Posts

A Young Lawyer’s Guide To Building a Client Base

By Lee Robertson

Like you, when I graduated from law school, I found a job with a midsize law firm making a base salary of $80,000 the first year, plus bonuses. The second year, I made $85,000, plus bonuses. The firm gave me a low-interest mortgage so I could buy a home, and two country club memberships. And best of all, a new BMW. I picked the color, of course.

Oh, that didn’t happen for you? Well, it didn’t happen for me, either. In fact, the only person I know that this actually happened to was Mitchell Y. McDeere, and he’s not real. He’s John Grisham’s famous character from “The Firm.”

Read more

The Chair’s Comments: Sports & Entertainment Law’s Game Plan For the Year

vandivershannonBy Shannon Vandiver

With over 150 member attorneys in industries spanning the sports and entertainment worlds including those that serve as in house and outside counsel for all of North Carolina’s major league sports teams and properties as well as many of its minor league, amateur, collegiate and youth sports entities and attorneys representing artists, entertainers and media outlets all over the state, the Sports and Entertainment Law Section is truly the hub of the sports and entertainment legal world for North Carolina.

Our attorneys serve clients that include NASCAR and other motorsports teams, drivers and sanctioning bodies as well as NFL, NHL and NBA teams; athletes, coaching staffs and support personnel; NCAA schools and conferences including the Atlantic Coast Conference and the Southeastern Conference; the North Carolina High School Athletic Association; media companies, stations and providers; musical, visual and performing artists, labels and venues; literary authors and publishers; and many, many others. Section members include corporate counsel, business transactional and litigation attorneys, attorneys who provide immigration law services for athletes, entertainers, performers, investors and producers; those whose practices are focused on technology or intellectual property, copyright, trademark or privacy law, promotions, digital media, internet, gaming and many other areas of the law that touch sports or entertainment. The largest concentrations of our section members are in the Charlotte and Triangle areas but we are also well represented in the Triad and in areas from Western North Carolina to the coast.

Read more

Five Things I Wish I’d Learned In Law School

Omer,DavidThis post originally appeared on the Law Student Division page, where you can find it and more advice for newly minted lawyers.

By David G. Omer

Law school is a strange creature.  You spend three long years sacrificing your sleep, your credit rating, your relationships, and your sanity.  In return, you get the opportunity to take the bar exam and start a career where you get to challenge yourself every day, help countless people, and maybe even make a little money along the way.  As you’ve (hopefully) learned, law school is all about filling your brain with points of law and forcing you to think your way around the gray areas.  For all the substantive information you pick up during your time as a law student, however, there are some important things that get left along the wayside.  As a recently licensed lawyer in North Carolina, I appreciate the opportunity to fill you in on a few things I didn’t learn until I made it out into the “real world.”

Read more

Extra Credit: Five Things I Wish I’d Learned In Law School

By David G. Omer

Law school is a strange creature.  You spend three long years sacrificing your sleep, your credit rating, your relationships, and your sanity.  In return, you get the opportunity to take the bar exam and start a career where you get to challenge yourself every day, help countless people, and maybe even make a little money along the way.  As you’ve (hopefully) learned, law school is all about filling your brain with points of law and forcing you to think your way around the gray areas.  For all the substantive information you pick up during your time as a law student, however, there are some important things that get left along the wayside.  As a recently licensed lawyer in North Carolina, I appreciate the opportunity to fill you in on a few things I didn’t learn until I made it out into the “real world.”

Read more

Ask Not What You Can Do for Pro Bono; Ask What Pro Bono Can Do for You

By M. Rebecca Hendrix

Everyone should do pro bono work during law school.  While I could discuss at great length the merits of helping others, the focus of this article is how pro bono helps law students themselves.  Pro bono opportunities strengthen students in the classroom and eventually in a career.   Practical skills, networking experience, and a broader perspective are three things that students gain from pro bono work.

Read more

Tip Sheet: Networking Advice For Law Students

For a quick look at everything you need to know about networking in a nutshell, from the NCBA’s Law Student Resources Committee, check out the Networking Advice For Law Students tip sheet.