How One Attorney Turned a $10-an-hour Tech Job Into a Career In Patent Law: Hear the Story at ‘Starting Out Solo’

By Amber Nimocks

Ever wonder how lawyers with great jobs got their sweet gigs? Then this free event is for you. Join us at the N.C. Bar Center on Tuesday, Sept. 26 at 6 p.m. for a panel of practicing attorneys who have career advice to share. Get more details and register here.

Panelists are Nicholas Dowgul of Felton Banks PLLC, Wes Saunders of the N.C. DOJ, Lyle Gravatt with NK Patent Law, and Daniel Moose of The Law Offices of Daniel R. Moose. Starting Out Solo is free, and dinner will be provided, so RSVP. All law students and legal professionals who want to learn more about law practice management are encouraged to attend. For questions, contact Jeremy Williams.

In advance of the panel, Lyle Gravatt answered a few questions about his path from $10-an-hour tech analyst to firm attorney with NK Patent Law.

Q: With experience as an entrepreneur and a degree in physics, what motivated you to pursue a law degree and practice?

A: I had a very nontraditional pathway to a legal career. I started out as a biophysics researcher and slowly realized that being in a lab just wasn’t for me. I had some skills as an extrovert that the lab setting didn’t allow me to use. And working in a lab has a very narrow focus. So, I went the complete opposite direction and I got involved in entrepreneurship, particularly sales. That again steered me toward an industry that was very narrowly focused. I was merely exercising the social aspects of myself and not really challenging the intellectual aspects. After trying out those two extremes I felt like the legal field would allow me to exercise my intellectual passions and my passion for people and my more extroverted tendencies. And intellectual property law allowed me to dive back into the science, which I always enjoyed.

Q: How did you arrive at your current position?

A: When I first graduated from law school at the University of Mississippi, I went to work for the law school developing a pro bono program that’s now in place. After I left, I was studying for the Louisiana bar, and I was really struggling, trying to get an IT job in that area. So, I packed up my bags, I put a bunch of suits in the car, printed out a bunch of resumes and I went on a Southeast tour – where all my friends lived —  and started knocking on doors because emails and phone calls weren’t working.

When I got here to the Triangle area, somebody hired me for $10 an hour to be a tech analyst. It was a company that was associated with a law firm, where the tech company and the law firm worked together and were housed in the same offices. That was my in. I started out as a tech analyst, and a year later I was working in the law firm, and two years later I was transitioning out to a traditional law firm.

I saw the tech job as an opportunity to get into the company with my science background and allow myself to gain some legal experience and hopefully transition to the legal side, which did happen.

Read more

/by

Lunch-hour CLE With a Rock Star: The Slants Front Man Talks About the Legal Battle To Name His Band

, , ,

Spend your Monday lunch hour chatting with a rock star while earning CLE/CPE credit. Register for the webcast “A Name Worth Fighting For: How Naming My Band The Slants Got Me To the Supreme Court,” featuring rocker Simon Tam, presented by the NCBA CLE Department. Members of the NCBA  Intellectual Property Law, Litigation, and Sports & Entertainment Law sections enjoy a discounted rate.

Tam, founder and bassist of The Slants, will talk about how his fight with the U.S. Patent and Trademark Office over his band’s name led to a U.S. Supreme Court case. The webcast discussion runs from noon to 1 p.m. on Monday, Sept. 18. Tam will answer audience questions and speak frankly about racism, legal troubles and his incredible stories of playing in the world’s “first and only Asian-American dance rock band.”

Here’s a preview of Monday’s conversation, based on a Q&A with Joyce Brafford, NCBA’s  Distance Learning Manager for CLE.

Read more

/by

#myNCBA: The New Way To Share Social Media Love

We want to let the world know what the NCBA means to you. So, we’ve created a new hashtag – #myNCBA – that will allow all of us to share thoughts, feelings and photos about this fellowship we know as the N.C. Bar Association.

Whether it’s grabbing coffee with another member, working with a group on a pro bono project or attending a CLE and loving the auditorium music playlist, we want to know what makes the NCBA special for you.

Here’s how it works: Include the hashtag #myNCBA in your social media posts on Facebook, Twitter, Instagram and LinkedIn. Anyone else who has a public social media account and uses #myNCBA will be automatically shown all other public posts that include the hashtag. And you can find fellow members’ posts with #myNCBA, too.

