On demand videos from this year's Business Law Forum: Business Transactions in the News — What Tennessee Lawyers Oughta Know are now available for purchase in the CLE Course Catalog. As a member of the TBA Business Law Section, you will always receive a discount on CLE programming produced by the section. This year’s program featured Tennessee practitioners commenting and interpreting many of these newsworthy developments, including issues related to artificial intelligence, crypto failures, non-competes and celebrity executives. The speakers examined ethical uses of AI-driven platforms such as ChatGPT in the legal profession, current concepts related to transactional non-competes (including the related impact of proposed federal policies), lessons learned from cryptocurrency bankruptcies like FTX, and the legal constraints that celebrity executives and directors must navigate when balancing their public image with regulatory obligations.

Check out the individual videos or purchase the convenient 1-click CLE package.

TBA is hitting the road and coming Gallatin on Wednesday. The Court Square series is designed to provide attorneys with the latest developments in multiple areas of the law. Kick off the afternoon with a lunch and learn networking session with TBA leadership. Titles include a TBA Legislative Update with Government Affairs Director Berkley Schwarz, Can You Truly Protect Assets From TennCare Estate Recovery? with Bryson Eubanks of Kane & Crowell, and a Social Security 101 update with Gallatin attorney Chris George of George & George. Visit the registration site for details.

Can't join us for the full TBA Convention later this month? Or maybe you need to add on a guest ticket? Individual tickets are now available for purchase for Thursday's law school breakfasts, the Bench Bar Luncheon and the social event with judges at Neyland Stadium, as well as Friday's Lawyers Luncheon. Visit our ticket site for more info.

During this year's TBA Convention in Knoxville, the TBA is offering individual registration for a select number of our CLE courses. Options include Mediator Ethics, Top 10 Employment Law Updates All Tennessee Lawyers Should Know, Embracing ChatGPT for Lawyers, Positive Psychology and Leadership Hour, and Attorney Wellness Inside and Out. Visit the individual registration sites for dates and times.

The Tennessee Justice Center will sponsor a Justice History Walking Tour on Tuesday from 9-10:30 a.m. CDT. The walking tour will start at the corner of 7th Avenue North and Church Street, in front of the Nashville Public Library. The event will be hosted by social justice advocate and TJC co-founder Gordon Bonnyman and is free and open to the public. 

The U.S. Senate today voted 52-46 to overturn a student debt relief plan that would have given 40 million borrowers up to $20,000 in loan forgiveness, reported The Hill. A presidential veto is expected. The Congressional Budget Office recently estimated that reversing course on the relief bill would reduce the deficit by $320 billion over 10 years.

The U.S. Supreme Court in a 9-0 decision today threw out a lower court's ruling that said pharmacy chains owned by Safeway Inc. and SuperValu Inc. could not be held responsible for fraud in whistleblower cases, reported Reuters. Whistleblowers had accused the companies of defrauding Medicare and Medicaid programs by offering prescription drugs at discounted prices to customers paying out of pocket, while charging higher rates to the government. Writing for the court, Justice Clarence Thomas said the whistleblowers had shown evidence that executives knew the discounted prices should have been reported and took steps to hide the lower prices from state and federal authorities.

The U.S. Supreme Court voted 8-1 today to overturn a decision by the Washington Supreme Court that said a lawsuit filed by concrete company Glacier Northwest Inc. against a local affiliate of the International Brotherhood of Teamsters was preempted by the National Labor Relations Act, reported Reuters. Justice Amy Coney Barrett, writing for the majority, said the union’s failure to protect the company’s property before striking "posed a risk of foreseeable, aggravated and imminent harm to Glacier's trucks." Glacier is seeking to bypass federal labor law and sue the union in state court for the destruction of property caused by striking workers. The Biden administration had urged the justices to reverse the lower court's decision, allowing Glacier Northwest's lawsuit to proceed.

The U.S. House of Representatives passed the Fiscal Responsibility Act of 2023 yesterday in a 314-117 vote. Five of the eight Tennessee Republicans in the nine-member house delegation voted against the measure, the Tennessean reported. It will now move to the U.S. Senate. If passed by the Senate, the act will raise the current $31.4 trillion debt ceiling by $4 trillion, avoiding a default on the national debt and limit federal spending through January 2025. Treasury Secretary Janet Yellen has warned that the federal government will default and be unable to pay bills coming due if an agreement is not signed by President Biden by June 5.

Republican legislators are seeking the release of the Covenant School shooter’s writings as a prerequisite to moving forward with Gov. Bill Lee's special session on public safety and mental health scheduled for Aug. 21, reported the Tennessean. The session was called in response to the fatal shooting in April at Covenant School that claimed the lives of three adults and three 9-year-old children. Metro Nashville Police officers fatally shot the suspect at the school. The shooter’s writings, which have not been made public and are alleged to include other proposed targets, have been the subject of multiple lawsuits. City officials have withheld public release of the writings citing an ongoing criminal investigation. Gov. Lee announced Thursday he intends to bring an extreme order of protection law to the floor during the special session.