Videos from this year’s Animal Law Forum are now available on the TBA website. These webinars provide updates regarding trends and advancements on state and federal issues affecting animals. Topics include conservation efforts, a general practice overview, law enforcement's use of animals, development in sensitive habitats, equine concerns, and a case law update, including ethics. View all sessions using this link.

A retirement reception for Tennessee Court of Appeals Judge D. Michael Swiney will be held Jan. 8, 2026, at 3 p.m. EST at the Tennessee Supreme Court Building in Knoxville. The building is located at 505 Main St., STE 200, Knoxville 37902. The event will take place on the second floor. RSVP to Tammy Capps at tammy.capps@tncourt.gov by Jan. 5 to attend. Swiney plans to retire on Jan. 12.

The Tennessee Supreme Court reinstated Florida lawyer Heather Chastain Parker on Dec. 19. Parker was placed on inactive status more than five years ago, on May 16, 2012. The Board of Professional Responsibility reviewed Parker’s petition for reinstatement and found that reinstatement would be appropriate.

The Federal Trade Commission (FTC) earlier this month called the American Bar Association’s (ABA) law school accreditation system a “monopoly” that increases the cost of legal education and limits the supply of new lawyers, endorsing a proposal by the Texas Supreme Court to end the state’s reliance on ABA accreditation for bar admission, Reuters reports. In a letter to that court, the FTC criticized current accreditation standards — including a now-suspended diversity rule — and noted that other states such as Florida and Ohio are reviewing their requirements, while the ABA has launched a review of the standards. The chair of the council of the ABA Section of Legal Education and Admissions to the Bar recently addressed these state reviews in a Bloomberg Law opinion piece.

THAPAR, Circuit Judge. Brigitte Hendershot alleges that Michigan currently holds between $200 and $600 that belongs to her. When she asks for her money back, she claims Michigan will return it without interest—a failure she says effectuates an unconstitutional taking. Hendershot has standing to make this claim. But we can’t decide more on this record, so we reverse and remand.

Defendant, Anthony M. Patton, appeals from the trial court’s denial of his motion, filed pursuant to Tennessee Rule of Criminal Procedure 36, to correct a clerical mistake in the judgments entered against him. He asserts that the trial court erred in refusing to apply pretrial jail credit to the second of two consecutively imposed sentences, arguing that he is entitled to receive such credit on both sentences. He also argues that his plea agreement is void as a result. The State responds that the trial court correctly applied jail credits to Defendant’s first sentence. After review, we affirm the judgment of the trial court.

Petitioner, Tony Mar-Kee Mosley, appeals the Obion County Circuit Court’s summary dismissal of his petition for post-conviction relief. Following our review of the entire record, the briefs of the parties, and the applicable law, we conclude that Petitioner filed an untimely notice of appeal and the interest of justice does not warrant a waiver of the notice requirement. Therefore, we dismiss this appeal as untimely.

The Defendant, Felix Mandiel Leach, pleaded guilty to possession with the intent to sell or to deliver a Schedule II controlled substance as a Range II, multiple offender and received a twelve-year sentence to be served on probation. The Defendant filed a motion to correct an illegal sentence pursuant to Tennessee Rule of Criminal Procedure 36.1, which the trial court summarily denied. On appeal, the Defendant contends that the court erred in denying relief. We affirm the judgment of the trial court.

In 2018, a Williamson County jury convicted the Petitioner, Dewayne Edward Harris, of joyriding, carjacking, and aggravated robbery accomplished with a deadly weapon, and the trial court sentenced the Petitioner to serve an effective sentence of thirty years of incarceration. The Petitioner filed for post-conviction relief, alleging that he had received the ineffective assistance of counsel. The post-conviction court dismissed the petition, and we affirmed the post-conviction court’s judgment. Harris v. State, No. M2023-00681- CCA-R3-PC, 2024 WL 4164998, at *1-2 (Tenn. Crim. App. Sept. 12, 2024), Tenn. R. App. P. 11 application denied (Tenn. Feb. 21, 2025). The Petitioner then filed a petition for writ of habeas corpus, and the trial court entered an order summarily dismissing the petition. We affirm the trial court’s judgment.

Defendant, Jimmy Harold Clark, was convicted by a Cumberland County jury of one count of rape of a child under the age of thirteen. The jury imposed the maximum fine of $50,000, and the trial court imposed a forty-year sentence to be served in confinement. On appeal, Defendant argues that the trial court erred by denying the motion to suppress his statement and that his sentence was excessive. Upon our review of the entire record, the briefs of the parties, and the applicable law, we affirm the judgment of the trial court.