2020 Legal Feeding Frenzy Update and Award Winners

This year’s N.C. Legal Feed Frenzy raised $151,083.00, equivalent to 604,332 pounds of food. A total of 60 teams participated.

Thanks to Feeding the Carolinas, all online processing fees were covered and 100 percent of the donations went directly to our local food banks. With these funds, food banks are assisting families affected by COVID-19, many of whom previously have not needed food bank support.

On top of their normal operations, the food banks are distributing food to their disaster relief partner agencies including schools, local Meals on Wheels, food pantries, shelters, and senior support groups.

Please see this special thank you from Feeding the Carolinas Executive Director Mike Darrow.

On Thursday afternoon, April 23, N.C. Attorney General Josh Stein, honorary chair and a member of the NCBA, presented the awards live on Facebook. Plaques will be mailed to the recipients. The awards are made possible by the generous funding of the North Carolina Bar Foundation Endowment.

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Pro Bono and Service in the Age of COVID-19: Opportunities for Involvement

By Nisel N. Desai

I vividly recall the validation and fellowship I experienced after serving in my first Wills For Heroes Clinic during my second year of law school. Classmates forged bonds with each other, and attorneys seemed reenergized by the mission of these clinics—to help first responders ensure that their final wishes are honored. Fast forward to present day 2020: COVID-19 has forced our profession to pause, retreat, and stay apart. During a time when we want to come together as a profession and address the challenges that COVID-19 has created for our society, we’re isolating, communicating over endless Zoom meetings, and grappling with the cognitive dissonance of screen time and virtual interactions. These are not easy times for any of us, either for those who are sheltering-in-place, or for those with loved ones on the frontlines who are facing their own challenges. However, the way that we as North Carolina attorneys respond to these challenges will characterize our profession once the stay-at-home orders are lifted, and it’s business as usual.

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Avoiding the “Quarantine 15”

By Finley Funsten

The quarantine 15, the freshman 15, the “it’s tailgating season” 15 . . . whatever you want to call it, weight gain is a fixed science. It comes down to energy balance: consuming more calories than you expend. But managing this during quarantine can be simple!

From my professional perspective, it boils down to three pretty straightforward concepts: nutrition, movement, and consistency.

Nutrition: Don’t Treat Your Body Like a Dump Truck

Mindless eating seems to be a primary culprit of the dreaded “quarantine 15.” But by implementing some simple dietary habits into your day, executing a more mindful approach to your nutrition becomes much easier!

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How to Make It Work While Working from Home

By Samantha E. Gordon

One word has been on everyone’s mind lately: Coronavirus. When will the stay-at-home orders be lifted? When can I go to the grocery store without worrying about whether I will find toilet paper? When can I go eat at my favorite restaurant again or will my favorite restaurant even be open after all of this is over?

These questions are on most Americans’ minds daily. The unknown of when this is all going to end is terrifying. There have been so many different occupations affected by this pandemic, lawyers included. Before Governor Cooper announced the statewide stay-at-home order in North Carolina, lawyers from the North Carolina State Bar and NCBA asked Governor Cooper to consider legal services “essential.” When the Order was issued on March 27, legal services were considered essential. Even so, many lawyers find themselves working at home. If you are not used to working from home, finding motivation and willpower to get work done can be challenging. There are plenty of distractions: dogs, children, outdoor projects, spring cleaning, Tiger King . . . the list goes on.

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Exercise is an Essential Activity

By Lisa Arthur

YLD Division Director and avid runner

If you’re like me, you’re probably feeling a lot of things right now. Uncertainty is now the new normal, and lawyers are not the best with uncertainty. So how are you coping with the new normal?

Let me make a suggestion: exercise.

In the midst of a great respiratory pandemic, why not exercise your lungs? I don’t know if there is any science linking exercise to better chances at handling COVID-19, but I can tell you from personal experience that it has helped me to keep my sanity.

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Free Virtual Workouts for NCBA Young Lawyers through SweatNET

By Erin Garber

As everyone knows by now, we have been ordered to stay at home until April 31, 2020 (and let’s hope it ends there). So, what does that mean for your fitness and wellness?

We have an answer for you: the fitness world and your wellness aren’t going away. At SweatNET, we’re doing our part to make sure you can have the same (or close to the same) fitness experience that you grew to love at your favorite studio. How?

