N.C. Bar Association

Durham lawyer joins crime commission

markjohnson — Thu, 17 Sep 2009 13:00:07 -0400

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.

JDs on the unemployment line

markjohnson — Mon, 15 Jun 2009 06:18:21 -0400

Lawyers are out of work, too.

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: Judges not interested

ryanteaguebeckwith — Fri, 30 Jan 2009 15:06:26 -0500

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.

One theory on judges, weddings

ryanteaguebeckwith — Fri, 30 Jan 2009 14:16:59 -0500

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

Politico: Hagan on the attack

ryanteaguebeckwith — Tue, 09 Sep 2008 08:46:43 -0400

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.

Claims Dept: Hagan on 287(g)

ryanteaguebeckwith — Sat, 21 Jun 2008 19:30:18 -0400

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.

How bipartisan has Hagan been?

ryanteaguebeckwith — Sat, 21 Jun 2008 18:15:00 -0400

How bipartisan has Kay Hagan been?

At a debate in Atlantic Beach today, the Democratic Senate nominee said that she had worked with Republicans in her time in the state legislature.

"I've gotten results here in North Carolina by working across party lines, by ending the partisan bickering," she said.

Afterward, Greensboro News & Record reporter Mark Binker asked Hagan about the Senate Democratic leadership's recent decision to cut off debate on the state budget before Republicans could offer their comments.

"The budget was an opportunity that people had a lot of time to make changes, to make recommendations in subcommittees, and I just don't think there was a lot of participation at the time when a lot of changes could take place," she said.

Hagan said she has worked closely with Republican Sen. Fletcher Hartsell of Cabarrus County on judicial issues and layoffs in Kannapolis and Sen. Jim Jacumin of Burke County on "furniture-related issues."

She said she also had a good relationship with Republican Sen. Stan Bingham of Davidson County.

Perdue plays to the reporters

ryanteaguebeckwith — Sat, 21 Jun 2008 17:46:19 -0400

Beverly Perdue made a play for the media.

Talking about the economy at an N.C. Bar Association debate today, the Democratic gubernatorial nominee went over the heads of the lawyers and judges and gave a nod to the reporters in the back row.

"This morning's papers talked about the unemployment rate continuing to go up in North Carolina," she said. "We all know that and see that. Even the News & Observer and Charlotte Observer are having employment layoffs."

Appropriately enough, Perdue then talked about worker retraining programs. For former reporters, those usually involve several years at a law school.

Claims Dept: Dole on driver's license vote

ryanteaguebeckwith — Sat, 21 Jun 2008 17:09:18 -0400

U.S. Sen. Elizabeth Dole criticized Democratic rival Kay Hagan's record on illegal immigration at an N.C. Bar Association debate in Atlantic Beach on June 21, 2008.

What she said: "My opponent has voted to make it easier for illegal immigrants to get North Carolina driver's licenses."

The background: In an effort to encourage illegal immigrants to get car insurance, the N.C. Division of Motor Vehicles decided in 1998 that applicants establishing residency for a driver's license could submit a broad range of forms of identification, including papers issued by the Mexican government.

The looser standards led to reports that immigrants from other states were getting North Carolina IDs, then using those to get licenses back home.

After the Sept. 11 attacks, concerns about fraud and national security led state lawmakers to toughen standards for driver's licenses. Republican legislators sponsored bills that would have required a Social Security number, making getting a license impossible for illegal immigrants.

But Democratic leaders in the state Senate sent those bills to die in committee, so neither Hagan nor any other senator voted on them. Instead, they opted to require applicants provide either a Social Security number or an Individual Taxpayer Identification Number, which is given to all U.S. workers regardless of immigration status.

The measure, which Hagan supported, did not make it impossible for illegal immigrants to get a license, though it did make it more difficult. Over the following four years, the number of licenses issued without proof of citizenship dropped by roughly half.

Measures to toughen standards further also died in committee over the next several years. Then, in 2006, the legislature ordered the DMV to stop accepting taxpayer ID numbers, essentially making it impossible for illegal immigrants to get a license. Hagan supported that measure as well.

A Dole spokesman, Hogan Gidley, argued that the state Senate should have adopted the tougher standards earlier, and said it was still easier to get a driver's license in North Carolina than in other states after the 2001 vote.

"Social Security numbers should be the standard, and anything less than that is making it easier," he said.

Is the claim true? No. In 2001, Hagan voted to make it harder for illegal immigrants to get licenses, and in 2006 she voted to make it impossible. It's fair to say that Senate Democrats — Hagan included — could have backed stronger standards, but that's not the same thing as voting to "make it easier."

Jury still out after N.C. Bar debate?

ryanteaguebeckwith — Sat, 21 Jun 2008 15:46:36 -0400

The jury was seemingly deadlocked after today's debate.

Although some lawyers at the N.C. Bar Association debate today had favorites already in the races for governor and U.S. senator, a few who spoke to Dome said neither side won their case outright.

Bryan Collins, 47, a public defender in Raleigh, favors Democratic Senate candidate Kay Hagan over her Republican rival Sen. Elizabeth Dole, but he wasn't blown away.

"There were no 'wow moments' in this debate," he said. "They both played it safe and said things you'd expect them to say."

He said the debate did make clear what lines of argument the two sides would be using in the coming months: high gas prices and the Iraq war vs. high taxes and illegal immigration.

Andrew Walsh, 47, a Charlotte law professor who also leans Democratic, said he wasn't ready to decide.

"I had never seen Hagan before," he said. "She didn't have the polish that Dole did, but the flip side of that was that she came across as more genuine."

Beverly Tate Beal, a Superior Court judge from Caldwell County, said Dole and Hagan, who both have law degrees, did better than gubernatorial candidates Pat McCrory and Beverly Perdue, who do not. He said McCrory made need to "do more homework" on his claim that plea bargains are becoming nonexistent.

He said he still had questions about all the candidates.

"I would not make a final judgement based on what I heard today," he said.