Each year the ABA TECHSHOW concludes the conference with a plenary session featuring a lightning fast, multi-speaker tips program. Some of the tips can be whimsical or esoteric but among the light-hearted nuggets are also some great, actionable bits of information lawyers can put into practice now. Following are some of the immediately useful tips from that session covering legal research, smartphones, browser security, marketing and more.
U.S. Patent and Trademark Office’s China Intellectual Property (IP) Road Show
Find details and a registration link here.
9 a.m. – 4:30 p.m., Thursday, April 25
Sanford School of Public Policy, Duke University
The U.S. Patent and Trademark Office’s China Intellectual Property (IP) Road Show is a free, one-day program that brings together experts from the U.S. government, academics, IP attorneys, and local business people to share their insights on China and IP issues that will benefit U.S. IP rights holders. The next China IP Road Show will be held at the Duke University Sanford School for Public Policy in Durham, North Carolina, on Thursday, April 25, 2019. Registration is now open here.
The Road Show includes key participation from the USPTO’s China Team, a group of China IP experts who work nationwide to help U.S. businesses and inventors understand how to obtain and enforce IP rights in China. Speakers at the road shows also include IP attorneys with decades experience in helping US companies protect and enforce their IP rights in China. This road show is one of a series that the USPTO is conducting across the country. Join us to hear from experts about protecting and enforcing IP rights in China and the United States.
The North Carolina Dispute Resolution Commission (NCDRC) held its quarterly meeting on March 1, 2019, at the Washington Duke Inn in Durham. The meeting, led by the Commission’s chair, the Honorable William A. Webb, was extremely productive as well as informative. Each of the NCDRC’s numerous committees reported on work completed this past quarter including, but not limited to, proposing a new draft version of Standard VII, approving courses for CME credit, and reviewing multiple applications for certification. The NCDRC also adopted a new policy regarding mediators responding to complaints, and is making plans to celebrate Conflict Resolution Week this coming October. The NCDRC constantly strives to better the practice of mediation within our courts by providing certified mediators with the tools they need to succeed. For more information on the NCDRC and the actions taken by the Commission this past quarter, please visit our website at www.NCDRC.gov, and check out our News and Articles link located within the Mediator’s Toolbox.
Art MacCord is a patent attorney with 40 years of experience. He keeps an eye on the U.S. Patent and Trademark Office and the U.S. Copyright Office for new rules and practice tips of interest to intellectual property attorneys. Find his latest updates here.
Aug. 6, 2019
Changes to the Trademark Rules of Practice To Mandate Electronic Filing: Final Rule
June 26, 2019
U.S. Copyright Office Revises Proposed Rulemaking On Recordation and Group Registration Fees
Our Supreme Court notes “Equal Justice Under Law” on its building. Yet, access to this justice only truly exists when it is available to all members of our state, regardless of ability to pay. A failure to provide adequate legal services to those of modest means affects both the economic and social fabric of our society, and does not adequately represent the principles of the profession to which we have been called.
For information about the Pro Bono Resource Center and voluntary pro bono reporting, please visit ncprobono.org/report.
Pro bono is one way for attorneys to help narrow the access to justice gap. We would like to capture your service and celebrate your work.
The NC Pro Bono Resource Center is currently accepting information about the types of activities encouraged by North Carolina Rule of Professional Conduct 6.1: pro bono legal service; legal service at a substantially reduced fee; activity that improves the law, the legal system, or the legal profession; non-legal community service; and financial support of legal service providers.
DR Spotlight is a Q&A series that focuses on Dispute Resolution Section members.
Frank Laney is Circuit Mediator for the U.S. 4th Circuit Court of Appeals. He lives in Cary with his wife, Anne, who is principle flute with the N.C. Symphony. Laney teaches Mediation Advocacy at Campbell Law School and goes to Belarus yearly to work with mediators there.
Robert Rideout doesn’t recall what he was listening to in the bunker during this particular rocket attack in Kandahar, in the photo above. To his right, incidentally, is fellow attorney and Deputy Director-Legal Maj. Thomas DeSplinter of Kirkland & Ellis in Chicago. Photo courtesy of Robert Rideout.
In the 1990s, Robert Rideout earned degrees from the University of North Carolina at Wilmington and Louisiana State University School of Law. Last year he added a master’s degree in strategic studies from the U.S. Army War College.
In between, he has carved out an impressive career in public service that includes tours of duty in Iraq and Afghanistan, a federal judgeship, and service as an Assistant Public Defender, an Assistant District Attorney, and as a Deputy Commissioner for the N.C. Industrial Commission.
Rideout is also the founding chair of the North Carolina Bar Association’s Military and Veterans Affairs Section.
And, at 45 years of age, he’s just getting started.
“Reasonable efforts” to ensure confidentiality of client information is fact-specific. In North Carolina RPC 1.6 Comment 19 suggests that a lawyer should examine the sensitivity of the information, the risk of disclosure without additional precautions, the cost of extra measures, the difficulty of adding safeguards, and whether more safeguards adversely affect the lawyer’s ability to represent the client. By conducting this risk assessment, a lawyer will be better positioned to understand what she needs to do to protect a client’s confidences. Following are some basic best practices all lawyers should be deploying for basic security.
In case you missed it, the Insurance Law Section of the North Carolina Bar Association held its annual meeting and CLE at the Bar Center in Cary on January 31, 2019. The theme of this year’s CLE was “Back to the Basics” and included a great selection of speakers covering topics such as CGL Insurance and the Duty to Defend, Excess and Umbrella Insurance, Directors & Officers Insurance, and the Top 10 Insurance Decisions from 2018. This year’s CLE finished with a segment discussing a hypothetical insurance coverage dispute.
Navigating a family law matter can be one of the most emotionally painful circumstances someone will ever encounter. By the time a client calls a family law attorney, they are generally in the throes of some of the most difficult times of their lives.
For the legal professional working in family law, you are often tasked with more than providing insight into procedural and substantive issues that relate to their case. Family law professionals must also help clients cope with the stressors associated with their legal proceedings. The ultimate goal is to help the client find some degree of closure so they can begin to move on to the next chapter of their lives. It is very rewarding to know you’ve helped someone through such a difficult time, but it can also be very challenging.
One of the biggest challenges associated with a divorce is co-parenting. The client may feel betrayed and angry. Under these circumstances, emotional intelligence may take a backseat to doing what is best for the children involved. When this occurs, both parties and the children suffer as a result. In a high-conflict divorce there are no winners, only survivors. Attorneys and paralegals are frequently tasked with trying to help their clients work through their legal matters while doing as little damage to themselves, their children, and their case as possible.
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