A new state law will take effect Jan. 1, 2025, which will mandate that all alcohol servers licensed with the Tennessee Alcoholic Beverage Commission must receive training on the role of alcohol and drugs in sexual assault and best strategies to prevent drugging in establishments, reports the Tennessean. Servers also will be required to have more training on sexual assault, date rape drug awareness and human trafficking. Dozens of downtown bars have signed on to the Safe Bar TN program, a network of bars, restaurants and community organizations working together to prevent alcohol-involved sexual violence and create safe nightlife venues.

The Our State, Our Languages Coalition, comprised of five Tennessee-based immigrant rights groups, has filed a federal complaint against the state alleging that the Tennessee Department of Safety and Homeland Security and Driver Services Division fail to provide sufficient language access to the driver’s exam in violation of civil rights law. Currently, Tennessee's written driving test is only available in English, Spanish, German, Japanese and Korean, and the road test is only offered in English. Nashville Public Radio reports that federal guidance states agencies should provide translation or interpretation if at least 1,000 people or 5% of the population have limited English proficiency. In Tennessee, that would include Arabic, Chinese, Somali, Kurdish and more, according to the coalition.

The deadline has been extended for attorneys to apply for appointment by the Hamilton County Commission to fill the General Sessions Court seat that Judge Alex McVeagh will be vacating at the end of the month. Officials said the required notice of the application deadline did not make it into the Sunday Chattanooga Times Free Press as required. The new deadline to apply is Aug. 19 at 3 p.m. EDT. Chattanoogan.com has the amended timeline for filling the vacancy. According to the news outlet, 13 applications have been filed thus far.

The Tennessee Attorney General’s Office is warning consumers about two recently reported government imposter scams. In the jury duty scam, scammers may pose as court officials or law enforcement officers claiming that the person has missed jury duty and is now subject to fines or arrest unless a fee is paid immediately. In the customs and border patrol scam, the caller may say that illegal items such as drugs were shipped in a person's name and have been intercepted, or that there is a warrant out for the person's arrest. More information on what to do and what agencies to contact if targeted by scammers can be found on the attorney general's website.

Lisa Bressman has been promoted to the role of vice dean of Vanderbilt Law School, effective for the 2024-2025 academic year. As vice dean, Bressman is responsible for a range of academic and administrative matters, including planning law school curriculum; overseeing the Legal Research & Writing Program, the Master of Legal Studies Program and the Undergraduate Minor in Legal Studies; and managing routine faculty personnel processes. She served as associate dean of academic affairs from 2010 to 2016 before beginning a second term in 2021. She also served as co-director of Vanderbilt’s Regulatory Program from 2006-2010. Bressman earned her law degree from the University of Chicago.

In March of 2023, the Tennessee state legislature passed the bipartisan Sexual Assault Response Team Act, which required all 95 counties in the state to establish trained sexual assault response teams by the beginning of this year. The teams would consist of multi-disciplinary professionals trained in victim advocacy, law enforcement, criminal prosecution, and health care and mental health services. Currently, only 15 counties have such teams in place. Jennifer Escue, executive director for the Tennessee Coalition to End Domestic and Sexual Violence, told the Tennessee Lookout that in some Tennessee counties, tensions between law enforcement and advocates have prevented the kind of collaborative team response to sexual violence that the law was intended to foster. The lack of coordinated response can result in fewer prosecutions of perpetrators and poorer outcomes for victims, she says. In related news, the Lookout also recently reported on how one rural community has become a model for managing domestic violence.

The U.S. 8th Circuit Court of Appeals recently overturned a preliminary injunction that temporarily blocked Iowa’s book ban law from taking effect. The law, passed in 2023, bans books containing sex acts from schools, except for religious and health texts, and prohibits curriculum about gender identity and sexual orientation through the sixth grade. U.S. District Court Judge Stephen Locher had issued the injunction saying the bill is too vague and presents constitutional concerns under the First and 14th amendments. The appeals court reversed the ruling, saying the recent U.S. Supreme Court decision in Moody v. NetChoice requires the lower court to reevaluate under the steps outlined in that decision. The Des Moines Register has documented 3,400 books pulled from schools under Iowa’s law, including "To Kill A Mockingbird," "1984," "The Color Purple" and "The Handmaids Tale," among others. USA Today has more.

Join members of the TBA Attorney Well Being Committee for a live interactive roundtable on how best to manage work-life balance as a legal professional. This 45-minute Zoom event on Sept. 25 at 12:30 p.m. CDT will feature attorneys discussing their day-to-day practice, and provide effective tools for personal well-being. While geared toward law students and young lawyers, this free event is open to all TBA members, but registration is required. Questions and feedback are encouraged. Submit questions in advance to jword@tnbar.org.

Former North Carolina Supreme Court Chief Justice Cheri Beasley will join part two of the TBA’s Mockingbirds and the Rest of Us series on Aug. 28. Beasley, a University of Tennessee Law School alumna and judge for nearly 25 years, was the first Black woman to serve as chief justice of the North Carolina Supreme Court. She also was the state's Democratic nominee for the U.S. Senate and served as a fall 2023 resident fellow at Harvard Kennedy School Institute of Politics. Mockingbirds and the Rest of Us is a three-part discussion led by attorneys Buck Lewis and Doug Blaze, the founders of the Institute for Professional Leadership at the University of Tennessee Law School. The sessions examine the role lawyers play in leading their communities using the lens of the "To Kill a Mockingbird" book and recent screenplay adaptation by Aaron Sorkin. Learn more and register here.

Catch this ethics webcast replay of "Current Developments from the Board of Professional Responsibility" (BPR) as part of TBA's Beat the Heat Summer Series. Join colleagues on Aug. 22 at noon CDT to hear from BPR Ethics Counsel Laura Chastain, who will review the latest ethics updates. Register here.