North Carolina Lawyers Weekly

Not only does nearly every lawyer practicing have his own website, but potential clients are much more likely to plug "DWI lawyer" into a search engine than to look in the Yellow Pages. And as legal marketing has morphed into new arenas with ever-changing technology, there's some concern that regulatory agencies and state bars have not kept up. Ryan Blackledge (pictured), who serves on the N.C. Bar Association's Technology Advisory Committee, said that any new ethics rules need to reflect a true understanding of the various media.

Tagged with: Ethics Ethics Committee Internet legal marketing Social Media Websites

By SYLVIA ADCOCK, Staff Writer [email protected]   Acting on a controversial medical-malpractice bill, a Senate committee last week raised a proposed cap on noneconomic damages in medical malpractice cases from $250,000 to $500,000 but voted down amendments seen as favorable ...

Tagged with: General Assembly Legislature Medical Malpractice Tort Reform

With so many diverse and competing interests, it's been difficult to get a consensus on how to do something everyone agrees must be done: Change the state's lien laws. Nan E. Hannah (pictured), head of the N.C. Bar Association's Construction Law Section, said recent bankruptcy decisions, economic factors, concerns in the title industry and other issues led the section to "take a really hard look at the lien law" this year.

Tagged with: Construction Contractor Liens Subcontractors

The state's legal landscape for medical-malpractice lawsuits would undergo a seismic shift and North Carolina would join 28 other states with caps on damages if a bill introduced last week becomes law. The bill, S. 33, is now being debated in the Senate's Judiciary I Committee. At a packed hearing before the committee Thursday, it attracted the attention not only of attorneys and doctors, but also such diverse entities as the AARP and the N.C. Chamber of Commerce. The bill would limit noneconomic damages in medical-malpractice cases to $250,000. It would also require a showing of gross negligence by clear and convincing evidence if the claim involved emergency care, and allow separate trials for liability and damages if either party asks for it.

Tagged with: Damages General Assembly Legislature Medical Malpractice Medical Negligence NCAJ Tort Reform Tort/Negligence

They're not calling it "Cressie's Law," but a bill introduced in the state House last week with bipartisan support is designed to prevent a Court of Appeals race from turning into a 13-way scramble as it did when Judge Cressie Thigpen (pictured) ran to retain his seat last fall. The bill, H. 99, would amend the N.C. Constitution so that appellate judges will "have adequate time to fulfill their judicial duties before running for election," as the title of the bill says.

Tagged with: Elections General Assembly Judicial Elections

In a pre-emptive move to soften the blow of expected budget cuts, the Administrative Office of the Courts implemented a voluntary reduction-in-force earlier this month, directing hiring managers - judges, clerks and district attorneys - to offer severance packages to employees who might benefit. Mary Beth Grady (pictured), civil division chief for the Wake County Clerk of Superior Court, is among those who accepted. She said that in some ways, it wasn't a tough decision to make since she had planned on retiring soon.

Tagged with: Administrative Office of the Courts Budget Severance State Budget

A case out of North Carolina about to go before the U.S. Supreme Court could set a precedent on whether a juvenile's age should be considered in a Miranda custody analysis. Marsha Levick (pictured), deputy director and chief counsel of the Philadelphia-based Juvenile Justice Center, said that although the question before the court is limited to age, her organization was also interested in the fact that the case involved an interrogation on school property. Levick said it was important to raise the issue of the school setting to help give the justices a context in which to view the case.

Tagged with: juvenile miranda Miranda Warnings U.S. Supreme Court

When Cris Windham arrived at Womble Carlyle 25 years ago, he got involved in the firm's tobacco litigation and quickly began to see the need for in-house medical experts. A litigation support team that included nurses and other experts to assist the firm's attorneys in developing medical defenses was assembled. Over the years, it grew. And grew. Today, Womble Carlyle's litigation support team is not only an in-house function. It is a subsidiary of the law firm in the form of FirmLogic, with services available not only to Womble Carlyle but also to other lawyers and firms. It's an unusual set-up. Womble Carlyle is one of only a few large law firms in the nation that offers their own in-house support services to other lawyers.

Tagged with: Business of Law law firms Litigation Practice Management

The N.C. Court of Appeals issued a cautionary tale for lawyers last week in an opinion involving a Fayetteville law firm that formed a PLLC but didn't bother to file an operating agreement. The resulting breakup wasn't pretty.

Tagged with: law firms N.C. Court of Appeals operating agreement Revenue

The "junior asset managers" of a Charlotte mortgage-servicing firm answered phones and collected payments. They didn't supervise others, didn't make final decisions on how to process accounts - and at one point they were asked to fill out time cards to document their hours. Yet the workers at United Mortgage and Loan Investment routinely were asked to work more than 40 hours a week and were deemed exempt from federal wage and hour laws that require overtime pay.

Tagged with: 4th Circuit first impression Wage & Hour Act