the Gba News Docket Volume 64, Number 7; March 2015 Message from the President The word of the month for February has been professionalism. It is one of those concepts that our legal profession lives by. It is also a big reason why the Greensboro Bar Association (“GBA”) has stayed relevant. My philosophy toward professionalism was shaped many years ago by senior members of the Greensboro Bar – Bill Osteen, Sr. as GBA president, Jim Turner of Turner Enochs, Larry Sitton of Smith Moore, and attorneys at GBA meetings at the Elks Lodge. My sense of professionalism was also influenced heavily by senior partners at my old law firm Adams Kleemeier – Bill Adams, Charlie Hagan, Dan Fouts, Walter Hannah, Bob Baynes, and Joe Moss. They would introduce me to other lawyers at the courthouse, in meetings, and at GBA dinners. We would talk in our car rides to court, depositions, retreats, and lunch. Those moments shaped me and made me a better person and lawyer. I made mental notes to myself that I wanted to emulate these senior lawyers. When opposing counsel dropped the F-bomb on me after a deposition recently, I drew upon those mental notes and held my tongue. Professionalism to me means being respectful of other lawyers; returning phone calls and emails the same day; being civil and courteous; getting to know fellow lawyers on a personal level if the opportunity arises -- your adversary today in one matter may be your co-counsel tomorrow on another matter; and respecting and promoting the legal profession. Jim Bryan, President of the Greensboro Bar Association This is where the GBA comes in. Our GBA activities promote the legal profession and make us better lawyers and better people. My first Habitat House volunteer work occurred in the early 1990s. I recall several Supreme Court Justices on the work crew. I was impressed with their dedication to the profession and their support of our local Habitat project, and I also realized the Justices were real people, not just a name on a court opinion. I recall our Young Lawyers luncheon meetings in the early 1990s, where I would meet fellow new lawyers and start friendships that still exist today, 25 years later. I remember Larry Sitton’s talk at a YLD lunch on work / life balance and the importance of having a personal life and a professional life at the same time. “... it is local bar associations like the GBA that help us stay true to our profession.” In This Issue: Message from the President . . . . . . . . . . Young Lawyers Section . . . . . . . . . . . . . . Schell Bray HFS Honorees . . . . . . . . . . . C&C Hires Cini . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . March Calendar Notes . . . . . . . . . . . . . . Stell: Trending Now, What 2015 Holds . . 2014 Herb Falk Society Honors . . . . . . . . Johnson-Parris Named 2015 Elite . . . . . . Isaacson Receives Centennial Award . . . GBA March 2015 Free CLE . . . . . . . . . . . Cordell & Cordell Open GSO Office . . . Kane Receives Citizen Lawyer Award . . . You can contribute news or topics of interest to the GBA by contacting Editor Travis Martin: [email protected] 1 2 2 2 2 3 4 5 5 6 7 7 In recent years, I have gained an even greater appreciation for the importance of GBA activities toward our profession. It was a Habitat project five years ago that caused me to renew a friendship with Bill Cooke, the GBA president then, and reminded me of all the local lawyers and how much I enjoyed working with them side-by-side hammering nails, even those I had been adverse to in litigation. Then there has been the volunteering for serving meals to the homeless at the Potters House of the Greensboro Urban Ministry on Lee Street. So many GBA members have come forward to serve meals and give back to the community. Whatever the combination of lawyers on the work crew, new friendships are struck. We simultaneously are humbled by the homeless who graciously thank us for a hot meal and a cup of iced tea. I had a volunteer list that grew and grew to about 75 lawyers who would fill a last minute vacancy in a work crew with no questions asked. Their dedication to helping our down-and-out spoke volumes about the generosity and compassion of our members. The same goes for volunteering for the landscaping / cleanup crew at Sussman Park, the City park near Hampton Homes that GBA adopted four years ago. It was the little things that would bring a work crew together. Once, Justice Bob Edmunds pulled a shopping cart out of a creek and pushed it across a field and up to the street. What a priceless image that was. While planting a flower bed next Continued on page 3 Young Laywers Section On Saturday, January 31, the Young Lawyers Division of the North Carolina Bar Association held its annual statewide AskA-Lawyer Day at 10 locations across the state. Ask-A-Lawyer Day is a public service event where volunteer attorneys provide citizens with free legal advice. The Greensboro event took place at the downtown branch of the Greensboro Public Library from 10 a.m. to 2 p.m. The Greensboro event was a success, as roughly 50 members of the local community were able to receive free legal advice from 10 volunteer young lawyers on a broad range of topics, which included, but were not limited to: child