deborah R. Farringer was recently featured in an interview by the personal finance website WalletHub. In the feature — “2021’s Healthiest & Unhealthiest Cities in America” — Farringer discusses how to prioritize one’s health, what to look for in a “healthy” city, and how local authorities can improve healthcare systems. First, she says, just get moving. Find what works for your schedule and environment and do it. She also encourages more attention be paid to nutritional labels to eat more healthfully. For those looking for a healthy city, Farringer recommends evaluating three elements: environmental factors, community health factors and health care delivery system factors. 

A documentary about how the right to vote has evolved in the United States, specifically in Tennessee and the South, is now available from Nashville Public Television. The program, "The Fight to Vote: Black Disenfranchisement in Tennessee," focuses mainly on the challenges poor and Black people faced getting access to the ballot box in the decades after the Civil War, but also aims to spur discussion about voting rights today and why voter turnout remains low in some parts of the country. The program also features the story of civil rights activist and NAACP president Elbert Williams, who was murdered in Brownsville in 1940.

The Tennessee Supreme Court ruled today that a lawsuit filed by Elvis Presley Enterprises Inc. against the city of Memphis and Memphis Basketball is not barred by res judicata. The court remanded the case to the Court of Appeals for further review. In 2014, Presley Enterprises undertook a project to redevelop Graceland and received tax benefits from the city. Memphis Basketball objected to the financial incentives, arguing a new arena there would violate its agreement with the city. Presley Enterprises filed suit, but the action was dismissed after the chancery court found that all administrative remedies had not been exhausted. Presley Enterprises later filed this second suit seeking a declaratory judgment that the tax financing does not violate the arena agreement. 

Legal organizations in Knoxville will hold a virtual Veterans Legal Advice Clinic on March 10 from noon to 2 p.m. EST. The clinic is a general advice and referral clinic which serves between 20 and 30 veterans each month with a wide variety of legal issues. To volunteer, sign up online. For questions, contact Access to Justice Committee Co-Chairs Spencer Fair or Luke Ihnen.

Frost Brown Todd, a Midwest-based law firm with offices in Nashville, announced this week that it will open a new office in Washington, D.C., to house its regulatory and public policy practices. The office will operate virtually due to the pandemic and move to a permanent address when quarantines are lifted. The firm’s regulatory attorneys advise clients in a wide range of sectors including food and drug administration, agriculture, consumer safety, highway safety, immigration, intellectual property, real estate and opportunity zones.

The ABA House of Delegates approved 31 wide-ranging measures at its Monday meeting, including a resolution that urges the federal government to implement programs to assist law graduates and law students experiencing financial hardship due to their student loans.  Other topics considered include the deadline by which law schools must report employment data for recent law graduates, greater privacy for judges' personal information, increased well-being initiatives, and immigration policies and practices. In addition, delegates agreed to new limits that will govern the type of resolutions that will be allowed to come before the body in the future. Under the new rule, resolutions must advance one or more of the ABA’s four goals.  The ABA, Reuters Legal and Law.com report on these actions.

An East Tennessee man is facing federal charges after the U.S. Justice Department says he pushed against police lines and threw a flag pole at officers during the Jan. 6 attack on the U.S. Capitol. According to WATE, the FBI has investigated the social media accounts and online activity of Joseph Lino Padilla of Cleveland and charged him with obstruction of law enforcement, assaulting a law enforcement officer, entering/remaining in a restricted building, physical violence in a restricted building, and violent entry and disorderly conduct on Capitol grounds. Padilla responded to the charges saying the group in the Capitol that day was “trying to Restore the Republic after being attacked by the cops, who struck first.”

The Tennessee Supreme Court is considering a case that could pave the way for nearly 200 people to be released from prison for crimes they committed as juveniles, Nashville Public Radio reports. The case involves Tyshon Booker, who was 16 years old when he was sentenced to life in prison for shooting and killing someone during a botched robbery in Knoxville. He was convicted of first-degree murder and sentenced to serve at least 51 years of a life sentence. Advocates of juvenile sentencing reform argue these sentences run afoul of a recent U.S. Supreme Court case that found teens must have a “meaningful opportunity” for life after prison. So far, no Tennessee court has recognized the new standard, arguing the law in question allowed no chance of release while Tennessee permits parole after 51 years.