Shelby County District Attorney General Steve Mulroy has spoken out on the city of Memphis subpoenaing his office for information he shared with Tyre Nichols’ attorneys, saying it was the city’s “mix-up.” Several weeks ago, the city sent a subpoena to Mulroy requesting all correspondence between his office and Nichols’ attorneys as well as with the U.S. Department of Justice, which is currently investigating the Memphis Police Department. Mulroy said he sent “part of the case file, video, reports of witness interviews, police reports and affidavits” to Nichols’ team and the city prior to receiving the subpoena. “I don’t think they realized we sent it all, so they sent the subpoena,” he said, according to the Daily Memphian.

A new exhibit at the State Library and Archives marking the state's 228th anniversary will open on Saturday in Nashville. The “Dear Governor” exhibit will feature correspondences from constituents during the tenures of various Tennessee governors, some going back to the earliest days of the state. Officials promise the materials will provide an “incredible glimpse into the moments and events that shaped the earliest tenures of the state’s leaders.” June 1, which is known as Statehood Day, will be celebrated in style at the library from 10 a.m. to 2 p.m. CDT with live music, historical interpreters, behind-the scenes tours, crafts and more.

The free online tax filing program piloted this year by the IRS will be made permanent and its scope will be expanded, The Hill reports. Known as “Direct File,” the online platform will be integrated with state tax systems and expanded beyond the limited number of deductions that it can currently process. The system was available in 12 states this year as a pilot program. The expansion will depend on state readiness but there will be no limit on the number of states that can participate. Read more from the IRS.

Real Estate Essentials, the TBA Real Estate Law Section's annual basics-level CLE, will take place virtually on June 20 from 1-4 p.m. CDT. The program will offer three hours of general CLE credit. The first session will focus on ALTA surveys, including what they are, why they are important and how they are used. The second session will cover deed considerations, requirements and types. Learn more or register here.

U.S. News & World Report’s law school rankings have little impact on the decision-making of aspiring lawyers, according to a new study by two law professors. Reuters reports that University of Kentucky law professor Brian Frye and Indiana University law professor Christopher Ryan investigated whether the academic credentials of entering classes rose or fell in correlation with a law school's rise or fall in the rankings in the previous year. The study, according to the researchers, found little to no correlation between ranking changes and the behavior of applicants.

Henry Martin will retire in 2025 after 40 years as the federal public defender for the Middle District of Tennessee, the Nashville Banner reported in a recent newsletter. The office represents people accused of federal crimes who cannot afford an attorney and has a unit dedicated to representing Tennessee death row inmates in federal court. Martin recently announced his retirement plans internally and the court announced the forthcoming vacancy online, with a June 20 deadline for applications from those interested in the position. Martin joined the public defender’s office in 1985. His service has included membership on the U.S. Judicial Conference’s Advisory Committee on Federal Rules of Criminal Procedure and as president of the Tennessee Association of Criminal Defense Lawyers. In 2020, Martin received the TBA’s first annual Claudia Jack Award, which recognizes a public defender or court-appointed lawyer who serves their clients in an exemplary fashion.

A three-judge panel of the U.S. 6th Circuit Court of Appeals recently heard arguments in a case testing Tennessee’s redrawn congressional map, the Tennessee Journal reports. The Tennessee State Conference of the NAACP is suing over the state legislature’s decision to split a Nashville-based congressional district among three outlying districts. The group argues that the move was illegal gerrymandering designed to dilute the voting power of Black residents in urban Davidson County. The state is seeking dismissal of the suit.

Gov. Bill Lee has signed legislation designed to block adults from helping minors get an abortion or receive gender-related care without parental consent, the Associated Press reports. Lee signed the bills yesterday without comment. Both go into effect July 1. Those convicted of breaking the abortion trafficking ban will be charged with a Class A misdemeanor, which requires a nearly one-year imprisonment sentence. Tennessee is the second state in the nation to enact such a law but is the first state to pursue penalizing adults who help minors receive gender-related care without parental consent.

An individual claiming to be a scammer from Nigeria has sent emails to various press outlets taking credit for the recent attempt to foreclose on Graceland, the Commercial Appeal reports. The Tennessee Attorney General’s Office, which is looking into the attempted sale, said it is aware of an email “from someone purporting to be Gregory Naussany that says, essentially, that he is a scammer from Nigeria.” The email, which was riddled with grammatical errors, states in part: “the Presly is all made up and a hoax, my ring preys on the dead and the elderly for money, we make things up by finding things on the Intanet to scam US citizens out of money.” Emails received by other newspapers varied slightly but carried the same basic message.

National law firm Husch Blackwell has announced it will open an office in downtown Nashville during the third quarter of this year. The firm will occupy more than 11,000 square feet at the Fifth + Broadway Building. Husch Blackwell partner Tim Capria, who joined the firm in July 2023 from Bradley Arant Boult and Cummings, will serve as office managing partner. The firm has been recruiting local attorneys over the past few years, adding more than eight since May 2023, but the office will be its first physical location in Nashville. “Establishing roots in Nashville has been a priority for the firm for the past few years due to the number of opportunities that align with our focus on health care, education and life sciences,” said Jamie Lawless, the firm’s chief executive. Read more in a release from the firm.