North Carolina Lawyers Weekly

The N.C. State Bar will hold its quarterly meeting in Raleigh next week, and the Ethics Committee will take another stab at a putting to rest a controversial amendment to the preamble to the Rules of Professional Conduct. The preamble became an issue in July when attorneys argued whether a proposed amendment would limit free speech and threaten attorney autonomy. The controversy has been so heated that the Bar has had to publish comments to the provision in a separate book-length binder.

Tagged with: Ethics Committee N.C. State Bar

Amid increasing calls for reform in judicial selection across the country, the North Carolina Bar Association is putting together a proposal that would fundamentally change the way judges are selected, while keeping elections as part of the equation. Since 1868, North Carolina residents have chosen judges at the polls. But a new layer between the electorate and the ballot box could be put in place under a proposal expected to be introduced when the General Assembly reconvenes in January.

Tagged with: Judicial Elections NCBA

About 125 people gathered to recognize excellence in the in-house legal community today at the third-annual In-House Leaders in Law award ceremony sponsored by North Carolina Lawyers Weekly. Eleven attorneys were honored. "You are the ones who consistently go above and beyond that which is asked of you," Lawyers Weekly Publisher Tonya Mathis told the crowd at the Crowne Plaza Hotel in Charlotte, noting that the recipients not only demonstrated excellence in the practice of law but also in contributing to their communities and balancing work and family life.

Tagged with: In-House Counsel

Woodson claims are notoriously difficult to win. Just ask Cornelius lawyer Christopher Mauriello (pictured). On Tuesday, the N.C. Court of Appeals rejected a Woodson claim put forth by Mauriello's client, the brother of a teenager who was killed while loading wooden pallets into a shredding machine where safety guards had been removed to increase productivity. "If this is not a Woodson claim, I don't know what is," Mauriello said. "The only way to have a Woodson claim is to have a client named Woodson who gets caught in a trench collapse."

The first few candidates for the N.C. Court of Appeals got five minutes to plead their case before members of the N.C. Association of Defense Attorneys in Greensboro Oct. 1. But the candidates for the seat now held by Judge Cressie Thigpen Jr. got only three minutes each. It's not that they're any less important. But it's part of the deal when you're running in a race with 13 other people. And the forum held by the NCADA as part of its fall seminar may have been the first time a judicial candidate asked to be second choice. "If you don't make me first choice, I hope I'll rate No. 2," said Daniel Garner, counsel to the N.C. Commissioner of Banks. "Or No. 3," he added.

Tagged with: Court of Appeals Elections Judicial Elections Supreme Court

Smithfield attorneys watch as lawyers from Raleigh walk into the Johnston County Courthouse with dozens of traffic-ticket shucks in their hands. In Union County, attorneys are feeling the squeeze as law firms in Charlotte take on more personal-injury cases. And in Pender County, the local bar is trying to change the rules for the indigent-defender list to keep Wilmington-based lawyers from signing up. Turf battles among attorneys are nothing new. But with today's financial pressures, some lawyers in urban areas may be quicker to look for business in outlying counties, according to interviews with attorneys across the state.

Tagged with: Business of Law economy Practice of Law

As a record number of North Carolina's law students buckle down with their casebooks this fall, members of the bar are questioning whether the state's seven law schools are churning out more graduates than the market can bear, as well as raising questions about how prepared the new graduates are to begin practicing. These and other questions arose at a summit the N.C. Bar Association held earlier this month. It featured what was likely the first-ever conference of the bar and representatives from all of the state's law schools.

Tagged with: Attorneys Business of Law Law Schools N.C. State Bar NCBA

Former Supreme Court Justice Willis Whichard, who moderated yesterday's judicial forum in Raleigh, asked Judge Rick Elmore and his opponent Steven Walker (pictured) about diversity on the court. "I think we need some young people," said Walker, 30. He pointed out that the state has had a dozen Court of Appeals judges in their 30s, and it would "not be a travesty to make it 13."

Tagged with: Court of Appeals Elections Judicial Elections Supreme Court

On the theory that you wouldn't want a lawyer to take out your gall bladder, the state's medical licensing board is now getting help from an attorney on how to conduct hearings and hear evidence. When the N.C. Medical Board meets to hear contested cases involving discipline or licensing issues, the board president now has an attorney sit beside him to give advice on issues ranging from admissibility of evidence to the permitted scope of a redirect examination. The new position of independent counsel was created last fall by the General Assembly. The board hired former Wake County District Judge Fred Morelock (pictured) to fill the position.

Tagged with: discipline

My seventh-grade daughter was hooked from the moment she opened the bright yellow cover of Theodore Boone: Kid Lawyer, reminding me of myself when I devoured the adventures of Nancy Drew at her age. This week, I'm turning over my column to my daughter. Here is a 12-year-old's review of Grisham's new book, complete with her thoughts on the judicial system and what it takes to be a lawyer.