North Carolina Lawyers Weekly articles from June 2009

North Carolina Lawyers Weekly archives from June 2009

Liability possible for officer who didn't provide information, rules N.C. Court of Appeals.
June 8, 2009... Byline: Guy Loranger A corporate officer could face a civil penalty if a Guilford County court finds that he neglected or refused to provide documents that were requested to satisfy a judgment against his corporation, the Court of Appeals...

Commentary: non-lawyer to lawyer: no 'butts' about it, legalese is ludicrous.(North Carolina)
June 8, 2009... Byline: Diana Smith OK. I understand that laws need to be specific in order to be fairly enforced among all citizens. And I understand that some, by necessity, require more interpretation than others. But I started to...

Durham nonprofit uses 'community lawyering' to help communities help themselves.(North Carolina)
June 8, 2009... Byline: Diana Smith Each week, the three attorneys from the Southern Coalition for Social Justice come to work in a snug office space in downtown Durham. Their quarters are cramped and their numbers are small, but their mission is huge...

N.C. Court of Appeals order voir dire to qualify medical expert.
June 8, 2009... Byline: Guy Loranger Applying a recent Supreme Court decision for the first time, the Court of Appeals has ordered a medmal case back to a Forsyth County court for a voir dire examination of the plaintiff's expert. The expert was a...

Direct examination: a Q&A with retired N.C. Superior Court judge Kimberly Taylor.(Interview)
June 8, 2009... Byline: Diana Smith Kimberly Taylor joined the law firm of Lewis & Daggett in January after serving for over 20 years as the resident superior court judge for the 22nd District. Here, she weighs in on life after the bench and on her...

Commentary: electronic health records raise e-discovery issues.
June 15, 2009... Byline: Katherine Gordon Maynard Electronic discovery is here to stay. Since the Federal Rules of Civil Procedure were amended in December 2006 to address the discovery of electronically stored information (ESI), over 40 federal...

Budget outlook improves for N.C. Administrative Office of the Courts, Indigent Defense Services.
June 15, 2009... Byline: Guy Loranger By late last week, the budget picture was starting to look a little brighter for the Administrative Office of the Courts and Indigent Defense Services. A budget plan approved by the House Appropriations...

Direcet examination: a Q&A interview with professionalism advocate Mel Wright.(North Carolina's Chief Justice's Commission on Professionalism executive director)(Interview)
June 15, 2009... Byline: Diana Smith Mel Wright is executive director of the Chief Justice's Commission on Professionalism. Here, he describes the group's purpose and outlines goals for the future. NCLW: Why did you decide to take on the role of...

Campbell University's juvenile mediation program coming to Wake County.(North Carolina)
June 15, 2009... Byline: Diana Smith When Campbell University's law school moves to Raleigh in September, so will a clinical program that provides out-of-court intervention for juveniles who have had a brush with the law. The Governor's Crime...

North Carolina lawyers convene from the mountains to the sea.
June 15, 2009... Byline: Guy Loranger Convention time has arrived: A mix of sand and CLEs, cocktail hours, keynote speakers, and above all, handshakes and hanging out with friends and colleagues who haven't been seen since, well, the last convention. ...

Rehearing by N.C. Supreme Court sought after 'confusing' medmal ruling.
June 15, 2009... Byline: GUY LORANGE The defendants in a medical malpractice case recently ruled on by the Supreme Court have filed a petition for rehearing, saying the high court's decision "provided profound uncertainty and confusion." The case is...

Commentary: end-of-life planning; making sure your wishes are observed.(North Carolina)
June 22, 2009... Byline: Heidi E. Royla Planning for the end of life is not a topic many people desire to discuss, but it is critical for individuals to address how decisions regarding their health care and medical treatment will be made when they lack...

Direct examination: Q&A with Smithfield lawyer Tom Berkau.(North Carolina)(Interview)
June 22, 2009... Byline: Diana Smith Tom Berkau is the 2009 recipient of the N.C. Bar Association's William L. Thorp Award, which recognizes him as the Pro Bono Attorney of the Year. He will accept the award at the NCBA's 111th Annual Meeting later this...

