Entries for the TBA Administrative Law Section's Annual Writing Competition for law students currently enrolled in a Tennessee law school are due April 30. The section hosts the competition to promote an interest in and understanding of administrative law in the state, and to strengthen the relationship among administrative law professors, students and practitioners in Tennessee. The winning submission will be published in the Administrative Law Section newsletter and the winner will be awarded $1,000. View the competition rules for more information.

Estefany Rodríguez, a Nashville journalist detained earlier this month by U.S. Immigration and Customs Enforcement (ICE) agents, was scheduled to appear in a Louisiana immigration court for a bond hearing today. Separately, a federal judge in Nashville has set a hearing for Tuesday to consider constitutional challenges to her detention from her attorneys, the Tennessee Lookout reports. Rodríguez, a reporter for the Spanish-language outlet Nashville Noticias, was arrested by ICE agents March 4. Government attorneys say she is subject to deportation after allegedly overstaying her visa.

ChatGPT maker OpenAI has been accused in a new lawsuit of practicing law without a U.S. license and helping a former disability claimant breach a settlement and flood a federal court docket with meritless filings. Reuters reports that Nippon Life Insurance Company of America alleges that OpenAI wrongfully provided legal assistance to a woman who sought to reopen a lawsuit that had already been settled and dismissed. Nippon claims OpenAI encouraged the woman, an employee of a logistics company insured by Nippon, to continue pursuing the already-settled disability case and that it spent significant time and resources responding to filings generated with the help of ChatGPT. The lawsuit is believed to be among the first to accuse a major AI developer of engaging in the unauthorized practice of law through a consumer-facing chatbot.

The Mid-South Commercial Law Institute recently named new officers and directors to its 25-member board. Officers are: President Wendy Geurin Smith with Evans Petree; Vice President/President-Elect Justin Campbell with Thompson Burton; Secretary Maggie Reidyn, a staff attorney with the Chapter 13 Trustee; Treasurer R. Bradley Banks with Richard Banks & Associates; and Immediate Past President Cara Alday with Patrick, Beard, Schulman & Jacoway. New directors elected to five year terms are: Michael G. Abelow with Sherrard Roe Voigt & Harbison; Shanna Fuller Veach, a law clerk to Bankruptcy Chief Judge Suzanne H. Bauknight; Erin Wallin, a law clerk to Judge Nicholas W. Whittenburg; Elisabeth Donnovin with Johnson & Mulroony; and R. Campbell Hillyer with Butler Snow. Joining the board to fulfill the remaining term of a departing director is Locke Houston Waldrop with Baker Donelson. See the list of the full 2026 board.

The Tennessee Bar Foundation has opened the 2026–2027 grant application process for the Tennessee Legal Initiatives Fund (TLIF). Launched in 2018, the grant program focuses on projects that broaden the capacity of organizations across the state that help break the cycle of poverty and overcome barriers to justice through civil legal services and education. The 2026-2027 application features three distinct funding categories designed to meet the diverse needs of service providers. Prospective grantees may apply in the Rapid Innovation, Capacity Building & Readiness, or Implementation & Scaling categories. Interested organizations may review eligibility requirements and information on the foundation’s website. The deadline to submit grant applications is May 8 at 11:59 p.m. CDT. Read more in a news release from the foundation and email info@tnbarfoundation.org with any questions.

The Tennessee Bar Association is now accepting nominations for three awards that will be presented at its 2026 Annual Convention. The Claudia Jack Award honors an outstanding public defender or court-appointed private practitioner who has served the legal community and clients in an exemplary fashion. It is named after the late Claudia Jack, a public defender and long-time champion of the poor and underprivileged. The Justice Frank F. Drowota III Outstanding Judicial Service Award is given to a judge or judicial branch official of a federal, state or local court in Tennessee who has demonstrated extraordinary devotion and dedication to the improvement of the law, the legal system and the administration of justice, as exemplified by the career of former Tennessee Supreme Court Justice Frank Drowota. Submit nominations for either of these two awards by April 6. The Fourth Estate Award honors courageous reporting on justice and the law. Nominees must be Tennessee-based journalists who have shown exemplary courage in exercising First Amendment rights in the promotion of public understanding of how the law and our legal system works, or how it should work, as demonstrated by a story or series of related stories published in 2025. Read more about the award in TBA's press release. Submit nominations for the Fourth Estate Award online by April 30. Access the submission forms for each award on the pages linked above.

The Tennessee Bar Association again this year will honor the work of Tennessee journalists through the Fourth Estate Award, which honors courageous reporting on justice and the law. This year's prize, honoring reporting in 2025, includes a $250 honorarium for the winner. The TBA strongly supports freedom of expression under the First Amendment, as exercised by lawyers on behalf of their clients and by journalists on behalf of the public, and particularly wants to recognize and encourage journalists who promote public understanding of the rule of law and our system of justice through vigorous exercise of their First Amendment rights. The deadline for entry is April 30. Submit a nomination here. Attorneys who have relationships with reporters or observed a particularly compelling piece of journalism in 2025 are encouraged to submit a nomination. Read about past recipients here and read the TBA's full press release.

TBA’s Legislative Updates podcast returns with attorneys and TBA lobbyists Berkley Schwarz of Pier Strategies LLC and Brad Lampley of Adams & Reese. This week they discuss TBA's Day on the Hill, happening next Wednesday; the extrajudicial adoptions bill HB1263/SB1238; real estate bills HB569/SB394, HB1970/SB1985 and HB1762/SB1707; TBA's adoption bill SB2165/HB2350; a probate bill SB2184/HB2451; and a family law bill SB2324/HB2429. Tune in on the TBA website or through this link. Attorneys may support the TBA’s lobbying efforts by contributing to LAWPAC.

The Tennessee Court of Criminal Appeals has upheld the convictions of one of the men who fatally shot Memphis rapper Young Dolph — whose real name was Adolph Thornton Jr. — in 2021, the Daily Memphian reports. A jury convicted Justin Johnson, known as “Straight Drop” in 2024 of shooting the rapper. He was sentenced to life in prison plus an additional 35 years. Johnson appealed the conviction, challenging the prosecutors’ evidence against him. Read the appeals court opinion. Hernandez Govan, the accused mastermind of the plot to kill the rapper, was found not guilty by a jury in 2025.

The city of Nashville has renamed a stretch of road from 8th Avenue South to Music Square West in the Edgehill neighborhood for civil rights activist King Hollands. It will now be known as King Hollands Avenue, the Nashville Banner reports. In 1954, after the U.S. Supreme Court’s decision in Brown v. Board of Education, Hollands was one of the first 14 African American students to attend the previously all-white Father Ryan High School. Six years later, he took part in Nashville's lunch counter sit-ins, helping to draw attention to the racial segregation of downtown businesses, enduring insults, threats and physical violence. At a ceremony unveiling the new street sign, Hollands’ fellow sit-in participant Gloria McKissack was on hand to share her memories. "King Hollands was a dear friend and a colleague. He stood by me and helped me in so many ways." Hollands died in 2023.