The family of Josselin Corea Escalante, the 16-year-old killed in the Jan. 22 Antioch High School shooting, on June 23 filed a lawsuit in Davidson County Circuit Court against Metro Nashville Public Schools (MNPS) and Metro Nashville Government (Metro). The Nashville Post reports that the lawsuit claims MNPS and Metro failed to protect students from harm and should have taken steps to further create a safe environment, citing negligence by MNPS based on the shooter’s history of violent behavior and the failure of the school’s weapon detection system to identify the firearm used during the shooting. The family is suing for $700,000 in damages, the maximum amount allowed under Tennessee’s Governmental Tort Liability Act. The Nashville Banner has additional reporting.

Nashville entertainment lawyer Rachel Guttman recently opened Gutt Law PLLC which will focus its practice on the music industry. She is a graduate of Middle Tennessee State University and Tulane University Law School. According to Music Row, Guttman began her career clerking for Judge Dee D. Drell in the U.S. District Court for the Western District of Louisiana before transitioning into litigation defense and entertainment law in New Orleans. In 2018, she returned to Nashville to focus exclusively on the music and entertainment industry. She is joined by entertainment attorney Victoria Powell, a graduate of Belmont University College of Law, and Morgan Brasfield as head of operations. Gutt Law can be reached at gutt.law.

Following a riot and dozens of indictments, calls are growing to remove CoreCivic as the private operator of the Trousdale Turner Correctional Center in Hartsville, with state Rep. Michael Hale, R-Smithville, and District Attorney General Jason Lawson urging the Tennessee Department of Correction to take over operations, Tennessee Lookout reports. A grand jury recently returned 41 indictments tied to incidents at the prison, including 12 connected to a riot in which inmates stabbed a staffer and seized control of an inner yard. Lawson said more charges are expected and that crimes at the prison have burdened the county’s court system while failing to improve inmate safety. Recent legislative and regulatory actions have sought to address high death rates at facilities run by private companies. CoreCivic said it is reviewing its policies in an effort to prevent further violence.

Lawyers for a disabled death row inmate are asking the state to ensure that his implanted heart defibrillator is disabled before his execution to prevent the possibility of it causing a prolonged and painful death, according to The Tennessean. Byron Black — one of the state’s longest serving death row inmates — set to be executed on Aug. 5 for the 1987 murders of a Nashville woman and her two daughters. Black’s lawyers on June 30 filed a request for a preliminary injunction asking the Tennessee Department of Corrections to ensure that his implantable cardioverter-defibrillator (ICD) is deactivated before his execution. A hearing on the matter is set for July 14 in Davidson County Chancery Court. Black’s lawyers have been battling to save his life, arguing he is ineligible for capital punishment due to his intellectual disability, dementia and severe brain damage. They also have asked the Tennessee Supreme Court to weigh in and reverse a lower court’s decision that declined to decide whether he is ineligible for the death penalty.

TBA member benefit partner and legal practice management company Clio announced last week that it will acquire legal AI and research company vLex in a deal valued at $1 billion. British private equity firm Oakley Capital agreed to sell Barcelona-founded vLex to Clio, a Vancouver, Canada-based company, which called the deal a “new era for AI-powered legal technology.” vLex’s research and drafting AI tool, known as Vincent, will revolutionize Clio’s current offerings, according to a news release from the company. “The transformative union of legal research, practice management and cutting-edge AI marks a category shift in legal technology that converges the business and practice of law,” Clio said. In April 2023, vLex and another TBA member benefit partner, Fastcase, merged to form vLex Fastcase.

Tennessee Gov. Bill Lee last week announced a yearlong America 250 celebration across the state, unveiling the theme “Tennessee: The Original Frontier” and kicking off a 95-county tour to honor the state's contributions to America’s history and culture. Lee began the celebration July 1 with a Farmland Preservation Tour across the state’s three grand divisions, highlighting Tennessee’s agricultural heritage and signing the Farmland Preservation Act. Additional events and grant opportunities tied to the celebration will be announced by the Tennessee Commission for the United States Semiquincentennial, with updates available at TN250.com.

Edward Kelley of Maryville was sentenced to life in prison for plotting to kill FBI agents as he awaited trial for his involvement in the Jan. 6, 2021, U.S. Capitol riot. He was sentenced July 2 by U.S. District Judge Thomas Varlan in Knoxville after being convicted Nov. 20 of conspiracy to murder federal employees, solicitation to commit a crime of violence and influencing a federal official by threat, the Knox News reports. Investigators determined Kelley and another man made a list of agents who investigated his role in the riot and plotted to kill them, including discussing bombing the agents at their homes or in public places. A judge previously ruled that a pardon of Jan. 6 defendants would not apply to the conspiracy charge.

The Tennessee Administrative Office of the Courts has named attorney Joe Byrd as interim executive director of the newly established Office of the Appointed Counsel Commission (AOC), which will coordinate statewide indigent representation in child welfare cases and criminal cases where district public defenders have conflicts. Byrd previously served as lead attorney for the AOC's indigent services team. Gov. Bill Lee’s amended budget, approved in the 2025 legislative session, included funding for the new office to address challenges in delivering indigent defense. “Joe Byrd is a trusted and seasoned attorney with the expertise required to lead this new office,” Chief Justice Holly Kirby said in a release. “The Supreme Court appreciates the support of the Governor, the legislature, judges, attorneys, the Tennessee Bar Association and the work of our team at the AOC. We are taking a transformational step forward to safeguard the fair and impartial administration of justice in Tennessee." Before joining the AOC, Byrd was an assistant attorney general in Tennessee, disciplinary counsel at the Tennessee Board of Professional Responsibility and a municipal attorney in both Tennessee and Florida. Byrd previously worked as an associate at Logan Thompson PC, where his general practice included court appointments representing indigent clients in child welfare and criminal cases.

In the recent legislative session, the Tennessee General Assembly passed a bill creating a statewide conservatorship management task force. Public Chapter 417, effective July 1, established a nine-member body to provide resources and assist in promotion of effective conservatorships. The task force will review concerns involving education, centralized documentation, preventative training regarding fraud and abuse protections, and more. The task force also will review the capacity of the public guardianship program and determine the need for an independent conservator panel or professional conservators. Representatives include designees from relevant agencies, the Administrative Office of the Courts, an active judge, legal aid office member and a designee from the Conservatorship Association of Tennessee, among others.

The federal judge who formerly presided over the criminal case of five former Memphis police officers charged in the 2023 death of Tyré Nichols has recused himself from two more cases involving lawyers on the Nichols case. The Daily Memphian reports that U.S. District Judge Mark Norris has recused himself from a case involving 10 defendants charged with drug trafficking, one of whom is represented by Stephen Leffler, who also represented former Memphis police officer Demetrius Haley. In the other case, Assistant U.S. Attorney David Pritchard is prosecuting drug trafficking charges. He also was a prosecutor in the Nichols case. Norris previously removed himself from the federal sentencing of five former officers charged in connection with Nichols’ death and a pending civil rights lawsuit brought over the death.