Letter from the Editor
The Campbell Law Observer was the most rewarding experience in law school. [...]
Articles by Ana Hopper, Editor-in-Chief Emeritus
About Ana Hopper, Editor-in-Chief Emeritus
NC State legislators v. Charlotte City Council
The NC General Assembly knocks out the Charlotte City Council’s recent ordinance providing discrimination protections for the LGBT community, but the legislation does so much more. [...]
Proposed 2015 Formal Ethics Opinion 9: Holding Out Non-Equity Firm Lawyers as “Partners”
View the Proposed Ethics Opinion in Full Here The North Carolina State Bar ruled in a proposed opinion at it’s October 2015 quarterly meeting that non-equity firm lawyers may be held out to the public as “partners.” More specifically, the Bar ruled that lawyers who do not own equity in a law firm may be held out by any appropriate designation, including partner, so long as such designation is legitimate, not misleading in violation of Rule 7.1, and the lawyer complies with [...]
A better No Child Left Behind or another empty promise to our disadvantaged students?
President Obama signs new bill on December 10, 2015 that replaces the Bush administration’s No Child Left Behind Act. [...]
Regardless of your gender identity, you have the right to remain in the country
Federal court rules that a Mexican transgender citizen is protected from deportation under the UN Convention against Torture. [...]
Representing One Spouse on Domestic and Estate Matters after Representing Both Spouses Jointly [Proposed 2015 Formal Ethics Opinion 8]
View the Proposed Ethics Opinion in Full Here. The NC Bar received inquiries about representing individual spouse on certain matters, when the lawyer has previously represented both spouses jointly in other legal matters. As the opinion mentions, there are many areas of law in which a lawyer can, and often does, represent spouses jointly—preparation of reciprocal wills, closing on the purchase of the martial home, or creation of a corporation for a family-owned business. Thus, the [...]
2015 Formal Ethics Opinion 7: Prior Business Relationships Permit In-Person Solicitation
View the Formal Ethics Opinion in Full Here. The North Carolina State Bar received a request for an interpretation of Rule 7.3(a) in regards to prior professional relationships. Generally, Rules 7.3(a) states that lawyers are prohibited from soliciting professional employment from a potential client in-person, by live telephone, or through real-time electronic contact. However, Rule 7.3(a) contains several exceptions, including a prior professional relationship, which permits the lawyer to [...]
A policy for inclusion or compelled speech?
The University of Tennessee sent a memo to its students and faculty requesting that everyone use inclusive pronouns when referring to students, instead of traditional binary pronouns. [...]
Sound the death knell of discrimination—the Equality Act will protect you
Congressional Democrats introduce a new bill, the Equality Act, which seeks to amend the Civil Rights Act of 1964 and provide sweeping protections for sexual and gender minorities across America. [...]
2015 Formal Ethics Opinion 6: Lawyer’s Professional Responsibility When Third Party Steals Funds from Trust Account
View the Formal Ethics Opinion in Full Here. At its October 23, 2015 meeting, the North Carolina State Bar adopted Proposed FEO 6 which addressed several inquiries regarding the professional responsibility of a lawyer when funds are stolen from a lawyer’s trust account by a third party not employed or supervised by the lawyer. Generally, this opinion rules that the lawyer will not be professionally responsible for replacing funds stolen from the trust account, so long as the lawyer was [...]
2015 Formal Ethics Opinion 5: Authority to Discuss Former Client’s Appellate Case with Successor Lawyer
View the Formal Ethics Opinion in Full Here. Generally, lawyers representing a client during the pre-conviction stages of a case have a vastly different relationship with the client—more personal contact and more irrelevant confidential information exposed—than lawyers representing a client during post-conviction stages of a case. As such, the North Carolina Bar opines in Proposed 2015 Formal Ethics Opinion 5 that during appellate proceedings, a discharged lawyer is allowed to discuss a [...]
2014 Formal Ethics Opinion 9: Use of Tester in an Investigation that Serves a Public Interest
View the Formal Ethics Opinion in Full Here. The Ethics Committee voted to adopt and retitle 2014 Formal Ethics Opinion 9 at its meeting on July 16, 2015. The inquiry that led to the opinion concerned a situation where a lawyer wanted to retain a private investigator to look into his client’s former employer for an alleged violation of the North Carolina Wage and Hour Act. However, in order to fully investigate the employer’s payment practices, the private investigator wanted to use [...]
2014 Formal Ethics Opinion 5: Advising a Civil Litigation Client about Social Media
View the Formal Ethics Opinion in Full Here The North Carolina State Bar Council decided to withdraw 2014 Formal Ethics Opinion 5 Advising a Client About Social Media that was adopted July 25, 2014. Instead, at its July 17, 2015 meeting, the State Bar released a substitute opinion for 2014 FEO 5. According to the opinion, if the client’s social media postings could be relevant and material to that client’s legal matter, a lawyer must advise the client about the legal ramifications of [...]
#BlackLivesMatter: the movement seeking to shed light on America’s racial problem
From Michael Brown to Eric Garner to most recently Sandra Bland; the United States has a serious policing problem. [...]
The next step in the LGBTQ movement may have a leg up
The EEOC ruled to ban workplace discrimination based on sexual orientation as an interpretation of workplace gender bias. [...]
