North Carolina Lawyers Weekly

In what plaintiffs' lawyers are calling a "radical" move, House Republicans are pushing for a measure that would give immunity in products-liability cases to pharmaceutical manufacturers so long as a drug was approved by the Federal Drug Administration. The provision says that no manufacturer or seller shall be held liable in a products-liability action so long as the product was designed, manufactured, packaged and sold in accordance with the terms of an approval of a government agency.

Tagged with: FDA General Assembly Legislature Pharmaceutical Products Liability

Non-lawyers would be allowed ownership in professional corporation law firms - something State Bar rules expressly forbid - under a bill now under consideration in the N.C. Senate. State Bar officials said they have not had a chance to analyze the bill or to make a decision on whether to take a position. But Tom Lunsford, the Bar's executive director, said, "It's a matter of concern to us, and we'll be taking a close look at it." Rule 5.4 of the Rules of Professional Conduct states in part that "a lawyer shall not practice with or in the form of a professional corporation or association authorized to practice law for a profit, if a non-lawyer owns any interest therein."

Tagged with: Business of Law General Assembly Legislature

By SYLVIA ADCOCK, Staff Writer [email protected]   An amendment to the Rules of Professional Conduct that said lawyers should not discriminate has been rejected without comment by the N.C. Supreme Court. The move by the justices in an administrative meeting ...

Tagged with: anti-discrimination Gay LGBT N.C. State Bar Supreme Court

Measures to restore partisan judicial elections are gaining momentum in both houses of the General Assembly. Supporters say voters need more information about judicial candidates. Opponents of the measure agree, but say that party affiliation is not the information voters need. "Yes, the public needs to know more," said John Wester, past president of the N.C. Bar Association. "But just like a book cannot be judged by its cover, so a candidate for the bench cannot be judged by their political party."

Tagged with: General Assembly Judicial Elections Legislature

The N.C. Supreme Court has rejected an amendment to the preamble of the Rules of Professional Conduct that would ban discrimination by lawyers. The move by the justices in an administrative meeting last week means the issue is dead. Any changes to the rules must be approved by the Supreme Court. The court does not have to give reasons for rejecting a change, and it did not give any this time. "That will essentially be the end of it," said Tom Lunsford (pictured), executive director of the State Bar.

Tagged with: anti-discrimination Ethics N.C. State Bar

Castles are in short supply these days, so the castle doctrine of old English common law gives dwellers of anything from a mansion to a mobile home the right to use deadly force against intruders. But lawmakers are now considering a broad expansion of the law. Under a bill that passed the Senate last month, one's "castle" would also include the workplace and motor vehicles. Scott Broyles, who teaches criminal law at the Charlotte School of Law, said he wasn't too concerned about giving a presumption of fear to the person who used deadly force against an intruder.

Tagged with: Criminal Practice General Assembly Legislature self-defense

Over 470 attorneys, law students and paralegals from across the state fielded telephone calls from the public on March 4, taking questions about everything from child custody to foreclosures to prisoner's rights. The event was the N.C. Bar Association's 4ALL Statewide Service Day, an annual event started four years ago by then-President Janet Ward Black. Call centers were staffed by volunteers in Asheville, Charlotte, Greensboro, Greenville, Raleigh and Wilmington. An additional call center was available for Spanish-speaking callers.

Tagged with: NCBA Pro Bono

The Texas Trial Lawyers Association used to attract anywhere from 250 to 350 people to its seminars on medical malpractice. That was before Texas enacted a cap on damages in med-mal cases. "This past year, we had 31 people show up," said Jay Harvey, past president of the association that represents plaintiffs' attorneys. The public-policy issues behind medical-malpractice reform are a matter of debate. But judging from the experience of other states, it's apparent that the reforms create a lasting impact on the business of law, leading to fewer attorneys able or wiling to take on med-mal cases, fewer billable hours available for firms that represent insurance companies, with some attorneys refocusing their practice or entirely dropping a concentration they developed. If a bill now in the N.C. General Assembly becomes law, North Carolina would join 25 other states with some form of cap on damages in medical-malpractice cases.

Tagged with: Business of Law Medical Malpractice

Check your inbox. The N.C. State Bar wants to ask you a few questions. Next week, the State Bar will be sending out an anonymous survey to the state's 24,217 active lawyers to get a better grasp on the demographics of lawyers in the state, part of a push from the N.C. Bar Association and the N.C. Association of Women Attorneys. The voluntary survey asks participants three questions: Gender, birth year and race (the choices are African-American, Asian/Pacific, Caucasian/Anglo, Native American, Hispanic/Latino, mixed race and other minority).

Tagged with: N.C. State Bar

The website for Raleigh's Kurtz & Blum is sleek and well-designed, complete with photos of the attorneys, easily navigable links and a slogan at the top designed to instill client confidence: "We're in your corner." In a lawsuit, Kurtz & Blum claims that The Wright Law Firm of Charlotte, and its principal, Roderick M. Wright Jr., copied its website design right down to the "We're in your corner." The suit asks for damages including Wright's profits that were the result of what it calls his wrongful actions, as well as treble damages under G.S. § 80-12.

Tagged with: Copyright Intellectual Property legal marketing Websites