Read about the lawyers who have recently been reinstated, disbarred, suspended, censured or transferred their licenses to disability inactive status.

In this installment of President's Perspective, Heidi Barcus encourages lawyers to mentor others, not only because it strengthens the profession, it strengthens the community.

The trustees of the Justice Frank F. Drowota Trust, a charitable fund dedicated to providing supplemental financial support to direct providers of civil legal services, have announced grant recipients for 2025. Read more about the fund's work.

Volunteers are needed for an expungement clinic on March 14 from 9 a.m. to noon CDT at Greenhouse Ministries located at 307 Academy St., Murfreesboro 37130. The TBA Young Lawyers Division (YLD) will be collaborating with Legal Aid Society of Middle Tennessee and the Cumberlands to hold the event. To volunteer contact YLD District Representative Alyssa Fox. View a flyer for the event.

LARSEN, Circuit Judge. Dr. Lawrence Sherman was convicted at trial of one count of conspiring to possess with intent to distribute and to distribute controlled substances and nineteen counts of unlawful distribution of controlled substances. He now appeals the judgment and the district court’s denial of his motion for new trial. Seeing no reversible error, we AFFIRM.

NALBANDIAN, Circuit Judge. Yardi Systems operates a website called PropertyShark. That website offers reports comprising useful information, like sales history and ownership information, about real estate. Patricia LaFleur and Michael Grose, Sr., aren’t happy that they— along with a proposed class of fellow Ohioans—appear in PropertyShark’s reports. So they sued Yardi, alleging that it violated their state-law right of publicity. The district court dismissed their claims because, among other problems, the plaintiffs failed to allege that their identities carried distinct commercial value—a required element of their claims. We agree, so we affirm.

ALICE M. BATCHELDER, Circuit Judge. Political candidates, including judicial candidates, have broad free-speech rights to “speak in support of their campaigns.” Williams- Yulee v. The Florida Bar, 575 U.S. 433, 457 (2015). But that right does not divest a duly elected government of its power to control certain speech by its confidential and policymaking employees. Jacqueline Gaines, then a domestic-relations court magistrate, contends that her court and its administrative judge, Denise Cross, abridged Gaines’s freedom of speech when Cross terminated her employment over her campaign speech that cast the court’s operations and Gaines’s fellow magistrate in a negative light. Because Gaines held a confidential or policymaking position within the domestic-relations court and spoke on political or policy- related matters in a manner that undermined the trust and confidence that Cross had in Gaines’s continued service, her termination did not violate the First Amendment. The district court’s dismissal of her claim under 42 U.S.C. § 1983 is therefore AFFIRMED.

Defendant, Albert Dejuan White, appeals his Tipton County Circuit Court trial convictions of possession with intent to deliver twenty-six grams or more of cocaine, possession of a firearm during the commission of a dangerous felony, and possession of drug paraphernalia, arguing that the trial court erred by denying his motion to suppress evidence and statements obtained during the search of his residence and that the evidence was insufficient to support his convictions. Discerning no reversible error, we affirm the judgments of the trial court.

U.S. Attorney D. Michael Dunavant of the Western District of Tennessee has announced the recent hiring and assignment of five new assistant U.S. attorneys. They are Jennifer Collins, Meghan Fowler, Raven Icaza, Gavin Smith and Irris Williams. He also announced one new special assistant U.S. attorney, Darrius Samples, and two new support staff positions in his office. “With the dramatic increase in our case filings since October, these new positions are much needed, and a welcome addition to our outstanding staff who effectively represents the United States, enforces the rule of law, and protects public safety in West Tennessee every day,” Dunavant said. Read more about the new hires in a press release.

The Defendant, Mario Reed, was convicted in the Montgomery County Circuit Court of evading arrest involving risk of death or injury, a Class D felony; attempted tampering with evidence, a Class D felony; and reckless endangerment committed with a deadly weapon, a Class E felony. After a sentencing hearing, the trial court merged the reckless endangerment conviction into the evading arrest conviction and sentenced the Defendant as a Range II, multiple offender to concurrent seven-year sentences for evading arrest and attempted tampering with evidence. On appeal, the Defendant contends that (1) the trial court erred by refusing to dismiss the indictment due to a violation of Article IV of the Interstate Compact on Detainers (“ICD”),1 (2) the evidence is insufficient to support his conviction of attempted tampering with evidence and the jury rendered an inconsistent verdict for that offense, and (3) his seven-year sentence for evading arrest is excessive. Based upon our review, we affirm the judgments of the trial court. However, we remand the case to the trial court for sentencing on the reckless endangerment conviction.