Share all the events, memories and interactions that make your NCBA membership meaningful to you. During the month of September, show us your NCBA moments with #myNCBA for a chance to win a weekly prize. For example, post a photo of one of your favorite speakers from this year’s Annual Meeting with a caption telling us why you enjoyed the speaker and include #myNCBA.

Each week every post that includes #myNCBA will be entered into a prize drawing. So tell us about your favorite Annual Meeting, section networking event, member event, or anything else NCBA-related that brings a smile to your face. We can’t wait to see what makes your membership in NCBA special to you!

 

/by

Go Back To School With NCBA Member Discounts and Student Involvement Opportunities

By Josh McIntyre

Big box store checkout lines are longer, rush hour traffic has doubled and, if you’re a parent, your wallet may be a bit lighter. That’s right, back-to-school season is upon us, and the North Carolina Bar Association is here to help.

Our Member Discount program with Office Depot means members get contract pricing on almost everything in the store, including items on that long list of school supplies from your child’s teacher. Prices are often discounted up to 40 percent, and members can order online through a dedicated NCBA webpage or in person with their NCBA Store Purchasing Card. This card is stored automatically in the Member Benefits App, and the membership department can also mail a physical card to any member who requests it. We hope this program helps get you what you need for the classroom. Meanwhile, the NCBA is getting in the classroom, too!

Read more

/by

‘For Want Of a Comma’: The Latest In the Oxford Comma War

By Laura Graham

“For want of a comma, we have this case.”  Thus begins the opinion in O’Connor v. Oakhurst Dairy,[1] a 1st Circuit case decided in March that has rekindled a long-standing debate: Should the Oxford comma be used or not?

The Oxford comma—also known as the serial comma or the Harvard comma—is the comma between the penultimate and final items in a written list. For example, in the sentence, “The American flag is red, white, and blue,” the comma after “white” is an Oxford comma. Punctuation purists insist that the Oxford comma should always be used; but other constituencies argue that it is usually superfluous and unnecessary and should be reserved for sentences in which the absence of the comma would create ambiguity.

Read more

/by

‘Where She Has Practiced Her Entire Career’: Reflections On Coming a Long Way

By Bettie Kelley Sousa

A recent e-bar announced the installation of Caryn Coppedge McNeill, the new president of the North Carolina Bar Association, and the election of the president-elect, Jacqueline D. Grant. A demanding, virtually full-time job spanning three years, the NCBA presidency often is held by big-firm lawyers who can commit such time to the profession and continue to feed their families. What’s not as common—the appointment of back-to-back female presidents.

Having practiced for 36 years, I believe it’s only happened once before.* My first reaction to this girl power moment had me nodding “ ‘bout time.” But, my second reaction was in response to the end of the paragraph about each woman. Listed after her firm was the phrase “where she has practiced her entire career.” Yes, I thought. I’m not surprised. Firm longevity is getting rare, but I’ll bet women constitute, percentage-wise, more of those who stay with the same firm from bar passage to retirement.

Read more

/by

Why Haven’t You Signed Up For the NCBA’s Weekly Job Alerts?

By Josh McIntyre

Most of my friends from law school switched jobs within the first two years of their practice, and I was no exception. Whether we felt unfulfilled, undervalued or we were just unhappy, job transitions within my peer group were common. Based on the communications we receive in the membership department, the desire to find new employment hasn’t changed much in the past six years.

Now entering my seventh year as a licensed attorney, I’ve held three different jobs, and each time I was looking for a change, the job search seemed more daunting than before. From custom-writing each cover letter to tweaking resumes, job searching can be a job within itself. That’s why I wish that I had known about the NCBA’s online Career Center.

Read more

/by

Legislative Update: Where NCBA-Supported Legislation Stands As Of Aug. 2

This article appears in the  August 2017 edition of North Carolina Lawyer. The N.C.  General Assembly convenes again on Aug. 3, 2017.

By Michelle Frazier

The first five months of the 2017 legislative long session proceeded a bit more slowly than usual, but the action was fast and furious in June. Much of the early focus on Jones Street and in the Executive Mansion revolved around two highly controversial issues: the ongoing power struggle between Gov. Cooper and the Republican-dominated legislature and the repeal of House Bill 2.

Although the power struggle between the governor and Republican legislators continues to make its way through the courts, the March repeal of House Bill 2 cleared the way for consideration of other legislative priorities such as the budget.

Read more

/by