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From AP: Former North Carolina Gov. Mike Easley is again allowed to practice law, two years after his license was suspended following a felony plea.

The North Carolina State Bar on Monday reinstated the two-term Democratic governor and former attorney general's law license. State Bar Secretary L. Thomas Lunsford II wrote in his order that Easley satisfied the requirements of his suspension.

Easley accepted criminal responsibility in November 2010 for an improperly filed campaign finance report. Easley's Alford plea for the lowest-grade felony in state law focused on a 2006 helicopter flight worth $1,600 that wasn't reported.

The conviction ended both state and federal investigations into the ex-governor that began shortly after he left office in 2009. Easley has practiced law since 1976 after graduating from North Carolina Central University law school.

Former Gov. Mike Easley has reached a deal with the N.C. State Bar to have his law license suspended for one more year, a resolution that ends investigations stemming from controversies that surrounded Easley as he left office in early 2009.

Easley, a Democrat who was a two-term governor and state Attorney General before that, was convicted after a plea deal in late 2010 of committing a felony related to improper reporting by his campaign of a flight. Easley has been a lawyer since 1976.

The bar's general counsel, Katherine Jean, told a panel of three disciplinary hearing commissioners today that her office had investigated issues related to Easley and could not find that Easley had knowingly engaged in wrongful conduct. The bar is the state agency responsible for the discipline of lawyers in North Carolina.

Jean said Easley had "played no role in the preparation or the filing of the reports" that were part of his felony plea. Jean said that Easley had not signed the illegal campaign reports but had relied on his professional staff to do that.

Jean said that there is no evidence of "dishonest conduct" by Easley and that he is remorseful, findings the hearing commission accepted. Read the full story here.

Nine months ago, Gov. Bev Perdue issued an executive order to form a Judicial Nominating Commission to reduce partisan influences in the appointment of judges.

But the list of committee members released Wednesday includes a number of big name Democrats -- including two lawyers who counseled Perdue. The nonpartisan commission will review applicants to vacancies on the state Supreme Court, the Court of Appeals or Superior Court and submit three nominations to the governor to make the final choice.

Attorney Eddie Speas will serve as chairman of the 18-member board. He served for two years as Perdue's general counsel -- a fact that the governor's office left out of biography that accompanied the announcement. (By contrast, Speas tenure with Perdue is prominent on the biography provided by his law firm, Poyner Spruill.)

The governor's office similarly didn't note that another appointee, Joseph Cheshire, a prominent Durham lawyer, represented Perdue as criminal scrutiny mounted about her 2008 campaign.

Among the other prominent Democratic names: Janice Cole, a former District Court judge and U.S. attorney; Harvey Gantt, former Charlotte mayor and President Bill Clinton appointee to the National Capital Planning Association; Tom Lambeth, former Democratic Party operative and executive director of the Z. Smith Reynolds Foundation; and Burley Mitchell, a Democrat and former chief justice of the N.C. Supreme Court.

Perdue spokesman Ben Niolet said "party affiliation was not a factor" in the appointments. "The members were chosen because they were the most qualified," he added. For the full list of names from the governor's office, see below.

For North Carolina voters, who have for years been voting for judges based on gender, the sound of names or pure guesswork, help is on the way. For the first time, voters will have information about who are the good judges and who are the mediocre ones - at least in the minds of the state's lawyers.

The N.C. Bar Association released a report Tuesday rating judges up for re-election in 2012 on integrity, impartiality, legal ability, professionalism, communication and administrative skills. The ratings were based on a survey of 4,200 North Carolina lawyers, out of 17,000 represented by the bar association. Judges were rated on a scale of 1 to 5.

Among the highest-rated judges was Wake County Senior Resident Superior Court Judge Donald W. Stephens at 4.51, who often presides in high-profile cases. Also rated as a good judge was Durham Superior Court Judge Orlando Hudson (4.03), who has been sharply criticized in recent weeks by Durham District Attorney Tracey Cline. Faring less well was Wake County Superior Court Judge Abraham P. Jones (3.30), who presided in the court proceedings involving the John Edwards sex tapes in Orange County. The worst rating for Superior Court judges was awarded to Judge Linwood O. Foust of Charlotte with a 2.92.

Many of the judges were just relieved the ratings were finally released - and were not any worse. Apparently, they are not used to being judged. "Most of our judges did pretty well," said Martin Brinkley, a Raleigh attorney who is state bar association president. "There was some sigh of relief." Read more here and find the ratings here.

Durham lawyer Kerry Sutton, who represented novelist Mike Peterson and an unindicted Duke lacrosse player, was named to the Governor's Crime Commission Thursday.

Sutton, who unsuccessfully ran for a District Court judgeship last year, is a member of the executive committee of the administration of justice committee for the N.C. Bar Association. She is also active in the N.C. Association of Women Attorneys.

