Tennessee trust expert Al Secor will provide an annual legislative update at the Feb. 23 Estate Planning & Probate Forum. This year’s update includes information on changes to the state’s small estate laws, uniform trust act, claim filing, conservatorship considerations, federal laws and more. Secor is the author of Tennessee Probate, a guide for lawyers on the administering of probate estates and basic information on proceedings, administration and tax returns. Learn more about the forum and register on the TBA CLE website.

University of Tennessee College of Law Dean and Elvin E. Overton Distinguished Professor of Law Lonnie T. Brown Jr. was honored at a reception at the American Bar Association’s (ABA) Midyear Meeting in Louisville, Kentucky. Meeting attendees from across the country gathered to celebrate Brown’s leadership at the law school. In addition, former University of Tennessee College of Law professor Penny White received the ABA Tort Trial and Insurance Practice Section’s (TIPS) Robert B. McKay Law Professor Award. The award recognizes law professors who have shown commitment to the advancement of justice, scholarship and the legal profession, demonstrated by outstanding contributions to the fields of tort, trial practice or insurance law. Until her retirement in 2022, White was the Elvin E. Overton Distinguished Professor of Law and served as the director of the school’s Center for Advocacy and Dispute Resolution. See photos from the two events.

Members of the legal profession gathered last month at the Memphis office of Morgan & Morgan for the TBA Young Lawyers Division's (YLD) first Bar and Bench event. Under the leadership of YLD President Quinton Thompson, these networking events will occur across the state, giving young lawyers an opportunity to network with peers and sitting Tennessee judges. Watch for information about future locations and dates. See photos from the Memphis event.

University of Tennessee College of Law Dean and Elvin E. Overton Distinguished Professor of Law Lonnie T. Brown Jr. was honored at a reception Saturday evening at the American Bar Association’s (ABA) Midyear Meeting in Louisville, Kentucky. Meeting attendees from across the country gathered to celebrate Brown’s leadership at the law school. In addition, former University of Tennessee College of Law professor Penny White received the ABA Tort Trial and Insurance Practice Section’s (TIPS) Robert B. McKay Law Professor Award. The award recognizes law professors who have shown commitment to the advancement of justice, scholarship and the legal profession, demonstrated by outstanding contributions to the fields of tort, trial practice or insurance law. Until her retirement in 2022, White was the Elvin E. Overton Distinguished Professor of Law and served as the director of the school’s Center for Advocacy and Dispute Resolution. See photos from the two events.

According to the Tennessean, federal prosecutors are investigating Cade Cothren, former House Speaker Glen Casada’s aide, for allegations of cyberstalking. The information was disclosed in court filings last week when prosecutors asked to delay the impending trial of both Cothren and Casada, The Tennessee Journal reports. Law enforcement subsequently obtained a search warrant and seized several phones from Cothren’s house. Cothren's attorneys have asked the judge to quash the warrant. Prosecutors now say "in an abundance of caution," they have not extracted any information from the phones and will not do so before a hearing set for this afternoon.

Gov. Bill Lee joined a group of other Republican governors this weekend in Texas to observe the border and support Texas Gov. Greg Abbott. During the visit, Lee called the situation a crisis and committed to sending two waves of active-duty troops from the Tennessee National Guard to help, the Tennessean reports. Lee previously had sent 125 National Guard members to the area in October. In related news, Tennessee Attorney General Jonathan Skrmetti joined 26 other states in a letter to the Biden administration supporting Texas’ border defense. And in Washington, D.C., a proposed bipartisan border security package is getting mixed reviews. The Hill has more on that measure.

Defendant, Shundarius Turner, was convicted by a jury of reckless homicide, especially aggravated robbery, aggravated criminal trespass, aggravated assault, and reckless endangerment. He received a total effective sentence of thirty-seven years, eleven months, and twenty-nine days. On appeal, he claims the trial court erred in excluding a photographic lineup where he was not identified by one of the victims, the evidence was insufficient to support his felony convictions, the trial court’s sentencing decision violated his Fifth and Sixth Amendment rights, the trial court erred in excluding a witness from testifying on his behalf, the trial court erred in denying his right to strike a juror for cause, and the cumulative effect of these errors denied him a fair trial. Following our review of the entire record, the briefs, and oral arguments of the parties, we affirm the judgments of the trial court.

The Defendant, Bobby Marable II, was convicted by a Gibson County Circuit Court jury of aggravated kidnapping involving bodily injury, a Class B felony, and aggravated assault by strangulation, a Class C felony, for which he is serving an effective thirty-five year sentence. See T.C.A. §§ 39-13-304(a)(4) (2018) (aggravated kidnapping involving bodily injury), 39-13-102(a)(1)(A)(iv) (Supp. 2015) (subsequently amended) (aggravated assault involving strangulation or attempted strangulation), -(e)(1)(A)(ii) (classifying aggravated assault involving strangulation as a Class C felony). On appeal, he contends that: (1) the evidence is insufficient to support his aggravated kidnapping conviction, (2) the trial court erred in its jury instructions on aggravated kidnapping, (3) the court erred in allowing the State to impeach the Defendant with his prior convictions under Tennessee Rule of Evidence 609, (4) he is entitled to relief due to the cumulative effect of the court’s errors, and (5) the court erred in classifying him as a Range III, persistent offender for his aggravated assault conviction. We affirm the Defendant’s convictions and the trial court’s judgment for aggravated kidnapping, and we remand the case with instructions for the trial court to correct the Defendant’s aggravated assault judgment to reflect a ten-year sentence as a Range II, multiple offender.

Defendant, Jennifer May Mahaffey, pled guilty to alternate counts of sale of methamphetamine “over 0.5 grams” and delivery of methamphetamine “over 0.5 grams”1 in three cases, 20-027-2, 20-028-2, and 20-029-2. The trial court sentenced Defendant to ten years imprisonment on each count, merged the alternate counts in each case, and ran the ten-year sentences in two of the cases concurrently with each other, and the ten-year sentence in the third case consecutively to the first two, for a total effective sentence of twenty years confinement. The trial court also imposed fines totaling $6,100, and ordered restitution in the amount of $563. On appeal, Defendant contends the trial court erred in ordering restitution to the Henderson County Sheriff’s Department, in imposing fines and restitution without determining her present and future ability to pay, and in imposing partial consecutive sentences. After reviewing the record, the briefs of the parties, and the applicable law, we discern no reversible error in the trial court’s imposition of partial consecutive sentences, but we determine the order of restitution was in error. Therefore, we affirm the sentences imposed by the trial court, vacate the orders of restitution, and remand for entry of corrected judgments.

The U.S. Bureau of Labor Statistics is out with a new jobs report for January. For the legal sector, the bureau found that jobs dropped from an all-time high of 1,192,200 in December to 1,187,800 last month: a loss of 4,400 jobs. The count includes a range of legal workers at law firms, companies and other organizations of all sizes, including paralegals and assistants, but the majority are lawyers. The largest law firms in the United States appear to have slowed hiring amid relatively flat client demand, Reuters reports.