A good attorney would never purposely ignore relevant information or leads during discovery. But in the July/August cover story, Travis Vest argues that if you are not requesting and reviewing metadata, you may be inadvertently overlooking invaluable impeachment evidence or information that leads to an unexpected witness.

Ashland City’s Cheatham Middle School got a new mascot. Previously known at the “Bearcats,” the Middle Tennessee school changed mascots because of a cease-and-desist letter it received from the University of Cincinnati. Andrew Coffman explains why the change was necessary and the ins and outs of trademark and copyright law.

In Tennessee, and many states, owners on major construction projects often hold back or “retain” a portion of any payment otherwise due to a general contractor in response to the general contractor’s invoice (draw request or request for payment). Many out-of-state owners and/or developers are unaware of the rigid statutory obligations in Tennessee that surround this protocol. Phillip Byron Jones takes a closer look at Tennessee law and how it affects parties involved in construction projects.

Newly installed TBA President Heidi Barcus shares her vision for the 2025-2026 bar year in her inaugural President's Perspective column.

At its February 2025 Mid-Year Meeting, the American Bar Association (ABA) Board of Governors unanimously adopted Resolution 608, creating a brand new ABA Model Rule on Conditional Admission. This new model rule supplants the prior rule from 2008, and it also represents 17 years of medical advances in diagnostics, treatment and monitoring to support fitness to practice law. Buddy Stockwell explains the significance of the new rule in this installment of The Buddy System.

One of the most difficult parts of practicing law in Tennessee is trying to advise clients what a potential sentence would be after trial. In this issue's Crime & Punishment column, Wade Davies breaks down the various factors that could be applied in calculating sentencing.

100 years after the "Scopes Monkey Trial" in Dayton, Russell Fowler looks back on Tennessee's most famous legal battle. It all started in the local drug store as a way to challenge the constitutionality of the Butler Act, Tennessee’s new law against teaching the theory of human evolution.

The Journal’s “back page” content looks a little different in 2025! Introducing “Closing Statements.” We’ll post a question here in each issue and invite you to submit your answer. Perhaps you’ll see your closing statement in the next issue! For this issue, we asked "If you weren't a lawyer, what would be your career?"

This issue's "The Legal Life" feature recaps the TBA's Annual Convention held in Franklin June 11-14. Knoxville lawyer Heidi Barcus was sworn in as TBA's 144th president, taking the gavel from Memphis lawyer Ed Lanquist Jr. Read more about award winners honored, your new Board of Governors and updates from the Young Lawyers Division.

Read about the lawyers who have recently been reinstated, disbarred, suspended, censured or transferred their licenses to disability inactive status.

Tennessee Bar Association members who have died recently are memorialized.

Chris Smith reviews Valley So Low: One Lawyer’s Fight for Justice in the Wake of America’s Great Coal Catastrophe by Jared Sullivan, which studies the Kingston coal ash disaster, the clean up, the lawsuits that followed after workers became sick and what he characterizes as "the near-total failure of the American tort system to hold powerful corporations to account when their wrongdoing devastates the environment and destroys people’s lives."

The Tennessee General Assembly adjourned its 114th session on April 22, following the passage of a $59.8 billion state budget that received bipartisan support, including reallocating approximately $180 million of funding from Gov. Bill Lee’s proposed budget amendment in order to fulfill legislators’ priorities. The TBA's Legislative Affairs team provides an update on TBA's legislative work this year.