TBA’s Adoption Law Section presents this year’s annual forum on Sept. 25 with two hours on legislative updates, plus an hour for case law updates. Additional topics include the basics of adoption law for newer practitioners, as well as a dual hour on secondary trauma. The forum will be held at the Tennessee Bankers Association's Barrett Training Center in Nashville from 10 a.m. to 3:45 p.m. CDT. You won’t want to miss this informative program!

The Arts & Business Council's Volunteer Lawyers and Professionals for the Arts is joining the law firm of Bradley Arant Boult Cummings to provide free legal services for nonprofits and Black-owned small businesses in Nashville on Sept. 21. Advice will cover business formation, corporate governance, contracts and navigating local ordinances and state regulations. Eligible entities may receive up to one hour of assistance. Clients should sign up online. Attorneys should email vlpa@abcnashville.org to volunteer.

It's time for #TeamTBA! Meet the people behind the scenes and learn more about the moving parts, projects and staffers of the Tennessee Bar Association. Laura Labenberg is the Young Lawyers Division (YLD) and law student development coordinator. Laura works with the YLD to plan programs, meetings and special projects like pro bono clinics, the annual Tennessee High School Mock Trial Competition and the award-winning Diversity Leadership Institute. Prior to joining the TBA she served as a professor of rhetoric at Hofstra University and the executive director of an educational nonprofit in New York. Laura says her upcoming travel plans include exploring her new home state of Tennessee with YLD board members! The #TeamTBA series offers members a behind-the-scenes look at the inner workings of the TBA and how each staff member makes the association run. Check back next week for a new staff profile in TBA Today and on the TBA's Facebook and Instagram accounts.

The 21st annual TBA Leadership Law (TBALL) program is now accepting nominations for the 2024 class. Nominations are due Oct. 2. Nominees should have from 5 to 15 years of experience in practice. Last year, 33 lawyers from across the state were accepted into the program. TBALL programming will kick off in January 2024 with an opening retreat at Henry Horton State Park and end in June with class commencement during the TBA Annual Convention in Memphis. Read more about the program or contact Paul Burch for more information.

Attorneys for the state and for three women who challenged a Tennessee House of Representatives ban on signs at the legislature have agreed to bring the case to a close, Tennessee Lookout reports. “The special session has now adjourned,” the state’s legal filings said. “And the procedural rules adopted by the House for the special session — including the Sign Regulation that the (women) asked this court to declare unconstitutional and enjoin — are no longer in effect.” ACLU attorneys who represented the three women are not opposing dismissal of the case, but expect to file a motion seeking attorney fees and costs.

President Biden’s son Hunter Biden was criminally charged today with deceiving a gun dealer into selling him a firearm, reports Reuters. It is the first-ever indictment of a sitting president's child. Biden was charged in U.S. District Court in Delaware with three criminal counts related to lying about using illegal drugs at the time of the gun purchase, which would have banned him under the law from owning a firearm. A prior deal under which Biden, 53, would have pleaded guilty to two misdemeanor tax charges and enroll in a program to avoid prosecution, collapsed in during a hearing in July. A tax investigation remains ongoing.

The Nashville School of Law will host a reception to welcome the newest member of the Tennessee Supreme Court, Justice Dwight E. Tarwater on Oct. 5 from 4:30 – 6 p.m. CDT at 4013 Armory Oaks Dr., Nashville 37204. Justice Tarwater was nominated by Gov. Bill Lee and confirmed by the General Assembly in 2023.

A native of Knoxville, Tarwater earned his law degree from the University of Tennessee, where he previously earned his undergraduate degree in political science. He has had a long career in private practice with the Knoxville firms of Egerton, McAfee, Armistead and Davis and Paine Tarwater Bickers LLP. He also served as general counsel to former Gov. Bill Haslam. Justice Tarwater began his term on Sept. 1. Refreshments and hors d’oeuvres will be served. RSVP at this link.

This event is sponsored by the Tennessee Bar Association, the Lawyers' Association for Women, the Nashville Bar Association and Nashville School of Law.

The California Senate passed legislation yesterday requiring lawyers to inform the state bar if they suspect other lawyers of engaging in seditious conspiracy, insurrection or treason, reports Reuters. Gov. Gavin Newsom is expected to sign the bill, which would not apply to information protected by attorney-client privilege. The California Supreme Court in August also began requiring lawyers to report fraud, misappropriation of funds and other criminal acts or conduct. The legislation was by motivated by the recent indictment of California lawyer Tom Girardi for allegedly stealing millions in client funds and directing more than $1 million in cash and gifts to a former investigator.

The University of Memphis Cecil C. Humphreys School of Law has opened the region's first Expungement and Restoration of Rights Clinic, reports the Daily Memphian. The clinic is staffed with law students working under director and adjunct professor of law Amber Floyd. The clinic will introduce students to the theoretical and practical aspects of representing clients with legal needs arising from the collateral consequences of prior arrests and convictions. Floyd currently serves as the general counsel for the Memphis-Shelby County Airport Authority and is also a member of the Tennessee Bar Journal Editorial Board in addition to the steering committee of the TBA's Leadership Law program. Read more about the clinic.

A news item in yesterday's issue of TBA Today had the incorrect date for an upcoming legal clinic in Memphis. The clinic, sponsored by Memphis Area Legal Services (MALS) in partnership with The Hub, will take place Sept. 27 from 1-3 p.m. CDT. The clinic, which is held on the fourth Wednesday of the month, takes place at 590 Washington Ave., Memphis 38105. Sign up to volunteer here or contact Heather Staggs, 901-255-3421 with any questions.