Welcome to all our division members. Thanks to all who have served and will serve! I am honored to serve as the 2021-2022 Paralegal Division Chair. Last year, our division worked during unprecedented times and continued to advance its mission and achieved many goals. The Paralegal Council and its committees served our members and communities through countless virtual social events, assisted with pro bono services projects, membership giveaways, and scholarships.
The division’s success is an attribute of the hard work of our Paralegal Council Committees and our members’ participation. The Paralegal Council has 13 committees — Bylaws, Continued Paralegal Education, Diversity and Inclusion, Ethics, Long Range Planning, Membership, Paralegal Student Relations, Pro Bono, Publication/Blog (Communications), Section Liaisons, Survey, Technology, and Utilization. Our members are encouraged to get involved by investing time to serve on any committee of interest to them. Check out the bylaws on the division’s community page for committee descriptions.
https://ncbarblogprod.wpengine.com/wp-content/uploads/2018/06/Blog-Header-1-1030x530.png00Paralegalshttps://ncbarblogprod.wpengine.com/wp-content/uploads/2018/06/Blog-Header-1-1030x530.pngParalegals2021-07-29 16:00:072021-07-30 10:34:38Welcome, Division Members
Billy Clarke is a partner at Roberts & Stevens in Asheville. Billy has long been active in the Environment, Energy, & Natural Resources Section and served as chair of the section in 2009-2010. For those who attend the annual section meeting on alternate years in Asheville, you probably know Billy as the host of our Friday evening social at Hickory Nut Gap Farm, his family’s farm near Asheville.
Billy Clarke
Billy was born in Bat Cave, North Carolina and grew up as one of eight children (two girls and six boys; Billy was next to youngest) on his family’s Fairview dairy farm, where they also raised tobacco, apples, chickens and pigs. Billy says raising eight kids and gardening kept his mom busy, and he remembers meat from dairy cows being tough.
Billy’s father, James McClure Clarke, came to the Carolinas in the 1930s after graduating from Princeton in 1939. He ran the Farmer’s Federation, a farm cooperative that was squeezed out of business by larger cooperatives in the 1950s. Jamie Clarke was the editor of the Asheville Citizen-Times for 15 years, served in the North Carolina legislature in the 1970s, and served three terms as a U.S. Congressman in the 1980s. Billy’s sister Annie and her husband live in the “big” house at the family farm, and Annie’s husband is in the North Carolina legislature as one of three representatives from Buncombe County.
https://ncbarblogprod.wpengine.com/wp-content/uploads/2018/06/Blog-Header-1-1030x530.png00EnvironmentalLawhttps://ncbarblogprod.wpengine.com/wp-content/uploads/2018/06/Blog-Header-1-1030x530.pngEnvironmentalLaw2021-07-28 09:18:322021-07-28 09:32:08Spotlight: Billy Clarke
This week, the Court of Appeals offered two opinions of interest to administrative law practitioners.
Powell v. Cartret, July 20, 2021, Court of Appeals, COA20-406 (Judge Allegra Collins), Published.
Error to subject records under N.C. Gen. Stat. 58-10-430 to subpoena; no error to subject records under N.C. Gen. Stat. 58-30-62 to subpoena.
Although on its face, it appears to relate solely to the insurance statutes, some of the language has potential for broader application. The court bases its decision in part on the lack of specific language requiring that the requested records be provided on order of a court with jurisdiction.
Wynn v. Frederick, July 20, 2021, Court of Appeals, COA20-472 (Judge Fred Gore), Published.
Sovereign immunity, judicial immunity, and interlocutory appeal
Finds sovereign immunity is waived with regard to magistrates because they are “other officials” under the law in question, and, that judicial immunity is inapplicable.
https://ncbarblogprod.wpengine.com/wp-content/uploads/2018/06/Blog-Header-1-1030x530.png00Administrativehttps://ncbarblogprod.wpengine.com/wp-content/uploads/2018/06/Blog-Header-1-1030x530.pngAdministrative2021-07-23 10:48:332021-07-23 10:48:33Court of Appeals Cases of Interest This Week
The NCBA Professional Vitality Committee creates sourced articles centered on reducing inherent stress and enhancing vitality in the lives of legal professionals and offers those resources as a benefit for members of the North Carolina Bar Association.
