Memphis Area Legal Services (MALS) will hold its monthly clinic at the Benjamin Hooks Library this Saturday from 10 a.m. to noon CDT. The library is located at 3030 Poplar Ave., Memphis 38111. Lawyers and non-lawyers are needed for this high-volume clinic. Questions commonly raised by clients include issues involving housing, family, consumer and employment law. Come volunteer for a portion of the event or the full time. Sign up here to help.

It is not uncommon for firms to have hundreds, sometimes thousands, of closed bankers boxes sitting around, with some spending thousands of dollars on file storage per month. Many firms are starting to move towards paperless office environments, which raises questions about how long closed files need to be kept and if paper copies can be destroyed after conversion to digital. Join Paul Unger with Affinity Consulting for a webcast on Oct. 11 from 12-1 p.m. CDT to learn more about the basics of document management and retention.

Shelby County District Attorney Steve Mulroy says his office plans to release footage "in the near future" from a police shooting that caused the death of 20-year-old Jaylin McKenzie, reports the Commercial Appeal. The announcement comes after the Justice Review Unit and Tennessee Bureau of Investigation confirmed this morning their investigation is complete. McKenzie was shot and killed on Dec. 16 by a Memphis Police Department officer following a traffic stop. The incident was one of five officer-involved shootings in the last five weeks of 2022. Last month, Mulroy announced a new policy to step up the public release of footage from fatal police shootings.

The father of a woman who died during last month's severe wildfires in Hawaii has sued the state and the county of Maui for gross negligence. Reuters reports that the lawsuit, filed Monday, also names a major landowner and the state's electric utility. The suit claims that Hawaiian Electric failed to de-energize its electrical equipment during hurricane-force winds, sparking the fires. In addition, the suit sites Bishop Estate for failing to reduce wildfire risk by regularly clearing dry vegetation in the area. Hawaiian Electric is also facing litigation from investors who allege they suffered significant losses due to the company's failure to adhere to wildfire prevention and safety protocols.

The Tennessee Supreme Court reinstated three lawyers on Friday and two lawyers today who had been suspended for failing to complete annual continuing legal education requirements in 2022. View the Sept. 1 order, the Sept. 5 order or see the list of all those reinstated online.

FEMA has announced that federal disaster assistance is now available to the state of Tennessee to supplement recovery efforts in the areas affected by severe storms and straight-line winds that occurred July 18-21. Additional designations may be made at a later date if requested by the state. Public assistance federal funding is available to the state, tribal and eligible local governments and certain private nonprofit organizations on a cost-sharing basis for emergency work and the repair or replacement of facilities damaged by the severe storms and straight-line winds in Fayette, Henry, Shelby and Tipton counties. Federal funding is also available on a cost-sharing basis for hazard mitigation measures statewide. For questions contact FEMA-NewsDesk-Tennessee@FEMA-DHS.gov.

The Tennessee Supreme Court has two cases set for its Sept. 6 docket. The first case, Terry Case v. Wilmington Trust, N.A., et al., will be heard in Knoxville at 9 a.m. EDT and will be livestreamed to the TNCourts YouTube page. The second case, Thomas Fleming Mabry v. Board of Professional Responsibility, will be submitted on briefs. Media members planning to attend oral arguments should review Supreme Court Rule 30 and file any required requests.

The Texas Senate today opened its impeachment trial of Attorney General Ken Paxton by voting to reject several motions to dismiss the charges. Reuters reports that senators voted 24-6 against dismissing all changes as well as additional motions to throw out individual charges. Paxton has been suspended since the Texas House of Representatives voted in May to impeach him on mulitiple counts of corruption including aiding a political donor and persecuting whistleblowers from his office who accused him of wrongdoing. The trial is expected to last several weeks. Both chambers of the legislature are controlled by Republicans.

State Rep. Gloria Johnson, D-Knoxville, formally announced her bid for the U.S. Senate on Tuesday during campaign events in Knoxville, Nashville and Memphis, reports KnoxNews. Johnson, 61, will attempt to unseat Republican Sen. Marsha Blackburn, 71, who was elected to the Senate in 2018 after serving 16 years in the U.S. House of Representatives. Reps. Justin Pearson and Sen. Charlane Oliver, D-Nashville, will serve as Johnson’s campaign co-chairs. Johnson's first stop this morning was near Central High School in Knoxville, where she formerly taught and experienced a school shooting in 2008. This evening she will speak in Memphis at the I Am A Man Plaza. Johnson will face off against community activist and organizer Marquita Bradshaw in the Democratic primary. Bradshaw won the Democratic Senate nomination in 2020 but lost to Republican Bill Hagerty. Johnson gained national attention after she was nearly expelled from the Tennessee General Assembly for protesting for gun reform on the House floor as part of the "Tennessee Three."

The U.S. government has won a court injunction blocking the sale of after-market triggers that allow gun owners to convert AR-15 style rifles into weapons that can shoot as fast as machine guns, reports Reuters. U.S. District Judge Nina Morrison ruled the Department of Justice was likely to prove that the "forced-reset triggers" sold by Rare Breed Triggers LLC and its owners were illegal machine guns under federal law. Rifles equipped with Rare Breed's FRT-15 triggers are capable of firing 700 rounds a minute, faster than military-grade M-16 machine guns. In a 129-page decision, Morrison said the defendants defrauded customers by claiming the triggers were "absolutely" legal, despite having failed to win Bureau of Alcohol, Tobacco, Firearms and Explosives approval for their sale.