The Greensboro Bar Association’s Legal Aid Fundraiser, held on Saturday, February 25 at the Greensboro Science Center’s SciQuarium, was a great success!  We hosted 135 guests, which included GBA members, many of our sponsors, friends and family.

Guests enjoyed an amazing array of Mediterranean-style food provided by Catering by Bakatsias, locally brewed craft beer from Gibbs Hundred Brewing Company, and a selection of red and white wine from Rioja! A Wine Bar.

We raffled off over 15 great prizes donated by local businesses and organizations, including Sheree’s Natural Cosmetics, Easy Peasy Decadent Desserts, Quaintance-Weaver Hotels and Restaurants, Logan Financial, Parizade Restaurant, 1618 Concepts, The Fresh Market, Whole Foods, La Palette Artisan Chocolates, the Greensboro Women’s Club, beerthirty, and World of Beer.

The Fundraiser Committee, consisting of Nick Bakatsias, the Honorable Bill Davis and Sarah Roane, is grateful for the incredible support of our sponsors and extends its thanks to the following companies and individuals:

Platinum ($2,000):  DMJ Wealth Advisors, LLC, Roane Law, Brooks Pierce;

Gold ($1,000):  Lawyers Mutual Liability Insurance Company of North Carolina, Smith Moore Leatherwood, Lincoln Financial Group, Connors Morgan PLLC, Carruthers & Roth, PA, Womble Carlyle;

Silver ($500):  Nexsen Pruet, Pinto Coates Kyre & Bowers PLLC, Johnson Pedrick & McDonald PLLC, Garrett and Walker PLLC, Matt Logan Inc., Deuterman Law Group, Tuggle Duggins, Anna Berdahl, Barbara Morgenstern;

Bronze ($250):  Elon University School of Law, ITG Brands, Whole Foods, Jill Wilson & Marc Isaacson, Senn Dunn Insurance, Schell Bray PLLC, Scott Insurance, Turning Point Litigation, Bob & Sally Cone, Cone Health, The Nelson Law Firm, Vance Barron, Jr.

Thanks to the hard work of the committee, ticket sales, sponsorships, and donations (including an incredible anonymous donation of $5,000), the GBA raised an amazing total of $25,145.05 (with $1,500 donated directly to Legal Aid).  At the March 16th member meeting, Sarah Roane presented Janet McAuley-Blue, Managing Attorney of our local Greensboro Legal Aid office, and all Legal Aid attorneys and staff in attendance, with a check for $23,645.05.

The GBA’s Annual CLE is being held on Thursday, April 20th at Starmount Forest Country Club, from 1:15 to 5:15pm.  The seminar will conclude with a cocktail reception that begins at 5:30 pm, with our annual meeting to follow.

The CLE will feature one hour of substance abuse/mental health credit with a presentation from the NC Lawyers Assistance Program called Stories of Renewal and Recovery, and two hours of ethics credit, with two presentations from GNGF, a dynamic group out of Cincinnati, Ohio.

They will be presenting on the timely topics How to Advise Clients and Manage Judicial Holds and Discovery with Social Media and the Ethics of Data Security.

Every attendee will receive a free copy of their Amazon best-selling legal marketing and technology book Online Law Practice Strategies: How to Turn Clicks into Clients.  The cost for the CLE is just $75 for GBA members until April 14th, and $90 after April 14th.  Please click here to register.

The N.C. Bar Association Business Law Section recently honored Carruthers & Roth attorney June Basden with its 2017 Distinguished Service Award in recognition of her extraordinary commitment to the organization.

The award is the Business Law Section’s highest honor – designed to recognize and to encourage extraordinary service to the section, the legal profession and the public.

Basden has chaired the Business Law Section and has served as both a Council Member and Secretary of State Liaison. She has led committees for Continuing Law Education, Nominating and the Distinguished Service Award and has been active in planning special events, including an annual meeting and the Business Law Section’s 25th anniversary celebration. She also was instrumental in launching the Distinguished Service Award program. Basden currently serves as one of the Business Law Section’s representatives on the N.C. Bar Association’s Internet and Regulations Task Force.

Basden, who is both an attorney and a certified public accountant, is part of the Carruthers & Roth banking and finance practice.  She represents national and regional banks, financial institutions and commercial lenders in a variety of finance transactions, with a special focus on commercial lending and creditors’ rights. She is a fellow of the American College of Commercial Finance Lawyers (ACCFL) and of the American Bar Foundation. She also is active in a number of law and accounting organizations at the local, state and national level.

The Distinguished Service Award was presented last month during the annual meeting of the N.C. Bar Association Business Law Section.