We lawyers are terrific listeners. But . . . do we listen to our bodies?
Many of us go into our respective offices – whether it’s in a spiffy office building, or, now, since last year’s initial COVID-19 “shutdown” – at the kitchen table, in a niche adjacent to a stairway, or the basement. Most of us log in to a computer and move forward with tasks of the day. How do you feel in your current workplace?
In 2021, a freelancing marketplace reported that about one-fourth of the American workforce will be remote. Two of five American respondents to a survey about working remotely since COVID-19 reported new or increased pain in back, shoulder and wrists.[ii] A digital health company found almost half of their surveyed workers had back and joint pain; almost three-quarters said the pain was new or worse.[iii]
Opposition to the licensing of occupations and professions is not a partisan issue. It is a philosophical one. The advocates for change, reform, or outright elimination come from all sides.
The first U.S. President to address the issue was Barack Obama when in 2015, the White House released a seventy-six page report prepared jointly by the Department of Treasury Office of Economic Policy, the Council of Economic Advisors, and the Department of Labor: “Occupational Licensing: A Framework for Policy Makers.” President Donald Trump talked about it, but little to nothing was done. While some commentators have opined that the former president’s only initiative was to undo everything Obama set in place, the one area the two agreed on – and a policy Trump embraced – was “fixing” occupational licensing. Within months of his appointment in July 2017, then Labor Secretary Alexander Acosta called on state lawmakers to repeal licensing laws.
https://ncbarblogprod.wpengine.com/wp-content/uploads/2018/06/Blog-Header-1-1030x530.png00Administrativehttps://ncbarblogprod.wpengine.com/wp-content/uploads/2018/06/Blog-Header-1-1030x530.pngAdministrative2021-07-21 15:59:222021-07-21 16:16:06President Biden Weighs in on Occupational Licensing
It is an honor to serve as your Section Chair for 2021-2022. Thank you to Mitchell Kelling for her leadership as Chair last year and for all those who served and continue to serve as committee chairs and in other leadership roles. And thank you to Cheyenne Merrigan, our Communities Manager with the NCBA.
https://ncbarblogprod.wpengine.com/wp-content/uploads/2018/06/Blog-Header-1-1030x530.png00FamilyLawhttps://ncbarblogprod.wpengine.com/wp-content/uploads/2018/06/Blog-Header-1-1030x530.pngFamilyLaw2021-07-19 16:45:102021-07-19 16:45:10A Message from the Chair
Bradley Arant Boult Cummings LLP Announces New Partner
J. Michael Wilson has joined Bradley Arant Boult Cummings LLP as partner in the Charlotte office. He will practice in the firm’s Tax and Trusts and Estates groups. His areas of focus include taxation, mergers and acquisitions, joint ventures and fund formations. He has experience in real estate transactions, such as joint ventures, acquisitions, development, sales, and more. Wilson also has prior experience as a tax consultant. He graduated from the University of North Carolina School of Law with a J.D. and from UNC Chapel Hill, where he received a B.S. in business administration with a concentration in accounting.
Austin Rowe Kessler Joins Hall Booth Smith
Austin Rowe Kessler has joined the Asheville office of Hall Booth Smith. He focuses on insurance defense and general liability. Kessler has experience conducting trials and hearings in District Court and Superior Court. He has practiced in the areas of family law and civil litigation, estate planning, and criminal defense. Kessler graduated from Campbell Law School with a J.D. and from Guilford College with a B.A. in criminal justice and a minor in sociology.