Commentary: after a rough year, a little chill tonic.(North Carolina)
June 22, 2009... Byline: Guy Loranger If it hadn't been for Grove's Tasteless Chill Tonic, I might have never passed the bar exam. This goes back two years. On the same week that I graduated from law school, I started work at this newspaper. With...

Correction in DWI case bad news for North Carolina defendant.(driving while intoxicated)
June 22, 2009... Byline: Guy Loranger When the Court of Appeals issued State v. Fowler last month, the defendant's attorney said his client had "won the battle but lost the war." In the May 19 ruling, an appeals panel upheld the constitutionality of a...

New book explores North Carolina's legal history.(Davidson College history professor John Wertheimer)(Interview)
June 22, 2009... Byline: Austin Light John Wertheimer, a history professor at Davidson College, recently published a book about North Carolina law titled Law and Society in the South: A History of North Carolina Court Cases. The book was born in...

Part I: a look at the first year in the trying life of a new attorney.(North Carolina)
June 22, 2009... Byline: Diana Smith Somewhere in North Carolina, a fresh, new attorney we'll call him J.D. spends the first several hours of his day listening to a pre-recorded voice spell out, quite literally, the letter of the law. He glances around...

Lawsuit could test how North Carolina state courts define 'disability'.
June 22, 2009... Byline: Guy Loranger A crew member's lawsuit against his former NASCAR team could be one of the first cases in North Carolina to test-drive how state courts define "disability" in light of recent changes to the Americans with Disabilities...

Timeless tickets: N.C. Court of Appeals rules that parking tickets never go away.
June 22, 2009... Byline: Guy Loranger Parking tickets never go away, the Court of Appeals ruled June 16 in a decision that confirmed that the old common-law doctrine of nullum tempus is alive and well. "[The court] basically said that the statute of...

Are you a carriage builder in an automobile world.
June 29, 2009... Byline: ED POLL Recently, I heard a law firm staff person describe a senior partner as "a carriage builder in an automobile world." The phrase connoted a craftsman who puts time and effort into creating a quality product, but who is...

New N.C. Association of Defense Attorneys leader to keep an eye on legislature.
June 29, 2009... Byline: Diana Smith Continuing to build a strong legislative presence and expanding the services provided by the N.C. Association of Defense Attorneys are key initiatives new president David Allen pledged to focus on when he took office at...

N.C. Advocates for Justice declines to support merit screening of judges.
June 29, 2009... Byline: Guy Loranger The N.C. Advocates for Justice has decided that it will not endorse a proposal that calls for replacing the state's current judicial-election system with one that would implement a "merit-screening" process. The...

Where sovereign immunity leaves no remedy, plaintiff can seek relief under N.C. Constitution.
June 29, 2009... Byline: Guy Loranger A state Supreme Court ruling will allow plaintiffs to pursue claims directly under the state constitution even though their related common-law claims have been barred by the doctrine of sovereign immunity. The...

N.C. Advocates for Justice gives legal assistants a vote on board.
June 29, 2009... Byline: Guy Loranger The N.C. Advocates for Justice has voted to give its legal assistants division a vote on its board of governors. During the NCAJ's annual convention last week at Sunset Beach, members voted overwhelmingly to also...

New president of the N.C. Advocates for Justice to concentrate on core functions.
June 29, 2009... Byline: Guy Loranger Given the state of the economy, the new president of the N.C. Advocates for Justice said it would be wise to focus on "membership over money" in the coming year. Winston-Salem lawyer David C. Pishko took the reins...

N.C. Supreme Court denies rehearing in Crocker; petition granted in prenup case.
June 29, 2009... Byline: Guy Loranger The Supreme Court has denied a petition to revisit its decision in a medical malpractice case that raised the issue of whether a Phoenix doctor could be qualified to testify as an expert witness about the standard of...

Commentary: some tips for when you get to meet the press.(North Carolina)
June 29, 2009... Byline: Gregory Froom Used car salesman, journalist and lawyer. All three notorious professions are on my resume, and I'm proud of each one to varying degrees. The last two garnered me an invitation to serve on a panel for the...