The TBA Young Lawyers Division (YLD) and its Mock Trial Committee will hold the 2026 Tennessee State High School Mock Trial Competition this weekend in Nashville. Today and Saturday, 16 teams will meet in a bid to be this year's state champion. Participating schools are: Agathos Classical School in Columbia, Central Magnet School in Murfreesboro, Clarksville High School, Cookeville High School, Chattanooga Southeast Home Education Association, Farragut High School in Knoxville, Girls Preparatory School in Chattanooga, Harpeth Hall School in Nashville, Jefferson County High School in Dandridge, Maryville High School, Montgomery Bell Academy in Nashville, two teams from St. Mary’s Episcopal School in Memphis, Signal Mountain High School, Unicoi County High School in Erwin and University School of Nashville. Students will present their best arguments in State of Tennessee v. Alex Callahan, a criminal case brought following the murder of a known mafia associate. This year's competition also will feature the second Artist in the Courtroom Contest. Tennessee's team winner and first place artist then will have the opportunity to represent the state at the National High School Mock Trial Competition in Des Moines, Iowa, on May 7-9. The Mock Trial Committee is led by Chair John Jolley, Vice Chair Bridget Pyman and Long Range Planning Coordinator Ashley Tipton. The state competition caps off the district competition process.

Immigration-related proposals continue to advance in both the state House and Senate according to multiple news sources. On Monday, the House passed three bills. The first would require school districts to track and report students by documentation status. That was a change from the original legislation, which would have allowed school districts to deny education to undocumented children. Now the bill must be reconciled with the Senate version, which allows districts to require tuition of undocumented children. The Nashville Banner and WPLN report on HB793/SB836.

The House also passed HB1704 making it a criminal offense to stay in Tennessee for more than 90 days after a final deportation order, and HB1705 giving attorneys general the power to investigate and withhold funding from state and local governments that fail to verify the citizenship of employees. In the Senate this week, members heard a second reading of SJR624 on Monday and then passed the resolution yesterday. It would amend Tennessee’s Constitution to codify that only U.S. citizens may vote in state elections. The Daily Memphian reports on these three measures.

Finally, the House passed HB2185 yesterday. It would authorize the state coordinator of elections to create an electronic portal to access U.S. Citizenship and Immigration Services data to verify immigration or citizenship status. This bill is scheduled to be considered by the Senate State and Local Government Committee on March 24.

YWCA Nashville & Middle Tennessee will offer a special Women’s History Month event next Thursday from 11:30 a.m. to 1 p.m. CDT. The program, “From Vision to Action: Women's Leadership in Community Change,” is designed to bring together women leaders who are working across different sectors to strengthen communities and expand opportunity. Speakers include Antricia Gordon with The Equity Alliance, Alexza Barajas Clark with EdTrust-Tennessee and Katina R. Beard with the Matthew Walker Comprehensive Health Center. This event is free and open to the public. Lunch will be provided for the first 50 in-person registrants. Register for the in-person program. A virtual option also will be available. ​​​​​​​Register for the virtual option.

Legislation that would give 197 judges and chancellors across the state a pay raise is advancing in the state legislature, the Nashville Post reports. The Senate Judiciary Committee approved SB2329 on Feb. 24. The House Civil Justice Subcommittee approved its version of the bill HB2494 on March 11. The full Judiciary Committee was set to take up the bill today but deferred it to next week. The legislation would increase the salaries for supreme court, appellate and trial court judges. It also would restructure the current population-based system that determines compensation for general sessions judges. The change expands that system to include juvenile court judges, while creating a sliding salary scale. Any pay increases would not take effect until 2030 because judges are not allowed to receive pay raises during their term.

