A recent piece in the Nashville Business Journal looks at some of the issues clients are concerned about in interviews with three local attorneys. Former TBA Executive Director Joycelyn Stevenson tells the journal that attorneys in Littler’s Nashville office are handling a number of employment concerns, including public image, budgets and employment verification compliance. Todd Rolapp with Bass Berry & Sims says his firm focuses on helping clients anticipate what rulings, regulations or financial developments are on the horizon so they can prepare for an appropriate response. Finally, DarKenya Waller, executive director of the Legal Aid Society of Middle Tennessee and the Cumberlands, says some of the greatest needs of their clients are housing, healthcare and a living wage.

The Biden administration has extended and expanded temporary protected status (TPS) for Ukrainians already in the United States, citing the ongoing Russian military invasion and resulting humanitarian crisis in Ukraine. According to The Hill, the expansion will make around 166,700 more individuals eligible for TPS, and an additional 26,000 beneficiaries will retain their TPS through April 2025. The extension, which was set to expire on Oct. 19, has been lengthened by 18 months due to the ongoing conflict and displacement of millions of Ukrainians.

Tennessee’s Black Caucus is urging Tennessee State University’s (TSU) President Glenda Glover to remain at the helm of the university through 2025 to provide stability, saying she has been “unfairly targeted” by Republican lawmakers. The Tennessee Lookout reports that Rep. Sam McKenzie, D-Knoxville, and the chair of the caucus, says Glover’s announcement that she will retire from TSU in June 2024 “seems rushed,” coming on the heels of an uproar over a campus housing crunch that triggered a comptroller’s audit.

Metro Nashville and homeless outreach advocates are criticizing the Tennessee Department of Transportation (TDOT) for clearing out multiple encampments on state property without offering resources, including housing. They also claim the sweep has created new encampments and more problems for people experiencing homelessness. WKRN reports that a TDOT spokesperson said the agency is not clearing out encampments but attempting to maintain their property after receiving complaints about safety and cleanliness from taxpayers and first responders.

The TBA Environmental Law Section has selected Phill Ruston, a student at the University of Memphis Cecil C. Humphreys School of Law, as the winner of its 2023 Hastings Writing Competition. The judges said that Ruston’s essay, Protecting the Middle Claiborne Aquifer Through Interstate Compact, was timely and captured the spirit of the competition, which was established in memory of one of the Environmental Law Section's founding members, Jon E. Hastings.

This year’s decision was a difficult one, with another Cecil C. Humphreys School of Law student Alton Smith’s essay, The Human-Caused Natural Event: Examining the Future of the Clean Air Act’s Exceptional Events Rule, selected as a close runner-up. 

Other entries, including Daniel Riley’s Our Muddied Waters — Deciphering the Uncertain Future of the Clean Water Act and Elodie Currier’s Environmental and Economic Benefits and Challenges Arising from Brownfield Remediation in TN H.B. 319, were tied, receiving just one fewer vote than the runner up.

The section’s executive council would like to thank all participants for their thoughtful and impressive entries. Essayists are invited to attend the section's annual forum on Dec. 1.

This year's Hot Topics in Real Estate will take place virtually, allowing attendees to learn from the comfort of their home or office. The program, produced in cooperation with the Tennessee Land Title Association, is a staple for Tennessee dirt lawyers, designed to keep attorneys on the cutting edge of developments in this practice area. More information coming soon!

The MBA YLD is holding its annual golf tournament on Oct. 14 at the Timber Truss Golf Course in Olive Branch, Mississippi. This tournament will benefit the Greater Memphis Boys and Girls Club. Click here to register.

The Supreme Court of Tennessee yesterday suspended 143 attorneys for failing to complete annual continuing legal education requirements in 2022. View the Aug. 17 order or see the full list online, which notes 23 attorneys who were reinstated today. Access all administrative suspension lists dating back to 2005.

The following attorneys were suspended by the Supreme Court on Aug. 17, 2023, for failing to comply with Rule 21 of the Rules of the Tennessee Supreme Court, which requires mandatory continuing legal education, during the 2022 compliance year. Attorneys who have since complied with CLE requirements, and for whom notice has been received from the court, are noted as reinstated.

Stuart Delery, President Joe Biden's top lawyer, will step down from his post next month, the White House announced today. Reuters reports that no replacement has been named. Delery, who has worked at the White House since July 2022, advised the president on advancing his legislative agenda and defending against Republican-led congressional investigations. Delery’s departure comes as U.S. House Republicans escalate probes into the business dealings of Biden’s son, Hunter.