They are no longer mere trial lawyers. They are now "advocates for justice."

No, we're not talking about the latest summer superhero flick.

The N.C. Academy of Trial Lawyers announced today that they are changing their name. From now on, they will be known as the "N.C. Advocates for Justice."

The group approved the name change at their annual convention this weekend.

"N.C. Advocates for Justice better reflects exactly what we do on a day-to-day basis," said Joe Cheshire, president of the organization. "It does a better job of articulating what this organization is all about - fighting for justice and protecting people's rights."

We wonder if they're going to start wearing capes, too.

A new report says North Carolina is a "sucker" because its legal climate is ripe for greedy lawyers seeking a payday.

The report released Tuesday by the Pacific Research Institute in San Francisco ranked each state's tort-system using three measures, reports Titan Barksdale.

Researchers at the institute say that although North Carolina doesn't have a lot of litigation compared to other states, it is lax on rules to control tort actions. So the report characterized North Carolina as a sucker.

But Thomas B. Metzloff, a civil-law professor at Duke University, warned that the report has a pro-business leaning.

"These [measures] are loaded with an anti-citizen and anti-plaintiff spin," Metzloff said. "If you get a group of lawyers, judges and law professors in a room, they would have field day criticizing these variables."

The study ranked North Carolina third in one measure because of low damage awards, and low litigation risks in the state. Alaska and North Dakota are ranked ahead of North Carolina. North Carolina, however, ranked 25th in another measure that looked at tort reform.

"I think this is an absurd way to rank this," Metzloff said. "Medical malpractice controls were big in the report, and I think the state has done a good job at improving how medical malpractice cases are settled. It has avoided some of the Draconian measures that could hurt the interest of injured patients."

The Pope Center for Higher Education Policy says North Carolina is "under-lawyered."

Robust growth and new businesses boost the need for lawyers in North Carolina, according to a center report released today. It cites data that North Carolina has fewer private-sector lawyers per capita than any other state (758 people for each lawyer).

But, the report says, state restrictions make the climate difficult for new lawyers to come here, reports Jane Stancill.

The reports says North Carolina allows only graduates of American Bar Association-approved law schools to take the state bar exam, and requires licensed lawyers from other states to have practiced for four of the past six years in order to "waive" in to the North Carolina bar. The rules prevent newly licensed lawyers and those who graduated from unaccredited law schools to practice here.

Read more after the jump.

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