The Chair’s Comments: New Year, Exciting Opportunities and Events Ahead

By Tina Dadio

It gives me great pleasure to serve as your 2019-2020 Paralegal Division Chair.   First, I want to say thank you for being a member of the Paralegal Division. I hope our exciting new member benefits will encourage you to get involved while having fun networking with your fellow members across the state. Over the next year, there are several goals I would like to accomplish.   Your membership provides you the opportunity for education through one of our CLE/CPE programs, networking at one of our social events, volunteering with one of our many pro bono programs , and that your experience encourages others to join our Division. Second, I hope our Division continues to see expansive growth and success, and that it will be an exciting year of opportunities and events for our members.

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Put It On Your Calendar Now: ‘Riding the Waves of Change: 2019 Legislative Review’

By Paige Worsham
The Government & Public Sector Section is joining forces with the Administrative Law, Juvenile Justice & Children’s Rights, and Environment, Energy & Natural Resources Law Sections to bring you a 6.0 credit hour CLE this fall, titled “Riding the Waves of Change: 2019 Legislative Review.” The CLE will take place at the N.C. Bar Center in Cary from 8:15 a.m. to 4:30 p.m. on Friday, November 8, 2019.  While it will be available by webcast and On Demand, we encourage you to attend live to enjoy the networking that is sure to occur during the breakfast and lunch, both of which will be provided.  The four co-planning Sections combine their expertise to provide updates and answers regarding the 2019 legislative actions. Learn what the North Carolina General Assembly has (or has not) changed and the practical effects of those changes. Brush up on your legislative procedure knowledge and skills. Hear about the most debated and followed bills of the current legislative session.

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A Story Too Captivating To Go Untold

By Russell Rawlings
By the time you read this, Steve Epstein may be famous. His first book, “Murder on Birchleaf Drive: The True Story of the Michelle Young Murder Case,” is that good.

The true crime story chronicles the trials, appeals and conviction of the victim’s husband, Jason Young.

Here’s what fellow NCBA member David Rudolf, famous in his own right for his defense of novelist Michael Peterson and resulting Netflix series “The Staircase,” had to say about it: “A compelling and accurate description of a fascinating murder case, from the initial investigation through the twists and turns of two trials, and all of the strategic decisions in between. One of the best true crime books I have read. Very entertaining.”

The murder, which also claimed the couple’s unborn son, occurred in the couple’s Raleigh home on Nov. 3, 2006. On Nov. 30, 2018, following multiple trials and appeals, the N.C. Court of Appeals affirmed Judge Paul Ridgeway’s ruling that Jason Young was not entitled to a third trial.

Thus, as Epstein writes in the book’s final paragraph, “… barring a turn of events of a magnitude far greater than the hung jury or the first Court of Appeals’ decision, Jason Lynn Young will spend the rest of his life in prison.”

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Register for the Appellate Practice Section Annual Meeting and CLE on September 13

By Jeff Kelly

With the Fall Semester in full swing, law students are not the only ones who will want to get straight A’s – please join the Appellate Practice Section on September 13, 2019, for our Annual Meeting and CLE:

Getting Straight A’s: Aids, Accessible Applications, Advice and Approaches to Advocacy

Friday, September 13, 2019
North Carolina Bar Center
8000 Weston Parkway
Cary, NC 27513

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Texas v. EEOC: Sound and Fury Signifying Nothing?

By Joe Murray

On Aug. 6, 2019, the 5th Circuit rocked the EEOC by permanently enjoining the use of the 2012 EEOC Enforcement Guidance on the Consideration of Arrest and Conviction Records in Employment Decisions under Title VII of the Civil Rights Act of 1964 (“Conviction Guidance”) as binding in any respect. Texas v. EEOC, 2019 U.S. App. LEXIS 23498 (5th Cir. Aug. 6, 2019). While at first glance this opinion appears significant—and some commentators have positioned this case as a win for employers, does this injunction really matter outside of Texas or the 5th Circuit?

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Write For Your Administrative Law Section Blog

By Ann B. Wall

As the new NCBA year is underway, we invite you to submit articles for the Administrative Law Section Blog. Send proposed articles to this year’s Communications Committee Chair, Ann Wall, at [email protected]. And, please consider joining the committee.

Our readers may be new to the Section or to administrative law.  Or they may be long-time and expert practitioners.  In addition, our blog posts will be available to attorneys who are members of other sections of the NCBA. Read more

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Put It On Your Calendar Now: ‘Riding the Waves of Change: 2019 Legislative Review’

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By Christina Cress

The Administrative Law Section is joining forces with the Government & Public Sector, Juvenile Justice & Children’s Rights, and Environment, Energy & Natural Resources Law Sections to bring you a 6.0 credit hour CLE this fall, titled “Riding the Waves of Change: 2019 Legislative Review.”

The CLE will take place at the NC Bar Center in Cary from 8:15 a.m. to 4:30 p.m. on Friday, Nov. 8, 2019.

While it will be available by webcast and on-demand, we encourage you to attend live to enjoy the networking that is sure to occur during the breakfast and lunch, both of which will be provided.

The four co-planning Sections will combine their expertise to provide updates and answers regarding the 2019 legislative actions.

Learn what the North Carolina General Assembly has (or has not) changed and the practical effects of those changes. Brush up on your legislative procedure knowledge and skills. Hear about the most debated and followed bills of the current legislative session.

 

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Chair’s Comments + Section Events This Fall

By Brandon J. Huffman

Dear Members of the Sports & Entertainment Section:

I am so honored that you have given me the privilege to serve as chair of the Section this bar year.

It’s an interesting time to be chair. Younger attorneys (I still think of myself this way) are often looking to technology and other avenues for the camaraderie and resources for which they might previously have looked to a bar association section.

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Items of Interest: The Gender Pay Gap and Women’s Soccer, Carrie Underwood Sued, Venues and the ADA

Members of the Sports & Entertainment Law Section found the following recent third party articles to be of potential interest to the Section:

Sports Shorts Blog – The Gender Pay Gap and the Women’s World Cup

Whose Game is On? Carrie Underwood and NBC Sued Over SNF Song

Senate Bill Proposes Equal Pay for U.S. Women’s Soccer Team

Sports Venues and the Americans with Disabilities Act

SAG-AFTRA Signs Netflix Deal With Expanded Coverage

MLB Appears Ready To Dive into Uniform Patch Advertising

Taking the Issue of Unequal Pay onto the U.S. District Court’s Turf

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4th Circuit Overrules Own Precedent, Holds Certain Primary Residence Claims Can Be Crammed Down in Chapter 13 Bankruptcies

By Daniel Cohn

The general rule in bankruptcy is that debtors cannot cram down loans secured only by mortgages on their primary residences. But wait, “what’s a cram down?” you ask. For non-bankruptcy folks, a cram down is where a debtor bifurcates a creditor’s claim into a secured claim (in the amount of the value of the property) and an unsecured claim (for the balance of the outstanding debt above the value of the property), paying the secured claim in full and paying the unsecured claim pro rata along with other general unsecured creditors. Take this example: at the time of bankruptcy filing, a lender is owed $150,000, but the property is worth only $100,000. The general rule in bankruptcy is that if the property is the debtor’s primary residence and the lender’s only collateral, the lender has a secured claim of the full $150,000. Otherwise, the debtor could cram the lender down, giving the lender a secured claim of only $100,000 that would be paid in full, and an unsecured claim of $50,000 that would be paid pennies on the dollar. Thus, we can see the obvious benefit to debtors and the obvious detriment to creditors of the powerful cram down option.

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