Funeral services have now been scheduled for Memphis attorney and civic leader Ricky Wilkins, who died last week. Visitation will be Friday from 5 to 7 p.m. CDT at First Baptist Broad, 2835 Broad in Memphis. Funeral services will be Saturday at 10:30 a.m., also at First Baptist Broad. A memorial reception will be held on Saturday from 1:30 to 4:30 p.m. at Serenity Columbarium and Memorial Garden, 1638 Sycamore View Rd. in Memphis.

The National Conference of Bar Examiners (NCBE) will continue offering the existing Uniform Bar Exam through February 2028, while also offering the new Next Gen Bar Exam starting in July 2026, Reuters reports. The NCBE said in September that the test in its current form would retire after the July 2027 exam, but some state courts have said they need more time to adopt the new test. The decision of which bar exam each state uses lies with individual states.

Environmental lawyers across the state rely on this annual program from the TBA Environmental Law Section to keep them up to date on timely topics relevant to the practice area. Government, in-house and private practice attorneys will discuss new regulations, ethics, case law updates and more. Do not miss this opportunity to learn from seasoned practitioners while networking with colleagues from across the state. This year’s forum will be Dec. 1 at the offices of Baker Donelson in Nashville. Beginning at 10 a.m. CST, it will provide one hour of dual credit and four hours of general credit.

Memphis attorney and former mayoral candidate Van Turner is asking for a formal investigation “into the practices and procedures” of the Shelby County Election Commission during the Oct. 5 Memphis municipal election, the Commercial Appeal reports. The request is based on a report that an election worker had her car broken into the night before the election, with items stolen including keys to ballot boxes and codes to the mayoral election. Turner also said that another set of keys had earlier gone missing from a downtown office of the election commission. The commission has said the election was not compromised in any way. Turner came in fourth in the race for Memphis mayor, losing to Paul Young.

The rate of violent crime continues to rise in Memphis, with the 83 murders committed in the past three months a 26% increase over the same period last year, the Commercial Appeal reports. Since January there have been 245 murders, a 36% increase from last year. The increase reflects the wider trend of increased violent and property crime reported by the Memphis Police Department. 

The Memphis Bar Association will hold its annual meeting Dec. 7 at the Children’s Museum of Memphis, 2525 Central Ave. The event will begin with a reception at 6 p.m., followed by dinner and a program.

The state of Tennessee will apparently not challenge a three-judge panel ruling on a state law that was found to violate the Tennessee Constitution’s Home Rule Amendment, the Nashville Post reports. The law would have lowered the vote threshold necessary to allow for major renovations at the fairgrounds, which would have led to a return of NASCAR racing at the venue. Metro is also challenging a law that cut the size of the Metro Council in half and laws that would add state appointees to the Nashville airport and sports boards.

Corporate bankruptcies in Tennessee have nearly doubled last year’s total and are reaching pre-Covid levels, the Tennessean reports. SmileDirectClub, American Physician Partners and Yellow Corp. are just some of the major companies who have filed for bankruptcy this year.

Legislation passed last year in Tennessee is helping make event ticket pricing more transparent, although some online sellers are not following the spirit of the law, Tennessee Lookout reports. The ticketing transparency bill — sponsored by Sen. Heidi Campbell, D-Nashville, and Rep. Caleb Hemmer, D-Nashville — was passed in response to growing frustration over the increase in hidden ticket fees on concerts and sporting events. Tennessee Lookout’s review of online sites found Ticketmaster is following the law, while others are still marketing seats at lower prices that get more expensive as the buyer moves toward purchase.

A new report from Just City Court Watch has found a “pattern of low scores in sensitivity and neutrality, raising concerns about the fairness of case adjudications” in Memphis courtrooms. The report also highlights the length of time that cases remain unresolved and the frequency of charge dismissals. The October 2023 Court Watch Report is the culmination of a year of collaboration between Just City and the Public Data Accountability Project. Read more about the study in an email from the group.