ICPC Procedures during the COVID-19 Crisis – Interstate Adoption

By Brinton Wright and Michele Smith

If you’re involved in an interstate adoption and need to comply with the Interstate Compact on the Placement of Children (ICPC), you should know how the COVID-19 crisis affected the procedure for submitting a request for approval of a placement to North Carolina ICPC.

North Carolina’s ICPC Administrative Assistant and ICPC Specialists are all working remotely while Governor Cooper’s Stay at Home Order remains in effect.  Accordingly, for now at least, do not send the ICPC request to the ICPC Office in Raleigh. There’s no one there!
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Update on Pro Bono Efforts

Mallory Lidaka

Samantha Aktug

By Mallory Lidaka and Samantha Aktug

Hello Section Members!  We hope everyone is staying healthy (and sane!) during these uncertain times. We want to first thank everyone for participating in our initial Pro Bono effort for the year during the Annual Conference in February. Free Legal Answers participation has grown since that time, and we are so happy that our Section’s participation helped to increase those registration numbers. We continue to encourage our Members to register and/or log-in to Free Legal Answers to continue to provide Pro Bono legal services to the community.

Although we cannot schedule in-person events at this time, we would love to find a way for our Members to remain engaged in our Pro Bono goals for this year even while everyone is working remotely. Please look out for more information to come from the Pro Bono Subcommittee about Pro Bono events in which you can participate. Also, if you have identified a Pro Bono need or idea in which you think our Members would enjoy participating, please do not hesitate to contact Mallory Lidaka ([email protected]) or Samantha Aktug ([email protected]). Thank you again for your continuing support of our Section.

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Ten Tips for the Quarantined Lawyer

By John O’Neal

Good day Counselor. I hope this post finds you and yours safe and well in these unusual times. The COVID-19 pandemic has given most of us more free time than we have had in a long time.

While you definitely need to use some of the free time to recharge your battery and engage in some non-work activities, be sure to take advantage of the opportunity to improve your practice.

Here are a few quick tips:

  1. Review your list of current clients. Make and execute decisions on some of the cases that you have not worked on in a while. Disengage from the cases you need to get out of and re-engage on the cases that you need to work on. Reconnect with the client if it has been a while since you have touched base. Assess statutes of limitations in all unfiled cases.
  2. In all of your litigation cases review your case management plan. If you do not have a case management plan create one and think through the steps needed to execute it. Discovery, motions, depositions, mediation, and establish timelines if appropriate. Also, devise estimated costs for the different phases and facets of the case, so you can better account for your time and fees as well as what it may cost your client for your handling of the case.
  3. Review your monthly expenditures and determine if you need to cut any items, add any items, or reassess some of the items on which you are currently spending.
  4. Go through your list of accounts receivable, aka clients who owe you money. Consider whether you need to provide deferrals, payment plans, reductions, or waivers. Assess the probability of receiving payment and then proceed accordingly.
  5. Think and rethink your current areas of practice. Is it time for you to disengage from certain areas of practice? Is it time for you to learn and undertake new areas of practice? Identify areas of practice in which there is a shortage of attorneys in your geographical area.Nowadays, you can use technology to broaden the geographical area that you service and cover. You can also use technology to obtain resources and content and relationships to help you learn new areas of practice and obtain mentorship and guidance as you begin handling new cases. Often, to get the connections, resources, information, and additional fresh perspectives for your cases and practice, you have to look nationally versus locally. For me, joining the National Association of Consumer Advocates is one of the best career moves I have made. I should have done it years earlier.Do not keep doing what everyone else is doing and pulling your hair out about how you will beat or keep up with the competition. To the contrary, think outside the box, do something different, fill the voids around you, and see the results. This is especially important for the new lawyer.
  6. Connect with some of your colleagues and your top referral sources. Identify your top clients and reach out to them directly with a card, phone call, or other means of communication.
  7. Review and update your website. Do not delegate or leave this task to someone else. You are the legal expert and should have the best idea as to what content is needed in the current legal marketplace of new clients. It is okay to have your web developer review your proposed edits but do not let the developer be solely responsible for the content on your site. And if you do not have a website, seriously look into getting one . . . and soon!
  8. Determine ways you can gain an edge on your competition. What are your strengths and unique selling propositions that can separate you from your competition? Also identify any current weaknesses or limitations that you can work on to better improve your standing in the marketplace.
  9. Find ways to give back. Mentor young lawyers. Be a resource for people who are interested in a legal career. Connect with your college or law school alumni association and take a leadership role. Donate money or time or resources to the community. Start a scholarship fund for high school students seeking to attend college or college students seeking to attend law school. Reach out to local organizations and groups as to how you can provide free consultations for workshops or resources/information to better educate them on their rights.
  10. Remember where you came from. If your family and friends and hometown provided you support that helped you to accomplish your goal of becoming a lawyer, think of ways you can reconnect and give back to say thanks. Remember that these people and institutions should represent your warm market and can often be the source of new clients and relationships that can really boost your practice.