Smith Moore Leatherwood LLP is pleased to announce that Managing Partner Julianna Theall Earp has been selected by American City Business Journals’ Bizwomen as one of its 100 “Women to Watch” in 2017.  The group chosen from across the nation “collectively have a record of success that spans decades” and are “poised to continue impacting their companies, and their communities, for years to come,” according to Bizwomen which, along with The Business Journals, is a publication of American City Business Journals.

Earp’s inclusion with this distinguished group reflects her well-respected leadership efforts to oversee the continued growth and success of Smith Moore Leatherwood’s seven offices in three states. In addition to serving as Chair of the firm’s Management Committee, she has held leadership positions outside of the office with the Middle District of North Carolina Chapter of the Federal Bar Association and the Employment Law Practice Group of the North Carolina Association of Defense Attorneys.

During her more than thirty-year tenure with the firm, Earp has served Smith Moore Leatherwood LLP in an array of leadership roles.  She is a longstanding member of the litigation practice group and a member of the labor and employment team. She represents clients in the health care, transportation, education, manufacturing, hospitality and retail industries. Earp has been recognized by Law & Politics Magazine seven times as one of the “Top 50 Women” attorneys in North Carolina, was selected by Triad Business Journal as an “Outstanding Women in Business” and was voted Greensboro Best Lawyers “Employment Law – Management Lawyer of the Year” in 2013, 2016 and 2017.  Earp graduated, summa cum laude, from the University of Georgia and, magna cum laude, from the University of Georgia School of Law.  She joined Smith Moore Leatherwood immediately after graduating from law school and has spent the entirety of her career with the firm.

Four Nexsen Pruet Greensboro attorneys named to Business NC Legal Elite 2017

Four Nexsen Pruet attorneys have been selected by their peers to this year’s list of “Legal Elite” in North Carolina from Nexsen Pruet’s Greensboro Office. The 2017 list is featured in the Januaryvv issue of Business North Carolina magazine.  The attorneys are Brian Anderson (Bankruptcy), Eric Biesecker (Construction), William Wilcox (Business) and  Brian Pearce (“Young Guns”). Please click here to read more from Business North Carolina magazine.

In addition, two Greensboro Attorneys are in the Hall of Fame.  The top vote-getter in each category then becomes a life-long member of Business North Carolina’s “Legal Elite” Hall of Fame. Nexsen Pruet Hall-of-Famers include: Harper Heckman (Greensboro) for Construction in 2016 and Christy Myatt (Greensboro) for Bankruptcy in 2010.

Seven Nexsen Pruet Attorneys in Greensboro named to 2017 NC Super Lawyers®

Seven Greensboro Nexsen Pruet attorneys have been named to the 2017 edition of North Carolina Super Lawyers®. They include five Super Lawyers Recognitions in the following areas:

Jim Bryan – Insurance
Jay Devaney – Real Estate
Harper Heckman – Construction
Christy Myatt – Bankruptcy
William Wilcox – Tax

In addition, two attorneys were named 2017 North Carolina Rising Stars®:

Brian Anderson – Bankruptcy (Greensboro)
Jeff Reichard – Construction (Greensboro)

Greensboro Bar Association & Elon Law

Blood Drive

Elm Street Center – Upper Regency Room

203 S. Elm Street, Greensboro, NC 27401

Wednesday, March 8, 2017
10:00 a.m. – 2:30 p.m.

Give the gift from the heart!  Save lives by donating blood!

To schedule an appointment, visit  redcrossblood.org

and key sponsor code “GBA”. Questions?

Contact Diane Lowe at  jd18gba@greensborobar.org.

Appointments are encouraged.

Walk-ins welcome. Bring a photo ID.

Rule 6.1 of the North Carolina Rules of Professional Conduct encourages North Carolina attorneys to provide at least fifty hours of pro bono legal services each year. Recognizing the logistical hurdles that often hinder pro bono work, the North Carolina Equal Access to Justice Commission proudly launched the North Carolina Pro Bono Resource Center in 2016.

One of the first issues identified by the Center was North Carolina’s inability to track the pro bono services rendered by attorneys every year. Tracking pro bono efforts helps identify unmet legal needs and illuminate larger trends relevant to access to justice issues statewide. It also provides a public record recognizing the amazing and valuable contributions made by attorneys across North Carolina who selflessly volunteer their time every year.

The North Carolina Pro Bono Resource Center has created a new survey designed to fill this need. Between now and March 15, 2017, North Carolina attorneys are encouraged to visit www.ncprobono.org and complete a brief survey about their pro bono service during calendar year 2016. Completing the survey should take approximately ten minutes, and individuals have the option to do so anonymously.  Any attorney who reports at least fifty hours of pro bono service will be inducted into the North Carolina Pro Bono Honor Society and will receive a certificate from the Supreme Court of North Carolina honoring his or her achievement.

Please take a few minutes to complete the survey.  Any questions may be directed to Sylvia Novinsky at sylvia@ncprobono.org.