A new Tennessee law allows facility dogs to assist victims and witnesses testifying in court with a judge’s approval. According to Chattanoogan.com, the trained dogs provide comfort to witnesses, including children, and offer an added sense of security for those discussing sensitive topics in often high-stress situations, such as jury trials. To use a facility dog in a case, a motion must first be filed with the court. The judge then will decide whether the circumstances warrant allowing the dog.

A Shelby County judge ruled Monday that only four Memphis-Shelby County Schools (MSCS) board seats will appear on the 2026 ballot, finding that county commissioners “exceeded their authority” by voting last fall to place all nine seats on the ballot, the Daily Memphian reports. Chancellor Melanie Taylor Jefferson said the commission added language not included in a new Tennessee law allowing alignment of school board terms with the county’s four-year election cycle, improperly cutting short the terms of five board members. As a result, only seats representing Districts 1, 6, 8 and 9 will be on the ballot, while Districts 2, 3, 4, 5 and 7 will not. The ruling, delivered from the bench ahead of upcoming election deadlines, follows a lawsuit filed by MSCS in December challenging the commission’s resolution. Prior to Monday's ruling, a temporary restraining order prevented candidates from pulling petitions for the seats in question.

Brentwood-based nonprofit Compassion Legal and the Nashville law firm of Sherrard Roe Voigt & Harbison have filed an amicus brief in a federal appellate case challenging Tennessee laws that limit speech about reproductive health care options in other states, the Nashville Banner reports. The brief urges the U.S. 6th Circuit Court of Appeals to affirm a district court ruling that speech about health care available in other states is constitutionally protected, even when the care is not legal in a person’s state of residence. “If states are allowed to criminalize speech about reproductive health care options available in other states, they could just as easily criminalize speech about end-of-life health care options, such as medical aid in dying, available in other states,” Veronica Darling, director of litigation at Compassion Legal, said in a news release. Sherrard Roe is representing Compassion Legal pro bono.

Tennessee Attorney General Jonathan Skrmetti joined a bipartisan coalition of 40 attorneys general in urging congressional leadership to pass the Kids Online Safety Act. In a letter sent to House and Senate leaders ahead of potential consideration of the House version of the bill, the attorneys general warned that the proposal could undermine existing and future state laws aimed at protecting children online and limit states’ ability to address emerging digital harms. The coalition expressed support for the Senate version of the legislation, which includes a duty-of-care requirement and preserves states’ authority to enforce and strengthen protections for minors. “Congress should not tie the hands of state lawmakers and law enforcement who are actively working to protect children from addictive and harmful online design features,” Skrmetti said in a news release.

Most criminal cases prosecuted by the Shelby County District Attorney’s Office in 2025 involved misdemeanor charges, according to the office’s annual report released Tuesday. Misdemeanor cases accounted for 65.2% of the office’s criminal caseload, compared with 34.8% for felony cases. The office handled 24,186 misdemeanor cases and 12,900 felony cases, the Daily Memphian reports. In total, the office handled 123,705 cases, including matters in county traffic, environmental and juvenile courts. Major violent crime — including murder, rape and aggravated assault — fell 27.6% in Memphis last year compared with 2024. Of the violent felony cases prosecuted by the office, 41.3% were aggravated assaults, followed by single-digit percentages for murders, rapes and robberies.

The Tennessee Bar Association (TBA) honored Joy Radice with the University of Tennessee Winston College of Law at a reception at the American Bar Association (ABA) Midyear Meeting in San Antonio. Meeting attendees from across the country gathered to celebrate Radice, who serves as director of clinical programs and associate professor of law. See pictures from the event. The TBA hosts the Tennessee Reception twice a year at the ABA Midyear Meeting in February and the Annual Meeting in August. The events provide an opportunity to raise the state's visibility among the national legal community and honor the good work being done by Tennessee attorneys. Members of the TBA Young Lawyers Division (YLD) also were in town for the reception and ABA YLD meetings. See photos from their activities.

The Tennessee Supreme Court on Sept. 16, 2025, issued an order inviting public comment on legal access and potential regulatory reform. In the order, the court noted it is reassessing how the profession is regulated “to ensure that all Tennesseans have access to affordable quality legal services.” These issues could have a significant impact on the practice of law in our state. The Tennessee Bar Association wants to hear directly from you. We invite you to share your perspective on the seven issues outlined in the court’s order by completing this brief survey. It should take less than 10 minutes to complete and all responses are anonymous. To help you prepare, the TBA has compiled background materials on a dedicated resource page. We encourage you to review those materials before submitting your responses. The survey will remain open until 11:45 p.m. CST on Feb. 20. The TBA also is holding a series of virtual town halls to gather feedback from the legal community. Each event will focus on one or two specific areas of potential regulation. See the list of events.

Join the TBA's Tort & Insurance Law Section on Feb. 19 for its annual forum, presented virtually this year. This program will include a session on navigating court approval of minor settlements, a medical malpractice update and a course dedicated to ethical issues in the public adjuster industry. Earn up to two general hours and one dual hour of CLE credit. Reserve your spot today!

A news item in yesterday's issue of TBA Today included the wrong link for Friday's virtual town hall meeting. The event this week will focus on non-lawyer ownership and fee sharing. There is no cost to attend but registration is required to receive the meeting link. The event is part of TBA's ongoing effort to gather feedback from Tennessee attorneys on the Tennessee Supreme Court’s Sept. 16 order seeking public comment on seven areas of potential regulatory changes to the legal profession. Additional town halls will be held on Feb. 19, 23 and 26. Attorneys also are encouraged to review the TBA’s Legal Access & Regulatory Reform resource page before attending any of these events.

Memphis attorney Robert Miles Mason Sr. died Feb. 1 at age 61 after a long battle with cancer. He received his law degree from the University of Memphis Cecil C. Humphreys School of Law in 1994. A Memphis native, Mason founded Miles Mason Law Group PLC and was a certified public accountant. Mason served on the Tennessee Bar Journal's Editorial Board from 2003-2006 and as chair of the TBA's Family Law Section. He received the Justice Joseph W. Henry Award for Outstanding Legal Writing in 2024 for his article “You Are the Father!: Untangling Custody Rights in Tennessee Between Unmarried Parents,” which appeared in the November/December 2023 issue of the Journal. Mason’s father-in-law, the late Judge Joe B. Jones, was the first recipient of the award in 1981. A funeral Mass was held Feb. 9.  In lieu of flowers, donations may be made in Mason's name to Christian Brothers High School or the Orpheum Theatre Group.