Belmont University College of Law today announced a two-year pilot health care clinic that will be embedded at the Tennessee Justice Center (TJC). Funding for the “Healthcare Justice Clinic” will be provided by a $260,000 grant from the Speer Foundation. The clinic will be coordinated by a TJC staff attorney and staffed by Belmont law students who will be selected for the externship. Students will receive academic credit for the experience, which will also include a class focused on managing client cases. The effort is designed to expand TJC’s work of advocating for vulnerable Tennessee families. “There are way more Tennesseans who need help than our small staff can handle, so this new resource will make a powerful difference,” said Michele Johnson, TJC co-founder and executive director. Read more in a news release from the school.

The Memphis office of the Tennessee Court of Workers' Compensation Claims was closed today due to water main problems. Bureau of Workers’ Compensation employees in Memphis were working remotely. Those who have settlement approvals scheduled should call the office at 615-532-4812 to reschedule.

A bill allowing for the death penalty in some cases of child rape has been signed into law by Gov. Bill Lee. It will take effect July 1 and will apply in cases where the offender has multiple prior felonies or multiple victims. Opponents predict the law will be challenged based on a 2008 decision by the U.S. Supreme Court, which found that the Eighth Amendment’s protection against cruel and unusual punishment prohibits the death penalty in causes where the victim does not die. The Associated Press reports on the development.

Belmont University College of Law announced a two-year pilot health care clinic that will be embedded at the Tennessee Justice Center (TJC). Funding for the “Healthcare Justice Clinic” will be provided by a $260,000 grant from the Speer Foundation. The clinic will be coordinated by a TJC staff attorney and staffed by Belmont law students who will be selected for the externship. Students will receive academic credit for the experience, which will also include a class focused on managing client cases. The effort is designed to expand TJC’s work of advocating for vulnerable Tennessee families. “There are way more Tennesseans who need help than our small staff can handle, so this new resource will make a powerful difference,” said Michele Johnson, TJC co-founder and executive director. Read more in a news release from the school.

The entirety of Tennessee's sex offender registry law cannot be thrown out because a handful of requirements may be unconstitutional, a three-judge panel of the U.S. Court of Appeals for the 6th Circuit ruled yesterday. According to Courthouse News, the decision vacates an injunction granted by U.S. District Judge Aleta Trauger and directs her to focus on only the requirements that do not pass constitutional muster. A class of sex offenders convicted before 1995 sued the state in 2021, arguing that recent changes to registry requirements violate their constitutional rights. The appeals panel also dismissed Gov. Bill Lee from the action, leaving Tennessee Bureau of Investigation Director David B. Rausch as the sole target of the suit.

Shelby County Sheriff Floyd Bonner says if the Shelby County Board of Commissioners passes a budget that cuts 441 vacant positions from his office, he will take the commission to court. At the opening of county budget hearings today, Bonner said he believes state law forbids cuts to his part of the county budget. “We’re being asked by city of Memphis residents to do more than we’ve ever done before,” Bonner said while also citing the need for a new jail. “I’ve never said no to any municipality when they’ve asked for Sheriff’s Department help.” A spokesperson for the county said that even with the job cuts, the budget proposals retains 300 unfilled positions, the Daily Memphian reports.

A former law student is suing the law firm of King & Spalding, alleging the firm discriminates against white heterosexual candidates for certain summer associate positions. In the complaint, the former student argues that the firm violated federal law by stating that it preferred non-white or non-heterosexual candidates for a diversity fellowship. The suit is the latest challenge to diversity hiring programs following a U.S. Supreme Court ruling striking down affirmative action on college campuses last year. Other firms targeted have included Winston & Strawn, Perkins Coie and Morrison Foerster. Bloomberg has more.

The claim period for franchise tax property measure refunds opened today, according to the Tennessee Department of Revenue. Taxpayers who paid the franchise tax on the property measure using Schedule G for tax years ending on or after March 31, 2020, for which a return was filed with the department on or after Jan. 1, 2021, are eligible for a refund. To obtain a refund, taxpayers must amend their franchise and excise tax returns for all eligible tax periods and file Schedule G. Both the amended returns and the refund claim form must be submitted by Nov. 30. Learn more in this press release from the department.

Tennessee Gov. Bill Lee joined with Utah Gov. Spencer Cox at an event in Nashville this week to promote Cox’s “Disagree Better” initiative. The governors, both Republicans, currently hold leadership positions in two gubernatorial associations. Cox is chair of the National Governors Association, while Lee heads the Republican Governors Association. Cox launched the initiative as part of his year in office and is holding events to spotlight how Americans can work through their differences to find solutions to difficult problems facing states and the nation. At the Nashville event, Lee said, “We can disagree and stand firm for our beliefs and principles, but we should never forget the dignity of the other human being. I’m proud to join governors across the nation in demonstrating that civility is not a weakness — it’s the Tennessee Way and the American Way.”

Belmont University College of Law second-year student Chelsea Morgan is the winner of the school’s Fifth Annual Legal Fiction Workshop Contest. Her winning entry “My Son Spots” is an atmospheric story of an attorney who finds her footing again after an encounter with a client who loses everything. The workshop, taught by Professor Kristi Arth, is offered as an extracurricular activity for a limited number of 2Ls and 3Ls each spring. Winners are selected by outside community reader through an anonymized review process. This year’s reader was former Tennessee Bar Journal editor Suzanne Craig Robertson. In selecting Morgan for the recognition, Robertson said the writing was excellent, the imagery well done and theme of showing there is hope to come even in the bleakest situations “is a good message for all busy lawyers to heed.” Read more in a release from Belmont.