The American Bar Association's House of Delegates on Tuesday adopted a resolution that strengthens a lawyer’s obligation to assess whether a client seeks to use the lawyer’s services to further a crime or fraud before accepting or maintaining representation. The resolution was approved by a vote of 216-102. The change represents a second step this year in the ABA’s efforts to protect lawyers from unwittingly becoming involved in a client’s or prospective client’s criminal and fraudulent activities.

An inmate at the Hamilton County jail was charged yesterday with making threats to bomb the federal building in Chattanooga and the courtroom of General Sessions Court Judge Gary Starnes, reports the Chattanoogan.com. An investigation into calls Robert Edward Millsaps made from the jail also revealed death threats against a local bonding agent as well as the public defender's office. Investigators found that Millsaps has had 14 cases go before Judge Starnes dating back to 2020.

Quinton Thompson, president of the Tennessee Bar Association Young Lawyers Division and an attorney at the Memphis office of Morgan & Morgan, has earned a place among the American Bar Association’s On the Rise – Top 40 Young Lawyers. Congratulations! Learn more about the recognition program.

Several members of the Tennessee legal community have been selected to take part in Leadership Tennessee, a collective with a mission to foster non-partisan dialogue on issues of state importance. The organization recently announced that 48 individuals will join its 2023–2024 Signature Program and 30 individuals will join its fall Leadership Tennessee NEXT Program. Representatives from the legal community participating in the Signature Program include Noni Ellison, general counsel for Tractor Supply Company; Ignacio Vincentelli, general counsel for International Paper; and Lynda Hood, executive director of the Chattanooga Bar Association. L. Maverick Flowers, an associate attorney with Polsinelli, will participate in the NEXT Program. 

Mary L. Smith was sworn in as the 147th president of the American Bar Association during the ABA’s House of Delegates meeting on Monday in Denver. Smith is the first female Native American president of the world’s largest voluntary bar association. Smith has held many leadership roles in the ABA, including serving as secretary and on the board of governors. She also served as an ABA representative to the United Nations Economic and Social Council.

In a presentencing report filed on Friday, prosecutors called for former state senator Brian Kelsey to serve 41 months in federal prison for his conviction of two felonies stemming from a campaign finance scheme connected to his failed 2016 congressional bid, reports the Tennessean. The report cites Kelsey's "troubling lack of respect for the law and the public good." Kelsey is scheduled to be sentenced next Friday. An initial sentencing date was called off after Kelsey attempted to revoke his 2022 guilty plea. A federal judge declined to allow him to change his plea.

Nashville Mayor John Cooper and Police Chief John Drake announced last Thursday at a press conference that they plan to place full-time resource officers on the city’s elementary school campuses as soon as possible, reports the Tennessean. Drake said officers assigned to school would wear uniforms similar to bike patrol officers and would be trained on best practices for dealing with young children. Despite pushback against officers in elementary schools from public school leaders, Cooper said the long-term goal is to put at least one full-time officer on every MNPS campus.

A new report compiled by the Nashville Community Oversight Board shows Nashville police are more likely to use excessive force when interacting with Black and Hispanic people. Using data from 2018-2022, the 43-page document found that Black people are three times more likely to have a gun drawn on them by police than white people. In school settings, 96% of students who had force used against them by a school resource officer were Black.

Two conservative groups are asking a federal court to block the Biden administration’s plan to cancel $39 billion in student loans for more than 800,000 borrowers, the Associated Press reports. In a lawsuit filed Friday, the Mackinac Center for Public Policy and the Cato Institute argue the administration overstepped its power when it announced the forgiveness in July. The program would offer cancellation of debt for borrowers with income-driven repayment plans, which typically offer cancellation after borrowers make 20 or 25 years of payments. The administration says that “past administrative failures” have resulted in inaccurate payment counts, which have set borrowers back on their progress toward forgiveness. Opponents argue that only Congress can authorize debt cancellation programs.

Gov. Bill Lee's office made several personnel changes last week. His longtime policy director, Tony Niknejad, is departing to work in the private sector. He will be succeeded by Michael Hendrix, who has been a special adviser to Lee. Hendrix previously was a senior fellow at the Manhattan Institute and senior director at the U.S. Chamber of Commerce Foundation. In addition, Alec Richardson has been named a senior adviser to the governor. On the communications team, Jade Byers has been named senior communications officer. Replacing Byers as press secretary is Elizabeth Lane Johnson, who previously worked for Attorney General Jonathan Skrmetti. Read the governor’s announcement.