The Tennessee Supreme Court yesterday rejected a conditional guilty plea submitted by lawyer Troy Lee Bowlin saying that the recommended punishment was too harsh. Bowlin filed the plea on Feb. 13 following a complaint of misconduct. The Board of Professional Responsibility considered the complaint and proposed a term of suspension. In reviewing the proposed suspension and plea, the court said it “has concerns that the recommended punishment, in particular the period of active suspension, is too harsh.” It referred the matter back to the board for “further proceedings consistent” with its order.

The Memphis Lawyers’ Chapter of the Federalist Society is holding a lunch event on March 28 from 11:30 a.m. to 1 p.m. CDT at Majestic Grille, 145 S. Main St., Memphis 38103. The group will hear from Shaka Mitchell, director of state strategy and advocacy at the American Federation for Children, and Braden Boucek, director of litigation at Southeastern Legal Foundation, on the topic “School Choice Post Carson: In Tennessee and Beyond.” The discussion will be moderated by Magistrate Judge Charmiane G. Claxton with the U.S. District Court for the Western District of Tennessee. Register online or by contacting Greg Grisham, 901-333-2076.

Tennessee Attorney General Jonathan Skrmetti has sent letters to Walgreens, CVS and Rite Aid seeking confirmation that they will not sell or dispense the abortion-inducing drug mifepristone in Tennessee. Skrmetti says the move is consistent with the law as enacted by the General Assembly. Walgreens previously said it would not distribute mifepristone in 20 states, including six that border Tennessee.

The Stonewall Bar Association, a statewide organization for LGBTQ+ attorneys and allies, will host a spring reception on April 12 from 5-7 p.m. CDT at the Nashville office of Bass, Berry & Sims. Those planning to attend should RSVP to Greg Maczko at Bass Berry. The association also recently announced two new social media accounts: stonewallbar.tennessee on Instagram and Stonewall Bar Association of Tennessee on Linkedin. For general information about the group email stonewallbar.nashville@gmail.com.

Memphis city council members yesterday voted in favor of a measure designed to address police reform in the city on its first reading, WREG reports. But community members and reform advocates were upset that the version of the “Tyre Nichols Justice in Policing Ordinance” approved did not include a number of provisions approved in separate reform measures last week as reported by the Commercial Appeal. Council leadership said combining the reforms into one ordinance would clear up any ambiguity about the changes in the future. An ordinance dealing with the appropriate methods of enforcing traffic violations was tabled for the second time. Both ordinances will be up for consideration again at the next council meeting on April 4.

Sherrard Roe Voigt & Harbison officials have announced that the Nashville-based firm will relocate its offices to the midtown area of the city, the Nashville Post reports. The firm currently occupies space in the Pinnacle at Symphony Place building in the SoBro (south of Broadway) area of town. It will move to the Broadwest office tower at 1600 West End Ave., where it will occupy more than 32,000 square feet on the 17th and 18th floors. It will join Baker Donelson and Adams and Reese there. A move date was not announced. The firm is the third occupant of The Pinnacle to depart. Bass Berry & Sims and Pinnacle Financial Partners previously announced they would relocate to Nashville Yards.

The 2023 Business Law Forum will be a hybrid program on April 21: in person at Bass Berry & Sim's Nashville offices or virtually via Zoom. Sessions will examine ethical uses of AI-driven platforms, such as ChatGPT, in the legal profession; current concepts related to transactional non-competes; 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. The program will run from 9:30 a.m. to 4 p.m. CDT. A networking reception for in-person attendees will immediately follow the forum.

The Mount Pleasant Commission has appointed longtime Columbia attorney Kevin S. Latta as the city's new municipal judge. Latta was selected from 11 applicants for the vacant position and was sworn in by the Hon. Caleb Bayless, 22nd Judicial District Circuit Court judge, in a brief ceremony on Feb. 27. Latta previously served as both an assistant district attorney general and as an assistant public defender. Most recently the Cumberland School of Law grad has served as an associate attorney at the Columbia firm Parks, Bryant & Snyder PLLC, where he will maintain his private practice while serving in the part-time judicial position. “I am simultaneously humbled an honored by the faith the mayor and commissioners have placed in me, and I look forward to operating an open, fair and expedient city court which reflects the values of this wonderful community,” Latta said.

Lt. Gov. Randy McNally, R-Oak Ridge, won a vote of confidence by the state Senate Republican Caucus, the Nashville Scene reports. Caucus members voted 19-7 in a closed meeting Monday in favor of McNally’s continued leadership of the Senate. The vote followed a flurry of local and national media attention focused on his supportive comments on a young gay man’s Instagram page. "I have always been honored, humbled and grateful for the support of my caucus,” McNally said via a spokesperson. “I remain so today." Critics have called McNally hypocritical for making the social media comments while leading a body that has passed legislation restricting drag and trans health care, among other anti-LGBTQ positions.

The Associated Press reports that the Tennessee House advanced legislation that would add a narrow exemption to the state’s strict abortion ban, despite concerns raised by Democrats and medical experts that the bill does not go far enough to protect doctors and pregnant patients. The legislation was drastically reworked from its original version that was introduced in February. The proposed exemption allows doctors to use a “reasonable medical judgment” when determining if an abortion is necessary to prevent the death of a pregnant patient or to spare her from the irreversible, severe impairment of a major bodily function.