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Feature Stories

Nov 11, 2011

First a rancher, then a lawyer – now a writer

Jamie Lisa Forbes knows tough. She was a rancher in Wyoming, raising two kids and 350 head of cattle on 23,000 acres owned by her father’s family. The winters were brutal, the summers searing, the tending unending. She also is undaunted by intellectual wrangling. The ranch was sold in 1993, Forbes’s marriage ended in divorce soon after, and she moved to North Carolina and began work as a pa[...]

Aug 12, 2011

Lawyer turned novelist debunks the bad-writing rap 

His name is Deaver, Jeffery Deaver and he is, for now, also Bond, James Bond. Deaver, a corporate lawyer-turned master of the crime thriller, is also the author of the latest novel in the James Bond 007 series, “Carte Blanche.” His Bond is an updated version of the spy create by Ian Flaming in 1953. The latest Bond is still in his 30s, but now he's a veteran of the Afghanistan war and equip[...]

Jul 29, 2011

In a family way

Marcia Zug entered Yale Law School thinking she wanted to become a judge, because she liked the idea of wielding the law as a tool. But then she changed her mind. Almost a decade later, she’s glad she did. Zug, 33, is an assistant professor at the University of South Carolina School of Law in Columbia. She teaches family and American Indian law, and is establishing a reputation as a legal ana[...]

May 20, 2011

Royally honored

Don't solicit gossip about the royal wedding. That was Raleigh attorney H. Martin Lancaster's first lesson as the newest honorary officer of Order of the British Empire. Even as he chatted face-to-face with Prince Charles not one week after the worldwide frenzy surrounding the prince's son's nuptials, Lancaster bit his tongue. The two men stood amid blooming roses and azaleas in the spectacular[...]

Apr 21, 2011

NCLW Big 25 for 2011 – The largest law firms in North Carolina

Womble Carlyle Sandridge & Rice, PLLC   Locations and number of attorneys at each as of Jan. 1, 2011: Atlanta 65 (61 in 2010); Charlotte 65 (62 in 2010); Greensboro 14 (unchanged); Raleigh 57 (111 in 2010); Research Triangle Park 63 (19 in 2010); Washington, D.C. 45 (51 in 2010); Greenville, S.C. 26 (25 in […]

Apr 21, 2011

Still down, but not out

Business isn't bullish, but it's not barren, either. That's the most recent verdict handed down from leaders of the firms ranked in Big 25, Lawyers Weekly's annual survey of the state's largest law firms. Nationwide, the past three years were marked by doomsday headlines that reported floods of layoffs for both attorneys and staff at large firms as a result of the recession. Firms hunkered down by[...]

Apr 21, 2011

Drawing boundaries with clients

While many lawyers pride themselves on client service, few enjoy losing their nights and weekends to client calls and emails. Lawyers must balance their need for personal time with the importance of providing great client service, advises Erik Mazzone (pictured), director of the Center for Practice Management at the North Carolina Bar Association in Cary. That said, "being a lawyer is a hard job a[...]

Apr 1, 2011

Discipline should focus more on clients’ freedom than cash

Holly Bryan is the president of the North Carolina Association of Women Attorneys and a career counselor for the University of North Carolina School of Law in Chapel Hill. At UNC, she helps students and alumni with all aspects of job searching and career development, with a focus on examining government and alternative careers. She also has a special interest in issues that affect women in the leg[...]

Apr 1, 2011

NC lawyers question thoroughness of outsourced title search

Outsourcing is nothing new, and businesses have been outsourcing certain operations to India for years. But property and property law in North Carolina, for the most part, is local - at least for now. Still the push is on from industry and, arguably, the federal government to nationalize the attorney-controlled real estate system in the state. A company based in Bangalore, India, has been offering[...]

Apr 1, 2011

Mediation program eases prisoners’ reentry into society

By DIANA SMITH, Staff Writer [email protected]   Ann Shy says she would be bored to tears in a mediated settlement conference. Move that mediation to a prison setting, however, and the Carrboro lawyer is ready to play ball. And thanks to a new initiative she’s spearheading through the Elna B. Spaulding Conflict Resolution Center in […]

Apr 1, 2011

Commentary: An FHA loan that includes rehabbing costs

America's housing inventory is ballooning with foreclosures and abandoned homes. Short sales, where owners sell their homes for less than what they owe, are commonplace. Also commonplace is that these homes typically need repair or updating. In the last several years, borrowers seeking construction or rehab loans found out that they were hard to come by or that you had to have 20 percent down or e[...]

Mar 25, 2011

Separating Together offers a different kind of divorce

The table in the conference room down the hall from Mark Springfield's office is round. Not oval. Not oblong with round edges. Completely round. "There's no position of power," said Springfield, taking a seat. Springfield's practice of collaborative divorce sets him apart from the traditional adversarial-style attorney who practices family law.

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