For those readers that are tech savvy and keep up to date with financial developments, the buzzwords cryptocurrency, bitcoin, and blockchain should immediately ring a bell. Another development called smart contracts should also be on your radar. Essentially built upon blockchain and distributed ledger technologies, these smart contracts are one…
North Carolina recently enacted a new law that formed a regulatory sandbox for financial and insurance technologies (often termed Fintech and Insuretech). It also commissioned the formation of an “Innovation Council” that serves to receive and approve applications for “entry” into the so-called sandbox. This new law will be codified…
November is National Inspirational Role Models Month. I’d like to take a moment to praise one of my role models that guided me throughout law school and practice. Professor Shaw was my first year civil procedure professor. Civil procedure was the first ever law school class I attended. Before I…
https://www.nccourts.gov/news/tag/general-news/supreme-court-amends-the-rules-of-appellate-procedure On October 13, 2021, the North Carolina Supreme Court adopted amendments to the Rules of Appellate Procedure. These changes will be in effect for appeals taken on or after January 1, 2022. A few of these amendments were directly caused by the ongoing Covid-19 pandemic, and some were accelerated…
In case you have not heard, deepfake videos are multiplying online. “Deepfake” is a term coined in late 2017 by a Reddit user of the same name. With origins in pornography, the use of deepfakes has transcended well beyond the explicit. A deepfake generally refers to media manipulation where a…
The Rules of Civil Procedure often have a few points where a case can end. They are there to make sure that all parties to the case are proceeding fairly, timely, and efficiently. Over time, these stopping points have begun to evolve as more and more litigants are utilizing them…
Stewart v. Shipley, 825 S.E.2d 684, 264 N.C.App. 241 (N.C. App. 2019) You might imagine your civil court case as a game. All games have rules, and the handbook that tells you how to play the game is the Rules of Civil Procedure. And you can’t break the rules without…
2020 Formal Ethics Opinion 5 In recent years, there has been a marked increase in the number of attempts to defraud attorneys of their clients’ funds in trust accounts. Now con artists are stealing from clients directly by using “inside information.” These scams are constantly evolving and are becoming much…
We have written in the past about Social Security Benefits, specifically Survivor’s Benefits, and how they play a role in adoption of the minor receiving those benefits. What the author did not realize is that, in the case where the child is in foster care, many state welfare agencies seemingly…
In my 3-4 years of serving legal documents, I have found that there isn’t a one-size-fits-all method for serving legal papers. Rule 4(j) of the North Carolina Rules of Civil Procedure outlines the service of a Civil Summons, Rule 5(b) of the North Carolina Rules of Civil Procedure outlines the…