The state is making progress in reducing the backlog of untested rape kits, however, some say more progress is needed. ABC 24 reports that the state has cut the backlog in half, thanks to the hiring of 44 new crime lab scientists and the outsourcing of some tests to Florida. At the state lab in Jackson, staff has cut turnaround time from one year to 18 weeks. “We need these scientists to keep that turnaround time low,” State Sen. Brent Taylor, R-Memphis says, so that “we never get back in the situation we were in just a year ago.”

The Nashville legal community welcomed newly installed Supreme Court Justice Dwight E. Tarwater with a reception last week at the Nashville School of Law. A native of Knoxville, Tarwater earned his law degree from the University of Tennessee, where he previously earned his undergraduate degree in political science. He has had a long career in private practice with the Knoxville firms of Egerton, McAfee, Armistead and Davis and Paine Tarwater Bickers LLP. He also served as general counsel to former Gov. Bill Haslam. The event was jointly sponsored by the Tennessee Bar Association, the Lawyers' Association for Women, the Nashville Bar Association and Nashville School of Law. See photos from the event.

Blackbaud software company has reached a settlement with Tennessee and 48 other states for its deficient data security practices and response to a 2020 ransomware event that exposed the personal information of millions of consumers across the United States. Blackbaud will pay $49.5 million to states as part of the settlement, with Tennessee receiving $882,312, according to a release from the Tennessee Attorney General's office.

A list of those who passed the July 2023 Tennessee bar exam is now available. Check the TBA’s website for the complete list of successful applicants. Those who meet all licensing requirements will be sworn in the first two weeks of November. Watch for more information about bar passage rates and statistics coming soon.

Justice Holly Kirby was formally sworn in as chief justice of the Tennessee Supreme Court at ceremonies at the Historic Supreme Court Chambers in the Tennessee State Capitol. Gov. Bill Lee administered the oath of office to Kirby, who then addressed those assembled. The full ceremony is available for viewing on the court YouTube channel.

A three-judge federal court panel has ruled the state of Alabama must use a new congressional district map for the 2024 elections to remedy Voting Rights Act violations found in the state's 2021 congressional map, News Channel 9 reports. The plan was created by a court-appointed special master after the panel rejected the state's 2023 congressional map passed by Republican lawmakers during a special legislative session.

Tennessee attorneys taking part in yesterday's Supreme Court Boot Camp got a chance to observe oral arguments and participate in a Q&A session with the justices. Produced by Donald Capparella of Dodson Parker Behm & Capparella and Edmund Sauer, staff attorney at the Tennessee Supreme Court, the event also featured a lawyers panel where advocates who participated in Wednesday’s arguments discussed tips for brief writing and argument preparation. The TBA annually provides boot camps for appellate court lawyers and those seeking to learn more about this area of practice. Stay tuned for information about next year’s boot camp, which will take place at the Tennessee Court of Criminal Appeals.

The list of those applicants who achieved a passing score on the July 2023 Uniform Bar Examination in Tennessee will be released by 2 p.m. CDT tomorrow by the Tennessee Board of Law Examiners. Results will be posted on the TBA.org website as soon as they are released.

TBA YLD Access to Justice Coordinator Trina Hughes and District 3 Representative Mari Jasa met with law students at Lincoln Memorial University Duncan School of Law today in Knoxville. Jasa is a graduate of the TBA’s Diversity Leadership Institute program and encouraged students to take advantage of that program and others at the TBA while law students. See more photos.

Civil rights attorney Ben Crump rallied students at Tennessee State University on Tuesday, urging them to encourage Tennessee lawmakers to allocate $2.1 billion in funds that should have been provided to the school but weren't, the Tennessean reports. Crump, who has provided legal services to several Black families whose loved ones have been killed by police, told students they had been cheated out of better opportunities that the additional money would have brought to the campus. He also threatened legal action if the funding is not restored. The funding shortage was spelled out in a letter from the Biden administration to Gov. Bill Lee last month. Tennessee was one of 16 states accused of underfunding its historically Black land-grant universities by billions of dollars over the last 30 years.