Longtime University of Memphis Law Professor William Kratzke has announced he will retire at the end of this academic year. He has been on the faculty of the law school since 1979, serving in various roles including interim dean. Kratzke has taught tax law courses for several decades, as well as courses in trademarks, torts, civil procedure, world trade law, economic analysis and more. He was instrumental in helping the law school become an annual site for the IRS' Volunteer Income Tax Assistance (VITA) program. Read the full announcement.

A new episode of the TBA's BarBuzz podcast is available! Our guest this month is Ellen Hobbs Lyle, who is a mediator, arbitrator and neutral evaluator for JAMS-alternative dispute resolution. Prior to joining JAMS, Lyle had a distinguished 27-year career as a chancery court judge in Nashville for the 20th Judicial District of Tennessee. A native Nashvillian, Lyle has long-standing ties to and knowledge of the Nashville community. Lyle is joined for this episode by TBA's Executive Director Sheree Wright.

Tennessee House of Representatives Speaker Cameron Sexton, R-Crossville, and Lt. Gov. Randy McNally, R-Oak Ridge, each appointed five-member committees to consider removing Shelby County Criminal Court Division 9 Judge Melissa Boyd, which the Board of Judicial Conduct recommended in a Jan. 26 letter to the leaders. The Daily Memphian reports that removal is not an impeachment, which would begin with a vote by the House and proceed with a trial in the Senate. She would be removed with two-thirds votes by both the House and the Senate, but she would not be banned from running for reelection. Impeachment and conviction would prohibit her from running for office again with a two-thirds vote by the Senate.

Jason Autry, a key witness whose testimony helped convict Zachary Adams of Holly Bobo's murder in 2017, is now recanting his testimony. The Associated Press reports that Autry’s reversal was revealed in two petitions seeking post-conviction relief filed by Adams’ lawyer in Hardin County, where the trial took place. Adams, 39, wants his conviction thrown out based on Autry’s latest statements.

A bill sponsored by Sen. Brent Taylor, R-Eads, and Rep. John Gillespie, R-Memphis seeks transparency from progressive criminal-justice reform groups that work with local district attorneys. SB2561/HB2618 would require those groups, and other nonprofits that have contracts or memoranda of understanding with prosecutors, to disclose all of their donors from the previous calendar year, reports the Daily Memphian. “These restorative-justice outfits have an outsized role in our district attorney’s office," Taylor said in a committee hearing. They "are fundamentally changing how our judicial system operates in Shelby County.” Sen. Jeff Yarbro, D-Nashville, said he supported greater transparency for nonprofits working with governments but noted that the 2021 Personal Privacy Protection Act protects donors to all nonprofits. The act says state agencies cannot “require an entity exempt from federal income tax under § 501(c) of the Internal Revenue Code to provide the names or other personal information of persons who have provided financial or nonfinancial support to the exempt entity."

The American Bar Association (ABA) Standing Committee on Ethics and Professional Responsibility has released a formal opinion that provides guidance on how disqualification rules apply to both current and former government lawyers' representation of private clients under the ABA Model Rules of Professional Conduct. Formal Opinion 509 interprets Model Rule 1.11, which relates to the conflict-of-interest provisions covering confidential government information. The opinion states that the rule continues to apply "regardless of whether the lawyer seeking to represent the private client has now left government employ or office or maintains a private law practice (e.g., a part-time practice) while still in government employ or office."

Join your colleagues March 6 at noon CST for a free TBA webinar that will address fundamental rules and best practices for ensuring that an appellate record is complete and suitable for the appellate courts in Tennessee. Attendees will learn about preserving issues for appeal, making sure crucial evidence as well as narrative background facts are properly admitted, and designating matters for inclusion in the appellate record. Learn more and register here.

Attorney General Jonathan Skrmetti joined a coalition of state attorneys general this week in a legal brief arguing that Texas has a right to defend itself against invasion. The coalition of 24 state attorneys general, led by Kansas, filed the amicus brief in the Fifth Circuit Court of Appeals late last week. The attorneys general argue that the federal government has lost operational control of the southern border, and that Texas has a right to protect its citizens by constructing barriers along the border it shares with Mexico. Read the full press release.

The Appellant appeals his convictions of voluntary manslaughter, reckless endangerment with a deadly weapon, and possession of a handgun by a convicted felon for which he received an effective sentence of twenty-seven years’ confinement. On appeal, the Appellant contends that: (1) the evidence is insufficient to support his convictions; and (2) the trial court abused its discretion by imposing the maximum within-range sentences and ordering that they be served consecutively. Though he also challenges the trial court’s failure to include reckless homicide as a lesser included offense of first degree murder and the allegedly inconsistent verdicts, he has waived these issues by failing to file a motion for new trial. After review of the preserved issues, we affirm the judgments of the trial court.

PER CURIAM. In July 2023, we granted the National Labor Relations Board’s petition for a protective restraining order prohibiting Bannum, Inc. and Bannum Place of Saginaw, Inc. (collectively, “Bannum”) from dissipating its assets and ordering it to provide the National Labor Relations Board (“the Board”) with various financial records. The Board now moves for us to hold Bannum in civil contempt for failing to comply with the protective restraining order. The Board also moves for spoliation sanctions against Bannum. Because Bannum violated the clear terms of the protective restraining order, we GRANT the Board’s motion to adjudicate Bannum in civil contempt. Because it is not clear at this point that evidence has been lost or destroyed, however, we DENY without prejudice the Board’s motion for spoliation sanctions.