The Tennessee Supreme Court has transferred the law license of Shelby County attorney Jack Randal Tomblin to disability inactive status. Tomblin may not practice law but may petition the court to return to the practice of law by showing his disability has been removed.

The Tennessee House and Senate both passed the budget for Fiscal Years 2024 and 2025 today. HB2973/SB2942 includes $8.6 million in additional recurring funding to increase the hourly rate for court-appointed attorneys representing the indigent. The funding, which was added by the House and Senate Finance committees earlier this week, will raise the rate by $10 an hour to $60 an hour. The appropriation will mark the first time the rate has been increased since 1997. The TBA remains committed to working with stakeholders to secure additional resources to fairly compensate lawyers who do this important work.

Davidson County Chancellor I’Ashea Myles has asked for more information on copyright law before ruling on whether the Covenant School shooter's writings can be made public. Covenant parents have gained legal ownership of the writings from the shooter’s parents and now hold the copyright. None of the attorneys on the case claim to be copyright experts. Myles said she will write an order outlining specific questions she wants them to address. Only after that will she rule on when, if ever, the writings can be released to the public. The Associated Press has the story.

In an interview on Tuesday, U.S. Department of Health and Human Services (HHS) Office for Civil Rights Director Melanie Fontes Rainer said the agency will "continue to support health care and privacy rights" for Tennesseans who might be affected by HB1895/SB1971. The proposed legislation targets an adult who "recruits, harbors or transports" a pregnant minor for the purposes of receiving an abortion, defined by Tennessee's abortion ban, or for getting abortion medication. The Tennessean reports that while HIPAA-covered entities like health care providers are allowed to share records with law enforcement if asked, they are not required to do so. Rainer said her agency is working to close that permissive gap, with a proposed rule banning HIPAA entities from sharing personal health care records with law enforcement.

Volunteer lawyers are needed for an upcoming expungement clinic in Memphis on May 3. The event will be held in partnership with the Memphis Bar Association Access to Justice Committee, the Young Lawyers Division of the Memphis Bar Association and Shelby County Commissioner Charlie Caswell. Sign up for a shift or view a flyer of the event.

The Defendant, Benjamin Cloe Byrer, was convicted by a Gibson County Circuit Court jury of second degree murder, a Class A felony. See T.C.A. § 39-13-210 (2018). The Defendant was sentenced to nineteen years’ incarceration. On appeal, he contends that the evidence is insufficient to support his conviction. We affirm the judgment of the trial court.

Parents, on behalf of their children who are public school students, and an education-focused parents’ rights organization brought suit against the Williamson County Board of Education, arguing that the Board’s adoption and implementation of a particular curriculum violates Tennessee law. The Plaintiffs argue the curriculum violates a state law restricting the use of Common Core textbooks and instructional materials in public schools and violates another state law that bars the teaching of certain prohibited concepts in public schools. The School Board moved to dismiss. The trial court granted the motion on two justiciability grounds. The trial court concluded that the parents and the parents’ rights organization lacked standing to maintain either claim. The trial court also concluded that the Plaintiffs were required to exhaust administrative remedies with regard to their prohibited concepts claim and had not done so. The Plaintiffs appealed. With the exception of a family that left the county public school system and has not expressed in their pleadings an intent to return, we conclude that trial court erred in finding the Plaintiffs lacked standing. We affirm the trial court’s dismissal of the prohibited concepts claim for failure to exhaust administrative remedies. We reverse, however, the dismissal of the Plaintiffs’ Common Core claim and remand for further proceedings.

A father was found to have committed severe child abuse in a dependency and neglect case. The Department of Children’s Services subsequently filed a petition to terminate the father’s parental rights based on the previous finding of severe child abuse. Father asserts that the trial court erred in failing to continue the termination proceedings in his absence, in finding a ground for termination of his parental rights, and in determining that termination was in the child’s best interest. Discerning no error, we affirm the trial court’s decision.

Joe Ingle, death row prisoner advocate, will discuss his new book, "Too Close to the Flame: With the Condemned Inside the Southern Killing Machine," with retired attorney Keith Simmons at Nashville's Parnassus Books on May 6 at 6:30 p.m. CDT. As an advocate for men and women condemned to death, Ingle says he has seen an unjust legal system that routinely victimizes the marginalized. He has often found himself waiting through the darkest hours as the spiritual advisor and sole companion of those on deathwatch — the brief period of isolation that precedes an execution. The event is free but registration is required.

For more than 10 years, Arts Immersion has been a popular event for the arts and business communities in Nashville. On May 29, the partnership between the Arts & Business Council and the Nashville Bar Association's Young Lawyers Division continues with an event featuring live music and a silent auction. All proceeds from Arts Immersion support the Arts & Business Council's Volunteer Lawyers & Professionals for the Arts program, which has provided nearly $4 million in free legal services to the Nashville arts and entertainment community. Click here for more information and tickets.