At a time when our state and nation face a pandemic the scale of which has not been encountered in roughly a century, administrative law continues to be a prevalent and pronounced part of our modern world. While it has been said in the past that “the action of administrative agencies so pervasively impinges on the daily lives of citizens and has become so thoroughly accepted as a mode of carrying out government business that the phenomenon often goes largely unnoticed,” administrative law is hardly unnoticed at this time when such drastic changes are occurring. Charles E. Daye, North Carolina’s New Administrative Procedure Act: An Interpretive Analysis, 53 N.C. L. Rev. 833, 836 (1975).
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.pngAdministrative2020-05-05 12:15:152020-05-06 10:59:20Like the song in "Carousel," Administrative Law is "Bustin' Out All Over"
Good morning, everyone! There are three important new developments that we want to ensure you know.
1. Chief Justice Beasley’s Newest Order As most of you know by now, last Friday Chief Justice Beasley issued a new Order regarding the administration of justice during COVID-19. Every part of that Order is incredibly important, extending the Chief Justice’s prior directives out to June 1, clarifying the procedure regarding remote hearings, and much more. We recommend every attorney and paralegal read this Order in full.Click here to read it.
https://ncbarblogprod.wpengine.com/wp-content/uploads/2018/06/Blog-Header-1-1030x530.png00Litigationhttps://ncbarblogprod.wpengine.com/wp-content/uploads/2018/06/Blog-Header-1-1030x530.pngLitigation2020-05-05 11:51:162020-05-05 11:53:04A New Chief Justice Beasley Order, Session Law 2020-3, and the Court Wants Your Help!
As lawyers, we preach philanthropy and public service on a regular basis, but we often are so overburdened with deadlines, paperwork, and research that philanthropy can often turn into a charitable donation. While in law school at Duquesne University in Pittsburgh, Pa., I was an avid and cutthroat competitor in our trial advocacy competition team, so when I was stationed at Fort Bragg to start my career as a Judge Advocate with XVIII Airborne Corps, I wanted to find a way to combine that advocacy competitiveness and my philanthropic core principle. Enter: becoming an attorney advisor for a high school mock trial team through the North Carolina Mock Trial Program.
When I first met with the team in September, I had to remind myself of one major underlying principle: these are high school kids, not law students. As a law student competitor, we practice relentlessly and often; we find a way to balance the rigors and demands of law school with the demands of honing our advocacy skills. It’s expected that you will be emotionally, intellectually, spiritually, and physically exhausted, but at the same time, every person in that room is there to win. None of those things are expected of a high school team nor, more importantly, should they be.
https://ncbarblogprod.wpengine.com/wp-content/uploads/2018/06/Blog-Header-1-1030x530.png00NCBARBLOGhttps://ncbarblogprod.wpengine.com/wp-content/uploads/2018/06/Blog-Header-1-1030x530.pngNCBARBLOG2020-05-05 08:01:342020-05-05 08:50:59Why Do I Care More Than They Do? A Young Lawyer’s First Attempt at Coaching High School Mock Trial
Good morning, everyone! There are three important new developments that we want to ensure you know.
1. Chief Justice Beasley’s Newest Order As most of you know by now, last Friday Chief Justice Beasley issued a new Order regarding the administration of justice during COVID-19. Every part of that Order is incredibly important, extending the Chief Justice’s prior directives out to June 1, clarifying the procedure regarding remote hearings, and much more. We recommend every attorney and paralegal read this Order in full.Click here to read it.
https://ncbarblogprod.wpengine.com/wp-content/uploads/2018/06/Blog-Header-1-1030x530.png00Litigationhttps://ncbarblogprod.wpengine.com/wp-content/uploads/2018/06/Blog-Header-1-1030x530.pngLitigation2020-05-05 07:23:432020-05-05 11:50:00A New Chief Justice Beasley Order, Session Law 2020-3, and the Court Wants Your Help!
[Editor’s note: We appreciate the substantial contributions of John H. Griffing of Griffing Leazer, PLLC in Gastonia and Kathleen R. Rodberg of McGuire Wood & Bissette in Asheville in preparing this post for timely publication. Please look for a separate post by Kathleen R. Rodberg on guardianship changes shortly.]
[Additional Writer and Editor’s note: When assisting clients with estate planning documents this statute does not alter legal precedent requiring original wet signatures and original wet notarizations on most documents. This blog only focuses on the steps a notary would take in completing a remote video notarization when an original wet signature is required. Please reference the provisions of G.S. 10B-25(e)(1) for direction on remote video notarization when an original wet signature and original wet notarization are not required for the document.]
