The Tennessee Bar Association and Tennessee’s American Inns of Court are now accepting nominations for the 2024 Judge Pamela L. Reeves Tennessee Professionalism Award. The annual award is presented to a lawyer or judge whose life and practice display sterling character and unquestioned integrity, coupled with ongoing dedication to the highest standards of the rule of law and the highest standards of the legal profession in Tennessee. This year's award will be presented to a lawyer or judge residing in the West Grand Division. Nominees must be alive when nominations are submitted but they need not be an active member of an American Inn of Court or the TBA. The award will be presented at the TBA's Annual Convention, which will be held in Memphis June 12-15. The deadline for submitting nominations is April 8. See past recipients of the award.

The Tennessee Journal recaps the outcome of this week’s judicial races in its print publication out today. Races previously not included in TBA Today reporting include a four-way contest for the Republican nomination to fill an unexpired chancellorship in Anderson County. In that race, Daniel Forrester defeated Gov. Bill Lee’s appointee Jamie Brooks, 46% to 31%. Lee named Brooks to the position after Chancellor Nicki Cantrell stepped down. In addition, longtime Knox County Law Director David Buuck turned back a Republican primary challenge from former county party chair Daniel Herrera by a margin of 23 percentage points. The piece also takes an in-depth look at Andrée Blumstein’s tenure are the state solicitor general. Blumstein’s departure was announced on March 4 by the state attorney general.

Over the past week, Tennessee Attorney General Jonathan Skrmetti joined with fellow state attorneys general to urge action at the federal level. Efforts included an amicus brief urging the U.S. Supreme Court to uphold citizens’ constitutional rights to make laws through their elected officials rather than laws being made through administrative actions; and a letter calling on three federal entities to respond to an inspector general report that tens of thousands of unaccompanied migrant children were released into unsafe situations, including human trafficking operations. Skrmetti’s office also published a reminder of the free IRS-approved tax filing options available for Tennesseans.

Today is International Women’s Day and American Bar Association (ABA) President Mary Smith is honoring the women who make up more than 50% of law firm associates and the majority of U.S. law school students. In a statement released today, she notes that this year’s theme, “Inspire Inclusion,” serves as a powerful reminder of the ongoing journey to ensure women’s full and equal participation in every sector, including the legal field. However, Smith says there is work still to be done, citing data that women remain significantly underrepresented in senior leadership positions at U.S. law firms. Read more about the ABA's efforts to advance the status of women and girls at home and abroad. On March 1, Smith issued this statement in support of Women's History Month.

The legal services sector added 2,700 jobs in February, resuming an upward trajectory after dipping slightly in January, Reuters reports. The count includes a range of legal workers, including paralegals and assistants, though the majority are lawyers, according to the Bureau of Labor Statistics. In the broader economy, job growth accelerated last month, but downward revisions to employment gains in the prior two months and an increase in the unemployment rate to a two-year high of 3.9% suggest that the labor market is slowing.

TBA’s Legislative Updates podcast is back for another week with attorney and TBA lobbyist Berkley Schwarz and Adams and Reese attorneys and TBA lobbyists Brad Lampley and Ashley Harbin. Special guest TBA Executive Director Sheree Wright also joined the episode to promote TBA’s upcoming Day on the Hill and Big Shrimp Reception on March 20 and talk a little about her background. The group discusses the Administrative Office of the Courts’ (AOC) budget presentation before the Senate Judiciary Committee, which included significant discussion of the reimbursement rate for indigent representation and impromptu testimony by Hamilton County Juvenile Court Judge Rob Philyaw about how the low rate is impacting his courtroom. Lampley says it was the “best conversation on this issue ever … in this public of a setting.” Watch the AOC testimony here beginning at 54:56. The vote to advance the governor’s proposed AOC budget to the Senate Finance Committee happens at 1:32:21.

Also in this week's episode, the group recaps the two school voucher bills moving through the House and Senate and provides an update on three TBA-supported bills: HB2710/SB2254 (conservatorship bill), HB2645/SB2632 (adoption birth certificate bill) and HB2644/SB2633 (adoption clean-up bill). Legislative Updates airs each week on the TBA’s Facebook page. It is also released as a podcast on the same day and can be found on the TBA’s website or wherever you listen to podcasts.

Tennessee Attorney General Jonathan Skrmetti has announced that Solicitor General Andrée Blumstein will leave the office to return to private practice. She will be succeeded by Matt Rice, current special assistant to the solicitor general. In a news release, Skrmetti said, “It’s nearly impossible to express sufficient gratitude to Solicitor General Blumstein for her extraordinary contributions to the great State of Tennessee.” He noted that Blumstein served in the office for nearly a decade and was the first woman solicitor general for the state. Rice, a Johnson City native, joined the AG’s office in June 2022. He previously worked at the Washington, D.C., firm Williams & Connolly and clerked for U.S. Supreme Court Justice Clarence Thomas. He earned his law degree from University of California Berkeley School of Law.

Grant requests from the Knoxville Bar Foundation (KBF) are due tomorrow. Awards will be announced in May. The KBF’s goal is to facilitate and support projects and programs that seek to improve the administration of justice, enhance the public’s understanding of and confidence in the legal system, support access to the legal system, and serve the legal profession. Since 1997, the KBF has awarded approximately $560,000 in grants for local law-related projects. In 2023, the KBF board approved 12 grant requests totaling $25,000.

In a new analysis of data from the Equal Employment Opportunity Commission (EEOC), the Tennessean found that for every 100,000 people working in the state in 2022, 89.5 filed formal charges with the EEOC. Only Illinois had a higher rate. An analysis of data from 2021 had found Tennessee had the highest rate of workplace discrimination charges in the nation. For both years, the most common type of complaint was for retaliation.

Tennessee lawmakers have scheduled a joint convention for Monday to vote on Gov. Bill Lee’s nomination of Shelby County Circuit Judge Mary Wagner to fill an upcoming vacancy on the state Supreme Court, the Tennessee Journal reports. Lee chose Wagner on Feb. 1 from a list of three candidates that also included Court of Criminal Appeals Judge Ross Dyer and Court of Criminal Appeals Presiding Judge Camille McMullen. Wagner will fill a vacancy that will occur when Justice Roger A. Page retires on Aug. 31. Wagner, 39, is a TBA member and alumna of the association's Leadership Law Program. She earned her law degree from the University of Memphis Cecil C. Humphreys School of Law and was appointed to the circuit court in 2016 by then-Gov. Bill Haslam. She won reelection in 2018 and 2022.