A new TBA Legislative Updates podcast is now available featuring attorney and TBA lobbyist Berkley Schwarz and Adams and Reese attorney and TBA lobbyist Ashley Harbin. This week they discuss HB2710/SB2254 (the TBA Conservatorship bill), HB2645 (the adoption birth certificate bill), HB2002 (removing two Shelby county judicial districts), HB2215/SB2448 (the Real Estate Fraud Reduction Act), and HB2644 (the adoption clean-up bill.) Legislative Updates airs each week on the TBA’s Facebook page. It is also released as a podcast on the same day and can be found on the TBA’s website or wherever you listen to podcasts.

The Tennessee Bar Association and Tennessee’s American Inns of Court are accepting nominations for the 2024 Judge Pamela L. Reeves Tennessee Professionalism Award through today, April 8. The annual award is presented to a lawyer or judge whose life and practice display sterling character and unquestioned integrity, coupled with ongoing dedication to the highest standards of the rule of law and the highest standards of the legal profession in Tennessee. This year's award will be presented to a lawyer or judge residing in the West Grand Division. Nominees must be alive when nominations are submitted but they need not be an active member of an American Inn of Court or the TBA. The award will be presented at the TBA's Annual Convention, which will be held in Memphis June 12-15.

Join the Corporate Counsel Section for its annual forum on April 19 from 9 a.m. to 1 p.m. CDT. The program will be held virtually via Zoom, with topics including how the Corporate Transparency Act affects in-house counsel, guiding your company through a government investigation, the recent FTC guidance on noncompetes and no-poaching agreements, and what in-house counsel needs to know about parent/subsidiary relationships. Learn more and register here.

Cleveland attorney J. Allen Murphy Jr. died on March 8. He graduated from Emory University in 1991, where he earned degrees in English and philosophy and served as a governor's intern with the Georgia Indigent Defense Council. After college, Murphy enlisted and served honorably in the U.S. Army. He later went on to obtain a teaching fellowship and pursue a master's degree in philosophy and religion at the University of Mississippi. While at Ole Miss, he was accepted to the University of Mississippi School of Law. After obtaining his law degree, he opened a solo practice in Cleveland. Services were held March 23. In lieu of flowers, the family requests donations made in his memory to The McCallie School, The Friends of the Greenway Fund or the charity of the donor's choice.

Former Shelby County Criminal Court Judge Melissa Boyd on Friday pleaded guilty in her criminal trial to a single harassment charge and was given judicial diversion for 11 months and 29 days. She also was ordered to a 28-day stay at a Jackson rehabilitation facility, after which she will have to enter the Shelby County Veteran’s Court Program. Boyd’s plea agreement also means that she cannot contact Lashanta Rudd, a woman she was allegedly in a personal relationship and the person who she pleaded guilty to harassing. The Daily Memphian has the story.

A bill that would require public school students to watch a video on fetal development, or something comparable, produced by anti-abortion group Live Action is headed to Gov. Bill Lee's desk for his signature. The Associated Press reports that SB2767, sponsored by Sen. Janice Bowling, R-Tullahoma, mirrors similar proposals, all backed by the group, that have popped up this year in Iowa, Kentucky, Missouri and West Virginia. North Dakota was the first state to adopt the idea last year. The video has been criticized by some educators and physicians, and the American College of Obstetricians and Gynecologists has said the video is anti-abortion misinformation “designed to manipulate the emotions of viewers.” Bowling says, “It does show conception and it’s an AI-type of film, but it’s medically correct ... And it shows the moment when the sperm unites with the egg, and that is the beginning of life.”

TBA’s Legislative Updates podcast is new this week with attorney and TBA lobbyist Berkley Schwarz and Adams and Reese attorney and TBA lobbyist Ashley Harbin. This week they discuss HB2710/SB2254 (the TBA Conservatorship bill), HB2645 (the adoption birth certificate bill), HB2002 (removing two Shelby county judicial districts), HB2215/SB2448 (the Real Estate Fraud Reduction Act), and HB2644 (the adoption clean-up bill.) Legislative Updates airs each week on the TBA’s Facebook page. It is also released as a podcast on the same day and can be found on the TBA’s website or wherever you listen to podcasts.

Harriet Thompson was sworn in as Hardeman County General Sessions Court judge on April 1, making her the first woman to serve in that position in the county. Thompson was appointed by the Hardeman County Commission to fill the position after Judge Boyette Denton resigned due to ongoing health issues. A graduate of Vanderbilt University and Nashville School of Law, Thompson has been an attorney in the county since 1991 and has had her own practice in the county since the late 1990s. She has practiced in all court venues in the county and has tried a case before the Tennessee Supreme Court. Thompson has since announced she will be running as an Independent for the position in the Aug. 5 general election. Read more from the Bolivar Bulletin Times.

A bill to let some Tennessee public school teachers carry handguns advanced Tuesday in a 7-1 vote in the Senate Judiciary Committee. SB1325/HB1202, co-sponsored by Sen. Paul Bailey, R-Sparta, and Rep. Ryan Williams, R-Cookeville, would let a teacher or staff member carry a concealed handgun at school after completing 40 hours of certified training in school policing at their own expense, as well as passing a mental health evaluation and FBI background check. Chalkbeat reports that parents would not be notified if their student’s teacher is armed. "The director of schools, principal and the chief of the local law enforcement agency are the only ones notified of those permitted to carry,” Bailey told senators, "and they are not to disclose if someone is or is not permitted to carry on school grounds." Sen. London Lamar, D-Memphis, was the lone vote against the measure, saying, "I do not think that it is the responsibility of teachers in our state, who have taken the oath to educate our children, to now become law enforcement officers."

A group of Memphis law students filed suits against blighted property as a part of a program that helps them get hands-on experience while also helping clean up Memphis. Local Memphis reports that University of Memphis Neighborhood Preservation Clinic law students filed 15 lawsuits against neglected properties in Shelby County Environmental Court on March 14. North Memphis resident Roy Brownlee said the whole area is full of neglected homes, with many becoming targets for squatters and illegal dumping. “Especially when it's cold out and they might accidentally burn them down because they're trying to keep warm,” he said, noting that multiple homes did catch fire during the winter. Law professor Daniel Schaffzin says, “Because this lawsuit is filed against the property itself, and that property is in Memphis, even if the owner never appears, whether they’re living or not, unresponsive, we can still go forward.”