Well, we are helping the amazing instructors and studios in the greater Charlotte community to make sure their workouts are delivered to YOU. So, while everyone is stuck at home right now, we have made it easier for you to find all of the virtual class offerings hosted directly by your favorite studios, gyms, and instructors (not just our own streaming content). Live now on the website is a dashboard of all of the classes offered by the instructors in our amazing fitness community. From Barre to Crossfit to kids yoga, there’s something for everyone while at home. This is the perfect chance to try something new and stay connected until we can all meet in person again! Let’s continue to support our favorite instructors, studios, and workouts.

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NCBA YLD COVID-19 Wellness Club

As a way to stay connected and highlight your wellness while isolated under the state’s Stay at Home Order, from April 1 through May 3, the NCBA YLD is inviting all young lawyers to upload their wellness-related activities through Strava, an app designed to connect and track exercises using GPS data. Strava is completely free with no advertising in its mobile application. Here’s how you can join in the fun:

  • Register for Strava online or downloand the app;
  • Go to the “Explore” tab and click on “Clubs”;
  • Search for the club titled “NCBA YLD COVID-19 Wellness Club”;
  • Join the club; and
  • Start logging your activities

The activities can be anything: walking, running, cycling, high-intensity interval training workouts, CrossFit, yoga, or whatever it is you like to do. Be sure to sync your watch or other fitness wearable with the Strava app on your phone so your workouts or activities will automatically upload. No manual upload is needed!

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Legal Feeding Frenzy Update

Michele Livingstone

Erin Ball

By Michele Livingstone and Erin Ball

CONGRATULATIONS! And, thank you. With your help, the Legal Feeding Frenzy has surpassed its original goal of $75,000 / 300,000 pounds of food! There are now 2 days left in the frenzy!

There is no denying that we have entered an unprecedented and unpredictable time as a result of COVID-19. But we are so encouraged by how our colleagues continue to answer the call to help our neighbors in need through efforts like the LFF. When we set our original LFF 2020 goal, we had not yet heard of or anticipated the wide-spread effects of COVID-19. As stay at home orders go in place across the state, schools extend their closings, and businesses are forced to close and lay off employees, we’re going to continue to see a strain on our local food banks as demand continues to increase.  Accordingly, we have decided to increase the #LFF2020 goal to help meet these needs.

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Fight Hunger, Help Others in the COVID-19 Pandemic – Participate in the Legal Feeding Frenzy and Support Your Local Food Bank!

Michele Livingstone

Will Quick

By Michele Livingstone and Will Quick

We are in unprecedented times with COVID-19 (Coronavirus).  It is now more important than ever that we help our neighbors and those who are not as fortunate. I am confident that each of you is doing your part.

Even in the best of times, however, over 1.5 Million North Carolinians struggle with hunger—of those, nearly half a million are children. With public schools and many religious and nonprofit organizations that traditionally serve the food insecure in our communities being closed for indefinite periods, and government leaders calling for social distancing to help limit the spread of Coronavirus, that need is never more pressing than now.

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Law Week and Liberty Bell Award

By Andrew Atkins 

Note: An earlier version of this post included information about the Moot Court Competition. This event has been cancelled due to the Coronavirus Disease 2019 (COVID-19). Read more here.

In addition, the Liberty Bell Award Subcommittee of the Young Lawyers Division’s Law Week/Liberty Bell Committee is seeking nominations for the Liberty Bell Award to be presented at the Law Day Ceremony on May 1, 2020. As we celebrate the sixty-second anniversary of Law Day and this year’s theme of “Your Vote, Your Voice, Our Democracy: The 19th Amendment at 100,” we encourage submissions reflecting the theme in our State. The nominee should be someone who exemplifies lifelong service to the law in North Carolina and the 2020 Law Day theme. We request that full information be given about each candidate’s qualifications, including a resume or brief description of the nominee’s career accomplishments and service to North Carolina. Many districts choose to get together and vote on one or more nominees, while others do so less formally. Additionally, individual members of the Bar or non-attorneys may nominate candidates. We encourage all districts statewide to participate. A Nomination Form is available. Any name(s) that you or members of your district wish to present should be postmarked and mailed c/o Leila A. Hicks, 280 S. Mangum St., Suite 400, Durham, NC 27701 or emailed to Leila Hicks no later than Friday, March 20, 2020, for presentation to the committee.

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