Welcome to the NCBA YLD 2022-23 bar year!
As I noted in my speech during the NCBA Annual Meeting, our focus this year is on “Rebuilding Our Community.” Let me share with you how we plan to achieve that goal: Foundation. Strategy. Engagement.
Great communities are built on strong foundations, and our incredible leadership team provides a strong support for ours. Read more
By Kayla Britt and Matt Meinel
The YLD’s Law Student Outreach Committee is continuing its flagship Grab-a-Coffee Program (“GaC”) over the summer!
GaC is a statewide program that pairs law students with practicing attorneys based on their practice area(s) of interest. Discussion topics may include the attorney’s path to their current employment, what the practice is like in the attorney’s current areas of law, and any general advice the attorney may have for the student. The program is meant to be an informal, one-time, thirty-minute meeting. Attorneys and students have the option of meeting virtually or in person.
To make this program a success, we need you! We are seeking attorney volunteers to connect with a law student and pass on the valuable insights you have about succeeding in law school and entering the practice of law. If you would like to volunteer, please fill out this attorney sign-up form (law students can sign up with this student sign-up form). If you have signed up during a previous GaC session, you will need to sign up again. Volunteers will be notified by email with more information once they are paired with a law student.
We look forward to a successful summer of networking!
By Desirae Hutchinson, Robyn Sanders, Sloan Carpenter, and Larissa Mañón Mervin
I work at Cape Fear Valley Health System and am Assistant Counsel there.
Healthcare/ In-house counsel
Boxing Read more
This piece was selected as the winning entry in the YLD’s 2022 Writing Competition.
By the time I retire from practicing law, I envision a legal profession that values and prioritizes mental health. My vision is motivated by personal loss and experience, and a sincere hope for change.[1]
Just before dawn on Thanksgiving Day, 2018, I received a phone call from my father. It was a call that we all hope never to receive, but that sadly, many of us have or may receive one day. In a shattered state, my father told me that my younger sister, just 28 years old at the time, had taken her own life.
Claire O’Brien
Michael Cohen
By Claire O’Brien and Michael Cohen
The NCBA YLD is pleased to announce the winner of our 2022 Writing Competition: Natalia Talbot, “My Vision for the Legal Profession: Prioritizing Attorney Mental Health.”
Natalia’s piece addresses the critical issue of attorney mental health. She shares her own journey, identifies important resources, and proposes specific steps we can all take to move toward a healthier version of our chosen profession. Congratulations to Natalia, and thank you to all who submitted pieces for consideration. We are grateful for the time and effort you committed to the process!
Your YLD Communications Committee Co-Chairs,
Claire O’Brien and Michael Cohen
Serving as a law clerk for a judge is an enriching experience for newly minted lawyers. I know a number of attorneys, young and old alike, who look back on their time clerking fondly and consider it one of the best experiences — if not the best experience — of their legal career.
Having served as a law clerk for North Carolina judges for two years after finishing law school,
I hope that with this post I can provide some insight about positioning yourself to serve as an invaluable cog in the machine that is a judge’s chambers.
Whenever I speak with a law student or prospective law student, I always recommend that they consider clerking, and there are countless reasons why. It gives you the opportunity to engage in valuable public service and develop lasting personal and professional relationships with judges, fellow law clerks, and others. It exposes you to a wide array of areas of the law and allows you to learn about them firsthand, something that is particularly useful for individuals who, even upon graduating law school, are unsure as to exactly what field of law they want to (or do not want to) practice in.
Claire O’Brien
Michael Cohen
By Claire O’Brien and Michael Cohen
March 29 | Can Recent Law School Grads Move In-House? Tips on How to Maximize Your Chances | 5:30 p.m.
April 2 | YLD Spring Quarterly Council Meeting and Annual Planning Meeting | 10 a.m.
April 2 | YLD Social and Headshot Event | 1:30 p.m.
April 6 | Young Lawyers Division Transactional Law Panel: What’s the Deal? Insights into Transactional Law | 6 p.m.
April 19 | Insurance Law, Workers’ Compensation and Young Lawyers Division Joint Networking Event | 5 p.m.
April 22 | 2nd Annual YLD Pro Bono Day | 11 a.m.
Claire O’Brien
Michael Cohen
By Claire O’Brien and Michael Cohen
March 1-31 | Legal Feeding Frenzy
April 19 | Insurance Law, Workers’ Compensation and Young Lawyers Division Joint Networking Event | 5 p.m.
By Dawn Blagrove, Anne Keyworth and Preetha Rini
Where do you work and what is your job title?I work at Emancipate NC and am the Executive Director.
Criminal, Civil Rights, and Social Justice
Painting
I’m inspired by Black joy and liberation.
Meredith Brewer
Spencer Fritts
By Meredith Brewer and Spencer Fritts
Around 1 in 5 children are food insecure in North Carolina, and over 1.4 million North Carolinians – from children to seniors – face food insecurity and hunger in our state. The NCBA YLD’s Legal Feeding Frenzy is an opportunity for our legal community to come together to fight hunger across North Carolina and in your local communities. Running for the month of March, the Legal Feeding Frenzy is a food and funds drive competition to see who can raise the most food per employee to benefit local Feeding the Carolinas food banks. By donating to the food banks within our state, your dollars go further. Every dollar helps provide five meals.
Law firms, solo practitioners, law schools, and corporate counsel are all encouraged to participate! Teams must pre-register here. Get your team together, and register today!
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