She represented Peterson, the novelist convicted of murdering his wife, in a civil lawsuit filed by his wife's daughter that was settled last year for more than $35 million, though Sutton said at the time that Peterson has no money to pay.

During the Duke lacrosse debacle in 2006, she represented a team captain who was not charged. Sutton was criticized by bloggers for making complimentary comments about then-District Attorney Mike Nifong's election that year.

The 42 members of the crime commission advise the governor on improving the justice system, protecting individual rights and promoting public safety.

Once guaranteed a shot at the good life, a growing number of those who practice law find themselves among the unemployed. This spring, out-of-work attorneys are being joined in the brutal job market by hundreds of newly minted lawyers graduating from the state's seven law schools, many planning to take the bar exam this summer.

"It's not a happy picture," said Allan Head, director of the N.C. Bar Association, a voluntary professional organization with 13,500 members across the state. "I can't remember a time when lawyers were being laid off."

Nationally, the unemployment rate in 2008 for the legal profession, including paralegals as well as lawyers, was at the highest it's been in years -- 2.6 percent, approximately 44,000 people, according to data compiled by the U.S. Bureau of Labor Statistics. The number is believed to have increased this year.

Another theory why most judges can't officiate: They don't want to.

N.C. Bar Association spokesman Russell Rawlings said he's now heard a second theory on why judges higher than the magistrate level can't perform weddings.

He said that state law allowed it at one point, but elected judges felt that it was an imposition. Since they run for office regularly, they had a hard time saying no to requests from voters, but they felt it was a drain on their time.

"They felt they would end up marrying anyone who wanted to pop into a courtroom, get married and move on," he said.

Neither Rawlings nor Dome has yet found evidence to back up this theory in newspaper archives or on the legislative Web site.

A bill introduced this session would allow retired state judges to officiate.

Why can't most judges officiate at weddings?

Dome is looking into that question, but N.C. Bar Association spokesman Russell Rawlings had a theory.

"Back when this law started, there wasn't but one judge in many areas, especially up in the mountains," he said.

That could have put a judge in a conflict of interest if one of the people who he married showed up as part of a criminal or civil case — or even a divorce — in his courtroom, Rawlins speculated.

The state law dates to 1871. 

Previously: Bill would allow retired judges to officiate 

A Politico article says Kay Hagan is playing hardball.

The story contrasts U.S. Sen. Elizabeth Dole's "Southern charm" with her Democratic rival's attacks on Dole's effectiveness and Washington connections.

Speaking at an agribusiness forum, Dole runs through her accomplishments on immigration, tobacco and biofuels, making homespun, folksy jokes along the way.

Then Hagan steps to the mike and blasts away, sounding more like a candidate for the New York City Council than the Carolina native that she is. 

The article notes that Hagan is trying to nationalize the race, connecting Dole to President Bush and using tactics honed by Sen. Charles Schumer, while Dole is trying to keep her distance from national politics.

But the story gives Dole perhaps too much credit for not fighting back.

At a debate before the N.C. Bar Association, Dole lit into Hagan on taxes with a rat-a-tat closing statement and her recent ad compares her to a yappy dog. 

That's a little more steel than magnolia. 

State Sen. Kay Hagan, the Democratic nominee for U.S. Senate, said she supports a program that helps sheriff's deputies work on immigration, but criticized the cost to the state at a debate today.

What she said: "The 287(g) program is an unfunded federal mandate. Immigration is a federal issue. It is not a state issue."

The background: Since 1996, the federal government has offered a pilot program for sheriff’s deputies to investigate illegal immigration.

Though immigration enforcement is typically handled by the federal government, the goal of the 287(g) program is to start deportation proceedings on illegal immigrants who are arrested for crimes like drunk driving and other non-immigration related offenses.

In North Carolina, a handful of local sheriff's offices, including Wake County, have signed up for the program, which has been promoted by U.S. Sen. Elizabeth Dole.

The federal government pays for the cost of training deputies in immigration enforcement and grants sheriff's offices access to immigration records.

In 2007, the state legislature gave the N.C. Sheriffs' Association $750,000 to pay for additional support for the 287(g) program. Hagan, as a leader on the Senate budget committee, was instrumental in getting that funding in the state budget, according to her campaign.

This year's proposed state budget includes an increase to $1 million, although the association did not spend its entire allocation last year.

The Sheriffs' Association is a private professional organization that provides training and support services and lobbies on behalf of the state's 100 sheriffs.

Although Hagan supports enrolling all 100 North Carolina counties in the 287(g) program, her campaign argued that the federal government should pay for immigration enforcement, not the states.

"Immigration is a federal issue — the onus is on the federal government to find a solution that will be implemented across all 50 states instead of a few select counties," Hagan spokeswoman Colleen Flanagan said in an e-mail.

Is the claim true? No. The 287(g) program is voluntary, so it is not a federal mandate.