The Shelby County District Attorney’s Office has joined a motion filed by Memphis defense attorney Robert Hutton to prevent the Tennessee attorney general from handling a post-conviction case for his client. The motion challenges a new law, which removes power from local district attorneys to litigate death penalty post-convictions, often referred to as collateral reviews, when new evidence and competency questions are raised. The motion argues that the law is “unconstitutional” and violates voters’ rights, the Commercial Appeal reports. District Attorney Steve Mulroy tells the paper that he believes the law improperly infringes on “the inherent prosecutorial discretion of local elected district attorneys” and that it also violates the rules regarding the captions of bills. The bill in question originally dealt with rape-kit backlogs, but an amendment stripped that language and inserted the collateral review provision. The bill’s sponsor argued that the process needed streamlining and that under the law, the “attorney general will be able to move seamlessly up and down the trial court as necessary, and back into the appeals process” rather than turn cases temporarily over to local prosecutors.

Chattanooga lawyer Russell Fowler will receive the prestigious Justice Joseph W. Henry Award for Outstanding Legal Writing on June 16 during the Tennessee Bar Association’s (TBA) Annual Convention in Knoxville. The award, which will be presented at the Lawyers Luncheon, was established nearly 40 years ago and is given each year to the lawyer who writes the most outstanding article published in the Tennessee Bar Journal for the preceding year.  Fowler is being recognized for his article "Tennessee Lawyers Impact America: A History of Advancing the Right to Vote" and companion piece "Dunn v. Blumstein: A Young Tennessee Lawyer Wins Expansion of the Right to Vote, which ran in the March/April 2022 issue of the Journal. Fowler is director of litigation and advocacy at Legal Aid of East Tennessee. He has written many pieces on law and legal history, and is a regular columnist for the Journal. Read the full release.

A federal judge in Florida blocked the Biden administration’s plan to release some migrants into the U.S. on “parole,” shortly before Title 42 expired at midnight last night, The Hill reports. U.S. District Judge T. Kent Wetherell granted Florida’s request for a temporary restraining order on the parole policy, finding that the policy is not substantially different from one he struck down in March. Under the parole program, migrants are released into the United States without a court date and asked to schedule an appointment with U.S. Immigration and Customs Enforcement within 60 days.

The U.S. Sixth Circuit Court of Appeals this week struck down a Nashville ordinance that denied certain new building permits unless property owners installed a sidewalk or paid into a fund used to build sidewalks elsewhere. The court ruled that the policy was an unconstitutional taking. The court found that so-called legislative exactions are not regulatory takings and are subject to the same degree of constitutional scrutiny any time a government takes property that would ordinarily require compensation. How the ruling will impact those who already paid the fee is unclear. The Metro Law Department said it was “still digesting” the ruling. Read more in the Tennessean or access the opinion.

An American Bar Association committee voted today to allow law students to take up to half their classes online, an increase from the previous rule allowing students to take up to one-third of their classes remotely. The proposed change also eliminates the rule that students take no more than 10 credit hours of distance education classes during their first year of law school. The Council of the Section of Legal Education and Admissions to the Bar said the changes will allow law schools to bolster their online course offerings. Reuters has more on the story.

Two recent reports from Major, Lindsey & Africa delve into the priorities and perspectives of Millennial lawyers and Gen-Z lawyers and law students. In “Searching for Balance: Millennial Lawyers’ Perspectives on the Legal Industry,” the firm finds that these lawyers rate compensation and work/life balance as the most important factors in evaluating an employer. An overwhelming majority believe that law firm culture is biased against diverse and female attorneys, but 45% say they would like to make partner, up from 24% in 2021. In “Gen-Z: Now Influencing Today's Law Firm Culture,” the firm found that this group is moving away from large firms and traditional career paths. Among law school students who said they want to work at a firm, only 39% said they wanted to go to a large firm — a roughly 20% drop since 2020. Their experience with the COVID-19 pandemic has shaped their expectations around remote work, mental health initiatives and workplace flexibility, and they are motivated by meaningful work that aligns with their personal ethics.

Remote access to U.S. civil and bankruptcy court hearings will end in September, the federal judiciary announced yesterday. The courts said the move was being taken because the COVID-19 pandemic no longer affects how they function, according to Reuters. A committee has been collecting data during the pandemic to study whether broadcasts of civil and bankruptcy proceedings should be continued. The courts said the panel might share its findings at the next Judicial Conference set for Sept. 12.

The long-awaited U.S. News & World Report “Best Law School” rankings are out today, featuring a revised methodology that increases the weight of employment outcomes and bar passage rates and reduces the weight of LSAT scores and undergraduate grade-point averages, Reuters reports. The news source describes the result as ”an unprecedented number of dramatic shifts.” Some schools saw shifts of 20 or more places. See the full list of rankings from Above the Law.

Tennessee Attorney General Jonathan Skrmetti, in partnership with the attorneys general of Massachusetts, Oklahoma and Washington, D.C., is leading a coalition of states urging Congress to prioritize investment in the Legal Services Corporation (LSC) in the federal FY 2024 budget. A letter to congressional leaders signed by 37 states highlights the vital role the LSC plays in delivering civil legal assistance to those most in need. “The powerful impact of LSC’s work cannot be overstated, particularly in rural areas that tend to have the highest poverty rates in our country,” the group writes. The Legal Services Corporation (LSC) is asking Congress for $1.5 billion for the next fiscal year.

The Biden administration yesterday announced a new rule requiring that migrants seeking asylum in the U.S. must first seek protection in another country that offers asylum, The Hill reports. The current rule, known as Title 42 which is set to expire today, allows for the rapid expulsion of migrants without allowing them to first seek asylum. The administration announced it is creating regional processing centers throughout Central America to assist migrants in assessing if they are eligible for a legal pathway into the U.S. Also today, the U.S. House of Representatives passed a bill that would limit asylum protections, stimulate the hiring of border agents, and authorize funding to finish building a border wall, though the measure likely will face opposition in the Senate and by the White House.