Attorney General Herbert H. Slatery III has joined a federal lawsuit brought by a coalition of 20 state attorneys general against the Biden administration for ending Title 42, a public health policy that allows border officials to turn away migrants because of the COVID-19 pandemic. The complaint accuses the administration of violating the Administrative Procedure Act because it made the decision without considering states’ interests or input.” 

Senior Judge Robert E. Lee Davies last week found that Davidson County Circuit Court Judge Kelvin Jones acted illegally during his divorce proceedings, finding that he relied on "attorney/client privileged communications that were illegally obtained" during the proceedings. Davies also denied attempts by Jones to reverse the initial judgment in the divorce. Jones has denied any illegal activity and told the Tennessean that he disputed the wording in the published order but not the ruling itself.

Davidson County Chancellor Anne Martin this week rejected the town of Mason’s motion for a temporary injunction that would have slowed a financial takeover by the state comptroller, WPLN reports. In the ruling, Martin said that the comptroller’s office was within its authority to provide oversight to local governments in financial trouble. Earlier this month, the state issued a corrective action plan (CAP) to address financial woes. Local officials say the CAP keeps them from meeting the needs of residents in a timely manner and could cause the town to default on payments to outside entities. Van Turner, who is representing Mason, said the town’s lawsuit will continue to move forward.

The Tennessee State House yesterday approved criminal penalties for anyone distributing abortion medication through telehealth or mail services, codifying the distribution as a Class E felony punishable by a fine up to $50,000. The bill, which now awaits a Senate vote, prohibits any dispensation of the abortion pill except prescribing done in person by a physician, the Tennessean reports. The bill comes in response to a decision by the federal Food and Drug Administration to remove in-person requirements on abortion medication due to access concerns during the COVID-19 pandemic.

Four years after the General Assembly passed legislation creating a cold case office to delve into decades-old civil rights crimes, the office opened its doors in the Cordell Hull Building. The Tennessee Civil Rights Crimes, Information, Reconciliation, and Research Center is to act as a clearinghouse for information, based on requests to open cold cases from the U.S. Department of Justice, district attorneys general and the public. The center also will conduct a statewide survey of civil rights crime cold cases and direct cases for prosecution. Read more about the center’s legislative history from Tennessee Lookout.

After increasing to 134 in 2021, the national mean scaled score for the February Multistate Bar Examination has decreased to 132.6, which was the same as it was in 2020, the ABA Journal reports. And the number of test takers continued a downward trend — from 19,122 in 2020 to 16,759 in 2021 to 16,504 this year. Rosemary Reshetar, director of assessment and research for the National Conference of Bar Examiners, urged caution about reading too much into this year’s February scores. “There hasn’t been a consistent trend in February MBE results for the past several years,” she said.

The American Bar Association Standing Committee on Ethics and Professional Responsibility released a formal opinion this week to clarify the Model Rules of Professional Conduct as they relate to lawyer solicitation for new clients and “live person-to-person contact.” Based on Formal Opinion 501, attorneys not only must refrain from engaging in improper direct solicitation of potential clients, but also have an ethical responsibility to ensure that employees or others hired by the lawyers do not engage in such misconduct. The rule does permit solicitation if the contacted person is a lawyer, a family member or a close friend, or a person who routinely uses the types of services offered by the lawyer, and referrals from a third party who is not an employee also may be permissible. Read more from the ABA and the ABA Journal.

Need to catch up on the latest legal news, TBA events and upcoming programs? Listen to this month’s episode of the TBA BarBuzz podcast! TBA’s Kate Prince hosts the April episode with special co-host Ateia Aldridge, who is the Young Lawyers Division & Law Student Development Coordinator at the TBA. Kate and Ateia bring listeners all the big headlines from the Tennessee legal community and beyond. BarBuzz is part of the TBA Podcast Network and can be found on the TBA’s website or anywhere you listen to podcasts.

The University of Memphis Cecil C. Humphreys School of Law’s Clinical Training program has made U.S. News & World Report’s list of Top 50 programs. The program jumped up 20 spots since 2019 and claimed this year’s ranking of 46th best clinical training program in the country. Additionally, the Clinical Training program is ranked as a Top 25 program amongst public law schools, coming in at #21 in the latest rankings. The James S. Gilliland Legal Clinic is composed of several area-specific clinics, including the Medical-Legal Partnership Clinic, Elder Law Clinic, Mediation Clinic, Neighborhood Preservation Clinic and the Housing Adjudication Clinic. Read more on the clinics and the faculty and staff who run them.

Four Memphis attorneys have been nominated for awards from the National Bar Association Women Lawyers Division. Amber Floyd with the Memphis-Shelby County Airport Authority and Catherine Costict with Allstate Corporation are among the seven nominees for Outstanding In House Counsel. Janika White of the Walter Bailey Law Firm and Laquita Stokes of Stokes & Glass PLLC are among 11 nominated for the Outstanding Woman Lawyer Solo/Small Firm award. Winners will be announced during the NBA WLD 50th Anniversary Honors and Achievement Awards Breakfast on July 26 at the Memphis Convention Center. Read more from the NBA Region Six Facebook page.