A new a 12-part podcast series “Class Action” is coming soon to a platform near you. The documentary-style podcast tracks a diverse cast of college and law students who are battling it out in mock trial competitions across the country. Producers Lisa Gray and Kevin Huffman spent a year recording the grueling bootcamps, scrimmages and competitions with teams from Brooklyn Law, St. Mary’s University in San Antonio and the University of South Dakota. Listeners will hear the law students reach near-exhaustion arguing cases in high-stakes tournaments. The series also includes an undergraduate team from Dillard University in New Orleans, which recovered from COVID-19 and Hurricane Ida to make a “Cinderella” run at the national championship. Watch for the series; the first two episodes are set to drop June 7 on iHeart, Apple and other major platforms.

A Davidson County jury has awarded more than $200 million to the mother of one of the victims of a mass shooting at an Antioch Waffle House in 2018, the Tennessean reports. It is the largest personal injury judgement ever awarded in Davidson County, according to Nashville attorney Daniel Horwitz. He represented Shaundelle Brooks, the mother of one of those killed in the deadly shooting. Brooks had brought the wrongful death lawsuit against Travis Reinking, who was convicted of the shooting.

As abortion-rights protests continue, the Republican governors of Virginia and Maryland are calling on the U.S. Justice Department to tighten security at the homes of U.S. Supreme Court justices living in their states. In a letter to U.S. Attorney General Merrick Garland, Gov. Larry Hogan of Maryland and Gov. Glenn Youngkin of Virginia also pointed to federal law, which prohibits picketing the residence of a judge with the "intent of influencing" the judge. National Public Radio has more on that story. Yesterday, the court’s nine justices met in private for the first time since the leak of a draft opinion that indicated the court is prepared to overrule Roe v. Wade. The court offered no word on what was discussed but said at least one decision will be announced Monday, according to the Associated Press.

Fast-growing smaller cities have helped fuel new hiring at Baker Donelson, Bloomberg Law reports. The news source looked at the Tennessee-based firm and the rate at which it has added associates and shareholders since the pandemic. Mark A.B. Carlson, the firm’s chief growth officer who focuses on lateral attorney recruiting, acquisition and integration, said the talent market is “incredibly competitive” but that the cities in the firm’s footprint are among the fastest growing and they take advantage of that to hire whenever they can. The firm — with Tennessee offices in Chattanooga, Knoxville, Memphis, Nashville and the Tri-Cities — added 100 lawyers last year in its two dozen offices.

Assistant Public Defender and Appellate Director Brennan Wingerter will be honored next month with the Tennessee Bar Association’s Third Annual Claudia Jack Award. Named after the late Claudia Jack, a long-time champion of the poor and underprivileged, and a public defender in Maury County, the award is presented to an outstanding a public defender or court-appointed private practitioner who has served the legal community and her clients in an exemplary fashion. Wingerter is an honors graduate from the University of Tennessee College of Law who began her legal career by completing a multi-judicial clerkship in the Tennessee Supreme Court and serving as a professor of law at Lincoln Memorial University. She then became the inaugural director of the Appellate Division of the District Public Defenders Conference and built a statewide office from the ground up, leading the office in and out of the courtroom, and taking a lead role in statewide efforts to improve appellate advocacy on behalf of indigent clients. The Claudia Jack Award will be presented at the Tennessee Bar Association Annual Convention in Nashville on June 17 during the Lawyers’ Luncheon. Read the full press release.

Gov. Bill Lee signed legislation into law yesterday to create an Institute of American Civics at the University of Tennessee's Howard Baker Center for Public Policy. He was on the UT campus to participate in a forum and the signing ceremony, WATE reports. Lee said the institute will be guided by a bipartisan board of fellows who “share an appreciation for the American system and the unique degree of liberty and prosperity that it provides." UT System President Randy Boyd focused his remarks on the institute’s potential for encouraging civil debate. “The bill is all about bipartisanship. Bringing in both sides of each issue together to have a civil discussion about things that they may disagree on but be able to talk about it in a way that is respectful, open and transparent.” Funded at a cost of $6 million, the program eventually will employ 50 staff.

The 6th Circuit U.S. Court of Appeals has stripped a Tennessee police captain of qualified immunity for the 2018 fatal shooting of a mentally ill man, Tennessee Lookout reports. The court said that Lawrenceburg Police Department Captain David Russ is not protected from a civil rights lawsuit because his use of deadly force against Randy Thomas Groom was excessive and unjustified. The court found that although Groom was armed with a knife, held at his side, he did not pose an imminent threat to Russ or anyone else. The decision reverses a ruling from U.S. District Judge William L. Campbell Jr., who had dismissed the lawsuit.

Livestreaming of federal appellate court arguments could outlast the COVID-19 pandemic, the federal judiciary told U.S. lawmakers, with all but one circuit court indicating plans to at least consider keeping the practice going. Reuters reports that U.S. District Judge Roslynn Mauskopf, the director of the Administrative Office of the U.S. Courts, said the judiciary is working to determine to what extent remote access to oral arguments should continue post-pandemic. Before March 2020, only the 9th and D.C. Circuits had regularly streamed oral arguments online.

Bradley Arant Boult Cummings LLP recently received the 2022 Pro Bono Leadership Award from the Legal Aid Society of Middle Tennessee and the Cumberlands. The award was presented at the Nashville Bar Association’s Law Day Luncheon on May 6. The award recognizes firm leadership in pro bono service during the previous year. In 2021, the Nashville office volunteered 4,245 hours and launched a new clinic to provide accessible and affordable business-oriented services to Black-owned businesses and nonprofits. Bradley Pro Bono Counsel Tiffany M. Graves said the firm is proud of the recognition and congratulates the Nashville attorneys who contributed their time to pro bono service.

Baker Donelson has promoted Meagan Nebel as its first director of lateral recruiting and integration, the Nashville Post reports. Based in the Nashville office, Nebel will look outside of the firm to recruit new employees, working directly with external recruiting firms and others. She joins a team that includes the firm’s first chief growth officer, Mark Carlson, who works with firm leaders to identify potential law firm mergers and small groups of partners from other firms to bring on. "Growth is imperative to our strategy and the continued success of Baker Donelson," Carlson said in the release.