Nashville-based law firm Sherrard Roe Voigt & Harbison PLC is moving to its location as of Monday. The firm’s new address will be 1600 West End Ave., Ste. 1750, Nashville, TN 37203. All phone numbers and email addresses will remain the same. The firm announced its intention to move in March 2023. It is relocating to Broadwest, a new urban mixed-use community combining office space, condominiums, a hotel and retail space. Three other law firms have made the move to that space: Adams and Reese, Baker Donelson and Barnes & Thornburg.

The U.S. Attorney’s Office for the Western District of Tennessee will join communities nationwide in observing National Crime Victims’ Rights Week and celebrating victims’ rights, protections and services April 21-27. This year’s theme — “How would you help? Options, services and hope for crime survivors” — aims to ensure that everyone knows where and how crime victims and survivors can find help — including friends, family members, colleagues, neighbors, service providers or other trusted community members. Read more about the office’s support for victims of crime in a news release.

Memphis lawyer Jack Lewis Halliburton died April 14 at the age of 94. Halliburton earned his undergraduate degree from Memphis State University in 1954 and his law degree from the University of Tennessee College of Law. He returned to Memphis after graduating and practiced law there for 56 years. Visitation will be held Saturday from 1:30-2:30 p.m. CDT at Memorial Park Funeral Home, 5668 Poplar Ave., Memphis 38119. Memorial donations may be made to St. Jude Children's Research Hospital, 501 St. Jude Place, Memphis, TN 38105.

Attorney General Jonathan Skrmetti has filed an appeal with the Tennessee Court of Appeals to challenge a special three-judge panel’s decision that found a state-constituted airport board for the Nashville Airport Authority to be unconstitutional. In November 2023, the state indicated its intention to challenge the ruling and ask the appeals court to reverse it. The special panel ruled in October 2023 that state legislators violated the home rule concept by targeting Nashville and immediately reinstated the Metro board. That board has been meeting while the issue remains in litigation. The Nashville Business Journal reports that the state argues that the law does not illegally single-out Nashville and that because the airport authority is a separate legal entity, Metro does not have standing to sue.

A federal judge in Louisiana has dismissed a lawsuit by 19 Republican-led states challenging a 2022 rule adopted by the Biden administration dealing with asylum claims and deportations at the southern border. U.S. District Judge David Joseph said that while policies adopted by the administration have led to a "dramatic increase in illegal aliens entering the United States through the southern border," the states challenging the rule lacked standing. He went on say that while the states may be able to show they have been harmed by the administration’s overall immigration policies, they could not prove they were economically harmed by this one specific rule. Reuters has more on the decision.

Submissions for the TBA's Fourth Estate Award: Honoring Courageous Reporting on Justice and the Law are due next week on Thursday. This year's prize, honoring reporting in 2023, includes a $250 honorarium for the winner. The TBA strongly supports freedom of expression under the First Amendment, as exercised by lawyers on behalf of their clients and by journalists on behalf of the public, and particularly wants to recognize and encourage journalists who promote public understanding of the rule of law and our system of justice through vigorous exercise of their First Amendment rights. The deadline for entry is April 25. Attorneys who have relationships with reporters or observed a particularly compelling piece of journalism in 2023 are encouraged to submit a nomination. Read about past recipients here and read the TBA's full press release.

Save the date! Real Estate Essentials, the TBA Real Estate Law Section's annual basics-level CLE, has been scheduled for June 20 from 1-4 p.m. CDT. The program will take place virtually for ease of access and will offer three hours of general CLE credit. Topics and other details will be announced soon, so keep an eye out for more information.

The TBA has released a statement on the General Assembly’s recent approval of additional funding to increase the hourly rate for court-appointed attorneys representing the indigent. The funding, included in the budget for Fiscal Year 2024-2025, will raise the reimbursement rate by $10 an hour to $60 an hour, as well as the corresponding caps. TBA President Jim Barry thanked the General Assembly for making indigent representation funding a priority, as well as Chief Justice Holly Kirby, the Tennessee Supreme Court and the Administrative Office of the Courts (AOC) for their leadership and partnership in helping spotlight this critical issue. The TBA had supported the AOC's budget request of $26.145 million, which would have raised the hourly rate to $80. It remains committed to working with stakeholders to secure additional resources to fairly compensate lawyers who do this important work. Read the TBA’s full statement. To learn more about this issue and advocacy efforts on behalf of Tennessee lawyers, visit the TBA’s Indigent Representation Resources webpage. In related news, a story in yesterday’s TBA Today incorrectly stated that the hourly is rate is set by statute. In fact, it is set by the Tennessee Supreme Court through Rule 13. Any proposed rate increase then must be funded by the General Assembly.

Register by April 30 for TBA's Annual Convention in Memphis, June 12-15, to take advantage of Early Bird pricing! The Peabody Hotel has special room rates for convention attendees, so make those reservations by May 22.

Shelby County Sheriff Floyd Bonner has announced that his office would hand over management of the Youth Justice and Education Center to the Shelby County Juvenile Court by the end of 2024. In an email to the Shelby County Commission, Bonner cited the need to focus deputies at adult facilities, including the jail at 201 Poplar Ave., as his office deals with understaffing, reports the Daily Memphian. The sheriff's office voluntarily took on management of the youth center in 2014 at the request of then-Shelby County Juvenile Court Judge Dan Michael. The facility was under the oversight of the U.S. Department of Justice. Juvenile Judge Tarik Sugarmon agreed with Bonner that it makes sense to bring the operation of the center back under the control of the juvenile court, but expressed concern that the timeline doesn’t provide enough time to set up an appropriate management plan. Sugarmon told Action News 5 that he sees the transition as an opportunity to improve the care of young people in the justice system.