Bangura Joins the Law Offices of James Scott Farrin
The Law Offices of James Scott Farrin announced that Sheri Bangura has joined the firm as a personal injury attorney. Bangura has worked for insurance companies for more than 15 years as a multi-state insurance claims adjuster. Sheri graduated cum laude from North Carolina Central University School of Law, where she earned a J.D. While in law school, she was a torts tutor and research assistant and was involved in the NCCU Student Bar Association as a 2L representative. She holds a a Bachelor of Science in criminal justice with a minor in sociology from Old Dominion University. Read more
The NCBA Professional Vitality Committee creates sourced articles centered on reducing inherent stress and enhancing vitality in the lives of legal professionals and offers those resources as a benefit for members of the North Carolina Bar Association.
Life is a journey. We all learn from our experiences. And if we’re paying attention, we become better people and lawyers not only from our successes but also from our failures. When I first started practicing, I made an effort to soak up as much knowledge and insight as I could from older, more experienced lawyers. Now that I’m one of them, I’ve taken on mentoring roles to help young lawyers just beginning to practice. If I’m honest, more time has passed than I would like to admit, but I still remember what it was like to be young, inexperienced, and fighting for my place at the table.
What appears below is a note to my younger self, with a bit of knowledge and experience I gained since I started practicing law more than 25 years ago. The idea was to help young lawyers – and maybe some not so young – learn from the experience of others, and perhaps come to terms a bit with the stress and pressure of being a new lawyer finding your way in an adversarial profession, whether in a transactional or a litigation practice.
A complete list of guidance would be endless, and there are likely as many good pieces of advice as there are practicing lawyers in the state. What appears below is in part unique to my experience, but also broad enough that others might benefit.
Impact breeds more impact. For six years now, the Legal Legends of Color Awards have highlighted the lives and careers of some of the most impactful attorneys of color in our state. Their contributions, lives, careers, and stories have impacted not only the clients and communities they have served or still serve, but also the attorneys who have followed in their footsteps. Many of those attorneys have now become legends themselves. The impact of a Legend is endless, and this year, with record registration numbers totaling two hundred and fifty-one, we were honored to elevate through video and virtual presentations the stories of a new class of legends. At the 123rd North Carolina Bar Association Annual Meeting and the sixth annual Legal Legends of Color Awards Celebration, we welcomed the following honorees into a distinguished and growing list of Legal Legends of Color:
https://ncbarblogprod.wpengine.com/wp-content/uploads/2018/06/Blog-Header-1-1030x530.png00NCBA MIPhttps://ncbarblogprod.wpengine.com/wp-content/uploads/2018/06/Blog-Header-1-1030x530.pngNCBA MIP2021-07-14 16:03:222021-07-14 16:42:162021 Legal Legends of Color Award Honorees
Each year, the Family Law Section is usually fortunate enough to have sufficient funds left over to make several donations. This year, the Council elected to make donations to the UNC School of Government in honor of Cheryl Howell and to the North Carolina Bar Foundation with the funds earmarked for Free Legal Answers.
The UNC School of Government, and specifically Cheryl Howell, is a valuable resource for family law attorneys. Cheryl Howell is a wealth of information and is always able to provide an answer when one is needed. North Carolina is lucky to have Cheryl, and the Council appreciates her devotion to family law. A donation of $500.00 was made in Cheryl’s name.
Welcome, Division Members
Paralegal DivisionBy Shawana Almendarez
Welcome to all our division members. Thanks to all who have served and will serve! I am honored to serve as the 2021-2022 Paralegal Division Chair. Last year, our division worked during unprecedented times and continued to advance its mission and achieved many goals. The Paralegal Council and its committees served our members and communities through countless virtual social events, assisted with pro bono services projects, membership giveaways, and scholarships.
The division’s success is an attribute of the hard work of our Paralegal Council Committees and our members’ participation. The Paralegal Council has 13 committees — Bylaws, Continued Paralegal Education, Diversity and Inclusion, Ethics, Long Range Planning, Membership, Paralegal Student Relations, Pro Bono, Publication/Blog (Communications), Section Liaisons, Survey, Technology, and Utilization. Our members are encouraged to get involved by investing time to serve on any committee of interest to them. Check out the bylaws on the division’s community page for committee descriptions.