Attorneys from across the state gathered in Nashville on Wednesday for TBA's fourth annual "Day on the Hill." The day kicked off with remarks from House Majority Leader Rep. William Lamberth, R-Portland; Senate Judiciary Committee Chair Sen. Todd Gardenhire, R-Chattanooga; and Senate Finance, Ways and Means Committee Vice Chair Sen. John Stevens, R-Huntingdon. The TBA presented the three legislators with President's Awards from Immediate Past President Ed Lanquist Jr. for their work in improving the state's indigent representation system. Participants then met with more than 45 legislators to discuss issues impacting the legal profession and the practice of law. Members of the TBA Leadership Law Class of 2026 also joined the legislative visits for the first time. The day concluded with the TBA's annual Big Shrimp legislative reception, giving TBA leaders and members a chance to meet with legislators in a casual setting to continue conversations on topics important to the profession. See photos from the day.

West Tennessee Legal Services (WTLS) has announced the formation of a Pro Bono Advisory Board, a new initiative bringing together volunteer attorneys to help expand access to legal services for low-income individuals and families in the region. "Access to justice is a cornerstone of a fair and equitable society," said Andy Cole, WTLS pro bono managing attorney. "The formation of this board represents a meaningful step forward in our mission to serve those who need it most." Board members are Chair Rajanae Jones, Burch Porter & Johnson; Vice Chair Ameshia Forrest, Baptist Memorial Health Care; Secretary Nolen Mooney, Attorney at Law; Misty O’Neal, Law Office of Darrell J. O’Neal; Londyn Norman, Arnold Willis & Conway; Christina McConnell, Tennessee Department of Transportation; Nakota Wood, Fisher & Phillips; Kenneth Groce, Butler Snow; and Devarius Minor, Office of the Shelby County Public Defender. The board will work alongside WTLS staff to identify gaps in legal services, recruit and support volunteer attorneys and develop strategies to increase pro bono participation throughout the region. Read more in a press release.

New data released from the American Bar Association (ABA) shows that Belmont College of Law ranks 10th in the nation for schools with the most successful bar exam passage rate. Belmont students saw a pass rate of 100% for first-time test takers in February 2025 and 96.91% for the July 2025 exam. Stanford, Yale, Duke and Harvard law schools took the top four spots. Reuters reports that the ABA recently released bar exam data detailing national results and figures for the 198 individual U.S. law schools it accredits. The new data shows that 84% of graduates from ABA-accredited law schools who took the bar for the first time passed, which is up one percentage point over the 83% first-time pass rate in 2024.

Retired Henry County General Sessions and Juvenile Court Judge Vicki S. Snyder is the 2026 recipient of the Tennessee Commission on Children and Youth's (TCCY) Jim Pryor Award for Child Advocacy. “I’m humbled and honored by the award,” Snyder said. “A child should be safe, and every child deserves to be somebody’s someone and not be alone. It is in my heart. It’s my purpose.” During her tenure on the bench, Snyder helped develop the county's Appointed Special Advocate (CASA) program and was one of the first juvenile court judges in Tennessee to establish a Safe Baby Court. TCCY awarded the first advocacy award posthumously to Pryor in 1995. Pryor, who died in 1994, was an attorney, a former assistant district attorney, a member of the state Child Sexual Abuse Task Force, and a member of the Northeast Regional Council on Children and Youth. Read more in a press release from the Administrative Office of the Courts.

New filing rules are in effect for the Tennessee Court of Workers' Compensation Claims. Attorneys now must file documents through TNComp, the court's new electronic filing system. Clerk of the Court Penny Shrum has written a blog post on "From the Bench" with answers to frequently asked questions about the new system, including formatting requirements and what to do if a BPR number is not recognized in the system. On April 1, the clerk’s office will begin returning documents that have not been properly filed electronically.

The U.S. Supreme Court on March 4 ruled unanimously that federal appeals courts must defer to immigration judges’ findings when evaluating asylum claims, applying the "substantial evidence" standard rather than conducting independent reviews. The case arose from an El Salvadoran family whose asylum application was denied, with courts upholding that denial as long as it was backed by reasonable evidence. Bloomberg Law reports that the ruling, written by Justice Ketanji Brown Jackson, arrives as the Trump administration fires immigration judges and instructs replacements to grant asylum only rarely.