Attorneys from the Elder and Special Needs Law Section of the North Carolina Bar Association in collaboration with NC NAELA, other sections of the North Carolina Bar Association and its leadership, other interested parties, and the North Carolina General Assembly have been working to introduce the legislation that passed on May 2, 2020, and was signed into law by Gov. Cooper on May 4, 2020, authorizing remote notarization, remote witnessing, and execution of health care directives without witnesses during the state of emergency. There were a lot of compromises. Ultimately, we have legislation that will aid you in providing safe assistance to your clients during the COVID-19 public health crisis.
https://ncbarblogprod.wpengine.com/wp-content/uploads/2018/06/Blog-Header-1-1030x530.png00ElderLawhttps://ncbarblogprod.wpengine.com/wp-content/uploads/2018/06/Blog-Header-1-1030x530.pngElderLaw2020-05-05 06:44:532020-05-12 10:13:02Emergency Remote Notary, Witnesses and Execution of Health Care Directives Without Witnesses During Emergency
Members of the Sports & Entertainment Law (“SEL”) Section found the following recent third-party articles to be of potential interest to the Section. Feel free to reach out to the SEL Section communications chairs (Kelly Ryan and Amanda Whorton) if you would like to submit either personally written pieces or other third-party articles found that would be of interest to the entire SEL Section members.
Join the NCBA Sports and Entertainment Law Section this Thursday, May 7, 2020 at 6 p.m. for #TriviaThursdays! Prizes will be available for winners. Please RSVP by May 6, 2020 using the link below. Join us on Zoom and get to know our Council and Section members. Pour a glass of your favorite beverage, throw on your old sports jerseys or favorite band T-shirts, and get ready to answer some questions about the sports and entertainment industry! Once you RSVP, the zoom link/information will be distributed.
When | Thursday, May 7| 6-7 p.m.
Where | Zoom (both a video link and a dial-in will be available)
https://ncbarblogprod.wpengine.com/wp-content/uploads/2018/06/Blog-Header-1-1030x530.png00SportsandEntertainmenthttps://ncbarblogprod.wpengine.com/wp-content/uploads/2018/06/Blog-Header-1-1030x530.pngSportsandEntertainment2020-05-04 15:34:542020-05-04 17:07:04REMINDER: SEL Section Trivia Night (Thursday, May 7, 2020)
Today, May 1, is International Workers’ Day. Though it is overlooked in the United States, this day, also referred to as “May Day,” is a public holiday in many countries around the world. It’s a day to celebrate workers and a day for workers to demonstrate and demand more rights in the workplace.
Though many of us are currently confined to our homes, May Day feels particularly relevant amidst the COVID-19 pandemic. In the last six weeks, over 30 million people have filed for unemployment benefits. Even this staggering figure falls far short of revealing the total number of unemployed Americans. As the ship sinks, companies, by and large, are throwing workers overboard. When they do so, people are left reaching for our country’s tattered safety net, which is wholly unequipped to handle something like this.
The coronavirus is laying bare the injustice of the American workplace. On some level, it’s true that we are all in this together. The virus does not care if you are rich or poor, black or white, Christian or Muslim. It does not care if you think this is all a Deep State hoax or whether you are predicting the end of the world. Anyone can be infected.
https://ncbarblogprod.wpengine.com/wp-content/uploads/2018/06/Blog-Header-1-1030x530.png00Laborhttps://ncbarblogprod.wpengine.com/wp-content/uploads/2018/06/Blog-Header-1-1030x530.pngLabor2020-05-01 12:08:222020-05-01 14:32:27May Day in the Time of COVID-19: Signs of an Awakening
Many nonprofits in North Carolina are on the front lines of the COVID-19 crisis struggling to meet increased demands for their services and may not be focused on logistical problems related to having member meetings.
The North Carolina Nonprofit Corporation Act (the “Act,” as set forth in Chapter 55A of the North Carolina General Statutes) provides default rules and defines the bounds of how member and board meetings may be conducted.
Section 55A-8-20(b) of the Act already permits directors of nonprofit corporations to participate in board meetings remotely. There is no parallel in the Act’s provisions on member meetings, and in fact, Sections 55A-7-01 and -02 of the Act state that annual and special meetings of members are to be held at a “place” stated in or fixed in accordance with the corporation’s bylaws. This language suggests, but does not definitively state, that annual and special member meetings can only be held on an in-person basis and not remotely. The language creates a problem for nonprofits given the Gov. Cooper’s prior Executive Orders (and municipal orders) limiting mass gatherings during the COVID-19 crisis to no more than 10 people.
https://ncbarblogprod.wpengine.com/wp-content/uploads/2018/06/Blog-Header-1-1030x530.png00Businesshttps://ncbarblogprod.wpengine.com/wp-content/uploads/2018/06/Blog-Header-1-1030x530.pngBusiness2020-04-30 14:31:272020-05-04 18:51:21New North Carolina Executive Order Addresses Nonprofit Corporation Member Meetings during the COVID-19 Crisis
The NCBA YLD Diversity and Inclusion Committee has interviewed several diverse attorneys about their experiences in the law. New attorneys face many challenges, including finding mentors, fitting in, and finding their place—and diverse attorneys are no different.
