Kirkland & Ellis will open its Nashville office in The Pinnacle at Symphony Place, 150 3rd Ave. South, Ste. 1220, Nashville 37201. The world's largest law firm by revenue announced its move to Tennessee last month, and its website lists 16 attorneys associated with the new location. The Nashville Business Journal has more on the move.

The Tennessee Supreme Court temporarily suspended Shelby County lawyer Mary R. Rudolph from the practice of law on March 5 after finding she failed to respond to a complaint of misconduct. Rudolph is immediately precluded from accepting new cases and must cease representing existing clients by April 4. The suspension will remain in effect until dissolution or modification by the court.

A lawsuit filed in Florida alleges that former Tennessee Republican Rep. Mark Green and lobbyist Marc Hebert used confidential client information to form a competing business and pursue a fuel agreement with the Guyanese government — the same deal their clients, Curlew Mainstream and Playera Group, already were working to secure. The suit further claims that while Green was still a sitting congressman and chair of the House Homeland Security Committee, he and Hebert threatened to use their political connections to interfere with Curlew's pending agreement, and later communicated with the Guyanese government to raise "issues" that delayed it. Green, who retired from Congress in July 2024, has described his company Prosimos as a venture to help American companies compete internationally against Chinese firms. The Nashville Banner has the story.

Tennessee Court of Appeals Judges Andy Bennett, Frank Clement Jr. and Jeffrey Usman on Thursday heard arguments over whether Gov. Bill Lee's deployment of the National Guard to Memphis is constitutional. The case stems from a lawsuit filed by a group of Democratic city, county and state officials who claim the deployment violates the Tennessee Constitution. The plaintiffs argue the National Guard can be called up only in cases of rebellion or invasion, or at the request of local governing bodies or the legislature — none of which occurred. They also warn that without a defined end date, the military presence could continue indefinitely. The state countered that Memphis, which had the nation's highest per capita crime rate in 2024 at 345% above the national average, qualifies as a "grave emergency" justifying deployment, and that the decision falls within the governor's executive authority and is not subject to judicial override. The Commercial Appeal reports that the judges pressed both sides, appearing skeptical of the plaintiffs' narrow definition of the National Guard as a militia while also challenging the state to define what conditions would end the deployment.

Tennessee election finance officials have fined former Republican operative Cade Cothren $80,000 — the maximum allowed — for using a former Vanderbilt student as a figurehead treasurer to conceal his own role running the Faith Family Freedom PAC during the 2020 election cycle. The case stems from an October 2020 whistleblower complaint and was complicated by a separate federal prosecution in which Cothren and former House Speaker Glen Casada were convicted on money laundering and fraud charges before receiving pardons from President Donald Trump in November. The Nashville Scene reports that Cothren declined to respond to a subpoena or testify in his own defense during the ethics proceedings and says he is disputing the fine.

The Tony-winning musical "Suffs," currently touring in Nashville through Sunday at the Tennessee Performing Arts Center (TPAC), dramatizes the pivotal summer of 1920 when Tennessee cast the deciding vote to ratify the 19th Amendment and secure women's right to vote. Axios reports that the show highlights the Hermitage Hotel — less than a block away from TPAC — where suffrage and anti-suffrage activists camped out and pressured lawmakers in a frenzy of dealmaking so intense that the hotel lobby was dubbed the "third house" of the General Assembly. A key dramatic moment centers on Tennessee lawmaker Harry T. Burn, who broke a deadlock by switching his vote to yes after receiving a letter from his mother urging him to support the cause, making Tennessee the 36th and deciding state to ratify the amendment on Aug. 18, 1920.

The late Rev. James M. Lawson Jr. was a Memphis pastor who served as Dr. Martin Luther King Jr.'s chief tactician and strategist during the pivotal 1968 sanitation workers strike, the events surrounding which ultimately led to King's assassination. Lawson, a lifelong advocate of nonviolent resistance, was remembered at a Feb. 20 book launch event at the National Civil Rights Museum in Memphis as a "tactical creator and spiritual leader" of the civil rights movement. The event marked the release of his memoir, "Nonviolent: A Memoir of Resistance, Agitation, and Love," co-written with Memphis author Emily Yellin, whose own family had deep roots in documenting the events of 1968. Lawson died in June 2024 at age 95, but his son described the memoir as an accurate reflection of his father's voice and legacy. The Commercial Appeal has more on the event.

After its IP webcast series installment on April 1, the TBA Intellectual Property Section will host its next series session on April 8 from 12:30 to 1:30 p.m. CDT. This webcast will explore how LKQ Corp. v. GM Global Tech. Operations LLC changed the obviousness test for design patents and what the change means on a practical level for design patent practitioners. Attendees also will learn how examiner training post-LKQ may impact design prosecution and how to handle obviousness rejections in the current landscape. The webcast will feature speaker Elizabeth Shah, a patent attorney with the Washington, D.C.-based law firm Bookoff McAndrews. Intellectual Property Section members save on registration costs. Not a member? Join now!

The TBA Pro Bono Portal provides a centralized source for lawyers and law students to find pro bono opportunities across Tennessee, like the following case through West Tennessee Legal Services (WTLS). A client is seeking a conservatorship for their adult disabled daughter. WTLS has an updated physician affidavit on file. Get more information about the requirements associated with this opportunity or browse other pro bono needs. A free half hour CLE is available on the TBA’s website to introduce attorneys to this innovative platform. The webcast includes a live demonstration of the portal and shows attorneys how to search and sign up for pro bono opportunities in their practice areas.

Attorney Curtis Bowe has been selected as the new judge for Collegedale following the death of Judge Kevin Wilson in December, Chattanoogan.com reports. Bowe will serve as city judge until the next election in 2030. He was the only eligible applicant after the city received three applications, two of which were disqualified because the candidates did not meet residency requirements established by the Tennessee Supreme Court in March 2025. Those rules require city judges to have lived in the city for at least one year and in Tennessee for five years preceding the election. City Attorney Sam Elliott tells the paper he plans to draft a letter to state legislators seeking changes to the residency requirement, which also have affected the cities of Red Bank and East Ridge in Hamilton County.