Belmont Law Review at Belmont University College of Law will host its spring event on April 4 with a panel discussion on “Artificial Intelligence’s Breakthrough Into the Legal Field.” The panel will focus on recent developments in artificial intelligence (AI) and how these developments impact different areas of the legal world, including private law firms, professional responsibility concerns, and entertainment and copyright practice. The event will take place from 6-7:15 p.m. CDT in Room 157 of the Randall and Sadie Baskin Center, 1901 15th Ave. S. Nashville 37212. The event is free but attendees must register.

Judge Terry Fann has announced his candidacy for the 16th Judicial District Circuit Court, which serves Rutherford and Cannon counties. Fann is currently serving in the role after being appointed by Gov. Bill Lee in November 2023 to fill a vacancy created by the retirement of Judge Mark Rogers. Prior to his appointment, Fann tried cases in circuit and chancery courts as well as federal courts from his office on the historic square in downtown Murfreesboro. He also has been a volunteer legal counsel for the Child Advocacy Center. Fann earned his law degree from the Cecil C. Humphreys School of Law at the University of Memphis. Read more in his campaign announcement.

In this delayed appeal, Defendant, Shatara Evette Jones, appeals her conviction for first degree murder for which she received a mandatory life sentence. On appeal, Defendant challenges: 1) the trial court’s restricting her right to cross-examine a State’s witness; 2) the trial court’s denial of her motion to dismiss, pursuant to State v. Ferguson, based on the State’s failure to preserve evidence; 3) the trial court’s denial of her motions to suppress her statement to police and cell phone data; 4) the trial court’s exclusion of evidence of the victim’s gang involvement and a rap video in which he is depicted holding a gun; 5) the trial court’s omission of an instruction in the written jury instructions; and 6) the sufficiency of the evidence of her conviction. We affirm the judgment of the trial court.

Two seats currently held by Memphis-based judges would be moved out of Tennessee's largest county and placed elsewhere in the state under a bill advancing in the state House, the Tennessee Journal reports. The measure would move the circuit court seat held by state Supreme Court designee Mary Wagner to the East Tennessee district composed of Cocke, Grainger, Jefferson and Sevier counties, while the criminal court seat held by Melissa Boyd would go to Montgomery and Robertson counties. Learn more in an amendment to HB2002/SB2517 that passed the House Civil Justice Subcommittee last week.

A Gibson County jury convicted the defendant, Antonio Demetrius Adkisson a/k/a Antonio Demetrius Turner, Jr., of two counts of second-degree murder, for which he received an effective sentence of twenty years in confinement. On appeal, the defendant contends (1) that the juvenile court erred in transferring the defendant to circuit court and (2) that the trial court erred in failing to suppress the defendant’s statement. After reviewing the record and considering the applicable law, we affirm the judgments of the trial court.

Sevier County lawyer James Ralph Hickman Jr. was reinstated to the practice of law on March 22 with the condition that he engage a practice monitor and continue to comply with the terms and conditions of a judgment entered on June 30, 2023. Last summer, the Tennessee Supreme Court suspended Hickman for one year, with six months to be served on active suspension. Hickman filed a petition for reinstatement on Feb. 15. The Board of Professional Responsibility reported to the court that the petition was satisfactory.

This appeal arises from a divorce action following a short-term marriage. There were no children born of the marriage, and the only issue on appeal pertains to the classification of real property. At issue is the Wade Springs property, which the husband purchased using his separate property. He closed on the purchase of the Wade Springs property the day after the parties married, and the property was deeded in the husband’s name only. Because the property was used as the marital residence during the two-year marriage and marital assets were used to maintain the property, the wife contended that the property became marital property by transmutation, commingling, or Tennessee Code Annotated § 36-4-121. The trial court found that the Wade Springs property was the husband’s separate property at the time of purchase and it remained his separate property. The court further found that the wife’s contributions to the property could easily be extracted and awarded her, inter alia, a cash judgment in the amount of her contributions to the home. Determining that the evidence does not preponderate against these findings, we affirm.

On March 22, the Tennessee Supreme Court temporarily suspended Hawkins County lawyer Terry Risner after finding that he was substantially non-compliant with his Dec. 20, 2023, Tennessee Lawyer Assistance Program Preliminary Evaluation and Assessment Monitoring Agreement. Supreme Court Rule 9 Section 12.3 requires immediate summary suspension of an attorney’s license to practice law when an attorney substantially fails to comply with a TLAP monitoring agreement. The suspension will remain in effect until dissolution or modification by the court. The court also granted a motion to file documents in this case under seal.

In this easement dispute involving a shared driveway between adjoining real property owners, the petitioners filed an action for declaratory judgment, alleging that the respondents had interfered with their use of the driveway and requesting that the court declare the “rights and obligations of the parties.” Acting without benefit of counsel, one of the two respondents filed a response opposing the petition and subsequently filed a motion for summary judgment asserting multiple counterclaims. The trial court dismissed the respondent’s counterclaims in an order not included in the appellate record. The trial court conducted a bench trial, during which all parties were represented by counsel. At trial, the petitioners sought an implied easement and an easement by necessity. The trial court determined, inter alia, that the parties had shared driveway easements and that the petitioners had carried their burden to prove an implied easement and an easement by necessity. The court included in its judgment parking limitations on the parties’ use of the shared driveway. The respondent who initially filed pleadings pro se has appealed, again acting without benefit of counsel. Discerning no reversible error, we affirm.

A woman asserting that she is a child’s great-grandmother filed a petition to establish paternity and for grandparent visitation. On the face of the petition, the purported greatgrandmother brought the action both on behalf of herself and, acting with a power of attorney, on behalf of her grandson, the alleged biological father of the child. The parties agree that a power of attorney was never properly executed by the alleged father. After a hearing, the trial court dismissed the petition in full. With regard to the paternity suit, the trial court found that the great-grandmother lacked the authority to file a paternity suit on the alleged biological father’s behalf and did not have standing to bring it on her own behalf, and therefore the paternity action was due to be dismissed. With regard to the grandparent visitation action, the trial court held that without a pending contested paternity suit, the grandmother lacked standing to bring an action for grandparent visitation, and in the alternative, that the juvenile court lacked subject matter jurisdiction to hear the action. We affirm.