Former North Carolina Advocates for Justice President Joseph Cheshire V of Raleigh received the Walter Clark Award, the organization’s highest honor, at this year’s annual conference in Wilmington. Cheshire was given the award for his “extraordinary service to justice” in ...

Tagged with: NCAJ

The North Carolina Advocates for Justice has named Kim Crouch, currently the director of governmental affairs for the North Carolina Bar Association, as its new executive director, the NCAJ announced March 22. Crouch succeeds Dick Taylor, who has led the ...

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Shelby criminal defense lawyer David R. Teddy takes the helm of the N.C. Advocates for Justice at a tumultuous time. The legislature seems intent on cutting money that legal civil aid groups need to survive, court costs keep increasing and the state’s Indigent Defense Services is about to roll out a controversial new payment system for court-appointed lawyers.

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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

Just call him the “Cool President.” That’s the title Goldsboro lawyer Philip Baddour Jr. hopes to earn during his term as the 2010-2011 president of the North Carolina Advocates for Justice. Baddour took the helm of the 4,000-member trial lawyers’ ...

Tagged with: CLE Indigent Defense Legislature NCAJ Social Media Technology

North Carolina attorneys say they try to leave the job behind them when they go on vacation. But sometimes when they fight the law, the law wins. Lawyers find themselves calling time-out on time off as client emergencies pop up ...

Tagged with: Business of Law NCAJ NCBA