During a meeting Tuesday, Memphis City Council members passed an amendment adding a "trigger" to an ordinance that includes a series of gun control measures approved by voters in the 2024 election. Members also voted to enter the election results into the permanent council record. According to the Tri-State Defender, the resolution acknowledges that current state law nullifies the ordinance but includes language allowing it to take effect if the open-carry law is changed in the future. 

After initially denying public records requests for an execution manual outlining new lethal injection protocols, the Tennessee Department of Correction has released a redacted version of the document. According to the Associated Press, the manual — much shorter than the previous version — includes a single page on lethal injection chemicals with no specific instructions for testing the drugs. It also removes a requirement that the drugs come from a licensed pharmacist. Kelley Henry, a Nashville-based assistant federal public defender who represents several death row inmates, described the new manual to the news outlet as "incomplete, truncated and vague." She added, "As of today, we still do not know the source of drugs, whether they are compounded, or whether they have been diverted from the market into a gray market, how they will be procured, stored, tested and administered." The 44-page document also redacts some titles and names and omits previously detailed steps for carrying out executions in Tennessee.

Due to a winter storm and the threat of hazardous travel conditions, Gov. Bill Lee closed state offices today. State courts were also closed and no opinions were released. State services offered online remain available, and state employees who can work from home have continued to do so. At Lee's direction, the Tennessee Emergency Management Agency (TEMA) issued a state of emergency to provide regulatory relief ahead of the storm, which is expected to impact the state through Saturday afternoon, according to a press release from the governor's office. TEMA is working with local, regional and state partners to support readiness actions and resource requests. The Tennessee Department of Transportation is urging residents to exercise caution and avoid non-essential travel.

The National Court Reporters Association (NCRA) is facing a lawsuit alleging it created an illegal monopoly over professional certification and overcharged its members for dues. According to Reuters, in a proposed class action filed last week in New Jersey, two court reporters claimed the NCRA was unlawfully forcing them and thousands of others to pay annual membership fees to maintain their certification. The lawsuit alleges the association violated U.S. antitrust law by "tying" certification to membership fees and states that there are no "reasonable substitutes" for NCRA certification, as state court reporter associations do not provide certification. The plaintiffs seek to represent a class of court reporters who have purchased membership from the NCRA since 2014, and the suit is asking for unspecified monetary damages and other penalties. The NCRA said it is reviewing the complaint but declined to comment further, the news outlet reports. 

Acting U.S. Attorney for Tennessee’s Middle District Tom Jaworski has joined the Nashville office of Epstein Becker Green as a member of the firm. He will handle health care matters with a focus on investigations and enforcement. Jaworski served as acting U.S. attorney starting in October 2024 following the departure of Henry Leventis, who joined the Nashville office of Holland & Knight. Jaworski previously served as first assistant U.S. attorney. Prior to joining the Nashville-based prosecutor’s office, Jaworski served as a trial attorney with the U.S. Department of Justice’s Criminal Division in Washington, D.C., where he focused on health care fraud, kickback crimes and money laundering. Read more in a release from the firm.

President-elect Donald Trump was found guilty in May of 34 counts of falsifying business records. Justice Juan Merchan today sentenced Trump to an "unconditional discharge," in the case, making Trump the first U.S. president to take office with a felony criminal conviction, Reuters reports. Merchan said he was imposing the sentence sparing Trump jail, a fine or probation because the U.S. Constitution shields presidents from criminal prosecution. But he said the protections afforded to the office "do not reduce the seriousness of a crime or justify its commission in any way." The sentencing took place after the U.S. Supreme Court declined to intervene, SCOTUSblog reports. Trump has pledged to appeal the conviction.

The American Bar Association (ABA) Standing Committee on Ethics and Professional Responsibility has released Formal Opinion 514 to provide guidance on a lawyer’s obligations when advising an organization about conduct that may create legal risks for the organization’s constituents. According to the opinion, lawyers should advise organizations’ constituents — employees, officers or board members — about the lawyer’s role early and often during the relationship. “When an organization’s lawyer provides advice to the organization about proposed conduct that may have legal implications for individual constituents, the constituents through whom the lawyer conveys advice may misperceive the lawyer’s role and mistakenly believe that they can rely personally on the lawyer’s advice,” according to the opinion. It cites Rules 4.1, 4.3 and 1.13(f) that require an organization’s lawyer to take reasonable measures to avoid or dispel constituents’ misunderstandings about the lawyer’s role. Read more in a release from the association.

The U.S. District Court for the Eastern District of Kentucky has found that the U.S. Department of Education exceeded its constitutional authority when it adopted changes to Title IX of the federal Education Amendments of 1972. The Biden administration had sought to expand the law’s prohibition of sex discrimination in education programs to LGBTQ+ students. U.S. District Judge Danny C. Reeves scrapped the entire regulation after deciding it was “fatally” tainted by legal shortcomings, the Associated Press reports. A suit against the rules was brought by Tennessee, Kentucky, Indiana, Ohio, Virginia and West Virginia. Reeves had temporarily blocked the regulations last summer. In a statement after the ruling, Tennessee Attorney General Jonathan Skrmetti called the decision “a nationwide win” against rules that would have “compromised girls' privacy in locker rooms and bathrooms and required teachers and administrators to use pronouns that do not align with students’ biological sex.”

McGlinchey Stafford has announced the appointment of Will Wojcik as the new managing member of its Nashville office. Wojcik replaces Shaun Ramey, who opened McGlinchey’s Nashville office and had served as office managing member since 2018. Ramey will continue his role as chair of the firm’s national financial services litigation practice. Wojcik, who joined McGlinchey in 2023, focuses his practice on corporate, transactional, governance and tax matters, as well as construction defect, real estate, contract and zoning disputes. He earned his law degree from Vanderbilt Law School and a master of laws in taxation from New York University School of Law.

Strong demand across practice areas, higher billing rates and the expansion of non-equity partner tiers helped bolster law firm profits in 2024 according to the 2025 State of the Legal Market report from Thomson Reuters. The report found that law firms' average hourly rates shot up 6.5%, the biggest jump since the financial crisis nearly two decades ago. According to Law.com, the report characterized the increase as "defying gravity," The annual report also looks at significant shifts in law firm business models and the challenges firms will face in the coming year, including retaining talent and reacting to technological advancements that could impact legal services, client expectations and pricing models. Law firms this year will need to "navigate a complex landscape shaped by shifting demand and expense dynamics,” according to the study. Learn more in this news article or this press release.