The 2025 TBA Topgolf Estate Planning Tee-off will take place Sept. 12. This annual favorite offers three hours of CLE followed by two hours of Topgolf gameplay. Sessions for the tee-off include trusts, taxes and other targeted topics to get attendees on the green. The event combines fun and a great team-building exercise with timely training for new planners and seasoned players looking to tighten their grip on essentials. Breakfast and lunch are provided, and space is limited. Register now before it's too late!

The TBA LGBT Section on Sept. 30 will host a free one-hour webinar on LGBT history and lessons for today’s legal environment. Led by law professors John Rice and Regina Hillman, the webinar will recount the history of the movement for LGBT rights and dignity in the United States, as well as offer lessons for how this history informs current and future social and legal action and strategy. One hour of general CLE credit is available for a $50 processing fee. Learn more and register here.

Combining existing law firms into a single business involves a lot of moving parts and personalities. Use this list to make sure you don’t overlook anything important. Find this and more in the Opening a Firm section of TBA’s Law Firm in a Box.

Indiana lawyer Carla Sheree Johnson was reinstated to the practice of law in Tennessee on July 25. She had been placed on inactive status more than five years ago on Dec. 23, 2019. The Board of Professional Responsibility reported that it found the petition for reinstatement to be satisfactory.

California lawyer Emily D. Fulham was reinstated to the practice of law in Tennessee on July 31. She had been placed on inactive status more than five years ago on May 27, 2020. The Board of Professional Responsibility reported that it found the petition for reinstatement to be satisfactory.

Tennessee state Sen. Brent Taylor, R-Memphis, has announced that 30 state inmates will be moved from the Shelby County Jail to state facilities this week. That is in addition to 41 inmates who were moved last week, according to Local Memphis. Taylor said he toured the jail earlier this year and was asked by the sheriff’s office to help get a “high number” of state inmates moved to state facilities to cut down on overcrowding. Recent reports have shed light on crowded conditions at the jail.

The city of Chattanooga intends to appeal a judge’s finding that laws were violated during nonpublic meetings on redrawing local voting districts, the Times Free Press reports. According to the paper, the move comes after a judge found that an ad hoc redistricting committee met on three occasions without any public notice or minutes taken. Finding in support of the paper — which had brought suit — the court directed the city council to follow the state’s Open Meetings Act, submit to one year of oversight and write a semiannual report regarding its compliance. The paper is represented by the Reporters Committee for Freedom of the Press, a nonprofit group focused on First Amendment issues.

BUSH, Circuit Judge. After prosecutors agreed to have his murder conviction thrown out, Larry Smith sued Wayne County and Robert Donaldson. Smith claims that his conviction resulted from an elaborate scheme designed by police and prosecutors to elicit false testimony from jailhouse informants to help secure criminal convictions. He alleges that Donaldson, one of the prosecutors in his case, is liable because he actively participated in eliciting false testimony from a key witness. And he maintains Wayne County is also on the hook because it had a policy or custom of encouraging the nefarious activities. The district court granted summary judgment in favor of Donaldson and Wayne County. We AFFIRM. Donaldson is entitled to absolute prosecutorial immunity because Smith seeks to hold him liable for his conduct as an advocate preparing for trial. And Smith released his claim against Wayne County when he accepted a settlement under Michigan’s Wrongful Imprisonment Compensation Act. Both Defendants are entitled to summary judgment.

LARSEN, Circuit Judge. Yogesh Pancholi defrauded Medicare of millions of dollars, pocketed the money, and transferred it offshore to India, where it remains unrecovered. He was tried and convicted of health care fraud, witness tampering, money laundering, and aggravated identity theft. He appeals, arguing that his Fifth and Sixth Amendment rights were violated at trial. Because they were not, we AFFIRM.

RONALD LEE GILMAN, Circuit Judge. In June 2018, Kenneth Lowe was fired from his job at Walbro LLC. Lowe was 60 years old at the time and had worked at Walbro for more than four decades. He responded by filing this diversity-of-citizenship lawsuit against Walbro, alleging that the company had violated Michigan’s Elliott-Larsen Civil Rights Act (ELCRA), Mich. Comp. Laws § 37.2101 et seq., by discharging him because of his age. A jury found in favor of Lowe after a full trial on the merits. The district court subsequently granted Walbro’s motion for judgment as a matter of law and vacated the jury’s verdict, holding that the evidence that Lowe presented at trial, which was materially different from the evidence that he had previously presented in overcoming Walbro’s motion for summary judgment, was insufficient for the case to have been submitted to the jury. For the reasons set forth below, we AFFIRM the judgment of the district court.