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Military Pension Division: Claims for Relief That Cannot Be Granted

By Mark Sullivan

Every once in a while, a claim to divide military retirement benefits is met with a motion to dismiss.

Sometimes such a defense is well-taken, and sometimes it’s a stalling tactic or it’s based on a misapprehension of the law.

Here’s a short summary of jurisdiction and the division of the military pension.

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Administrative Law – Third-Party Articles of Possible Interest

Feedback Requested: E-Court Filings Requiring Notarization

From the NCBA International Law Section, April 15, 2020.

Criminal law reforms remain priority for some legislators amid COVID-19 pandemic

Carolina Journal, Kari Travis,  April 16, 2020.

Regulation rollbacks under COVID-19 could set new path for North Carolina

Carolina Journal, Julie Havlak, April 10, 2020.

After-Acquired Evidence Could Limit State Employees’ Relief in Contested Cases

NCBA Labor and Employment Law Section blog, Trey Ferguson.

Administrative law judge is accused of insubordination and suspended for footnotes

ABA Journal, Debra Cassens Weiss, April 7, 2020.

NOTE:  This article is not about NC.

 

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A Message from the Chair

By Eleasa Harris Allen

Over the last several weeks, we have experienced things in our professional and personal lives that none of us would have contemplated just a couple of months ago. Most court cases have been continued until June 1. We are learning to work remotely. We are conducting meetings and mediations via Zoom and Webex . . . all while many of us are attempting (and I personally stress the word “attempting”) to homeschool our children and maintain some degree of sanity along the way.

These certainly are unprecedented times, the likes of which we may never experience again. When we look back on this, we will hopefully be able to identify lessons learned along the way. Adaptability and a willingness to change will be among those lessons, as will the ability to embrace new technology and to be more flexible in general. Perhaps the most important lessons we can learn center on developing more patience and showing grace to ourselves and others. I suspect many of us will be applying some of these lessons to our individual practices, even after things have returned to “normal.”

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Western Hemisphere Best Prospects Industries Free Webinar Series

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Infrastructure – Defense/Safety & Security – ICT/Cybersecurity – Energy
April-August 2020 at 1:00 p.m. EST

In light of current circumstances, the U.S. Commercial Service is offering these webinar series at no cost.

Infrastructure Projects in Latin America Webinar Series
Webinar Series focused on upcoming infrastructure projects in Latin America announced by different governments in the region to stimulate their economies. These projects represent opportunities for different sectors from architecture services, engineering services, construction equipment, building products, airports, ports, transportation, housing, environmental technologies, among others.

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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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The Tax Implications of Three Programs Created by the CARES Act

By John G. Hodnette

The landscape of the United States has changed in the past weeks as COVID-19 continues to sweep across our nation. The Federal government attempted to mitigate the economic damage of the virus on March 27 with the Coronavirus Aid, Relief, and Economic Security (“CARES”) Act. Although the programs created by the CARES Act are being explained by media outlets, there is some confusion in the general public about the tax implications of these programs.

Most have heard about the $1,200 per person payments being sent by the IRS to qualifying individuals. These payments are increased by $500 for each dependent under the age of 17 and subject to a phase out for taxpayers above a certain income level. However, some taxpayers are confused about how these payments will be treated for tax purposes. The Act explains the payments are advance refundable tax credits for taxpayers’ 2020 taxes. For tax purposes, a tax credit is a dollar for dollar reduction in tax due. Credits are more powerful than deductions, which are a reduction in taxable income, not in tax. Some credits, such as this one, are refundable, meaning that if the credit exceeds the tax due, the excess is paid to the taxpayer. However, in this case, the government treated the credit as fully refundable in advance so taxpayers are able to receive these needed funds quickly. That does not mean that the payments are loans that must be repaid. It also does not mean the payments will be taxable income in 2020 or any other year. Rather, the payments are truly free money the government has sent to Americans to help them get through the COVID-19 pandemic.

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Lawyers for Literacy: Become a Virtual Volunteer

By Tina Dadio 

The North Carolina Bar Foundation is working to provide North Carolina students with access to resources. Lawyers for Literacy is one of the best things that we can do right now to make a big difference in the lives of young students currently stuck at home and their parents.

If you or any of your colleagues are willing to help by making a recording of you reading one of our books (preferably a video recording), the staff at the North Carolina Bar Foundation can distribute this engaging content directly to teachers and families.

The use of a laptop, tablet or cellphone is acceptable. Please feel free to contact Paul Vaughan at [email protected] for information about where to upload the video and the logistics of making the recording.

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