Rulemaking coordinators across state government are no doubt heaving a sigh of relief. They will welcome a new law that makes long desired changes in state government rulemaking. This new law will allow quick fixes to small but important elements in the North Carolina Administrative Code (NCAC). See, S.L. 2019-140, An Act to Amend Various Administrative Procedure Laws. The changes were effective with Gov. Cooper’s signature on Friday, July 19. Read more
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The Young Lawyers Division has two upcoming events in Greensboro on Saturday, Aug. 24.
1. Networking Social
Join the NCBA YLD on Saturday, Aug. 24, at Little Brother Brewing for a casual networking social. Little Brother Brewing is a small, boutique brewery and taproom in downtown Greensboro. Get to know your NCBA YLD Leadership and other YLDers from across the state during this low-key, drop-in event.
Who: All young lawyers are invited!
What: A low-key afternoon networking social. No cost to attend.
Where: Little Brother Brewing (348 S Elm St Greensboro, NC 27401)
2. Fall Quarterly Council Meeting & Leadership Training
The YLD’s Fall Quarterly Council Meeting & Leadership Training will take place at Forrest Firm’s Greensboro Office (125 S. Elm St., Suite 100, Greensboro) from 9 a.m. to 2 p.m. on Saturday, Aug. 24. We will discuss our YLD committees’ plans for the year and how best to connect with the YLD. As we kick off the 2019-20 bar year, we will also hold our annual Leadership Training, which will discuss NCBA/NCBF functions, YLD structure, communications and connectedness including the YLD Blog, social media and SLACK, the YLD calendar, and committee expectations, among other topics.
All YLD Members are invited to attend.
A light breakfast and lunch will be provided.
Not able to attend in person? Call-in instead!
Register for the Council Meeting & Leadership Training here.
Don’t hesitate to reach out to me ([email protected]) or our NCBA Communities Manager, Lauren Colvard, ([email protected]) with questions regarding either event!
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How do companies balance the efficiencies of instant messaging with potential legal risks? Instant messaging applications are increasingly present in today’s corporate world and a popular form of communications both internally, between company employees, and externally with clients and partner organizations. The days of face-to-face meetings between managers and employees in conference rooms or popping into someone’s office to discuss a project are no longer the norm. Today, many modern employees are using instant messaging (“IM”) as a “virtual water cooler” or “virtual conference room” to collaborate and share information and files with co-workers and customers in real time, using platforms such as Skype for Business, Microsoft Teams, Slack and Google’s Hangouts.
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At the end of June, the U.S. Supreme Court struck down a federal law that allows the United States Patent and Trademark Office (“PTO”) to reject words and symbols that are considered immoral or scandalous, on grounds that it violates the First Amendment. This is another chapter in a battle against the second part of the same provision that prevents registration of allegedly racist or disparaging terms, like (the band) “Slants” and (the football team) “Redskins.”
In 2011, the PTO denied Erik Brunetti’s attempts to register the mark “FUCT” for his streetwear clothing line, claiming it was a profane and “scandalous” term. According to Brunetti, in addition to a clever play on a vulgar word, FUCT is actually an acronym for Friends U Can’t Trust.
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Bankruptcy attorneys bring renewed hope and greater stability to our NC communities through skillful pro bono work. Excellence in this vital task deserves to be acknowledged, and the North Carolina Bar Association Bankruptcy Law Section will be celebrating the exemplary pro bono efforts of at least one of its own on Nov. 22 at the 42nd Annual Bankruptcy Institute in Wilmington.
To that end, the Bankruptcy Law Section is now seeking third-party and self nominations for the 2019 Pro Bono Award. This will be the fifth year that the Section will honor one of its members with this distinction. Prior recipients include Michael Martinez (2018), Matt Crow (2017), Jennifer Bennington (2016) and Ciara Rogers (2015).
For more information about the award, and to make a nomination, please see the official nomination form.
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Dear Members of the Privacy and Data Security Section:
It is my privilege to serve as the chair of the Privacy and Data Security Section during the 2019-2020 bar year. Following our inaugural Section Council meeting on July 31, I wanted to take this opportunity to welcome everyone to the Section and provide updates on the Section’s work and upcoming events.
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In recent years, clients have begun to insist that their corporate counsel sign Outside Counsel Guidelines (“OCGs”) that restrict a lawyer from providing services to competitors of the client, even if the work is unrelated to the work being performed for the client and the lawyer has no confidential client information relevant to the work. Those OCGs have also begun to define the “client” as all subsidiaries, affiliates, or parent companies of the entity to which the lawyer’s services pertain. Both trends restrict a lawyer from representing a host of potential clients in the future. How can outside corporate counsel push back?
The two trends cited above directly implicate ABA Model Rules of Professional Conduct 5.6, 1.7 and 1.9.[1] By citing these Rules, and the restrictions they impose, corporate counsel may gain headway in negotiating more permissive OCGs.
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As described in an earlier ncbarblog post, among the 2018 changes to the North Carolina Business Corporation Act, Chapter 55 of the General Statutes (the “NCBCA”) [1], which took effect Oct. 1, 2018 was the addition of a new Part 6 to Article 1 (N.C. Gen. Stat. §§55-1-60 through 55-1-67) based on changes to the Model Business Corporation Act providing that defects in authorizations of share issuances and other corporate actions shall not be void or voidable solely as a result of a failure of authorization if a prescribed statutory ratification process is followed.
When you discover only one defective corporate act, determining the requirements under the statute for ratification (e.g., board approval, shareholder approval, and/or filing of articles of validation) is perhaps relatively straight-forward. But what should you do when you discover multiple defects, perhaps occurring over a number of years?
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Termination of Parental Rights, NC COA18-926, In re T.H. & M.H., June 18, 2019, Rowan County
Respondents appealed an order terminating their parental rights due to issues of ongoing substance abuse, mental health, and inadequate care and supervision of their children. The Court of Appeals affirmed, finding no abuse of discretion as to the termination of either parent’s rights.
In February 2016, DSS filed a petition alleging Respondent’s children were neglected and dependent. A week later, Respondents entered into an Out of Home Family Services Agreement requiring them to take measures to secure proper housing, employment, mental heath treatment, substance abuse treatment, and to participate in a parenting course and resolve all pending legal/criminal issues. In March 2016, the court entered a consent order adjudicated the children neglected and dependent; the order required Respondents to comply with their case plan. Over the next several months, however, the Respondents were in and out of jail. In June 2017, the trial court entered a permanency planning order which changed the primary permanent plan for the children to adoption with reunification as the secondary plan, finding that Respondents had not made “any progress” on their case plans. The next month, in July 2017, DSS filed a petition to terminate Respondents’ parental rights, which was granted. Respondents appealed.
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