Colorado lawyer Katrina M. Jones recently filed a petition for reinstatement. On Jan. 7, the Tennessee Board of Professional Responsibility notified Jones that she had not paid reinstatement fees or the professional privilege tax. The CLE Commission also notified her that she was not compliant with CLE requirements for 2018, 2019 and 2020. The board sent a second letter advising that if she did not respond by April 15, the petition would be dismissed. Jones did not respond so the Tennessee Supreme Court dismissed her petition on April 19.

Bradley Arant Boult Cummings and the Arts and Business Council of Greater Nashville have partnered together to present monthly Black-Owned Small Business and Nonprofit Legal Clinics. The clinics, held on the third Thursday of each month throughout 2021, are by appointment only and help provide accessible and affordable business-oriented legal services. Among other services, attorneys will provide corporate governance, review of contracts and guidance navigating local ordinances and state regulations. The next clinic will be held on May 20. Appointments can be made online.

A new episode of the TBA’s Legislative Updates Podcast is now streaming. In today’s episode, TBA Director of Public Policy and Government Affairs Berkley Schwarz and TBA lobbyist Brad Lampley of Adams and Reese discuss SB868/HB1130 that would create a statewide chancery court, successful efforts to help kill SB282/HB1386 that would have capped attorney’s fees in lawsuits brought by county officials and TBA-sponsored SB881/HB1190 concerning a conveyance to a trust, which has just passed the state House and Senate. Finally, they also discuss news regarding the professional privilege tax. Instead of reducing the tax gradually over the next four years, Senate and House leaders have instead opted to lay out a plan to completely eliminate the tax next year. Tune in to find out more on the TBA’s Facebook page, website or anywhere you listen to podcasts.

The Tennessee Supreme Court suspended 19 attorneys today for failure to pay the annual registration fee and/or file proof that client funds are being held in an IOLTA-compliant account. View the fee suspension order or the IOLTA suspension order. See the list of all lawyers suspended for fee and IOLTA violations in 2021 or access all administrative suspensions dating back to 2005.

The Tennessee Board of Law Examiners today released results from the February 2021 bar exam. Congratulations to all who passed! See the list of all those who were successful.

The American Bar Association announced this week that Nashville attorneys Randy Kinnard and Daina Bray are the recipients of two awards from the association’s Tort Trial and Insurance Practice Section. Kinnard will receive the Pursuit of Justice Award, given to attorneys who have shown outstanding merit and who excel in providing justice for all. He is a personal injury and medical malpractice attorney at Kinnard, Clayton & Beveridge. Bray will receive the section’s Animal Law Committee’s Excellence in the Advancement of Animal Law Award, which recognizes a committee member who, through commitment and leadership, has advanced the humane treatment of animals through the law. She is general counsel for the international nonprofit Mercy for Animals and vice chair of the TBA’s Animal Law Section.

The 25th Annual Labor & Employment Law Forum is going virtual over two days in May. The program will take place May 6-7, from 8:30 to 11:45 a.m. CDT each day. Full two-day registration as well as individual day registrations are available. Sessions will include case law updates, labor and employment issues in the COVID-19 era, what to expect from the Biden administration and an ethics update. The full two-day program will provide six hours of CLE credit (1 dual, 5 general).

The state Senate approved legislation last week that would reduce the amount of time a person must serve before becoming eligible for parole, the Tennessean reports. Under current law, a person convicted of first-degree murder and sentenced to life with the possibility of parole must serve 51 years in prison before being considered for release. Bipartisan legislation, sponsored by Sen. Janice Bowling, R-Tullahoma, and Rep. London Lamar, D-Memphis, would reduce that time to 25 years. No action has been taken on HB1532/SB0561 in the House yet.

Legislation restricting the governor’s ability to issue a state of emergency for more than 60 days is meeting different fates in the Senate and House this year, Tennessee Lookout reports. Sen. Ferrell Haile, R-Gallatin, sent his bill, SB859, to summer study, meaning it is on hold for the year. In the House, HB869 sponsored by Rep. Jason Zachary, R-Knoxville, was slated to be heard today in the House Finance, Ways and Means Committee. State law currently gives the governor wide authority to issue executive orders and suspend laws and regulations at his discretion. The bills would limit that power to 60 days. If at the end of that time, the governor wanted to extend an order, the General Assembly would have to approve it. The bills also would give the legislature the authority to end a state of emergency or executive order based on a public health emergency.

Legislation from Sen. Brian Kelsey, R-Germantown, and Rep. Michael Curcio, R-Dickson, that would ban local governments from filing lawsuits to challenge the constitutionality of state laws, was to have been re-considered by the Senate today after being rejected on Monday. The legislation, being offered as an amendment to HB1072/SB915 has now been moved to tomorrow's agenda. The legislation also would allow the state to file an interlocutory appeal in any case in which the constitutionality of a statute is challenged and stay any injunction issued by the court pending the final outcome of the appeal. TBA has been expressing concern to bill sponsors and committee members.

The day after the House passed its version, former Tennessee Supreme Court Chief Justice William Koch, now dean of the Nashville School of Law, told Tennessee Lookout that he is “not exactly sure what the statute is designed to fix.” Under current law, the state can make an interlocutory appeal if a judge places an injunction on a state law involved in a constitutional challenge. “What this [bill] does is say there is an automatic stay,” Koch said. In essence, he said, the legislation “takes the judges out of the equation.” He also said he thinks there is some question about the constitutionality of the proposal since it could “violate the separation of powers” by appearing to tell “courts how to try cases.”