Read more
Spotlight: Billy Clarke
Environment Energy & Natural ResourcesBy Rick Kolb
Billy Clarke is a partner at Roberts & Stevens in Asheville. Billy has long been active in the Environment, Energy, & Natural Resources Section and served as chair of the section in 2009-2010. For those who attend the annual section meeting on alternate years in Asheville, you probably know Billy as the host of our Friday evening social at Hickory Nut Gap Farm, his family’s farm near Asheville.
Billy Clarke
Billy was born in Bat Cave, North Carolina and grew up as one of eight children (two girls and six boys; Billy was next to youngest) on his family’s Fairview dairy farm, where they also raised tobacco, apples, chickens and pigs. Billy says raising eight kids and gardening kept his mom busy, and he remembers meat from dairy cows being tough.
Billy’s father, James McClure Clarke, came to the Carolinas in the 1930s after graduating from Princeton in 1939. He ran the Farmer’s Federation, a farm cooperative that was squeezed out of business by larger cooperatives in the 1950s. Jamie Clarke was the editor of the Asheville Citizen-Times for 15 years, served in the North Carolina legislature in the 1970s, and served three terms as a U.S. Congressman in the 1980s. Billy’s sister Annie and her husband live in the “big” house at the family farm, and Annie’s husband is in the North Carolina legislature as one of three representatives from Buncombe County.
Read more
Court of Appeals Cases of Interest This Week
Administrative LawThis week, the Court of Appeals offered two opinions of interest to administrative law practitioners.
Powell v. Cartret, July 20, 2021, Court of Appeals, COA20-406 (Judge Allegra Collins), Published.
Error to subject records under N.C. Gen. Stat. 58-10-430 to subpoena; no error to subject records under N.C. Gen. Stat. 58-30-62 to subpoena.
Although on its face, it appears to relate solely to the insurance statutes, some of the language has potential for broader application. The court bases its decision in part on the lack of specific language requiring that the requested records be provided on order of a court with jurisdiction.
Wynn v. Frederick, July 20, 2021, Court of Appeals, COA20-472 (Judge Fred Gore), Published.
Sovereign immunity, judicial immunity, and interlocutory appeal
Finds sovereign immunity is waived with regard to magistrates because they are “other officials” under the law in question, and, that judicial immunity is inapplicable.
Ergo? What? My Aching Back
Professional Vitality, Professional Vitality CommitteeThe NCBA Professional Vitality Committee creates sourced articles centered on reducing inherent stress and enhancing vitality in the lives of legal professionals and offers those resources as a benefit for members of the North Carolina Bar Association.
We lawyers are terrific listeners. But . . . do we listen to our bodies?
Many of us go into our respective offices – whether it’s in a spiffy office building, or, now, since last year’s initial COVID-19 “shutdown” – at the kitchen table, in a niche adjacent to a stairway, or the basement. Most of us log in to a computer and move forward with tasks of the day. How do you feel in your current workplace?
In 2021, a freelancing marketplace reported that about one-fourth of the American workforce will be remote. Two of five American respondents to a survey about working remotely since COVID-19 reported new or increased pain in back, shoulder and wrists.[ii] A digital health company found almost half of their surveyed workers had back and joint pain; almost three-quarters said the pain was new or worse.[iii]
Read more
President Biden Weighs in on Occupational Licensing
Administrative LawOpposition to the licensing of occupations and professions is not a partisan issue. It is a philosophical one. The advocates for change, reform, or outright elimination come from all sides.