Here is one diverse attorney’s perspective on how he is overcoming these challenges.
Like the song in “Carousel,” Administrative Law is “Bustin’ Out All Over”
Administrative LawSection Chair
At a time when our state and nation face a pandemic the scale of which has not been encountered in roughly a century, administrative law continues to be a prevalent and pronounced part of our modern world. While it has been said in the past that “the action of administrative agencies so pervasively impinges on the daily lives of citizens and has become so thoroughly accepted as a mode of carrying out government business that the phenomenon often goes largely unnoticed,” administrative law is hardly unnoticed at this time when such drastic changes are occurring. Charles E. Daye, North Carolina’s New Administrative Procedure Act: An Interpretive Analysis, 53 N.C. L. Rev. 833, 836 (1975).
Read more
A New Chief Justice Beasley Order, Session Law 2020-3, and the Court Wants Your Help!
Family Law SectionPJ Puryear
Kellie Myers
By PJ Puryear and Kellie Myers
Good morning, everyone! There are three important new developments that we want to ensure you know.
1. Chief Justice Beasley’s Newest Order
As most of you know by now, last Friday Chief Justice Beasley issued a new Order regarding the administration of justice during COVID-19. Every part of that Order is incredibly important, extending the Chief Justice’s prior directives out to June 1, clarifying the procedure regarding remote hearings, and much more. We recommend every attorney and paralegal read this Order in full. Click here to read it.
Read more
Why Do I Care More Than They Do? A Young Lawyer’s First Attempt at Coaching High School Mock Trial
Featured PostsAs lawyers, we preach philanthropy and public service on a regular basis, but we often are so overburdened with deadlines, paperwork, and research that philanthropy can often turn into a charitable donation. While in law school at Duquesne University in Pittsburgh, Pa., I was an avid and cutthroat competitor in our trial advocacy competition team, so when I was stationed at Fort Bragg to start my career as a Judge Advocate with XVIII Airborne Corps, I wanted to find a way to combine that advocacy competitiveness and my philanthropic core principle. Enter: becoming an attorney advisor for a high school mock trial team through the North Carolina Mock Trial Program.
When I first met with the team in September, I had to remind myself of one major underlying principle: these are high school kids, not law students. As a law student competitor, we practice relentlessly and often; we find a way to balance the rigors and demands of law school with the demands of honing our advocacy skills. It’s expected that you will be emotionally, intellectually, spiritually, and physically exhausted, but at the same time, every person in that room is there to win. None of those things are expected of a high school team nor, more importantly, should they be.
Read more
A New Chief Justice Beasley Order, Session Law 2020-3, and the Court Wants Your Help!
Litigation SectionPJ Puryear
Kellie Myers
By PJ Puryear and Kellie Myers
Good morning, everyone! There are three important new developments that we want to ensure you know.
1. Chief Justice Beasley’s Newest Order
As most of you know by now, last Friday Chief Justice Beasley issued a new Order regarding the administration of justice during COVID-19. Every part of that Order is incredibly important, extending the Chief Justice’s prior directives out to June 1, clarifying the procedure regarding remote hearings, and much more. We recommend every attorney and paralegal read this Order in full. Click here to read it.
Read more
Emergency Remote Notary, Witnesses and Execution of Health Care Directives Without Witnesses During Emergency
Elder & Special Needs LawBy Andrew Atherton
[Editor’s note: We appreciate the substantial contributions of John H. Griffing of Griffing Leazer, PLLC in Gastonia and Kathleen R. Rodberg of McGuire Wood & Bissette in Asheville in preparing this post for timely publication. Please look for a separate post by Kathleen R. Rodberg on guardianship changes shortly.]
[Additional Writer and Editor’s note: When assisting clients with estate planning documents this statute does not alter legal precedent requiring original wet signatures and original wet notarizations on most documents. This blog only focuses on the steps a notary would take in completing a remote video notarization when an original wet signature is required. Please reference the provisions of G.S. 10B-25(e)(1) for direction on remote video notarization when an original wet signature and original wet notarization are not required for the document.]
