Law school applications from minority students are up this year, Reuters reports. The number of Hispanic applicants is up 8.9% compared with the same time last year, while Black applicants are up 6.7%, and Asian applicants are up 6.1%. White applicants posted the smallest year-over-year increase at 3.1%, according to data from the Law School Admission Council. Though some legal educators feared that the U.S. Supreme Court’s June 2023 decision striking down the consideration of race in college admissions would dissuade diverse would-be lawyers from applying, that does not appear to have happened. This year’s numbers continue a trend toward greater diversity in law school classes. Law schools enrolled their most diverse first-year classes on record each of the past three years.

Make plans now to attend the TBA’s 2024 Health Law Primer and Health Law Forum this fall. The primer will take place Oct. 16 in downtown Nashville followed by the forum on Oct. 17-18 in Franklin’s Cool Springs area. Designed for those new to health practice, the primer will provide a general health law overview and practical tips to identify and avoid the pitfalls of real-life situations in the heavily regulated health care industry. The two-day forum will dig deeper into topics such as private equity, antitrust laws, digital health, cyber security, legislative and state case updates and ethics. David Higginson, executive vice president of Phoenix Children's Hospital, will give this year’s keynote address. The premier program for Tennessee health care lawyers, the forum provides all necessary CLE requirements for the year — 12 general hours and three dual hours — while providing opportunities to connect with colleagues from across the state.

On June 24, Coffee County lawyer Judith-Anne Ross St. Clair was reinstated to the active practice of law with conditions. The Tennessee Supreme Court directed St. Clair to engage a practice monitor for one year, continue to comply with her current Tennessee Lawyer Assistance Program (TLAP) monitoring agreement, attend the next two Camp TLAP events, continue to engage with her therapist for one year, and complete 15 hours of continuing legal education, including at least three hours of legal ethics, as long as she remains licensed. St. Clair was suspended in July 2018 with three years to be served on active suspension and six months to be served on probation.

School psychologist Heather McClendon is running as a Democratic candidate to represent District 30 in the Tennessee House of Representatives. She is challenging incumbent Rep. Esther Helton-Haynes, R-East Ridge, who has served in the role since November 2018. McClendon says she was motivated to run after passage of a state law requiring third graders to meet certain requirements to progress to fourth grade. The Times Fress Press has more on her candidacy.

William Hance “Bill” Lassiter Jr., a long time Nashville attorney, died June 21 in Franklin after a short illness. He was 85. Originally from Huntingdon, Lassiter graduated from the Webb School in Bell Buckle, Vanderbilt University and Vanderbilt University Law School. He started his career with the Tennessee Attorney General’s Office in 1963 and of most recently was with Belcher, Sykes Harrington, a firm he helped found. Visitation will be Wednesday from 4-6 p.m. CDT and Thursday at 3 p.m. at Otter Creek Church, 409 Franklin Rd., Brentwood 37027. Funeral services will take place on Thursday at 4 p.m. Memorial donations may be made to Wayne Reed Christian Childcare Center, 11 Lindsley Ave. B, Nashville, TN 37210.

The Tennessee Supreme Court has clarified standards for determining when a trial court may consider a prisoner's petition to consider newly discovered evidence. Under Tennessee law, the petition, an error coram nobis petition, must be filed within one year after conviction. If not filed in that timeframe, the petition may only be considered if it presents newly discovered evidence that clearly and convincingly shows the defendant did not commit the crime of which they were convicted. The case stems from Thomas Clardy's 2007 conviction and life sentence for his role in a Davidson County shooting that left one person dead and two others wounded. Today's decision reversed the Court of Criminal Appeals and affirmed the post-conviction court’s dismissal of Clardy’s petition, finding that the presented evidence was not a valid basis to extend the one-year time limit. The decision was authored by Chief Justice Holly Kirby. Justice Jeff Bivins concurred in the court’s judgment but wrote a separate opinion, joined by Justice Sharon G. Lee.

The investigation into an attempted foreclosure sale of Graceland will continue under federal law enforcement after the Tennessee Attorney General’s Office conducted an initial probe and determined the matter was best suited for federal review. “We have faith in our federal partners and know they will handle this appropriately," director of communications for the Tennessee Attorney General's Office Amy Lannom Wilhite said in a statement. In May, Naussany Investments filed three foreclosure notices against the historic Memphis property, but the effort was halted by Chancellor JoeDae Jenkins. Someone associated with the company eventually claimed publicly that had it dropped the case and announced it had been operating a scam. The Commercial Appeal recaps the situation.

In 2020, the Petitioner, Ronnie Dale Whitener, pleaded guilty to one count of the sale of and one count of the possession of less than 0.5 grams of methamphetamine, as well as one count of theft and one count of being a felon in possession of a handgun. The trial court sentenced him to an effective sentence of ten years of incarceration. In March 2023, the Petitioner filed a petition for post-conviction relief, which is not included in the record. The trial court summarily dismissed the petition as untimely, and the Petitioner appeals. After review, we affirm the trial court’s dismissal.

Petitioner, John David Smartt, appeals the denial of his post-conviction petition, arguing that the post-conviction court erred in denying his claims that trial counsel was ineffective by failing to prepare him to testify and failing to object to testimony concerning a recorded phone call between the victim (“J.S.”)1 and Petitioner. Following our review of the entire record, oral arguments, and the briefs of the parties, we affirm the judgment of the post- conviction court.

This is an appeal from a trial court’s dismissal of a complaint for race discrimination for failure to state a claim. For the following reasons, we affirm the decision of the circuit court.