Appellant/Mother appeals the trial court’s denial of her petition for parental relocation and its entry of a modified permanent parenting plan naming Father/Appellee the child’s primary residential parent. Discerning no error, we affirm.

Shelby County lawyer Brian Wade Lynn received a censure on Jan. 6 from the Tennessee Supreme Court. Lynn’s law license was administratively suspended on March 5, 2025, for non-payment of his professional privilege tax, and he has not sought reinstatement of his license. The court found that at the time of the administrative suspension, Lynn was counsel of record in 14 bankruptcy cases, and that after receiving the suspension, he filed two notices in one of his bankruptcy cases. The court found that he also significantly delayed providing notice to his clients of the administrative suspension, withdrawing as counsel of record, and complying with other obligations. The court determined that Lynn violated Rules of Professional Conduct 1.1, 1.3, 1.4, 1.15, 1.16(d), 3.4(c) and 8.4(d).

Hardin County Lawyer Nicholas Lee Surratt was censured Jan. 6 by the Tennessee Supreme Court. Surratt agreed to represent a client in transmitting a demand letter in connection with a contract dispute. The client paid a $350 fee for drafting and transmittal of the demand letter. The court found that Surratt never drafted the demand letter, took no other action for the client, failed to respond to the client’s inquiries about the status of the representation and never refunded the $350 fee. The court determined that these actions violated Rules of Professional Conduct 1.3, 1.4, 1.15 and 1.16(d). It also directed Surratt to pay restitution of $350 to his client within 60 days.

A new report from Tennessee Comptroller Jason Mumpower finds that most students using Education Savings Account (ESA) vouchers are leaving average or high-performing public schools rather than the lowest-performing ones, and overall are underperforming public school peers in both achievement and growth. The review also found that the state education department lacks clear standards for evaluating and removing low-performing private schools from the program, and did not adequately market ESAs to low-income families as required by law. In addition, despite high parent satisfaction and some score improvements over time, the program has been underused. Lawmakers are expected to consider proposals to expand the program when the legislature reconvenes. Chalkbeat has more on the comptroller's report.

Spencer Fane, which has offices in Nashville and Hendersonville, recently announced it has merged with the Washington, D.C., boutique intellectual property firm Global IP Counselors. More than a dozen patent and trademark attorneys from Global IP Counselors now join Spencer Fane’s Intellectual Property Practice Group in the Washington, D.C., office. Read more in a press release from the firm.

Petitioner, Gabriel Dotson, appeals the denial of his petition for post-conviction relief, arguing that the post-conviction court erred in denying his claim that trial counsel was ineffective by conceding guilt during closing argument against Petitioner’s wishes. Upon review of the entire record, the briefs of the parties, and the applicable law, we affirm the judgment of the post-conviction court.

The Defendant, Charles Randolph Carter, appeals the trial court’s revocation of his probationary sentence stemming from his guilty-pled convictions for attempted aggravated assault and aggravated cruelty to animals. While on probation, the Defendant absconded from supervision and committed new misdemeanor offenses, among other violations. Following several revocation hearings, the trial court revoked the Defendant’s three-year and eight-month probationary sentence and ordered him to serve the balance in confinement. On appeal, the Defendant argues that the trial court abused its discretion (1) by determining that he violated his probation based upon disciplinary infractions committed while in custody on this sentence and (2) by fully revoking his probation given his contrition and need for additional drug treatment. Following our review, we affirm the judgment of the trial court.

This appeal concerns a father’s petition to modify the permanent parenting plan for his two children. After an evidentiary hearing, the juvenile court magistrate entered a plan that modified the residential parenting schedule and gave the mother sole decision-making authority over all educational and non-emergency health care decisions. The father argues that the magistrate did not maximize his participation in the children’s lives as required by Tennessee Code Annotated § 36-6-106(a) and that there was no basis for modifying the allocation of decision-making authority. We affirm the judgment in all respects. We have also determined that the mother, as the prevailing party, is entitled to recover her reasonable and necessary attorney’s fees and expenses incurred on appeal under Tennessee Code Annotated § 36-5-103(c), and remand for the trial court to make the appropriate award.

This appeal arises from the trial court’s modification of a permanent parenting plan in which the court designated the father as the primary residential parent and awarded the mother supervised visitation. We now affirm.

After slipping and falling on accumulated snow and ice in the parking lot of a grocery store, a man filed a premises liability lawsuit against the store, the owner of the parking lot, and the company hired to perform snow and ice removal services for the parking lot. The trial court granted summary judgment to all of the defendants because the court found that the proof at the summary judgment stage showed conclusively that reasonable minds could not differ that the man was at least fifty percent at fault for the injuries he alleged to have suffered. Discerning that the evidence shows that a dispute of material fact exists, we reverse the trial court’s decision and remand for further proceedings.