Jay Reeves practiced law in North Carolina and South Carolina. He was Legal Editor at Lawyers Weekly and Risk Manager at Lawyers Mutual. He is the author of The Most Powerful Attorney in the World, a collection of short stories from a law life well-lived, which as the seasons pass becomes less about law and liability and more about loss, love, longing, laughter and life's lasting luminescence.
News of the MOVEit data breach – which resulted in the exposure of personal data on millions of people – set off alarm bells in law offices from Wilmington, NC to Walla Walla, WA. The hackers took advantage of an alleged flaw in the popular software program MOVEit. The file-transfer program is used… Read More
Better be careful using emojis in legal communications – especially if it happens during contract negotiations. You might wind up consenting to something you don’t intend to. For a cautionary tale, let’s turn to Saskatchewan, Canada, where a farmer’s thumbs-up emoji was ruled to consti… Read More
Lawyers Mutual congratulates attorney Cheryl D. Howell, who was honored by the N.C. State Bar with the John B. McMillan Distinguished Service Award in June. Congratulations also to the families and friends of Judge William David Lee and attorney C. Ricky Bowman, who received the award posthumously. The three … Read More
Do you ever ask yourself, “Shouldn’t it be getting easier?” By “it” I mean practicing law. But I also mean practicing life. If you’ve done it long enough to get the hang of it and learned a few lessons along the way, shouldn’t it be getting easier every day? Yet it isn’t. Occasionally your JD is the opposite of Just Delightful, and you find yourself standing on the front lawn at 2 AM shaking your fist at the cosmos bellowing: “Why is everything so hard?” Read More
Lawyers and other professionals are returning to their physical offices, but they are doing so at a jog, not a sprint. A recent survey shows a 47 percent occupancy rate for commercial spaces in the nation’s 10 largest metro areas. This ranges from a high of nearly 60 percent in Houston, number one on the… Read More
The legal profession is going strong, with jobs growth in June hitting a 10-year highwater mark. The legal services sector added 5,100 jobs in June 2023. Total law jobs were 1,185,100 in June 2023. Those were the best numbers since the record-setting 2,800 monthly jobs added in July 2022. These sta… Read More
While law offices have long been prime targets for cyber thieves, there has been an unprecedented wave of recent attacks on big firms. In the month of June, four BigLaw firms – Bryan Cave Leighton Paisner, Gibson, Dunn & Crutcher; Loeb & Loeb; and Orrick Herrington & Sutcliffe – reporte… Read More
If you think you have fee and billing headaches in your law office, imagine being the bride whose cherished wedding gown disappeared in the midst of a billing dispute with now-bankrupt Bed Bath & Beyond. The owner says her elegant, floor-length frock was at first held hostage as the troubled retailer began… Read More
Most lawyers are reluctant to think about retirement. But planning for retirement, developing a succession plan for your law firm, and transitioning to the next generation is something that simply must be done. Succession planning puts you in control of your future. It doesn’t mean you have to stop work … Read More
If you have a real estate practice in North Carolina, be sure to send your staff to Parapalooza in Raleigh this fall. On October 10, Lawyers Mutual Title Agency will present the latest installment of its popular Parapalooza CLE series. The program is specifically designed for real estate paralegals, title… Read More
Congratulations to attorney Robin J. Stinson, who has been honored with the John B. McMillan Distinguished Service Award, and to attorney David Freedman, who received the award posthumously. The awards were presented by the N.C. State Bar in April. In their awards presentations, Stinson was described as a lea… Read More
Here’s a risk management pro tip: if the judge in your case suggests you are slinging mud and engaging in schoolyard antics, it’s not a good sign. It’s even worse if the judge warns if you keep it up, you might face disciplinary sanctions. Consider the case of Peterson v. Pickeri… Read More
If your law practice is not quite where you want it to be, perhaps it’s time to take a look at your habits. There’s a good chance some behaviors that no longer serve you well have become engrained in your personality. These patterns need to be recalibrated. “Change your habits, change … Read More
Did you know you can make changes to your Lawyers Mutual policy without leaving your desk? You can add or remove a lawyer, notify your carrier of an address change, or request an Extended Reporting Endorsement directly from the Lawyers Mutual website. You can also download Lawyers Mutual applications for profe… Read More
While revenue growth at Biglaw firms was stagnant in 2022, the picture was rosier for midsize firms. Midsize firms had higher increases in revenue and net income last year compared to Am Law 100 firms. “Midsize law firms are making significant strides in the legal industry, positioning themselves favora… Read More
Lawyers Mutual has published previous alerts regarding the new filing requirements under the Corporate Transparency Act (“CTA”) that went into effect January 1, 2024. After reviewing additional resources, we want to emphasize concerns that we have about the risks and increased potential liability for lawyers undertaking the reporting requirements. This is especially true for the continuing reporting requirements after entity formation and initial reporting.
The North Carolina Administrative Office of the Courts (NCAOC) recently announced additional go-live plans for counties transitioning from paper files to Enterprise Justice (Odyssey), which currently serves Harnett, Johnston, Lee, Mecklenburg and Wake counties. Twelve northeastern counties comprising Track 3, as previously announced, will go live on February 5, and 10 counties comprising Track 4 (Alamance, Chatham, Durham, Franklin, Granville, Guilford, Orange, Person, Vance and Warren) will go live on April 29.