The cohort of the YLD's inaugural Rural Judicial Fellowship wrote reflective essays at the end of their fellowships. Click here to read them.

Former Tennessee Bar Journal Editor Suzanne Craig Robertson reviews John Williams' extensive biography of Montgomery Bell, a notable figure in Middle Tennessee history and development.

Read about the lawyers who have recently been reinstated, disbarred, suspended, censured or transferred their licenses to disability inactive status.

Tennessee Bar Association members who have died recently are memorialized.

In this installment of The Legal Life, get a sneak peek at the TBA's new home, see the new section and committee leaders for the 2025-2026 bar year, say farewell to TBA's Access to Justice Director Liz Slagle Todaro, get information on Celebrate Pro Bono month and more!

TBA President Heidi Barcus shares her newfound respect for managers navigating the disparate needs of staff and stakeholders in her President's Perspective column.

After a bench trial in the Tipton County Circuit Court, the Defendant, Travis Michael Barnett, was convicted of one count of theft of property valued at $10,000 or more but less than $60,000, and the trial court imposed a six-year sentence as a Range II multiple offender with a 35% release eligibility. On appeal, the Defendant argues that the evidence is insufficient to support his conviction. Discerning no error, we affirm.

The owner of a Pitbull mix canine appeals from the trial court’s denial of her motion to set aside the judgment entered in favor of the canine’s victim. Discerning no error, we affirm.

This appeal arises from a complaint filed by a faculty member against The Vanderbilt University (“Vanderbilt”) after Vanderbilt rejected her applications for promotion and tenure during the academic years 2015-16 and 2018-19. The faculty member initially alleged one count each of gender discrimination, retaliation, and breach of contract but subsequently amended her complaint to omit the gender discrimination and retaliation claims. Concerning her breach of contract claim, the faculty member alleged that Vanderbilt had not followed its own policies and procedures for promotion and tenure when reviewing her tenure file and had shown bias against her, thus exhibiting a substantial departure from accepted academic norms and procedural regularity. After discovery, the parties filed competing motions for summary judgment. The trial court adopted this Court’s deferential standard for reviewing promotion and tenure decisions by academic institutions as set forth in Figal v. Vanderbilt Univ., No. M2012-02516-COA-R3-CV, 2013 WL 5459021 (Tenn. Ct. App. Sept. 27, 2013), and determined that Vanderbilt had not exhibited a substantial departure from accepted academic norms or procedural regularity in denying tenure to the faculty member. The trial court then determined that Vanderbilt had met its burden of negating an essential element of the breach of contract claim because the evidence was insufficient to establish that Vanderbilt had failed to follow its own tenure review process. The trial court further determined that the faculty member had failed to establish undisputed material facts that would entitle her to summary judgment. Accordingly, the trial court denied the faculty member’s motion for summary judgment, granted Vanderbilt’s motion for summary judgment, and dismissed the case with prejudice. The faculty member timely appealed. Discerning no reversible error, we affirm

Appellant asks this Court to order the trial court to remove certain allegedly disparaging comments from the trial transcript and two court orders. Appellant also asks this Court to issue a “letter of reprimand” to the trial judge for the allegedly disparaging comments. Due to the deficiencies in Appellant’s brief, and because we cannot grant Appellant the relief he seeks, we dismiss the appeal.