Members of the Sports & Entertainment Law Section (“SEL”) found the following recent third-party articles to be of potential interest to Section members. Feel free to reach out to the SEL Communications Co-chairs, Kelly Ryan and Jourdan Williams, if you would like to submit either personally written pieces or other third-party articles that would be of interest to SEL members.
Pro Bono Projects: NC LEAP, Wills for Heroes, Lawyer on the Line
By Allison Constance
Even though Alexa Whiteside has not lived in North Carolina long, she has already made her mark as a pro bono volunteer. Alexa moved to Davidson from Los Angeles in April 2019 and works for Ramo Law PC as a motion picture and television attorney. In just a year and a half as a North Carolinian, she has served clients through NC LEAP, Wills for Heroes, and Legal Aid of North Carolina’s Lawyer on the Line program, and she encourages others to take on pro bono work alongside her.
Alexa is currently working to get more sports and entertainment law attorneys involved in NC LEAP because the work is rewarding and very applicable to what they are already doing. Alexa often finds links between pro bono projects and her practice in unexpected ways. As a motion picture and television attorney, Alexa represents producers in all areas of the law, including general business affairs and contract negotiations.
We’ve all heard the expression “out with the old and in with the new,” but this year we may really mean it. Luckily for us, a new year brings new ideas, new hopes, and, of course, courage to overcome all the new (and old) challenges.
Early in 2020, I never would have imagined serving as Chair of the Paralegal Division during a pandemic and navigating the difficulties of not meeting our members face to face, but here we are. A challenge isn’t always a hardship. Sometimes a challenge is an opportunity for progress.
We’ve all been there: you’ve been mediating all day, it’s 5:30 p.m. (or later), the parties just (finally) came to terms, and everyone is ready to go home. The mediator whips out a form, jots down the basic terms of the settlement, and hands you the form. You reach for your pen, and then ask yourself, “Shouldn’t my client be the one signing this?” Considering the increase in remote mediations since the start of the pandemic, there’s a good chance you and your client aren’t even together in the same room — or the same state. So do you sign? The North Carolina Court of Appeals just answered that question for you. After the decision in Mitchell v. Boswell, No. COA19-1077, 2020 WL 6437278 (N.C. Ct. App. Nov. 3, 2020), your client should definitely be the one signing the form.
The Minorities in the Profession Committee hosted its second biennial Diversity and Inclusion Symposium virtually on December 11, 2020. The symposium was created to give minority attorneys a space to share experiences and be energized with new ideas on how to thrive in legal environments. The symposium also seeks to create a new lens for all attorneys and legal professionals to better understand diversity and inclusion issues and offers tools and strategies attendees can take back to their respective law firm, corporation, or organization.
This year’s speakers were dynamic leaders working in the field of diversity and inclusion in the legal profession. The discussions were incredibly thoughtful and provided attendees tools to move forward.
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