The Antitrust & Complex Business Disputes Law Section Annual Meeting and CLE was held on February 13, 2020 at the Bar Center in Cary. As usual, the event was well attended with almost 150 people attending in person or online. Topics included an analysis of the Economic Loss Rule, enforcement of Antitrust laws from those that enforce them, business valuation issues, ethical issues arising in small business disputes and receiverships. The highlight of the day was the Business Court Judges Panel Discussion which was attended by all five of the state’s Business Court Judges.
The CLE was wonderfully planned by Tom Segars of Ellis & Winters, LLP. Special thanks to our presenters and moderators Katie Burchette, Fred Monroe, Greg Skidmore, Catherine Arrowood, Stephen Carey, Sarah Clayton, Vic Domen, George Hawkins, Deborah Hylton, Catherine Lawson, Scottie Lee, Ryan Quillian and George Sanderson. Of course, a big thank you also is extended to Judges Bledsoe, Gale, McGuire, Conrad and Robinson for their always instructive and educational panel discussion on the Business Court. If you missed the CLE, we highly encourage you to catch a replay.
I am starting to see signs of spring, and it brings a smile to my face. The blooming daffodils, budding trees, and green grass are harbingers of warmer weather and more opportunities to get to leave our desks and enjoy some time outdoors.
Before skipping straight into the spring and the upcoming opportunities it will bring, I wanted to take a moment to quickly reflect on the Workers’ Compensation Section’s CLE and Annual Meeting, which was held on February 6 and 7 at the Grandover Resort.
As anyone who was able to attend can confirm, the two days of CLE were well-attended, and the presentations were across-the-board informative and educational. We had a total of 262 attendees, which is more than have attended in the past two years . . . it was literally standing room only on Thursday morning! A great deal of thanks is owed to Sarah Blair and Cameron Simmons and all the speakers, who took their time to plan, prepare and present at the CLE. Also, I want to thank the folks at the Bar Association who handled the bulk of the logistics for the program.
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“Resources for Reliable Information on Coronavirus in North Carolina.” By Jill Moore, March 2, 2020, Coates’ Canons: NC Local Government Law. From the Article: “The School of Government is compiling resources about North Carolina communicable disease law and the COVID-19 outbreak on its North Carolina Public Health Law microsite. This direct link will take you to those resources. Because I have been receiving a number of questions about North Carolina isolation and quarantine law, the resources include free access to a 2017 book chapter that I wrote on that subject–click here for North Carolina Communicable Disease Law Chapter 6, Isolation and Quarantine Law. The chapter provides an overview of state law but is not specific to the current outbreak.”
“How Will We Know if COVID-19 is in North Carolina? A Look at the State’s Communicable Disease Reporting Laws.” By Jill Moore, March 2, 2020, Coates’ Canons: NC Local Government Law. From the Article: “North Carolina has laws that require health care professionals (and sometimes others) to notify public health officials when they know or suspect that a patient has a condition or disease that has been designated ‘reportable.’ COVID-19 is now reportable in North Carolina. Health care providers who have patients with suspected or confirmed COVID-19 should notify their local health department or the NC Division of Public Health’s Communicable Disease Branch immediately. This post reviews the North Carolina laws that address communicable disease reporting.”
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The novel coronavirus (“COVID-19”) outbreak has resulted in robust mitigation and containment measures being taken by countries around the world and is having significant and broadening negative impacts on business activities. From a legal perspective, these negative impacts may make it difficult or impossible for parties to a contract to perform their obligations. However, a great deal depends on the nature of the event and its impact on the specific contract and its performance by the parties.
With the COVID-19 outbreak, the virus and associated actions to contain it are affecting countries and industries differently. The high number of infections in the People’s Republic of China (“PRC”) has caused the government authorities there to take strong measures which have substantially disrupted and decreased economic activity. Travel into and out of the PRC has been restricted, and international supply chains have been disrupted. Similar measures may be taken by an increasing number of countries before the outbreak finally subsides.
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Members of the Administrative Law section found the following recent third party articles to be of potential interest to the section. Feel free to reach out to the section communications committee if you would like to submit either personally written pieces or other third party articles that would be of interest to the section’s members.
This NC Appellate Practice blog article includes discussion of the societal ethical issues underlying the facts in the recent Court of Appeals decision in the Wetherington case.
This Carolina Public Press article reports on the first meeting of a new House Select Committee on Residential Planning and Permitting that is looking at further reduction in local governments’ authority.
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We are excited to announce that the Appellate Practice Section’s Spring Social will be held at Dandelion Marketin Charlotte on April 30, 2020! Please mark your calendars:
Appellate Practice Section Spring Social Thursday, April 30, 2020 5 – 7 p.m. Dandelion Market 118 West 5th St. Charlotte, NC 28202
As many of you know, last year’s Spring Social was an incredible opportunity for our appellate community to meet in the western part of our state. We are grateful that Bonnie Keith Green has returned to organize this event, so we are confident that it will be another fantastic gathering of our bench and bar.
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The biggest issue for a lot of Paralegals today is case management. We’re overloaded and overwhelmed, and a lot of the time, we are either working with no case management software or outdated case management software loaded with bells and whistles we simply don’t use, don’t know how to use, and truly don’t need. When law firms do not have procedures in place for case management, it is up to the paralegal to develop the best solutions for his or her cases and manage all the files in their cases.
I coach a lot of paralegals on this very issue. I tell them not to give up, and together, we solve the file management issue. To their surprise, many of the solutions I show them involve using applications readily available to them on their office computers. The key is knowing the tools are there for you and learning how to use them. I’m going to give you my tips on how you can use software on your computer to be the most effective paralegal for any attorney and, more importantly, for your cases.
If you have ever planned an event or continuing education seminar, you know it takes a lot of time and resources. All Paralegal Division CPE planners are volunteers. They take time out of their already busy work days to send emails and hop on phone calls to discuss potential topics, locate speakers and work with Bar Center staff to get the meetings off the ground. While thinking of relevant and useful topics can be challenging, reaching out to attorneys, paralegals and other legal professionals to find potential speakers to ask if they are interested in speaking is even more challenging. All the while, you wait with fingers crossed, hoping that the speaker’s calendar is free on that date.
For live CPE programs, planners start six months out from the date, but for annual meetings, six months is the bare minimum, and it’s really more like 9 to 12 months. The Paralegal Division Council meets and tries to pick potential locations and dates a few years in advance. We then provide that information to the CLE department who work to secure the venue with our preferred dates. Unfortunately, there are times when location and/or date do not line up with the timing or location of previous years.
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For years, I have preached about disaster planning for law firms. When I am performing an audit for a firm, I always ask about a Disaster Recovery Plan, and many times the answer is a blank stare.
In North Carolina, Disaster Recovery Plans usually include things related to hurricanes and other natural disasters, but should we also be planning for a pandemic? With the spread of the coronavirus increasing around the world and the CDC admitting that a spread is likely in the U.S., now is the time to consider brushing off your plan and reviewing it.
Most disaster recovery plans include servers going down and a lack of internet, phones and other basics necessities of business and life. But what happens if that office is a hotbed of illness, and your firm decides (or it is decided for you) to send everyone home for a month in order to stop the spread of the virus? Will your office survive the disruption that this will inevitably cause? Are you prepared? It is time to look at what your options are right now.
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