Virginia and South Dakota are now among 29 states that will use the new bar exam set to debut in July 2026, bringing the total number of jurisdictions to more than half of the 56 states and territories that rely on a bar exam for attorney licensing, Reuters reports. The "NextGen" bar exam is the first major redesign of the national lawyer licensing test in 25 years. It began development in 2021 with the goal of creating a test that emphasizes legal skills and relies less on memorization of laws. The Tennessee Supreme Court announced in April that, starting in July 2027, law school graduates seeking to be licensed in Tennessee will take the NextGen exam, rather than the Uniform Bar Examination (UBE), which has been used since 2019. Only two states — California and Nevada — have announced they will not adopt the NextGen bar exam.

The Memphis Bar Association recently held its annual meeting. Lauran Stimac with Glassman, Wyatt, Tuttle and Cox took over as president of the association from Adam Johnson with Nahon, Saharovich & Trotz. Seven new board members also were announced. In addition, five individuals were recognized with the association’s annual awards. Walter Bailey received the Judge Jerome Turner Lawyer’s Lawyer Award, which recognizes a Memphis attorney who has practiced law for more than 15 years and embodies professionalism, civility and courtesy; Lee Whitwell received the Sam A. Myar Jr. Memorial Award, which honors an attorney under 40 years old who has shown dedication and commitment to their practice and the legal community; Haavi Morreim received the W.J. Michael Cody Access to Justice Award; and Justin Joy and Memphis City Councilwoman Janika White received President’s Awards. Read more about Stimac or see a recap of the award recipients in the MBA Facebook post.

County music artist Morgan Wallen pleaded guilty to two counts of misdemeanor reckless endangerment Thursday stemming from an April incident in which he threw a chair off the roof of Eric Church’s Lower Broadway bar. According to NBC News, the deal calls for Wallen to spend seven days at a “DUI education center” followed by two years of probation. In related news, Wallen's bar is set to be a topic of discussion at next week’s Nashville Metro Council meeting, according to the Nashville Banner newsletter (see the third story). The council again will consider whether to approve a large sign planned for Wallen’s Lower Broadway establishment. The council rejected a resolution on the sign in May, with members highlighting Wallen’s recent arrest for the chair incident, as well as the time he was caught on camera shouting racial slurs.

Hamilton County is launching a new recovery court aimed at veterans involved in the criminal justice system, officials announced Wednesday. County Mayor Weston Wamp, Criminal Court Judge Boyd Patterson and General Sessions Court Judge Gary Starnes introduced the Hamilton County Veterans Treatment Court, which will address the specific needs of veterans in the system. Wamp said in a news release that the program furthers the county's commitment to supporting those who have served in defense of American values. The county allocated funding in this year's budget for a case manager to oversee the court and plans to pursue grant funding to sustain and expand the program in the future, according to the Chattanooga Times Free Press. The court will handle misdemeanor cases and certain felony offenses, such as assault, drunk driving and theft, but will not hear felony cases related to crimes such as child abuse or sexual assault.

Hernandez Govan, the man accused of masterminding the 2021 death of Memphis rapper, Young Dolph, rejected a plea deal from prosecutors Friday. The case is now set to go to trial, with proceedings scheduled to begin July 28, 2025, according to the Commercial Appeal. Govan's decision comes months after Justin Johnson was convicted of first-degree murder for his involvement in the killing. Govan will face trial on charges of first-degree murder, conspiracy to commit first-degree murder, and attempted first-degree murder. By rejecting the plea deal, Govan is prohibited from taking another plea offer before the trial.

A federal grand jury recently returned an indictment charging Catherine Corrine Daly with embezzlement from a Memphis law firm. According to the indictment, Daly was office manager at a law firm where she had access to the firm’s bank accounts, including the operating account. According to a press release from the U.S. Attorney's Office for the Western District of Tennessee, Daly had two American Express (AmEx) charge accounts in her name and a total of five AmEx charge cards issued through the two accounts to her and two of her relatives. Daly is alleged to have used money in the firm’s operating account to pay off amounts due on those personal AmEx accounts. In total, she is alleged to have embezzled $1.2 million of the law firm’s funds for her own use. The U.S. Secret Service is investigating while Assistant U.S. Attorney Joe Murphy is prosecuting the case.

State Attorney General Jonathan Skrmetti and the nonprofit Adoption Project are teaming up to boost public awareness about “adoption facilitators”: unlicensed, unregulated persons or entities that act as middlemen between expectant birth parents and adoptive parents. The groups say these “matchmakers” — who often are from out of state and charge large, nonrefundable upfront fees — are an increasing problem in the state. Skrmetti spoke to the issue in a video released last month as part of National Adoption Month. Local News 3 has more on the story.

Tennessee’s hemp industry is making a last-ditch legal effort to halt new rules from the state Department of Agriculture that would ban the sale of hemp products, which have been legally available in the state since 2019. The Tennessee Lookout reports that attorneys representing hemp retailers and producer associations will be in court next week to fight new testing rules scheduled to take effect Dec. 26. The rules would bar the manufacture, distribution and sale of many of the best-selling hemp products that have helped drive a nascent state industry to generate $280-$560 million in sales annually. The rules require products to be tested for the first time for so-called TCHA content, a naturally occurring and still-legal substance found in all hemp plants.

Memphis-area defense attorneys are sounding the alarm about conditions at the Shelby County Criminal Justice Center, also known as 201 Poplar, following the November death of an inmate in the jail’s intake area. Attorneys who spoke with The Daily Memphian noted long wait times for booking and processing into the jail and inadequate living conditions in intake, including a lack of beds and overcrowded holding cells. Booking and processing, which should normally take just a few hours, is taking days, the lawyers said. Data from the Shelby County Sheriff’s Office confirms these observations, the paper reports.

The struggle over the Swan Ball is over, the Nashville Business Journal reports. The annual gala, which has benefited Cheekwood Botanical Garden for the last 61 years, will live on but no longer will benefit that nonprofit. The agreement settles competing lawsuits filed by the tourist attraction and a group of volunteers who plan the white-tie gala. The dispute between the two groups burst into public view midsummer, when planners accused the garden of "planning a coup" to take control of the gala. Cheekwood hit back, arguing in a countersuit that it controlled the Swan Ball. It also accused the volunteers of "increasingly extravagant" spending that made the gala costlier to hold. The volunteer group will retain the Swan Ball trademark and name. Its 2025 event will take place on June 7 and benefit Friends of Warner Park, a nonprofit that raises money to beautify and improve the Edwin Warner and Percy Warner parks, which border Cheekwood's property.