Free Newsletter
Sidebar shakes family tree, finds N.C.’s first female lawyer
Sidebar knows that many attorneys are history buffs, and we recently came across a tidbit that’s germane to not only our history, but practice of law in North Carolina as well. It’s well-known in legal circles that Tabitha Anne Holton was the first woman in North Carolina to get a law license. Her attorney, Albion […]
The ghost of Charlotte past
We don’t intend to keep beating a dead horse. Or to kick a law school while it’s defunct. Or to imply that it didn’t produce some outstanding graduates and attorneys. But nearly nine months after the Charlotte School of Law was forcibly shuttered, it is still underperforming. The month before it closed, 34 percent of […]
Bring on the mimosa
A running “funny” in this Sidebar reporter’s household is calling mimosas — the wonderful concoction of champagne and citrus juice — “mimosos.” The colloquialism spawned from an episode of “Bridezillas” in which the nettled wife-to-be exclaimed that while she didn’t know what a “mimoso” was, she wanted one and didn’t have one. That same sentiment, […]
Seeking comment
An attempt to speak with a press person at the North Carolina Attorney General’s Office about an opinion from the state Supreme Court resulted in a trip down the bureaucratic rabbit hole earlier this month. The office is in the midst of a transition, as our readers know, and its longtime spokeswoman, Noelle Talley, followed […]
Ready to launch
Imagine heading out for a drive – a trip to the store or the cleaners, and the next thing you know, you’re on the roof of a house. It happened in Winston-Salem on Dec. 30. The Associated Press reported that at 4 in the afternoon, a woman was out for a drive, hit a hill […]
Cell sweet home
A facetiously nicknamed 30-year-old Colorado law aimed at protecting citizens in the friendly confines of their own homes has become deadly serious, prompting lawmakers to try and clarify what a dwelling is. In prison, it’s not uncommon to hear an inmate refer to his cell as his “house.” But who knew that two judges would […]
Fired trooper, take two
The state trooper fired in 2009 for lying to his superiors about what happened to his $45 state-issued, wide-brimmed hat has been granted a new lease on life by the North Carolina Supreme Court. In its Dec. 18 decision, the court ordered the case of then-22-year-old Thomas Wetherington remanded first to the Court of Appeals […]
No Sidebar?!
We here at Sidebar are generally not fond of things that aim to eliminate sidebar, but upon closer inspection of a recent headline, the proposition of a federal judge in Iowa seems to be more juror-friendly than Sidebar-detrimental. As reported by the ABA Journal, U.S. District Judge Mark Bennett of Sioux City hopes to implement […]
After Heien, exception now swallowing the rule
Ignorance of the law is no excuse—or it wasn’t until last December, when the U.S. Supreme Court ruled that even a police officer’s incorrect beliefs about the law could sufficiently justify a traffic stop, so long as the officer’s mistake was “objectively reasonable.” According to a new report, police departments across the country have been […]
Medium is the message in quarrel over quaffs
In Shakespeare’s Antony and Cleopatra, Antony describes his crocodile as “shap’d, sir, like itself, and it is as broad as it hath breadth; it is just as high as it is, and … of its own color too.” Sadly, Instagram didn’t exist in the Bard’s day, for Antony’s description really could’ve benefitted from the help […]
Two birds, one stone
If you are friends with a drug dealer, do not spend the night at his place. If you do spend the night at his place, do not have drugs in your car, lest the police raid his home and take you down with him. This life lesson was learned by David Lowe in September 2013 […]
Baked on a plane
Sarah Buffett once told our sister publication, The Mecklenburg Times, that she fought the Department of Homeland Security for a living. “But I don’t always win,” Buffett, 41, said in the 2012 interview. Well she now finds herself in another battle with the agency, and she’s losing. And losing badly. After allegedly causing a mid-air […]
Top Legal News
- Budget splits insurance commissioner, fire marshal’s jobs
- Judge rules Trump committed long-running fraud
- FTC, 17 states sue Amazon in federal court
- JPMorgan to pay $75M on Epstein trafficking claim
- Hunter Biden sues Giuliani over computer data access
- Technology and legal education
- NC Medicaid expansion launches Dec. 1
- Whistleblowers want court to continue Paxton lawsuit
- Attorneys: First Amendment protects Trump in ‘insurrection’ cases
- Cooper allows budget to become law; Medicaid will expand
- Alabama fraternity faces hazing lawsuit
- Judge handling Trump case faces tremendous pressure
Commentary
- Amotion sees resurgence after almost a decade
- The flip side of generative AI in law and how to address it
- The fight for equal educational opportunity continues
- Court’s term was rough on big business
- Ex-president, bar association have made their choice
- Ruling sharpens boundaries in attorney-client privilege
- Lawyers Weekly debuts new and improved web experience
- US Supreme Court bites back at parody’s use of the First Amendment
- Supreme Court leaves key internet protection untouched
- Case study: North Carolina courts provide guidance on scope, limitations of attorney-client privilege
- A Different Ode to Pro Bono Work
- A roadmap to attracting, developing, retaining great associates