custody, immigration, landlord-tenant, employment, divorce/ separation, personal injury and bankruptcy. Schell Br ay, PLLC announces Honorees Jennifer L.J. Koenig “Like” the GBA Young Lawyers Section’s Facebook page (https://www. facebook.com/GreensboroBarYLS) and stay up to date on all its volunteer and social events! Christina Freeman Pearsall Schell Bray PLLC is pleased to announce that Jennifer L.J. Koenig, a member of the Schell Bray Trusts and Estates Practice Group, was honored by the Greensboro Bar Association’s Herb Falk Society at a recognition dinner held February 19, 2015. Ms. Koenig was recognized for having performed over 75 hours of pro bono service in 2014. Schell Bray PLLC is pleased to announce that Christina Freeman Pearsall, a member of the Schell Bray Real Estate Practice Group, was honored by the Greensboro Bar Association’s Herb Falk Society at a recognition dinner held February 19, 2015. Ms. Pearsall was recognized for having performed over 75 hours of pro bono service in 2014. New Members Wilfred H. Drath Endorser: Patricia C. Perkins The Law Firm of Sparrow Dennis & Medlin PA has relocated its offices. The firm’s new address and contact information is: 901 Battleground Avenue, Suite B P.O. Box 308 Greensboro, NC 27402-0308 Tel. 336-544-5080 www.sparrowdennis.com The firm will continue to concentrate in commercial finance and real estate law, business and corporate law, banking law, commercial litigation, construction law, wills and estates, and sports law. Donald G. Sparrow Jason B. Sparrow Thomas E. Medlin, Jr. J. Michael Thomas Of Counsel: Paul M. Dennis, Jr. R. David Joseph William A. Wood Guilford County District Attorney’s Office Endorser: Wayne T. Baucino Cini Joins Cordell & Cordell Cordell & Cordell, the nation’s largest domestic litigation firm focusing on representing men in family law cases, recently hired Associate Attorney Barbara Cini in its Greensboro office (717 Green Valley Road, Suite 200, Greensboro, NC 27408). March Calendar Notes March 2: Blood Drive 10:30 AM – 3:00 PM Elm Street Center (Walk-ins welcome) March 10: Board Meeting 4:00 PM in Self Help Building March 19: Member Lunch Meeting 12:30 PM at Empire Room 2 Trending Now What does 2015 hold for lawyers? What do your clients want? by Camille Stell Camille Stell is the Vice President of Client Services for Lawyers Mutual. Camille has more than 20 years of experience in the legal field. Contact Camille at camille@ lawyersmutualnc.com or 800.662.8843. There is a natural tendency among lawyers to say more and do more – sometimes more than is needed. Briefs are never brief. Think about client communications. When you get to the end of a long soliloquy or e-mail, have you ever had your client ask “is the answer yes or no?” The pressure to reduce legal costs and increase value to clients is real. Talk with clients up front about what they want. They may want to burn down the house. You could get paid plenty of money to help them do that. But keep asking your client what they actually want the result to be. Offer options. Might collaborative divorce be more appealing than burning down the house? Could an option such as this be a more cost effective option? At the end of the day, could you get there in less time with less heartburn? to hire marketing staff, consider attending meetings hosted by the Raleigh / Triad Chapter of the Legal Marketing Association to learn more about marketing, industry trends and hot topics. More lawyers than ever are having conversations about content management, email marketing, reputation management and client relationship management tools. Don’t be left behind. Run your firm like a startup; think like an entrepreneur Legal marketing Successful entrepreneurs don’t think like other people. They think far down the road, they see opportunity where others see challenge, they make things happen and they keep moving forward even when they fail. How can you be more entrepreneurial? There are several traits ascribed to entrepreneurs – passion, vision, selfbelief, flexibility and rule-breaking – traits that don’t come naturally to some lawyers. Practice exhibiting some of these traits. For example, don’t view your competitors as threats; rather study what makes them successful. Are they using technology in a different way? Do they package their legal services in a more novel way? Legal marketing isn’t a fad. In North Carolina, we continue to see growth in the number of members of the Legal Marketing Association. Our membership numbers have doubled in twenty-four months and there seems to be no slowdown in 2015. More firms are hiring their first marketing professional than ever before. If you aren’t ready Let go of perfection. Perfection stalls progress. You may make mistakes but moving forward is important. Don’t wait until you create the perfect marketing message before you start taking referral sources to lunch. Don’t wait until you have hours of free time to write the perfect article. Instead, write a very good article and shop it for Stop thinking you know what your clients want without asking them. Each case you handle is unique because each client is unique. Don’t treat them like the client who walked in yesterday. Continued on page 4 MESSAGE FROM THE PRESIDENT Continued from