The first U.S. President to address the issue was Barack Obama when in 2015, the White House released a seventy-six page report prepared jointly by the Department of Treasury Office of Economic Policy, the Council of Economic Advisors, and the Department of Labor: “Occupational Licensing: A Framework for Policy Makers.” President Donald Trump talked about it, but little to nothing was done. While some commentators have opined that the former president’s only initiative was to undo everything Obama set in place, the one area the two agreed on – and a policy Trump embraced – was “fixing” occupational licensing. Within months of his appointment in July 2017, then Labor Secretary Alexander Acosta called on state lawmakers to repeal licensing laws.
Read more
A Message from the Chair
Family Law SectionDear Family Law Section Members,
It is an honor to serve as your Section Chair for 2021-2022. Thank you to Mitchell Kelling for her leadership as Chair last year and for all those who served and continue to serve as committee chairs and in other leadership roles. And thank you to Cheyenne Merrigan, our Communities Manager with the NCBA.
Read more
Checking In: July 20, 2021
Checking InCompiled by Jessica Junqueira
Bradley Arant Boult Cummings LLP Announces New Partner
Austin Rowe Kessler Joins Hall Booth Smith
Bangura Joins the Law Offices of James Scott Farrin
Read more
A Note To My Younger Self
Professional Vitality, Professional Vitality CommitteeThe NCBA Professional Vitality Committee creates sourced articles centered on reducing inherent stress and enhancing vitality in the lives of legal professionals and offers those resources as a benefit for members of the North Carolina Bar Association.
By Coleman Cowan
Life is a journey. We all learn from our experiences. And if we’re paying attention, we become better people and lawyers not only from our successes but also from our failures. When I first started practicing, I made an effort to soak up as much knowledge and insight as I could from older, more experienced lawyers. Now that I’m one of them, I’ve taken on mentoring roles to help young lawyers just beginning to practice. If I’m honest, more time has passed than I would like to admit, but I still remember what it was like to be young, inexperienced, and fighting for my place at the table.
What appears below is a note to my younger self, with a bit of knowledge and experience I gained since I started practicing law more than 25 years ago. The idea was to help young lawyers – and maybe some not so young – learn from the experience of others, and perhaps come to terms a bit with the stress and pressure of being a new lawyer finding your way in an adversarial profession, whether in a transactional or a litigation practice.
A complete list of guidance would be endless, and there are likely as many good pieces of advice as there are practicing lawyers in the state. What appears below is in part unique to my experience, but also broad enough that others might benefit.
Read more
2021 Legal Legends of Color Award Honorees
Featured Posts, Minorities In the ProfessionImpact breeds more impact. For six years now, the Legal Legends of Color Awards have highlighted the lives and careers of some of the most impactful attorneys of color in our state. Their contributions, lives, careers, and stories have impacted not only the clients and communities they have served or still serve, but also the attorneys who have followed in their footsteps. Many of those attorneys have now become legends themselves. The impact of a Legend is endless, and this year, with record registration numbers totaling two hundred and fifty-one, we were honored to elevate through video and virtual presentations the stories of a new class of legends. At the 123rd North Carolina Bar Association Annual Meeting and the sixth annual Legal Legends of Color Awards Celebration, we welcomed the following honorees into a distinguished and growing list of Legal Legends of Color:
Professor James E. Coleman Jr.
Judge Wanda Bryant
Attorney Karen Bethea-Shields
Attorney Julian Pierce (posthumously)
Judge Elreta Melton Alexander (posthumously)
Read more
Family Law Section Donations
Family Law SectionEach year, the Family Law Section is usually fortunate enough to have sufficient funds left over to make several donations. This year, the Council elected to make donations to the UNC School of Government in honor of Cheryl Howell and to the North Carolina Bar Foundation with the funds earmarked for Free Legal Answers.
The UNC School of Government, and specifically Cheryl Howell, is a valuable resource for family law attorneys. Cheryl Howell is a wealth of information and is always able to provide an answer when one is needed. North Carolina is lucky to have Cheryl, and the Council appreciates her devotion to family law. A donation of $500.00 was made in Cheryl’s name.
Read more