Tomorrow is the deadline to register for TBA’s 4th Annual Day on the Hill and Big Shrimp legislative reception! This year's events will take place March 18 in Nashville, beginning at 10:30 a.m. CDT at the Cordell Hull Building with presentations from TBA’s lobbying team and members of the General Assembly. Attendees then will meet with various legislators throughout the day, focusing on building relationships, championing TBA’s legislative priorities and advocating for elimination of the professional privilege tax. After the day’s meetings, attendees are invited to join colleagues, lawmakers and legislative staff at Hotel Indigo Nashville from 5-7 p.m. for the perennial favorite Big Shrimp legislative reception. The hotel is located at 315 Union St., Nashville 37201. Register here or email govaffairs@tnbar.org with questions.

A news item in yesterday's issue of TBA Today highlighted a new expungement process for certain cases in the Shelby County Criminal Court. The court has asked that TBA clarify that the new automatic expungement process is initiated only after the petitioner requests it in court. The new process will allow the order to be signed by all relevant parties in the courtroom, rather than requiring the petitioner to file elsewhere. No expungements will be processed without the petitioner’s or their attorney’s express request. The new process will start March 23. It will apply only to cases that have been dismissed or identified as nolle prosequi with no costs.

Nashville-based law firm Bass, Berry & Sims has reorganized its leadership structure, creating four C-suite positions and expanding roles for several executives, the Nashville Post reports. Craig Bingham will serve as chief administrative and operations officer while Kerry Price will serve as chief strategy and operations officer. Both will have expanded responsibilities. The firm also named Melisa Wimsatt as its chief administrative services officer, Arthur Cook as chief risk management officer, and Angela Dunn as senior director of human resources. Firm leaders said the restructuring is part of long-term succession planning and a broader strategic initiative for the firm, which has offices in Nashville, Memphis, Knoxville and Washington, D.C. Read more in a release from the firm.

The pass rate for first-time takers of the bar exam rose more than a percentage point in 2025 compared with 2024, according to a news release from the Council of the ABA Section of Legal Education and Admissions to the Bar. First-time takers in 2025 achieved an aggregate 84.10% pass rate (84.19% including alternative pathways), up from 83.02% in 2024. Officials said the annual data release is designed to give prospective law students and the public transparent information on legal education outcomes, including licensure and career pathways. See all law school data collected here.

President Donald Trump and his attorney general were sued earlier this month by retail investors in two social media rivals of TikTok. They are seeking to reverse approval of a deal by the app’s owner, ByteDance, to form a majority American-owned joint venture. According to Reuters, the lawsuit argues that Trump’s approval last year violated requirements outlined in a 2024 divestiture law. Two California residents who hold shares in Alphabet and Meta Platforms filed the suit with backing from a group called the Public Integrity Project. The lawsuit seeks to require a renegotiation of the deal “that doesn't put administration allies in a position to censor political content on one of the world’s most popular media platforms” and does not aim to force a U.S. ban on TikTok, the litigants argue.

A New York federal judge has ordered a group of states to engage in settlement talks with Live Nation Entertainment Inc. to try to resolve claims the company illegally monopolized the live event industry. The move came after the U.S. Department of Justice settled with the company and withdrew from the litigation. The states who had joined the suit said they planned to continue with the case. If no settlement is reached, a jury trial in the case may continue next week, the judge said, according to Bloomberg Law. The states — including Tennessee — have said the DOJ settlement does not go far enough because it does not require Live Nation to divest its Ticketmaster subsidiary. In a statement published by Axios Nashville, Tennessee Attorney General (AG) Jonathan Skrmetti said, "Our resolve has not wavered. We are proud to stand with a powerful core of conservative AGs and bipartisan partners from across the country committed to continuing the fight against Ticketmaster/Live Nation."

The U.S. 6th Circuit Court of Appeals has found that the National Labor Relations Board (NLRB) under the Biden administration overstepped its powers by relying on a previous ruling to require Brown-Forman, the maker of Jack Daniel's and other whiskeys, to bargain with a union representing workers at a Lexington distillery. The board directed the company — based on its earlier Cemex ruling — to negotiate with the union after finding it illegally interfered with a union campaign at the Woodford Reserve Distillery. According to Reuters, the case is among the first in which an appeals court has considered a challenge to the Cemex ruling, which found that employers can be ordered to bargain with unions if they engage in illegal labor practices, even when a union loses an election or one has not been held. The appeals court found that the Cemex decision went beyond the board’s authority and thus could not be used to order bargaining in the Brown-Forman case. Read the opinion.

Comments on proposed bylaws changes are due next week before the TBA Board of Governors meets for its spring meeting on March 19. Comments should be submitted via email to barED@tnbar.org. The board approved the publication of two proposed bylaws amendments to the membership at its winter meeting in January. The first would acknowledge that judicial districts in Tennessee are changed from time to time and delete the current list of judicial districts and the counties associated with each. It then sets up a process for addressing changes in the membership of the House of Delegates whenever there is a change to a judicial district. The second amendment addresses the terms of TBA delegates to the ABA House of Delegates and acknowledges the addition of Position 6. Rather than setting out specific years for elections, it would provide that Positions 1 and 3 be elected in odd-numbered years while Positions 2, 4, 5 and 6 be elected in even-numbered years. Review a redline version of the proposed changes.

Employment in the U.S. legal sector continued to grow in February, reaching a record high even as the broader economy shed jobs and the unemployment rate rose, Reuters reports. The total number of jobs in the legal sector, which includes lawyers, paralegals, judges and legal assistants, was 1,237,600 in February, up 2,600 from January and 8.2% higher than five years earlier. This stands in contrast to the broader economy, with Friday's employment report showing the sixth decline in nonfarm ​payrolls by the Labor Department since January 2025.

Nashville Noticias reporter Estefany Rodríguez Florez was detained by U.S. Immigration and Customs Enforcement (ICE) last week and is being held in a jail in Alabama, prompting support from national media organizations including the Committee to Protect Journalists, the National Association of Hispanic Journalists and Investigative Reporters and Editors, the Nashville Post reports. Rodríguez, a Colombian immigrant who applied for political asylum in 2021, and has reported extensively on ICE operations in Middle Tennessee, was arrested outside a South Nashville gym. Her legal team claims the arrest lacked a warrant and has filed an emergency petition seeking her release, according to WKRN. In response, government attorneys said there was a warrant. They also state that her B2 tourist visa had expired, and claims of a work permit or asylum application do not negate the fact that "she is an undocumented alien." A hearing on the matter is expected on March 21.