2022 Annual Meeting: Join Us in Winston-Salem this June

Will OdenBy William Oden

The 124th Annual Meeting of the North Carolina Bar Association will be held on Thursday and Friday, June 23 and 24, at the Benton Convention Center in Winston-Salem. This will mark the NCBA’s first in-person Annual Meeting since 2019. The NCBA staff have worked hard to provide members with an event worth the wait, and I encourage everyone to attend.

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Celebrating NCBA Members Throughout the Month of May

By Alejandra Villegas

May is still member appreciation month. And we are extremely excited to announce a schedule full of free events, but most importantly, some will be in person again!

Member Appreciation Month is a May tradition at the NCBA where complimentary services and prize giveaways are available to express our gratitude to members.

Here’s a rundown of what we have prepared:

Tech Tuesdays. On May 17 and 31, we will team up with our Center for Practice Management (CPM) to provide free LinkedIn and social media profile reviews.

Winning Wednesdays. On May 11 and 25, members are encouraged to retweet or share an NCBA social media post, and one member will be selected to receive an NC-themed gift basket! Be sure to follow us (@NCBAorg) on Twitter, Facebook, LinkedIn, and Instagram to share your posts.

Wellness Wednesdays. In addition to Winning Wednesdays, we’ll also celebrate two Wellness Wednesdays (May 4 and 18) with a blog post on micro mindfulness and guided meditation (forthcoming) provided by members of our BarCARES Committee.

Free Fridays. On May 6 and 13, CPM Director Catherine Sanders Reach will provide a limited-edition workshop on how to leverage the technology you may already have to streamline processes, improve communication, speed up and simplify administrative tasks, and do it all securely. As part of Free Fridays, we are also bringing back professional headshots in three locations across the state: Charlotte (May 6), Greensboro (May 13) and Cary (May 20). Be sure to RSVP soon, as space is limited.

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And the Winner is . . .

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By Joshua McIntyre

I’ve been to six North Carolina Bar Association Annual Meetings, and we’ve had some amazing activities that attracted a lot of members. There have been historic riverboat tours along the Cape Fear, tubing expeditions down the French Broad, Land Rover cruises at Biltmore and private showcases of the Hendrick Motorsports Museum. But in the end, there is one activity that always brings the most excitement along with a flood of participants every time – the door prizes!

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May is NCBA Member Appreciation Month!

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By Alejandra Villegas

This year, we will continue with the tradition of celebrating our members during the month of May! We have scheduled free events and workshops during the entire month to thank you for being a member. The events will include Wellness Wednesdays, Winning Wednesdays, and Free Fridays.

On Wellness Wednesdays, you will have the chance to learn from a yoga expert all the way from Montenegro who specializes in stress management, mindfulness, and habit change. This will not be your typical yoga class. Anita Steele will teach you how to work on the five layers of your well-being. With her guidance, you will learn techniques that will help you to refresh, recharge and tap into an ideal state of mental well-being.

On Winning Wednesdays, you will be eligible to win a gift basket filled with your favorite North Carolina products. To enter, retweet or share an NCBA social media post that week. One member will be selected and announced on Wednesday, May 12, and an additional winner will be selected on Wednesday, May 26. Be sure to follow us  on Twitter, Facebook, LinkedIn, and Instagram to share your posts.

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Virtual Conferencing, Round Two! At 2021 NCBA Annual Meeting (June 17-18)

By Russell Rawlings

The 123rd Annual Meeting of the North Carolina Bar Association will be held on Thursday and Friday, June 17-18. As we continue to prioritize the health and safety of our members and staff, the North Carolina Bar Association will conduct this year’s Annual Meeting in a virtual format.

Extending over two days, the agenda for the NCBA Annual Meeting will more closely resemble agendas from years past – and years future – when members gathered in person. More time will be provided for entertainment and awards, including recognition of the 2021 Legal Legends of Color.

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Mingling with Membership is Back! 

