The council of the ABA Section of Legal Education and Admissions to the Bar recently voted to allow law schools to count graduates who complete alternative pathways to licensure toward the minimum graduation rate needed for accreditation. The ABA Journal reports that the council’s Standards Committee recommended modernizing Standard 316. Council member Mary Lu Bilek said it was important to align the standard with what is happening across the country, where some states — including Nevada, Oregon, South Dakota and Utah — have or are considering alternatives to the bar exam. The move follows a 2025 report by the Committee on Legal Education and Admissions Reform, which found that innovative pathways such as supervised practice could help address access to justice and practice readiness.

The TBA International Law Section's annual forum — set for tomorrow in TBA's newly renovated CLE classroom — will provide an overview of the trade and investment landscape as it concerns Tennessee in 2026 and beyond. Programming will focus on Tennessee's foreign direct investment, global health perspectives and partnerships, international financing, global sales and supply chains, and more. Participants will have the opportunity for direct interactive discussions with speakers, and the chance to network, learn about best practices and chart a path to increase capacity for internationalization. Get more information and register here.

A three-judge state court panel has dismissed with prejudice a lawsuit filed by the NAACP challenging Tennessee’s newly redrawn congressional districts, according to the Nashville Banner. The lawsuit argued the General Assembly exceeded the scope of Gov. Bill Lee’s special session proclamation when it approved the maps, which divide Memphis into three congressional districts. The three-judge panel ruled that sovereign immunity protected Lee and the General Assembly from the suit and found only one plaintiff, DeVante Hill, had legal standing to challenge the map. But the judges ultimately determined that Hill’s constitutional and statutory claims lacked merit, concluding the legislature’s actions fell within the scope of the governor’s proclamation. Separate legal challenges to the maps remain pending in federal court.

Shelby County District Attorney Steve Mulroy is filing an emergency lawsuit to block two recently passed laws that would give the state of Tennessee oversight of his office, according to WSMV. The Memphis Safe Task Force Accountability Act would require the district attorney’s office to provide reports every 10 days on the dismissal or settlement of charges related to task force arrests while the Audit and Pro Tem Act as amended would allow Attorney General Skrmetti to review the office’s internal files and share them with members of the General Assembly. Both measures passed the legislature last month and were signed into law by Gov. Bill Lee. Mulroy argues the laws violate the state constitution by targeting Shelby County.

The Tennessee Bureau of Investigation (TBI) is investigating a May 20 shooting in which a member of the Memphis Safe Task Force shot a man who later died, the Commercial Appeal reports. Officers found Jonah Neal inside a residence with multiple weapons, according to a release. A Homeland Security Investigations special agent fired her weapon “for reasons still under investigation,” the TBI said. Neal was pronounced dead at the scene. Officials said it is not yet clear whether he died from the gunshot wound or from self-inflicted stab wounds. The shooting comes a week after Drug Enforcement Administration agents with the task force shot and killed Darrin Pigram in North Hollywood. The TBI also is investigating that shooting.

State Sen. London Lamar, D-Memphis, formally launched her campaign Monday for Tennessee’s 9th Congressional District. According to WSMV, Lamar is seeking to replace Rep. Steve Cohen, D-Memphis, who announced his retirement earlier this month and has endorsed her campaign. “I am going to prioritize strong schools, healthy families and safe communities, and those issues aren’t rural or urban or suburban issues alone, it’s everybody’s issues,” Lamar said. 10 people are vying for the seat including two Republicans, four Democrats and two independents, Action 5 News reports. The primary will be held on Aug. 6 followed by the general election on Nov. 3.

Tennessee Attorney General Jonathan Skrmetti has announced that his office filed an opening brief in the U.S. 6th Circuit Court of Appeals seeking to overturn a ruling from the U.S. District Court for the Middle District of Tennessee that blocked Tennessee from enforcing sports wagering laws against KalshiEX LLC. Tennessee has argued that platforms such as Kalshi function as sports wagering and should be subject to the state’s Sports Gaming Act, which requires licensing, consumer protections and tax payments. Kalshi contends its products qualify as “swaps” under the federal Dodd-Frank Act and fall exclusively under the jurisdiction of the Commodity Futures Trading Commission. “Tennessee has laws governing wagering on sports — laws that Kalshi is desperately trying to avoid — that ensure sportsbooks provide protections for problem gamblers, pay taxes to support our education system, and provide a fair and transparent service to users,” Skrmetti said in a news release.

After denying a coalition of voters and congressional candidates a temporary restraining order against the new redistricting maps, federal Judge William L. Campbell also has declined to grant a temporary restraining order to a separate group of plaintiffs challenging the maps. According to the Nashville Banner newsletter,  Campbell wrote that the plaintiffs were unlikely to succeed on their first claim that the intent of the legislature was to discriminate against Black people in Memphis because “assessing a legislature’s intent is a "complex task" and “legislative action is entitled to a presumption of good faith.” He also was unwilling to conclude that the map constituted First Amendment retaliation against Black voters. The plaintiffs are still seeking a preliminary injunction against the map. As in the first case, Campbell expressed concern about “voter confusion in the face of ongoing litigation close to an election, regardless of the outcome of that litigation.” He concluded that voter confusion “counsels strongly against the issuance of an injunction.” Last week, all three cases against the maps currently pending in federal court were consolidated and assigned to Campbell.

Lance B. Bracy, a longtime leader in Tennessee legal ethics and a former chief disciplinary counsel for the Tennessee Supreme Court Board of Professional Responsibility, died May 20 at age 90. Bracy joined the board as disciplinary counsel in 1976 and was appointed chief disciplinary counsel in 1979, serving in that role until his retirement in 2007. During his tenure, Bracy helped draft and publish more than 140 formal ethics opinions, issued approximately 600 advisory ethics opinions and responded to more than 12,000 informal ethics inquiries from Tennessee attorneys. Bracy earned his law degree from the Nashville School of Law. Before joining the board, he practiced law in Springfield for 11 years and served as assistant district attorney general for Robertson and Sumner counties. Bracy also taught as an adjunct professor at Vanderbilt University Law School and lectured at continuing legal education programs on professional responsibility. Visitation (10 a.m. to 1 p.m. CDT) and a memorial service (1 p.m.) will be held June 6 at Anderson and Garrett Funeral Home, 3501 Old Clarksville Pike, Joelton 37080. Burial will follow at Oakwood United Methodist Church Cemetery, 1001 Old Pinnacle Rd., Joelton 37080. The funeral home has details.

Programming at TBA’s 2026 Convention kicks off June 11 at 9 a.m. EDT with Catherine Sanders Reach, director of the North Carolina Bar Association’s Center for Practice Management. Every legal tech vendor has an AI pitch, but is your firm actually ready to buy? Reach will cover how to audit current technology for gaps and redundancies, calculate real ROI on the tools already owned, and build a framework for evaluating new products. Reach has spent over two decades helping legal professionals integrate technology into their practices. She has been with the North Carolina Bar Association since 2018. She previously was director of the ABA’s Legal Technology Resource Center and director of law practice management and technology at the Chicago Bar Association. She currently is chair of the ABA Law Practice Division’s Professional Development Board. Check out all the CLE planned for Convention and register today! Can’t make the full convention? Day passes for Thursday’s Tech Showcase are available and include access to this CLE session.