The council of the ABA Section of Legal Education and Admissions to the Bar today advanced a proposal to make standardized admissions tests optional at accredited law schools. The council voted on the amendment to its testing mandate, Standard 503, at a hybrid meeting in Atlanta. The standard currently requires law schools to use a “valid and reliable” test to assess applicants. Historically, that has been the Law School Admission Test (LSAT). At today’s meeting, the council also voted to amend Standard 501 to include an annual review of admissions policies and practices. The proposals will now go to the ABA House of Delegates for consideration at its February 2023 meeting in New Orleans. If approved, the changes would not be implemented until the fall of 2025, the ABA Journal reports.

Following Yale Law School’s decision earlier this week to boycott law school rankings published by U.S. News, three additional law schools have announced they will do so as well. Harvard Law School, University of California Berkeley Law School and Georgetown University Law Center now say they will not participate in the rankings either. Berkeley Dean Erwin Chemerinsky says the rankings are “profoundly inconsistent” with the school’s “values and public mission” and penalize schools that help students launch careers in public service law. U.S. News & World Report said it has no plans to change its goals for the rankings. Reuters has more about Georgetown’s decision while Bloomberg looks at Berkeley’s move.

Jack Smith, a former HCA attorney and U.S. attorney for the Middle District of Tennessee, has been named as a special counsel to oversee criminal investigations related to former President Donald Trump. Smith, appointed today by U.S. Attorney General Merrick Garland, will oversee investigations into Trump’s actions related to the events of Jan. 6 and documents found at Trump’s private residence at Mar-a-Lago. Smith served as acting U.S. attorney in Nashville during the Obama-Trump transition, stepping down in 2017. He then served in the legal role at HCA before moving to The Hague in 2018, where he has served as chief prosecutor for Kosovo war crimes cases. The Nashville Post reported on the Tennessee connection. The Hill has more on the appointment process.

The Biden Administration today asked the U.S. Supreme Court to lift a lower court order that blocked the president’s student loan relief program, The Washington Post reports. That order, issued Monday, came in a suit brought by six Republican-led states. Implementation of the plan has been on hold since Oct. 21, when the 8th Circuit Court of Appeals issued an emergency stay. Last week, in yet another a case — this one brought by two borrowers — a federal judge in Texas struck down the plan as unlawful as well. In that case, the U.S. government already has asked the 5th Circuit Court of Appeals to overturn the decision.

The downtown Nashville homeless shelter and recovery program Room in the Inn is the site of a free monthly legal clinic known as Project Homeless Experience Legal Protection (H.E.L.P.). The clinic offers assistance on civil matters such as disability benefits, and criminal matters, including expungements. Many struggle to exit homelessness because of issues navigating the legal system. That is where the H.E.L.P. clinic, started by Baker Donelson’s Nashville office 14 years ago, steps in. Shareholder Jonathan Cole says the firm recognized a need among the city’s homeless. “A lot of times there’s a legal issue that is an impediment or contributing factor that’s preventing them from getting more established, on their feet, into more permanent housing,” he said. “If we can remove some of those barriers, it’s a great help to them.” Initially launched in New Orleans, the clinic has now been implemented in over 25 cities. WKRN looks at some of the clients helped by the clinic.

The Tennessee Supreme Court today reappointed two members of its Alternative Dispute Resolution Commission to second terms. Lori Thomas Reid and J. Marcus Rudolph will each serve another three-year term that will expire on Jan. 9, 2026. The high court noted it was reappointing Reid and Rudolph “because of their outstanding contributions to the Commission.” Read the order.

Tennessee Attorney General Jonathan Skrmetti joined 21 states in filing a petition for rulemaking, asking the Department of Health and Human Services (HHS) and the Centers for Medicare & Medicaid Services (CMS) to repeal the federal vaccine mandate for healthcare workers. “Evidence continues to mount that the ongoing mandate is an unprecedented overreach of the Federal government and has exacerbated shortages of healthcare workers in Tennessee and other states,” Skrmetti said. The petition asks HHS and CMS to repeal the vaccine mandate and withdraw any related guidance. Read more from the AG’s office.

Just City, a Memphis-based criminal justice reform nonprofit, has released a new report grading four Shelby County judges on timeliness, neutrality, how often a public defender was appointed, dignity, sensitivity, the ability to hear a judge, and access to the courtroom. Judges Lee V. Coffee, Chris Craft, Karen Massey and Ronald Lucchesi were observed by court watchers who scored each judge between a one and four in each category. Coffee averaged the best score across the categories, followed by Lucchesi, Massey and Craft. Just City’s Yonée Gibson says she hopes the report will hold judges accountable and lead to changes at the courthouse. Three more reports are expected to be published. Read more from the Commercial Appeal.

The Tennessee Advisory Committee to the U.S. Commission on Civil Rights this week recommended that the state expand access to absentee voting, citing apparent “deficiencies” found in a study of the state's voting laws and barriers to the ballot box. The ongoing study is also looking at restrictions during the COVID-19 pandemic and the civil rights impact of SB008, a controversial bill passed in 2020 that criminalized some protests in the state. In its interim memo, the committee pointed to the state’s use of “excuse” absentee voting, which requires absentee voters to have an approved reason to obtain the ballot, as a barrier to voting. It also referenced the state’s requirement that absentee ballots be returned by mail by the close of polls on Election Day. Secretary of State Tre Hargett pushed back on some of the recommendations, mentioning the state’s “generous” early voting period. The commission may now choose to send the memo to the General Assembly and Gov. Bill Lee as a formal request. The Tennessean has the story. 

Woolf, McClane, Bright Allen, and Carpenter PLLC has added two lawyers to its health care and transactional practice. Patti T. Cotton and Jason P. Lambert will join the firm’s Knoxville office as partners. Woolf McClane Managing Partner Richard S. Matlock said Cotton and Lambert’s “considerable experience in health care and business law complements and enhances the firm’s existing practice.” Cotton and Lambert were previously with Knoxville firm London Amburn. Read the press release from Woolf McClane.