By Jake Epstein

The NCBA Membership Committee is bringing you four new Mingling with Membership virtual events — back by popular demand! Please join us for any or all of them if you can. They are free to attend. You just need to register for the event by using the link below.

For those of you who missed them in June and July, Mingling with Membership events are a virtual substitute for the discussions we would often have with each other at live events prior to COVID-19.  They are an opportunity to get together (via Zoom) with other lawyers, judges, paralegals, and law students and to have informal, interesting and informative conversation. They are a happy hour from the comfort of your own home/office. The events last an hour and will be held from 4 to 5 p.m. We will start each event by discussing or presenting a specific topic and then open the discussion to all attendees for the remainder of the event.

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Let’s Hang Out!

By Jake Epstein

The NCBA has been hard at work during this pandemic to bring current information, resources, practice tips, professional vitality publications, and wellness seminars to its members and the public, while also advocating strongly for the legal profession in North Carolina. May was NCBA Member Appreciation Month, which featured free workshops through the Center for Practice Management. As new members are entering and graduating law school, passing the Bar, and becoming members of the legal profession and the NCBA, we have started holding New Member Receptions.

Even though we cannot get together in person right now, we can still hang out! Indeed, one of the things that our Association does best and our members enjoy the most is associating. The NCBA is the home for those in, or entering, the legal profession in North Carolina. Through the NCBA, you can meet your fellow lawyers, judges, paralegals, and law students to discuss how to be better at what you do, expand your options, serve the profession and the public, grow your network, and have some fun. This is the power of association.

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May is NCBA Member Appreciation Month!

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By Alejandra Villegas

Just because we are in the middle of the COVID-19 pandemic, it doesn’t mean we forgot about Member Appreciation Month. This May, we are celebrating you for the whole month just to thank you for being a member! Member Appreciation Month is an NCBA tradition that started two years ago and will occur over the next five weeks. We hope you take advantage of all the remote resources and giveaways we have in store for you.

First, we are bringing back Free Fridays. On May 1, 8, 15, and 29, we will be teaming up with our Center for Practice Management (CPM) to provide free LinkedIn and Social Media Profile Reviews and a limited-edition workshop entitled “Build a Business Development Plan.” In this free workshop, CPM Director Catherine Sanders Reach will give insight into law firm marketing tactics. She will discuss different types of business development endeavors from websites to social media to networking to help you strategize what works for your practice. Space is limited, so be sure to register soon.

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Wednesday Wellness Sessions: Transforming the Way Attorneys Treat Themselves, Their Clients and the Law

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By Alicia Journey

In the face of a world-wide crisis and unprecedented uncertainty, panic and fear are the true pandemic. And as advisors we are asked to put our own problems on the back burner and focus on those of our clients. However, we must ask certain crucial questions before we become a casualty of an unforeseen warfare, that of the health and well-being of those in our profession.

As attorneys, are we allowed to feel as if we are on the front lines when a crisis hits, even though we are not on the ground as first responders? Are we given permission to feel the weight of the trauma that we see, hear and feel daily from our clients when tragedy strikes? Who gives us this permission? Our profession? Society? Ourselves?

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Nominate a Worthy Attorney For a Citizen Lawyer Award

By Pamela S. Duffy

The Local Bar Outreach Committee is soliciting nominations for the 2019 Citizen Lawyer Awards for NCBA members who have distinguished themselves in their volunteer service to community and civic causes.  Since 2007, the NCBA has recognized lawyers who provide exemplary public service with its Citizen Lawyer Awards. Since 2016, I have had the pleasure of serving as a chair of this Committee.  We have the privilege of reviewing information about dedicated lawyers across our state who give back to their communities and awarding them recognition for that service.  A list of past recipients can be found here with descriptions of the great work they have performed for their local communities or in state-wide organizations. We encourage you to identify and nominate deserving lawyers in your community so that we may honor them at the NCBA annual meeting in June.  Our hope is to get a pool of applicants who are diverse in many respects:  geographically; the type of volunteer work performed; age, race and gender.

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