The mayor's office and 11 Memphis City Council seats are up for grabs in today’s municipal elections. Strong early voting totals suggest high interest in the elections before polls close tonight. Just over 15% of Memphis’ 373,091 registered voters had cast their ballots by the time early voting closed on Saturday. The Commercial Appeal is providing election updates throughout the day.

The Arts & Business Council (ABC) of Greater Nashville is sponsoring a program exploring legal issues for documentary filmmakers this month and will host its pro bono legal clinic for artists on Nov. 1. The educational program for documentary filmmakers will be held Oct. 17 and will feature entertainment lawyer William L. Whitacre. ABC's Volunteer Lawyers & Professionals for the Arts (VLPA) Nashville clinic will include free legal consultations via 30-minute private meetings. Learn more or register.

Hamilton County General Sessions Judge Alex McVeagh has officially launched his campaign to replace Circuit Judge Marie Williams in the Third Division of Hamilton County’s Circuit Court (11th Judicial District), the Chattanoogan reports. McVeagh serves as vice president of the TBA's Young Lawyers Division and is a TBA Delegate to the American Bar Association's House of Delegates. Judge Williams announced her plans to retire on Jan. 3 after serving 28 years.

Tennessee attorneys taking part in yesterday's Supreme Court Boot Camp got a chance to observe oral arguments and participate in a Q&A session with the justices. Produced by Donald Capparella of Dodson Parker Behm & Capparella and Edmund Sauer, staff attorney at the Tennessee Supreme Court, the event also featured a lawyers panel where advocates who participated in Wednesday’s arguments discussed tips for brief writing and argument preparation. The TBA annually provides boot camps for appellate court lawyers and those seeking to learn more about this area of practice. Stay tuned for information about next year’s boot camp, which will take place at the Tennessee Court of Criminal Appeals.

The list of those applicants who achieved a passing score on the July 2023 Uniform Bar Examination in Tennessee will be released by 2 p.m. CDT tomorrow by the Tennessee Board of Law Examiners. Results will be posted on the TBA.org website as soon as they are released.

Tennessee court officials will ask legislators for more money next year to raise the hourly rate to $80 for attorneys doing appointed work in criminal and juvenile cases. “Court proceedings can’t happen without court-appointed attorneys, but attorneys can’t afford to take cases at the current rates,” Tennessee Supreme Court Chief Justice Holly Kirby said in a news release. “The criminal justice and juvenile court systems are running out of options.” Tennessee’s reimbursement rate for court-appointed attorneys is the lowest in the country and has not changed since 1997. “Paying lawyers such low rates doesn’t make the cases go away. It just means cases are delayed, overturned, or returned to the trial court on appeal. That doesn’t help anyone,” Kirby said. “It’s not efficient or cost-effective."

TBA President Jim Barry applauded Chief Justice Kirby's sentiments and the AOC’s decision to seek increased funding. "On behalf of attorneys across Tennessee, the TBA has long advocated for increased rates and caps for the many court-appointed attorneys who represent the indigent and has worked with the AOC over the years to improve the funding levels. These cases affect some of the most vulnerable components of our justice system, as a large percentage involve children and families. Often these attorneys take these cases to their own financial detriment, and in many situations, the low rates and caps combined with the volume of cases make it increasingly difficult to maintain a law practice. This dynamic especially affects lawyers in rural areas and has led to a crisis that is threatening our entire legal system in Tennessee."

"The TBA looks forward to working with the AOC, the Supreme Court, the Legislature and Governor Lee’s administration to create meaningful solutions to this problem.”

This appeal involves a motion filed pursuant to Tennessee Rule of Civil Procedure 60.02, seeking to set aside the attorney's fee provision contained within a final divorce decree. The trial court denied the motion without hearing evidence from the parties or stating the basis for its decision. Because we are unable to adequately review the matter due to the trial court's lack of findings of fact and conclusions of law and the lack of evidence in the appellate record, we vacate the trial court's order and remand for further proceedings.

The plaintiff filed this healthcare liability action against several healthcare providers following the death of her husband. We granted this interlocutory appeal in which the defendants request review of the trial court’s denial of their motion for a protective order to prohibit further inquiry into a meeting held between the defendant hospital and the decedent’s family. We affirm the trial court.

The father of two children learned that the mother eventually planned to relocate to Florida. The father opposed the relocation and applied for a temporary restraining order to disallow the mother from leaving the state. He further requested modification of the permanent parenting plan entered at the time of the divorce (a default judgment). In response, the mother filed a counter-petition requesting permission to relocate out-of-state. The paternal grandparents filed a petition to intervene in the action to establish visitation. The court conducted a best interest analysis to determine whether it was in the children's best interest to relocate with the mother. Concluding that it was in the children's best interest to relocate, the court entered a modified parenting plan, which provided a period of co-parenting time for the father to be supervised by the grandparents and set forth a parenting schedule reflective of the distance between the parties upon the mother's relocation. The father and the grandparents appealed. We affirm the judgment allowing the relocation. The trial court's order regarding the grandparents' visitation petition, however, is unclear. Accordingly, we vacate the modified parenting plan and remand this matter for specific findings under Tennessee Code Annotated section 36-6-307 and for a ruling whether the visitation by the grandparents will be separate from or derivative of the father's time.