The American Bar Association (ABA) 2024 Annual Meeting in Chicago will feature the group’s first-ever Democracy Summit on Aug. 2. The program will be led by former U.S. Secretary of Homeland Security Jeh Johnson and former federal Judge J. Michael Luttig, co-chairs of the ABA Task Force for American Democracy. The task force will present its findings on the state of U.S. democracy as well as concrete steps for those in the legal profession to defend the rule of law in their local areas. Other elements of the meeting, which will run from July 31 through Aug. 6, include remarks by U.S. Deputy Attorney General Lisa Monaco, the second ranking official at the U.S. Department of Justice, awards presentations and programs on a range of legal topics. Get details in this release.

As of July 1, youth aged 15 and older in Tennessee may be tried in adult court for two nonviolent offenses: shoplifting of items valued over $1,000 with the intent to sell or fraudulently return the merchandise, or for stealing a firearm or attempting to do so. In the past, judges could decide to try a young person in adult court for violent or otherwise extreme offenses, the Nashville Banner reports. Davidson County Juvenile Court Judge Sheila Calloway is questioning whether the law is necessary. “Organized retail crime was not on our radar as an issue for the youth that we serve.” The bill’s lead sponsor Sen. Brent Taylor, R-Memphis, says he backed the legislation because “smash and grabs in Memphis have reached a crisis point.”

Davidson County lawyer Wendy Sue O’Neill was reinstated to the practice of law on July 15. She had been on inactive status since April 23, 2015. The Board of Professional Responsibility reported that O’Neill’s petition for reinstatement was satisfactory.

The federal judiciary is considering whether new ethical guidance on the hiring of law clerks is needed after two judges hired a clerk who was accused of racist conduct and a number of judges threatened to not hire clerks from certain law schools. Reuters reports that the U.S. Judicial Conference revealed last week that it referred the question to its Committee on Codes of Conduct and asked its Committee on Judicial Conduct and Disability to examine whether any rules should be modified to address the potential incompatibility of current policies governing judicial misconduct cases.

Tennessee Gov. Bill Lee touted school choice and the unity of Republican governors during a speech Tuesday at the Republican National Convention in Milwaukee. Lee has made school choice a priority for his administration and this week called it the “civil rights issue of our time.” Lee was the second Republican elected official from Tennessee to speak. On Monday, U.S. Sen. Marsha Blackburn of Tennessee spoke twice during the opening day of the convention: once to present the party platform and again to address delegates. The Tennessean has more, including Lee's full remarks.

This is an appeal from a final decree of divorce in which the trial court determined that the assets accumulated by the parties during their fifty-eight-year marriage were all marital property and were worth approximately $2,000,000.00 in total. Following a hearing wherein the parties testified regarding the values of the individual assets, the trial court entered a final decree of divorce, assigning values and dividing the marital assets into two tables, awarding approximately forty-seven percent of the assets to the wife and approximately fifty-three percent of the assets to the husband. The trial court also awarded to the wife “transitional alimony” of $1,000.00 per month for five years as well as her reasonable attorney’s fees. The husband has appealed from the final decree, arguing that (1) the trial court erred in the distribution of assets because it did not make sufficient findings in the record or allocate proper weight to the factors set forth in Tennessee Code Annotated § 36-4-121(c) and (2) the trial court erred in granting temporary alimony to the wife based upon her financial need. In her reply brief, the wife seeks an award of attorney’s fees on appeal. Based on our review, we determine that the final decree contains insufficient findings of fact regarding the distribution of marital assets and the award of alimony because the trial court failed to delineate its analysis of the required statutory factors as to either award. Accordingly, we vacate those portions of the trial court’s final decree and remand for further findings of fact and conclusions of law.

According to multiple media reports, President Joe Biden is seriously considering calling for major changes to the U.S. Supreme Court, including term limits for justices and imposition of an ethics code. The proposals also could include a constitutional amendment to eliminate the broad immunity for presidents and other federal officeholders — something the court recently upheld — according to the Washington Post, which was the first to report the news based on a transcript of a call between Biden and members of the U.S. House Progressive Caucus. Biden reportedly told the group that he has been working with constitutional scholars for the last three months to develop a plan. Any changes would need to be approved by Congress. The Tennessean has more on the story.

This auto accident case involves an insurer’s claim that its limit of liability for uninsured motorist coverage should be offset due to the availability of payable workers’ compensation benefits. The trial court granted summary judgment to the insurer. We reverse and remand for further proceedings.

The Chancery Court for Madison County (“the Trial Court”) terminated the parental rights of River M. (“Mother”) to her son, Bentley R. (“the Child”). Mother appeals, challenging the Trial Court’s finding that termination of Mother’s parental rights was in the Child’s best interest. Discerning no reversible error, we affirm.

Sumner County lawyer Joseph Timothy Zanger has received a public censure from the Tennessee Supreme Court. The court found that Zanger made several procedural errors in handling an adoption case for one client and failed to obtain entry of a qualified domestic relations order for over three years for another client. These actions were determined to violate Rule of Professional Conduct 1.1, 1.3, 1.4, 1.16 and 3.2.