page 1 to fellow lawyers, everybody got to share themselves with each other on a personal level and professional level. The group picture at the end of our Saturday morning work had extra meaning because we had just beautified a city park for a public housing project. The GBA is indeed relevant in our professional lives and for our personal well-being. Any GBA activity is an opportunity for older lawyers to help younger lawyers and for younger lawyers to teach older lawyers new ways of thinking and surviving the new technology age. It is so easy for each of us to crawl into our own bunker, work hard on our client files, lose touch with our fellow bar members, and be gruff and ugly to our adversaries. What better way for us to come out of our insular offices than to come to the GBA’s holiday party, luncheon meetings at the Empire Room, dinner meetings at Starmount Club, the Legal Aid fundraiser at the Greensboro Science Center, or the Red Cross blood drive on March 2. Each time we participate, we re-connect with one another and make ourselves feel good about ourselves and our profession. Every time I participate in a GBA activity I am proud to be a lawyer and to be a part of the legal profession. Our Chief Justice Mark Martin of the North Carolina Supreme Court spoke about professionalism at the GBA dinner on February 19. He said he has great pride in being a lawyer and it is local bar associations like the GBA that help us stay true to our profession. Made sense to me. In sum, I have great faith that the GBA will continue to be relevant for all of us local attorneys and be a source for developing our profession and fostering our professionalism toward one another. 3 Herb Falk Society Honors Pro Bono Service The Herb Falk Society honors those members of the Greensboro Bar Association who contribute at least 75 hours of pro bono service annually. The ten individuals inducted for 2014 were recognized at the February member dinner at Starmount Forest Country Club. They are: Locke T. Clifford 113.75 Richard W. Gabriel 86.5 A. Holt Gwyn 133.6 Craig P. Hensel 81.3 Jennifer L. J. Koenig 105.8 Phyllis Lile-King88 Christina F. Pearsall 80.2 Eric A. Richardson 140 James H. Slaughter 112 Jenny E. Sweet 84.5 The recipients of the 2014 Herb Falk Society Awards TRENDING NOW Continued from page 3 publication. The editor can tell you if it’s good enough or needs work but at least you’re taking action. Study like an entrepreneur. Get out of your legal box and read Fast Company or any number of good blogs: Quora, Copy Blogger (Brian Clark, who describes himself as a recovering attorney), Church of the Customer, Entrepreneur Daily Dose or WiseBread. Subscribe to the Startup podcast (http:// gimletmedia.com/show/startup/), described as “a series about what happens when someone who knows nothing about business starts one.” to get on board. The success of your law practice is tied to technology. Start by reading more about how to use technology. Subscribe to technology newsletters and blogs. Among the ABA Top 100 blogs – Electronic Discovery Law, iPhoneJD, The Droid Lawyer, Law Technology Today, Technologist, and Technology & Marketing Law Blog. Mobile Read theSkimm blog http://blog.theskimm.com/ , a tale of two twenty-something women, former NBC news producers, who have started a successful daily e-mail newsletter with the motto “we read so you can skim.” In prior articles, I’ve talked about the need for a good law firm website, that’s old news. The trend is that mobile friendly sites are important. Your clients are looking for you on their smart phones and tablets. There are plenty of reports and statistics to back up this claim, trust me. We all use the computers that fit into our pockets to solve our problems, finding your law firm will be no different. Improve your firm’s oper ations Cyber threats There are many excellent law practice management blogs. Here are some included in the ABA Top 100 blawgs list: Divorce Discourse, Attorney at Work, 3 Geeks and a Law Blog, Lawyerist, Adam Smith Esq., The Mad Clientist, and The Legal Watercooler. I would also include Lawyer’s Mutual’s blog, A Byte of Prevention. You read the news so you know no companies are safe. Learn what risks are associated with law firms and what security measures you need to be taking. Lawyers Mutual is writing about this on their blog “A Byte of Prevention” and in their newsletter “Put into Practice.” We’ll also be holding a cyberconference in November. Stay tuned. Technology Are tech-savvy lawyers a trend? No, technology as a requirement was a trend many years ago, but I’m going to include technology as a trend because so many lawyers refuse It feels as though there is a tsunami of information available today because it’s true. Being more knowledgeable about one or more of these trends will help you move forward in 2015 with purpose. 