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James Ferguson: The People’s Champion

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Long-time North Carolina Bar Association member James Ferguson won the NCBA Litigation Section’s Advocate’s Award last year. Our slide show offers scenes from his 48-year career as a civil rights attorney and leader in the international trial advocacy movement, including work with Bishop Desmond Tutu and Nelson Mandela in South Africa. For the full story, see the most recent edition of North Carolina Lawyer, which features Ferguson on the cover.

[slideshare id=58918752&doc=prettyferg-160301160851]

NC State Bar-LegalZoom Settlement Sets Stage For Legislative Action

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Editor’s note: This story appears in the February 2016 edition of North Carolina Lawyer.

By Russell Rawlings

The North Carolina State Bar and LegalZoom.com Inc. took a giant step toward resolving their longstanding differences when the parties signed a consent judgment on Oct. 22, 2015. The highly publicized agreement gave the State Bar consumer protections that it was seeking while clarifying LegalZoom’s right to provide documents to North Carolina citizens via the Internet.

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NCBA Member Seth Blum on Being an Actor and an Attorney

Photo by Yorgason Photography

Members in focus: Seth A. Blum
Duke University School of Law
Founding Partner of Kurtz & Blum, Raleigh

By Amber Nimocks

For Seth Blum, the works of William Shakespeare offer not just philosophical inspiration but also a means of self-expression, an opportunity for family bonding and a chance to enhance some of the skills he uses in the practice of law. Blum, a founding partner of Kurtz & Blum, is also an actor who frequently brings the Bard’s works to life on the local stage.

He said he doesn’t remember a moment when he decided to pursue involvement in theater, but that he has been acting for as long as he could talk.

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Still Atticus: An old hero persists despite a new portrayal

Editor’s note: This article was originally published in the November 2015 edition of North Carolina Lawyer.

By Amber Nimocks  

Since Harper Lee breathed Atticus Finch to life in 1960, no other fictional attorney has had such a hold on the American psyche.

The figure of an altruistic Southern lawyer standing up for what’s right in the face of a deeply unjust society in “To Kill A Mockingbird” has inspired millions as a model of dedication to justice, patience and paternal wisdom. But this summer’s publication of Lee’s “Go Set A Watchman,” which presented a new, more difficult view of the character, left us wondering what members of the N.C. Bar Association make of this hero revisited.

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Gifts for Lawyers Who Say They Don’t Want an Apple Watch — But Really Do

Editor’s note: This article appears in the November edition of NC Lawyer.

By Erik Mazzone

I didn’t want an Apple Watch. Really.

With an iPhone, iPad and MacBook Air, I figured owning three Apple devices that need charging daily and upgrading regularly is enough for one person. Not to mention I wanted to avoid being one of those officious “Apple fan boys” running around, going, “and then Apple innovated by putting a device on my wrist … and it tells the time! Mind. Blown.”

Then this happened.

A white apple watch is pictured on a man's wrist. Many multi-colored apps are visible on the watch's home screen.

In my limited defense, it was a gift. In my even more limited defense, I asked for it. It’s not entirely my fault, though. My normally tech-disinterested wife has been rhapsodizing about her Apple Watch for months now:

My Apple Watch does this. My Apple Watch does that. My Apple Watch has a built in laser app like Iron Man.

I’m only human. I broke.

I assumed the Apple Watch was going to be kind of a disappointment. It needs to be Bluetooth tethered to an iPhone. The screen is tiny. It doesn’t really do that much. I was prepared to be underwhelmed.

As it turns out, though, it has been kind of a delight. I’m not overwhelmed. But neither am I underwhelmed. Just regular whelmed.

After a few weeks of wear, the Apple Watch has quietly crept into some crevices in my tech life that I didn’t know existed.

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