Sherrard Roe Voigt & Harbison PLC announced that attorney Andrée S. Blumstein will be returning to private practice at the firm on May 6. For the past decade, Blumstein served as solicitor general for the state of Tennessee. In that role, she led and supervised Tennessee’s appellate litigation in state and federal courts, oversaw the preparation of attorney general opinions issued by the office, and generally provided support and advice for the work of the attorney general. Blumstein became a partner at Sherrard Roe Voigt & Harbison in 1993, focusing her practice on antitrust, health law, and state and local tax law. She has served as the chair of the Tennessee Bar Journal Editorial Board since 2003.

University of Tennessee and Knoxville Police Department officers on Thursday arrested seven students and two community members who participated in a pro-Palestine demonstration on campus. Defense attorney Mike Whalen told the Knoxville News Sentinel that "UTPD confirmed to me that the students have been released without any legal penalty but will receive notice of disciplinary action from the institution. Those who are not students were cited for trespassing and have been released.” In related news, four student demonstrators and a reporter were arrested last month at Vanderbilt University. WKRN reports a group of students at The University of the South are also protesting peacefully and no arrests have been made. They are requesting that the university disclose where its $400 million endowment goes and divest from companies that manufacture weapons used against Palestinians.

Tennessean Al Gore, former vice president under Bill Clinton and both a U.S. senator and member of the House of Representatives, today received the Presidential Medal of Freedom in a ceremony at the White House. The Tennessean reports that the medal is one of the nation’s highest civilian honors, bestowed by the president to individuals who have made “an especially meritorious contribution to the security or national interests of the United States, world peace, cultural or other significant public or private endeavors.” Since leaving public office, Gore has worked on environmental initiatives. He founded the Climate Reality Project (previously called the Alliance for Climate Protection) in 2005, and received the Nobel Peace Prize alongside the United Nations’ Intergovernmental Panel on Climate Change in 2007.

After having a previous effort dismissed, a group of plaintiffs has filed a new lawsuit challenging a state law requiring signs be displayed at polling places informing voters it is illegal to vote in a political party’s primary “without being a bona fide member of or affiliated with that political party, or to declare allegiance to that party without the intent to affiliate with that party.” The group argues the law is intended to confuse and intimidate would-be primary voters. Supporters of the law say the signs are designed to stop crossover voting. A similar case was dismissed in March when the judge said the plaintiffs were unable to prove the law would actually suppress voters. The new lawsuit has added plaintiffs who allege they were affected by the law in the March 5 presidential primary, the Nashville Banner reports.

Dozens of federal judges went to legal seminars at luxury resorts, getting free rooms, free meals and free money for travel, but failed to file required public disclosures, a new NPR investigative report has found. These trips to judicial education events are allowed but must be disclosed online within 30 days of the event and then again on annual financial disclosure reports. NPR journalists compared attendance lists at some of the bigger events — held in locations such as Yellowstone, Alaska, Maine and London — with disclosure reports. Learn more in an interview with the investigative correspondent who filed the story.

Shelby County District Attorney Steve Mulroy met with surrounding county officials last week to discuss the sense of increasing violence in the region. “There was a palpable sense of urgency to the event, conducted in the immediate aftermath of the shooting death of MPD Officer Joseph McKinney and a lethal firefight at an Orange Mound block party,” the Memphis Flyer reports. During the meeting, Mulroy outlined various emergency crime-control procedures his office is taking and cited a new report from the Shelby County Crime Commission showing that crime statistics had actually receded during the last quarter of 2023 and the first quarter of 2024. Local mayors reportedly expressed skepticism about those findings.

The Tennessee Supreme Court has released a statement on the General Assembly’s approval of $8.6 million in additional funding for indigent representation. The court expressed appreciation for the funding, saying it would allow the judicial branch to “take an essential and significant step forward in addressing adequate compensation of appointed counsel.” Addressing the increase, Chief Justice Holly Kirby said: “I’m grateful for our judges who spoke forcefully about their struggle to find lawyers willing to take indigent cases — nearly half of which are in juvenile court and involve families and children in neglect or abuse cases. I’m grateful for the lawyers who explained how an extremely low rate of reimbursement impacted their ability to represent indigent parties. And I’m grateful for the elected leaders who listened with open hearts and minds and took action.” The additional funding will provide a $10 increase in the hourly rate of reimbursement for attorneys who accept appointments, along with a proportionate increase in the cap on the total amount a court-appointed attorney may recoup per case. Administrative Office of the Courts Director Michelle Long also thanked legislators, the governor’s office and the Tennessee Bar Association for their work bringing attention to this important issue. Read the TBA's previously released statement on the additional funding.

Former Shelby County Judge Melissa Boyd returned to jail for two days for allegedly violating her plea deal, Local Memphis reports. According to the Shelby County Jail, Boyd was booked May 1 on a misdemeanor harassment charge for continuing to contact a woman with whom she was ordered to have no contact. Between January and March of 2023, the woman said Boyd sent her unwanted messages, some including sexually explicit content.

The Legal Aid Society of Middle Tennessee and the Cumberlands (LAS) recently held its annual fundraising event in Nashville. The “Breakfast of Champions” featured remarks by Mayor Freddie O'Connell and raised $180,000. The funding will go toward Campaign for Equal Justice, which supports the organization's free legal services for low-income individuals in Middle Tennessee. See photos from the event in the Nashville Post.

Eight prominent U.S. newspapers are suing OpenAI and Microsoft for copyright infringement, Axios reports. They include: the New York Daily News, Chicago Tribune, Orlando Sentinel, South Florida Sun Sentinel, San Jose Mercury News, Denver Post, Orange County Register and St. Paul Pioneer Press. The complaint centers on copyright infringement claims around the use of articles to train AI models and accusations of reputational damage when the AI platform makes up answers to users' queries. It comes on the heels of a similar case filed by the New York Times. Other news publishers have chosen not to sue, opting instead to negotiate paid deals with AI companies, which could be seen as undermining the argument that companies will be financially harmed by the AI platforms.