Former City Judge Walter Williams died last week at age 73. Williams became a judge in March 1991 and served on the Chattanooga City Court for eight years. He earned his law degree from Howard University School of Law and practiced with the Internal Revenue Service in Atlanta before entering private practice. In 1980, he became a partner in the Chattanooga law firm McClarty & Williams, where he primarily handled personal injury, corporate, estate and municipal law cases. Williams retired from the bench in 2003 after 12 years of service and returned to private practice, later serving as senior partner at McKoon, Williams, Atchley & Stanley until his retirement in 2015. Arrangements are being handled by John P. Franklin Funeral Home. Details will be released at a later time. Donations in his honor may be made to the Judge Walter F. Williams 1974 Endowed Scholarship Fund at Morehouse College, Office of Institutional Advancement, 830 Westview Dr., SW, Atlanta, GA 30314.

The 2025 Southeast Complex Litigation Conference will be held Oct. 29 at the Tennessee Bankers Association in Nashville, offering updates on mass torts, class actions and whistleblower cases. National litigators will discuss emerging litigation involving medical devices, pharmaceutical drugs and consumer products, as well as best practices for identifying, prosecuting and defending complex cases. Session topics include class actions and multidistrict litigation basics, whistleblower claims under the False Claims Act and key trends in aggregate litigation. Speakers include Mark Chalos of Lieff, Cabraser, Heimann & Bernstein and Tricia Herzfeld of Herzfeld, Suetholz, Gastel, Leniski & Wall, with additional speakers and content to be announced in the coming weeks. For more details, to register and to stay updated, visit the TBA website.

President Donald Trump plans to sign an executive order requiring colleges to submit data proving they do not consider race in admissions, the White House said Thursday. In 2023, the U.S. Supreme Court ruled against the use of affirmative action in admissions but said colleges may still consider how race has shaped students’ lives if applicants share that information in their essays. According to reporting from the Associated Press, Trump’s administration accuses colleges of using personal statements and other proxies to consider race. The order is similar to parts of recent settlement agreements the administration reached with Brown University and Columbia University, restoring their federal research funding after they agreed to provide the government with data on the race, grade point average and standardized test scores of applicants, admitted students and enrolled students. The order would require universities to share that information, undergo audits and release admissions statistics publicly.

Tennessee Attorney General Jonathan Skrmetti joined a bipartisan coalition of attorneys general from all 50 states in urging the U.S. Department of Justice (DOJ) to assist in their efforts to address illegal offshore gaming operations. According to the Tennessee Lookout, in a letter to U.S. Attorney General Pam Bondi, the group called for stronger federal enforcement against foreign-based companies running online sports betting and gambling platforms that often operate without licenses, avoid taxes, ignore state laws and lack consumer protections. The attorneys general said that such operations expose users to fraud, addiction and serious crimes like money laundering and human trafficking. They also urged the DOJ to collaborate with payment processors such as Visa and Mastercard to disrupt access to the U.S. financial system.

Jason Dobbins, former director of operations for the Knox County Trustee’s Office, was charged Aug. 8 with two felony counts of official misconduct in connection with a wide-ranging investigation into whether some elected officials and their employees used their public positions for personal gain. The Tennessee Comptroller of the Treasury spent months investigating the misuse of taxpayer dollars in some Knox County offices. Dobbins is the second county employee charged in the probe. Trustee Justin Biggs fired Dobbins in April for “policy violations” after Knox News reached out with questions about the investigation. Prosecutor Ryan Desmond sought approval from a grand jury to prosecute Biggs as well, but the grand jury declined to indict him on Aug. 6. On Aug. 7, Property Assessor Phil Ballard was charged with one felony count of official misconduct related to his personal use of a county-owned SUV while also accepting reimbursement for using his personal vehicle for work travel. The newspaper reports on the developments.

The Tennessee Department of Treasury has returned $125 million in unclaimed property to its rightful owners or their heirs so far this year. According to a press release, this total is double the $62.5 million paid out in 2024 and exceeds the previous record of $68.7 million by more than 80%. The funds come from unclaimed property turned over to the state by businesses and organizations, including uncashed paychecks, utility refunds, rental deposits, gift certificates and abandoned bank accounts. Tennesseans can search for unclaimed property at ClaimItTN.gov.

Justice Samuel Alito will join the majority of U.S. Supreme Court justices who have written books while serving on the bench. According to Bloomberg Law, Alito will publish a book next year under Basic Books’ Basic Liberty imprint, a publicist for the publisher said. Details about the title, publication date and subject have not yet been released. Alito, who was appointed by President George W. Bush, will mark his 20th anniversary on the court in January 2026.

Belmont University College of Law and the TBA Young Lawyers Division are looking for volunteer attorneys for a Tennessee Free Legal Answers Clinic on Aug. 25 from 5-7 p.m. CDT in Belmont's Randall & Sadie Baskin Center, 1901 15th Ave S, Nashville 37212. Volunteers will be partnered with three to four law students to research and answer questions posted on tn.freelegalanswers.org. Attorneys must have a Tennessee Free Legal Answers account to participate in this clinic. Interested volunteers should email their account information to Ginny.Blake@belmont.edu by Aug. 21 to make sure their profile is approved in time for the clinic.

Tennessee Gov. Bill Lee is mobilizing the National Guard to assist with the Trump administration’s mass deportation plan, WKRN reports. The governor’s office told News 2 the decision followed a request for assistance from the U.S. Department of Homeland Security. “As Gov. Lee has said many times, Tennessee stands ready to support President Trump’s efforts to secure our nation’s borders and remove the most violent criminals from our streets,” said Elizabeth Johnson, the governor’s spokesperson. The governor’s office said the mission is still in the planning stages. The soldiers will remain under state command but will be paid by the federal government.

A bipartisan group of U.S. senators — including Marsha Blackburn, R-Tennessee; Peter Welch, D-Utah; Josh Hawley, R-Missouri; and Adam Schiff, D-California — have introduced a bill that aims to give musicians, artists, writers and other creators the ability to see whether artificial intelligence (AI) is being trained on their work. The Transparency and Responsibility for Artificial Intelligence Networks, or TRAIN Act, would allow creators to access the courts to protect their copyrighted works, The Tennessean reports. Under the TRAIN Act, copyright holders could examine training records to determine whether AI companies have used their work to develop models, which rely on data to make predictions and decisions, and to generate content. The act has been endorsed by several music organizations, including the Recording Industry Association of America, the Recording Academy and Nashville Songwriters Association International.