Join the TBA for a free administrative law webinar on Sept. 26 from noon until 1 p.m. CDT. “An Administrative Law Primer for the Uninitiated” will cover administrative law basics and best practices and will be led by Lincoln Memorial University Duncan School of Law Associate Professor Akram Faizer. The event is free and open to all TBA members, however, there is a filing fee of $50 to receive CLE credit. Learn more and register here.

Thompson's Station attorney Nichole Dusché was sworn in as Spring Hill's new city municipal judge on Monday after receiving a majority vote from aldermen last month, the Columbia Daily Herald reports. She takes the place of former city judge Deana Hood, who had served in the position since 2018. Hood won the May 3 primary for Tennessee Circuit Court.

Adnan Syed, a Baltimore man convicted of the 1999 murder of Hae Min Lee, was yesterday released to home detention after a judge vacated his conviction, the ABA Journal reports. Syed, whose case was covered in the hit podcast Serial, was ordered to be released by Judge Melissa M. Phinn of Baltimore after prosecutors said the defense was never given information about two “alternative suspects.” Prosecutors said in the motion they wanted to vacate Syed’s conviction, but they would decide later whether they will move to drop the case. Their decision will depend on the results of their ongoing investigation, they said.

Supporters of expanding school vouchers in Tennessee argued Monday before a three-judge panel that the program does not take away from families who want their children to remain in public schools, the Associated Press reports. The group is asking the court to dismiss a suit challenging the statute’s legality. Opponents, which include Nashville, Shelby County and a handful of families, have been fighting the program since it won legislative approval in 2019.

Tennessee Attorney General Jonathan Skrmetti has joined Montana’s attorney general in heading up a coalition of 24 states in alerting three major credit card companies that a new “merchant category code” created to process firearms purchases from gun stores potentially violates consumer protection and antitrust laws. A letter from the coalition to American Express, Mastercard and Visa states that the monitoring and tracking of firearms purchases establishes a “list of gun buyers” and creates a risk that consumer information might be obtained and misused. “Giant financial companies must not use their combined market power to circumvent our representative democracy,” Skrmetti said in a release. Read more from the AG’s office.  

University of Tennessee College of Law graduates Winston Williams Jr. and Sharon Lee were among 24 alumni honored Friday by the university for their promise, achievement, service and distinction. Lee was presented the Distinguished Alumnus/Alumna Award — the single highest alumni award given — for her achievements in a career focused on seeking justice, first as a small-town lawyer and later on the Tennessee Supreme Court. Williams, a colonel in the U.S. Army, was awarded the Alumni Professional Achievement Award for his service to the country that culminated in his appointment as head of the Department of Law at the United States Military Academy.

The TBA’s Court Square Series is headed for Clarksville on Nov. 2. This three-hour program will provide attorneys with the latest developments in multiple areas of the law. Kick off the afternoon with a lunch and learn networking session with TBA leadership. Other substantive CLE topics will be announced soon. Programming will run from 11:30 a.m. until 3:15 p.m. CDT at Clarksville’s Customs House Museum. Learn more and register here.

The TBA hopes to obtain your input in choosing the second book for its quarterly book club. The three suggested books for the second quarter continue the theme of race relations and divides. Voting is open until Sept. 30. Once the title is determined, we will notify participants and provide more details on participation in the virtual book club. Learn more and vote on the books here. 

Members of the TBA Book Club met virtually today to hear from Law Professor Derrick Beetso, director of Indian gaming and tribal self-governance programs at the Sandra Day O’Connor College of Law at Arizona State University. Beetso, a citizen of the Navajo Nation, previously served as the general counsel for the National Congress of American Indians and as an attorney-advisor for the Bureau of Indian Affairs. He shared his insights about David Grann’s book “Killers of the Flower Moon,” which chronicles a string of murders that plagued the Osage Indian nation of Oklahoma in the 1920s, shortly after oil was discovered on their land. The murders became one of the FBI’s first major homicide investigations.

TBA President Tasha Blakney participated in Constitution Day at the Howard H. Baker Jr. U.S. Courthouse in Knoxville. Judges, elected officials, state and federal officers, law school representatives, and many other community leaders took turns reading a portion of the U.S. Constitution in a public ceremony. Constitution Day is celebrated each year on Sept. 17.