In the recent legislative session, the Tennessee General Assembly passed a bill creating a statewide conservatorship management task force. Public Chapter 417, effective July 1, established a nine-member body to provide resources and assist in promotion of effective conservatorships. The task force will review concerns involving education, centralized documentation, preventative training regarding fraud and abuse protections, and more. The task force also will review the capacity of the public guardianship program and determine the need for an independent conservator panel or professional conservators. Representatives include designees from relevant agencies, the Administrative Office of the Courts, an active judge, legal aid office member and a designee from the Conservatorship Association of Tennessee, among others.

On July 3, Shelby County lawyer Darryl Wayne Humphrey received a public censure from the Tennessee Supreme Court. The court found that after taking over representation of a personal injury client in a colleague’s absence, Humphrey negligently failed to file all discovery responses and reply to opposing counsel’s discovery inquiries. This led to a motion to compel being filed against the client. Humphrey then failed to notify the client of the motion and of the subsequent court ruling that the client pay the opposing party’s attorney fees. The court also found that the failure to maintain communication with opposing counsel resulted in injury or potential injury to the client. These actions were determined to violate Rules of Professional Conduct 1.3, 1.4(a) and 8.4(d).

The July/August issue of the Tennessee Bar Journal is now available online and arriving in mailboxes next week. This issue's cover story by Travis Vest is an in depth look at metadata: what it is and how you can use it in building a case. Feature stories include a trademark fight between the Cincinnati Bearcats and the Cheatham Middle School Bearcats by Andrew Coffman and a primer on Tennessee's construction payment retainage law from Phillip Byron Jones. New TBA President Heidi Barcus shares her vision for the 2025-2026 bar year in her first President's Perspective, Buddy Stockwell explains the significance of the ABA's new Model Rule on conditional admission, Wade Davies breaks down the factors involved in calculating sentencing and Russell Fowler looks back 100 years to the Scopes Trial in Dayton. Read updates from TBA's Annual Convention, a book review, a legislative update and more!

The federal judge who formerly presided over the criminal case of five former Memphis police officers charged in the 2023 death of Tyré Nichols has recused himself from two more cases involving lawyers on the Nichols case. The Daily Memphian reports that U.S. District Judge Mark Norris has recused himself from a case involving 10 defendants charged with drug trafficking, one of whom is represented by Stephen Leffler, who also represented former Memphis police officer Demetrius Haley. In the other case, Assistant U.S. Attorney David Pritchard is prosecuting drug trafficking charges. He also was a prosecutor in the Nichols case. Norris previously removed himself from the federal sentencing of five former officers charged in connection with Nichols’ death and a pending civil rights lawsuit brought over the death.

The U.S. Supreme Court last week upheld a Texas law requiring age verification for users accessing online pornography. It was the first time the court has imposed requirements on adult consumers in order to protect minors, NPR reports. The 6-3 decision, split along ideological lines, affirms similar laws passed in nearly half of U.S. states, including in Tennessee. The ruling marks a setback for the Free Speech Coalition, an adult entertainment industry group that had challenged the law, arguing that it violated the First Amendment guarantee to free speech and expression.

Prior to passage of President Donald Trump’s massive policy and budget bill by the U.S. Senate, the parliamentarian struck a proposed tax on litigation financiers. The provision, championed by retiring Republican Sen. Thom Tillis of North Carolina, would have imposed a 40.8% tax rate on all "qualified litigation proceeds" received by any third party through a litigation financing agreement. It met strong opposition from the industry, which argued the tax would chill investment and undermine access to justice, Reuters reports. According to litigation finance firm Westfleet Advisors, there are now more than 42 active funders managing a total of $16.1 billion in assets. The industry continues to face other challenges, including calls for greater transparency from the business community, state regulations and federal legislation that would require civil litigants to disclose any litigation funding agreements.

President Donald Trump on July 1 nominated Braden Boucek for U.S. attorney in the Middle District of Tennessee. According to The Tennessean, Boucek has 10 years of experience as a federal prosecutor, serving as an assistant U.S. attorney in Nashville from 2011-2015 and in the Western District of Tennessee from 2005-2011. He started his career in the Tennessee Attorney General's Office, followed by two years as an assistant district attorney in Williamson County. Most recently he was vice president of legal affairs at the Beacon Center before joining the Southeastern Legal Foundation as senior vice president of litigation. If confirmed by the U.S. Senate, Boucek would replace acting U.S. Attorney Rob McGuire, who plans to stay in the office after his interim role ends. The nomination came the same day Trump nominated Michael Dunavant to serve as the U.S attorney in the state’s Western District.

The Tennessee Supreme Court on June 25 suspended 11 attorneys for failure to pay the annual registration fee; three of whom also failed to file proof that client funds are held in an IOLTA-compliant account. View the fee suspension order and IOLTA suspension order. See the list of all lawyers suspended and reinstated for fee and IOLTA violations in 2025 or access all administrative suspensions dating back to 2005.

Tennesseans affected by severe storms in April have until Aug. 19 to apply for individual assistance, WPLN reports. Help with applications is available at Disaster Recovery Centers set up in affected areas. All centers will be closed on July 4, but a list of locations and hours is available online. Individuals in Cheatham, Davidson, Dickson, Dyer, Hardeman, McNairy, Montgomery, Obion and Wilson counties can apply online at DisasterAssistance.gov, through FEMA’s mobile app or by calling 800-621-3362.

The U.S. Supreme Court has agreed to consider the constitutionality of state laws that bar transgender athletes from participating on sports teams that align with their preferred gender. The court will take up two state laws — one from Idaho and one from West Virginia — in its next term, SCOTUSblog reports. Idaho was the first state to enact such a ban. It was sued by a transgender woman who wanted to try out for the Boise State University women’s track and cross-country teams. The West Virginia case centers on a 14-year-old who wanted to participate on the middle school girls’ sports teams. Lower court and appellate court rulings barred both states from enforcing their laws. The plaintiffs had urged the Supreme Court to let those rulings stand.