North Carolina Lawyers Weekly

  A late hour in a dark office. A sleep-deprived lawyer squints at a glowing flatscreen, her keyboard pattering: tappity tap tap tap. Ctrl+C. Ctrl+V. Tap tappity tap. Ctrl+C. Ctrl+V. A quick scroll, hit Send, a distant lightning flash and ...

Tagged with: memos

Commas are the subtlest, briefest stops—shorter than a semicolon, a mere pause—intended to pass almost unnoticed in a sentence. They should not draw attention to themselves, but simply direct our focus, like lighting in an art gallery. Their job is ...

Ah, spring — a time of singing birds, flowering crocuses, college kids playing basketball. A time of paying attention to the small signs that summer will arrive. Summer marks the annual migration of law students to our offices, visiting us ...

Tagged with: implicit bias

Let’s imagine a friend has asked you to read over her brief. She’s eloquent and persuasive, and her grammar and punctuation are beyond reproach. And then you see a snarky phrase. Your pen hovers over it. Let it be, or ...

MINNEAPOLIS, Minn. – Dear English language: We’ve been friends for a while now, right? And I think we’ve achieved a level of trust. You know I respect you and appreciate your quirks. I’d never do anything to hurt you; I’ve ...