4 Johnson-Parris named to Business North Carolina’s 2015 Legal Elite Afi Johnson-Parris Afi Johnson-Parris, an attorney with Ward Black Law, was elected to Business North Carolina magazine’s 2015 Legal Elite, a peer-elected list of the state’s top lawyers. Of thousands practicing law in the state, less than three percent were named to the Legal Elite. Johnson-Parris is one of six Greensboro family law attorneys on the list, which can be viewed in the January 2015 edition of Business North Carolina. Johnson-Parris, an Air Force veteran and graduate of University of Virginia Law School, focuses on divorce and family law as well as veterans disability. She was one of 58 family law attorneys in North Carolina to be named in the Legal Elite. “It is an honor to be named to the Legal Elite by Business North Carolina,” Johnson-Parris said. “To receive this recognition from my peers across the state is especially humbling.” Legal Elite is the only award of its kind that allows every lawyer in North Carolina the opportunity to participate in voting. This year, ballots were made available to more than 20,000 attorneys. Criteria sought to determine not the most influential or well-known lawyers, but those who perform best in their respective practice areas. This was the third consecutive year that Johnson-Parris received recognition for family law. “Family law involves serving as an active partner for people in times of crisis,” said Johnson-Parris, who serves as president elect of the Greensboro Bar Association. “I see my position as a teammate for the client – a teammate who can create clarity and help them navigate through a complex process.” Isaacson receives Centennial Award by Jennifer N. Fountain In 1999, the NCBA created the Centennial Award to recognize exemplary community service and to be awarded by the local bar association. Distinguished recipients in the past have included Carole Bruce, Judge Patrice Hinnant, Alan Duncan, Henry Isaacson and Eloise Hassell. One thing that all of these folks have in common is that they have given selflessly and tirelessly of themselves to various causes to improve the City of Greensboro and its citizens. I am pleased to say that this year’s recipient is my law partner, Marc Isaacson. I think we all know Marc is a pretty formal guy. I am pretty sure that he even wears a tie to bed with his Brooks Brothers pajamas. But the great thing about him is that he is not afraid to roll up his sleeves and do serious work to make Greensboro a better place. I have worked with Marc for almost 15 years and if there is one thing he has taught me it is that the best golf partner is someone who is just a little bit worse than you are. Just kidding, if he has taught me one thing it is that you should always make friends with people who have the best seats at the Dean Dome. Okay, seriously, one thing that he has always been an example of is giving back to your community. And that is no joke. Marc Isaacson has continually worked during his entire legal career with various organizations volunteering his time and expertise. Actually that was part of the reason why I chose to come to work with Marc and his dad. Coming from a family who placed great importance on volunteering in the community, I was pleased to find a law firm that shared that passion. Obviously, this drive was instilled in Marc by two champions of community service, Alice and Henry Isaacson. Marc attended undergrad at Chapel Hill and has been a diehard Heels fan ever since. He obtained his law degree from Wake Forest University. Centennial Award recipient Marc Isaacson Marc was an active member of the Greensboro Jaycees and a dedicated volunteer for the golf tournament. He was a member of the Greensboro Parks and Recreation Commission from 1985- 1991. He was Chairman of the Board of Trustees from 1993-2005. Marc’s friend, David Hammer said that Marc was such an integral part of the Greensboro Science Center that 1) he has a road there named Isaacson Way and 2) at one point they “adjusted” the by-laws so he could remain on the board for a 17th term.” He also served on the search committee that hired Glenn Dobrogosz. I also asked Glenn Dobrogosz for a couple of comments about Marc. He said “What I appreciate more than anything else given his very calm, rational and methodical ways of doing things was that he Continued on page 6 5 The Greensboro Bar Association & NewBridge Bank Private Banking invite you to join us for a free lunch and CLE* seminar, hosted by Brooks Pierce DIGITAL PRIVACY AND MARKETING RISKS: PROTECTING YOUR CLIENT IN THE ONLINE AGE Presented by Charles Marshall and Bryan Starrett, Esquires When: Wednesday, March 18, 2015, 12:00pm – 1:00pm Check-in and lunch start at 11:30am Where: Brooks Pierce – Humphrey Conference Room 2000 Renaissance Plaza 230 North Elm Street Greensboro, NC 27401 Lunch will be provided by NewBridge Bank Private Banking. We hope you will join us for this free CLE.