The TBA Young Lawyers Division (YLD) and its Mock Trial Committee will hold the 2025 Tennessee State High School Mock Trial Competition this month. In the new case, Lee Jasper v Reece Witherfork, students will present their best arguments in a civil scenario centered around a rodeo. The state competition will meet in Nashville March 21-22 to determine the Tennessee champion. This year's competition will feature the organization's first Artist in the Courtroom Contest. Tennessee's team winner and first place artist will have the opportunity to represent the state at the National High School Mock Trial Competition in Phoenix, Arizona, May 7-10. The Mock Trial Committee is led by Chair Ashley Tipton, Vice Chair Michael Holmes and Long Range Planning Coordinator Zack Walden. Access resources for the upcoming competition. 

The TBA Young Lawyers Division (YLD) and its Mock Trial Committee have released case materials for the 2025 Tennessee State High School Mock Trial Competition. In the new case, Lee Jasper v Reece Witherfork, students will present their best arguments in a civil scenario centered around a rodeo. District competitions will be held in February. Teams advancing to the state competition will meet in Nashville March 21-22 to determine the Tennessee champion. This year's competition will feature the organization's first Artist in the Courtroom Contest. Tennessee's team winner and first place artist will have the opportunity to represent the state at the National High School Mock Trial Competition in Phoenix, Arizona, May 7-10. The Mock Trial Committee is led by Chair Ashley Tipton, Vice Chair Michael Holmes and Long Range Planning Coordinator Zack Walden. Access resources for the upcoming competition. 

The U.S. District Court for the Eastern District of Texas has lifted a temporary injunction on the enforcement of part of the Corporate Transparency Act (CTA) which mandates small businesses report ownership, The Business Journals report. The rule is an effort by U.S. Treasury's Financial Crimes Enforcement Network (FinCEN) that requires businesses with fewer than 20 employees to provide names, dates of birth, addresses and other identifying information about its owners. Initially set to go into effect Jan. 1, a lawsuit filed by several businesses challenged the rule on constitutional grounds. FinCEN is giving small businesses 30 days to comply with the reporting requirements.

Forbes in a recent article details in-demand expertise for finance professionals. Some skills listed include risk management, finance tech, regulation compliance and ESG (environmental, social and governance) investing. Earning relevant certifications such as associate chartered accountant (ACA), Association of Chartered Certified Accountants (ACCA) qualification, certified personal accountant (CPA) or chartered financial analyst (CFA), or other industry-specific designations can also define you as an expert, instilling credibility and trust with prospective clients. The article also suggests attending conferences, webinars and other activities to network and stay on top of key developments. Read more here.

This week's Estate Planning & Probate Forum will feature a session on lawyers serving as trustees. Experts Branch Howard and TBA Estate Planning & Probate Section Vice Chair Rob Malin will detail advice on fiduciary selection, best practices and concerns to consider before accepting the role. Other topics include community property trusts, AI developments, a probate panel, ethics, legislative updates and more. Don’t miss this once-a-year opportunity to meet with colleagues, learn from planning experts and earn necessary CLE. Estate Planning & Probate Section members receive a discounted rate to attend. Register now.

The American Bar Association (ABA) is suspending enforcement of its diversity, equity and inclusion (DEI) mandate for law schools, Bloomberg Law reports. The ABA says it is taking the action to comply with recent messaging from the U.S. Department of Education that schools must comply with new presidential directives by Feb. 28 or lose federal funding. Last fall, the ABA had proposed a change to the standard and the Council of the Section of Legal Education and Admissions to the Bar was expected to review comments on the proposal at its most recent meeting. Bloomberg reported yesterday that law schools, including Vanderbilt Law School, had started removing DEI language from their websites.

DAVIS, Circuit Judge. A federal grand jury charged Defendant Raymon Risner with several drug trafficking and firearms offenses. Risner moved to dismiss the firearm-related counts, arguing that the charging statutes violate the Second Amendment. The district court denied Risner’s motion, and Risner pleaded guilty to conspiracy to distribute methamphetamine and possessing a firearm in furtherance of a drug trafficking offense. As part of the plea agreement, Risner retained the right to appeal the district court’s denial of his motion to dismiss and filed this timely appeal. To the extent of our jurisdiction, as discussed herein, we AFFIRM.

MURPHY, Circuit Judge. A regulation implementing the Black Lung Benefits Act allows coal miners to file a second claim for benefits after their first claim has been denied if they identify changed circumstances. 20 C.F.R. § 725.309(c). When miners show such a change, the regulation generally allows the parties to relitigate all issues in the proceedings over the second claim. Id. § 725.309(c)(5). Yet it adds that a “stipulation” that a party “made” when litigating the first claim “will be binding” in those later proceedings. Id. That provision proved critical in this case. An administrative law judge required Ken Lick Coal Company to pay a miner’s benefits solely because of a stipulation the company allegedly made when litigating the miner’s earlier claim. But we hold that this purported “stipulation” addressed the law rather than the facts, so the judge had the power to disregard it. And the judge made clear that he would not have required Ken Lick to pay the benefits but for the stipulation. We thus grant Ken Lick’s petition for review and transfer the liability on the miner’s claim to the Black Lung Disability Trust Fund. We grant Ken Lick’s petition for review and order the Trust Fund to pay Reed’s benefits.

Matthew Cole Welch, Defendant, was indicted for first degree murder and aggravated assault. After a jury trial, Defendant was found guilty of the lesser included offense of second degree murder and not guilty of aggravated assault. The trial court denied a motion for new trial and Defendant appealed, arguing that the evidence was not sufficient to support the conviction for second degree murder and that the trial court erred by refusing to charge the jury with a self-defense instruction. After a review, we conclude that the evidence was sufficient to sustain the conviction for second degree murder and that Defendant was not entitled to a self-defense instruction where the proof established that Defendant had a duty to retreat and failed to do so. The judgment of the trial court is affirmed.

The defendant, Crystal Lee Martin, appeals the order of the trial court revoking her probation and ordering her to serve her original six-year sentence in confinement. Upon our review of the record, the parties’ briefs, and the applicable law, we affirm revocation of the defendant’s probation but reverse the trial court’s imposition of the original sentence and remand for the trial court to make findings concerning the consequence imposed for the revocation in accordance with State v. Dagnan, 641 S.W.3d 751, 753 (Tenn. 2022).