Attorneys from the Elder and Special Needs Law Section of the North Carolina Bar Association in collaboration with NC NAELA, other sections of the North Carolina Bar Association and its leadership, other interested parties, and the North Carolina General Assembly have been working to introduce the legislation that passed on May 2, 2020, and was signed into law by Gov. Cooper on May 4, 2020, authorizing remote notarization, remote witnessing, and execution of health care directives without witnesses during the state of emergency. There were a lot of compromises. Ultimately, we have legislation that will aid you in providing safe assistance to your clients during the COVID-19 public health crisis.
Read more
SEL Section Articles of Interest (April 2020)
Sports & Entertainment Law SectionMembers of the Sports & Entertainment Law (“SEL”) Section found the following recent third-party articles to be of potential interest to the Section. Feel free to reach out to the SEL Section communications chairs (Kelly Ryan and Amanda Whorton) if you would like to submit either personally written pieces or other third-party articles found that would be of interest to the entire SEL Section members.
The Legal Complications of the Tokyo 2020 Olympics Postponement
New York Sports Clubs Sued for Still Charging Gym Fees for More Than 600,000 Members Despite Coronavirus Closure
Fair Winds to Copyright Holders: States Have Sovereign Immunity from Infringement Suits
NBA May Reduce Players’ Salaries Due to COVID-19 Shutdown
Read more
REMINDER: SEL Section Trivia Night (Thursday, May 7, 2020)
Sports & Entertainment Law SectionJoin the NCBA Sports and Entertainment Law Section this Thursday, May 7, 2020 at 6 p.m. for #TriviaThursdays! Prizes will be available for winners. Please RSVP by May 6, 2020 using the link below. Join us on Zoom and get to know our Council and Section members. Pour a glass of your favorite beverage, throw on your old sports jerseys or favorite band T-shirts, and get ready to answer some questions about the sports and entertainment industry! Once you RSVP, the zoom link/information will be distributed.
When | Thursday, May 7| 6-7 p.m.
Where | Zoom (both a video link and a dial-in will be available)
RSVP | Click here.
May Day in the Time of COVID-19: Signs of an Awakening
Labor & Employment LawToday, May 1, is International Workers’ Day. Though it is overlooked in the United States, this day, also referred to as “May Day,” is a public holiday in many countries around the world. It’s a day to celebrate workers and a day for workers to demonstrate and demand more rights in the workplace.
Though many of us are currently confined to our homes, May Day feels particularly relevant amidst the COVID-19 pandemic. In the last six weeks, over 30 million people have filed for unemployment benefits. Even this staggering figure falls far short of revealing the total number of unemployed Americans. As the ship sinks, companies, by and large, are throwing workers overboard. When they do so, people are left reaching for our country’s tattered safety net, which is wholly unequipped to handle something like this.
The coronavirus is laying bare the injustice of the American workplace. On some level, it’s true that we are all in this together. The virus does not care if you are rich or poor, black or white, Christian or Muslim. It does not care if you think this is all a Deep State hoax or whether you are predicting the end of the world. Anyone can be infected.
Read more
New North Carolina Executive Order Addresses Nonprofit Corporation Member Meetings during the COVID-19 Crisis
Business LawMany nonprofits in North Carolina are on the front lines of the COVID-19 crisis struggling to meet increased demands for their services and may not be focused on logistical problems related to having member meetings.
The North Carolina Nonprofit Corporation Act (the “Act,” as set forth in Chapter 55A of the North Carolina General Statutes) provides default rules and defines the bounds of how member and board meetings may be conducted.
Section 55A-8-20(b) of the Act already permits directors of nonprofit corporations to participate in board meetings remotely. There is no parallel in the Act’s provisions on member meetings, and in fact, Sections 55A-7-01 and -02 of the Act state that annual and special meetings of members are to be held at a “place” stated in or fixed in accordance with the corporation’s bylaws. This language suggests, but does not definitively state, that annual and special member meetings can only be held on an in-person basis and not remotely. The language creates a problem for nonprofits given the Gov. Cooper’s prior Executive Orders (and municipal orders) limiting mass gatherings during the COVID-19 crisis to no more than 10 people.
Read more
An Interview With Drew Culler
Young Lawyers DivisionThe NCBA YLD Diversity and Inclusion Committee has interviewed several diverse attorneys about their experiences in the law. New attorneys face many challenges, including finding mentors, fitting in, and finding their place—and diverse attorneys are no different.
Here is one diverse attorney’s perspective on how he is overcoming these challenges.
Read more