* *One hour of CLE credit has been applied for and is anticipated, but is not yet approved. RSVP to Abigail Peoples at [email protected] or 336-275-6003 SPACE IS LIMITED, SO RSVP TODAY! Businesses that operate and advertise in the digital space face multiple compliance challenges. If your clients use websites, mobile platforms, or social media to market goods or services, potential pitfalls abound. This one-hour CLE will introduce a number of those pitfalls and liability risk areas, including content and copyright issues, the FTC’s new dot-com disclosure guidance, the FTC’s guides relating to testimonials and endorsements, and other legal issues often encountered by any company engaged in website and mobile marketing. ISAACSON Continued from page 5 hired someone like me who is NOT calm, a risk-taker and the opposite of methodical in trying to find ways to launch the GSC into an all-new orbit. When he finally stepped away from the chairman role after 12 years, he left me with an amazing team of staff and board members primed and ready to move forward. He also handed me the reigns to $5M as the starting point (and cash) to begin building Animal Discovery. Marc also served on the Guilford County Board of Elections for 10 years and the Greensboro War Memorial Coliseum Commission for 7 years. He is also a founding Board Member of the Greensboro Police Foundation. He even found a way to work with both passions by serving as legal counsel for the Carolina Section of the PGA. Finally, he has held a leadership role in his faith community by serving as president of Temple Emmanuel from 2004- 2006 and Vice President and now President Elect of the Greensboro Jewish Federation. And somehow, the man finds time to practice law and swing a golf club now and then. It gives me great pride to recognize Marc Isaacson as the recipient of the Greensboro Bar Association Community Service Award. 6 Nation’s Largest Men’s Divorce Law Firm Opens Greensboro, North Carolina Office Supporting Dads through the Divorce Process Cordell & Cordell, the nation’s largest domestic litigation firm focusing on representing men in family law cases, has announced the opening of its first office in Greensboro, N.C. Cordell & Cordell has more than 170 attorneys working in more than 100 offices across the United States. Perceptually, men are at a disadvantage in family courts, but Cordell & Cordell is expanding in an effort to support more men through the divorce process. The firm has established itself as a leader in family law devoted to equal rights for men facing divorce. The new Greensboro office (717 Green Valley Road, Suite 200, Greensboro, NC 27408) will broaden the opportunities for divorcing dads to gain information and counsel. “Our firm protects and promotes men’s family and financial interests before, during, and after divorce,” said Joseph Cordell, J.D., C.P.A., LL.M., P.F.S., and co-founder of Cordell & Cordell. “Men choose Cordell & Cordell because they want to feel that their interests and the interests of their children are aggressively championed.” Now with an office in the Greensboro area, Cordell & Cordell is able to help even more men protect their roles in their children’s lives while safeguarding their financial means to do so. Breaking through stereotypes, Cordell & Cordell is a partner men can count on. Patrick K ane Receives 2015 North Carolina Bar Association’s Citizen Laywer Award Smith Moore Leatherwood attorney Patrick M. Kane is among the thirteen exemplary lawyers to receive the North Carolina Bar Association’s (NCBA) 2015 Citizen Lawyer Award. The award will be presented on Friday, June 19 at the NCBA Annual Meeting in Asheville, North Carolina. Patrick M. Kane The Citizen Lawyer Award was established in 2007 to recognize lawyers who provide exemplary public service to their communities. Honorees include elected and appointed government officials, coaches, mentors and voluntary leaders of nonprofit, civic and community organizations. Kane demonstrates a high level of community involvement and mentoring young people through his high school and college rugby coaching. He is the Atlantic Coast Rugby League Commissioner and previously served as head coach of Wake Forest University’s rugby team for nine years. He also started a boys’ rugby team at Grimsley High School in Greensboro, and currently serves as head coach. Additionally, Kane serves in the Fathers Being Involved program at Brooks Global Elementary, where his children are students. In this role, he serves as a tutor and mentor for underprivileged male students. Kane is a member of the firm’s Litigation Practice Group and Appellate Practice Group in the Greensboro office and routinely handles complex litigation in both state and federal courts. He regularly represents municipalities in labor and employment, constitutional and contract litigation, and is frequently involved in litigation on behalf of entities in the sports and entertainment industry. He is a contributor to the North Carolina Appellate Practice Blog, www.ncapb.com, which provides news, information, tips, and resources for practicing law in North Carolina’s state and federal appellate courts. Kane received his bachelor’s degree from College of Holy Cross in Worcester, Massachusetts in 2000 and his juris doctor from Wake Forest University School of Law in Winston-Salem, North Carolina in 2007. 7 Financial Investigation Professionals The Davis Forensic Group provides financial investigation support to attorneys and their clients. SPECIALTIES: Civil & Criminal Actions Special Master in the North Carolina Business Court Shareholder Disputes Complex Divorces Bankruptcy Trustee Support Corporate Internal Investigations Bert Davis Jr., CPA, CFE, CFF e: [email protected] p: (336) 543-3099 GREENSBORO // NEW YORK WWW.DAVISFORENSIC.COM The Greensboro Bar Association, Inc. Post Office Box 1825 Greensboro, North Carolina 27402
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