The TBA Young Lawyers Division (YLD) kicked off its annual fall meeting this weekend in Cancun. Members of the YLD Board, YLD Fellows and their guests gathered for a welcoming reception at the Hard Rock Hotel. Planning sessions and an awards dinner will follow throughout the weekend. See photos from the reception.

The 21st annual TBA Leadership Law (TBALL) program is now accepting nominations for the 2024 class. Nominations are due Oct. 2. Nominees should have from 5 to 15 years of experience in practice. Last year, 33 lawyers from across the state were accepted into the program. TBALL programming will kick off in January 2024 with an opening retreat at Henry Horton State Park and end in June with class commencement during the TBA Annual Convention in Memphis. Read more about the program or contact Paul Burch for more information.

Attorneys for the state and for three women who challenged a Tennessee House of Representatives ban on signs at the legislature have agreed to bring the case to a close, Tennessee Lookout reports. “The special session has now adjourned,” the state’s legal filings said. “And the procedural rules adopted by the House for the special session — including the Sign Regulation that the (women) asked this court to declare unconstitutional and enjoin — are no longer in effect.” ACLU attorneys who represented the three women are not opposing dismissal of the case, but expect to file a motion seeking attorney fees and costs.

President Biden’s son Hunter Biden was criminally charged today with deceiving a gun dealer into selling him a firearm, reports Reuters. It is the first-ever indictment of a sitting president's child. Biden was charged in U.S. District Court in Delaware with three criminal counts related to lying about using illegal drugs at the time of the gun purchase, which would have banned him under the law from owning a firearm. A prior deal under which Biden, 53, would have pleaded guilty to two misdemeanor tax charges and enroll in a program to avoid prosecution, collapsed in during a hearing in July. A tax investigation remains ongoing.

The California Senate passed legislation yesterday requiring lawyers to inform the state bar if they suspect other lawyers of engaging in seditious conspiracy, insurrection or treason, reports Reuters. Gov. Gavin Newsom is expected to sign the bill, which would not apply to information protected by attorney-client privilege. The California Supreme Court in August also began requiring lawyers to report fraud, misappropriation of funds and other criminal acts or conduct. The legislation was by motivated by the recent indictment of California lawyer Tom Girardi for allegedly stealing millions in client funds and directing more than $1 million in cash and gifts to a former investigator.

The University of Memphis Cecil C. Humphreys School of Law has opened the region's first Expungement and Restoration of Rights Clinic, reports the Daily Memphian. The clinic is staffed with law students working under director and adjunct professor of law Amber Floyd. The clinic will introduce students to the theoretical and practical aspects of representing clients with legal needs arising from the collateral consequences of prior arrests and convictions. Floyd currently serves as the general counsel for the Memphis-Shelby County Airport Authority and is also a member of the Tennessee Bar Journal Editorial Board in addition to the steering committee of the TBA's Leadership Law program. Read more about the clinic.

Two high schools in Nashville were targeted with hoax phone calls yesterday in what police are calling a growing trend around Tennessee and nationally, reports the Tennessean. The FBI has also joined the investigation. Similar calls were made to the Nashville International Airport, a Metro police precinct, Hard Rock Café and the AT&T building downtown last week. The response units include SWAT, police negotiators, a helicopter and victim counselors. Nashville Police spokesperson Kris Mumford said the motive for the calls remains under investigation but that preliminary findings show many of the specific telephoned threats are originating from outside Tennessee. Similar threats in other American cities have also been reported. In Tennessee, it is a class C felony to report threats of bombing or shooting and carries a prison sentence between 3-15 years.

The Women’s Suffrage National Monument Foundation launched a donation campaign Tuesday to raise an estimated $50 million needed to build a monument on the National Mall, reports the Tennessee Lookout. The campaign, 72-Hours for Women’s Monumental Equality Giving Challenge, will end tomorrow at 11 a.m. CDT. Funds will go towards designing and erecting the monument, which will honor 200 years of efforts by activists who have fought for women’s right to vote on the streets and in the courts. The U.S. House Natural Resources Committee unanimously passed a bill in July that would allow the monument to be constructed on the mall but provided no federal funding.

A federal judge in Texas yesterday rejected the Biden administration’s latest effort to save the Deferred Action for Childhood Arrivals (DACA) program that has shielded nearly 600,000 undocumented young adults from deportation, reports The Hill. Judge Andrew S. Hanen of the Federal District Court in Houston did not mandate an immediate end to the program. Current applicants will be able to keep and renew their protection, but no new applications will be allowed. DACA was created by executive action during the Obama administration in 2012. A federal district court judge ruled in 2021 that Obama had exceeded his authority in creating the program. In response, the Department of Homeland Security underwent formal rulemaking in 2022 to solidify the basis for DACA. But Hanen found while the government followed the law, the new rule did not address prior issues criticized by the court.

Applications are now open for the Tennessee Strong Families Grant Program. The program provides the opportunity for nonprofit organizations, including pregnancy centers, to partner with the state to provide support based on the needs of mothers, children and families. Services include pregnancy support, support for Tennesseans considering adoption and workforce assistance to prepare new moms for self-sufficiency. Application materials for the grants are available online in addition to webinars and training and technical assistance.