North Carolina

K&L Gates in Merger Talks With N.C. Law Firm

Kirkpatrick & Lockhart Preston Gates Ellis, a law firm that is the product of two recent mergers, is in merger talks with yet another law firm, this one from North Carolina. The possible merger partner is Charlotte-based Kennedy Covington Lobdell & Hickman, a 175-lawyer firm with five offices in North…

May 2, 2008 12:52 PM CDT

Death-Row Inmate Freed After Judge Finds Detectives Withheld Evidence

A North Carolina death-row inmate was freed from prison yesterday after a judge determined investigators mishandled his case and prosecutors decided against a retrial. Glen Edward Chapman had served 14 years for the murders of two people before he was freed. Chapman’s lawyer said his client’s only link to the…

Apr 3, 2008 1:32 PM CDT

Not Yet Merged with McGuireWoods, 8 Helms Mullis Lawyers to Go Elsewhere

Although an upcoming merger at the end of the month will put more than 100 lawyers at Charlotte, N.C.-based Helms Mullis & Wicker into one of the nation’s largest law firms, not every attorney is looking to practice at a big firm. Among those who prefer to go smaller: eight…

Mar 26, 2008 4:01 PM CDT

Fast-Growing Parker Poe Ponders Possible Expansion Outside Carolinas

Over the past five years, Parker Poe Adams & Bernstein has grown from 150 attorneys to 227. Now the 120-year-old Charlotte-based Carolinas powerhouse is pondering possible expansion elsewhere, according to an interview of managing partner Bill Farthing by the Charlotte Observer. At the firm’s helm since 2002, he considers successful…

Mar 24, 2008 4:06 PM CDT

Bork Litigation PR Firm Takes On Duke, Defends Litigation Website

The son of the man whose U.S. Supreme Court bid went down in flames in 1987 refuses to be borked by a court filing in a lawsuit filed by lacrosse team members. Robert Bork Jr. runs a litigation consulting firm known as Bork Communication Group, which represents the plaintiffs’ law…

Mar 6, 2008 2:44 PM CST

Two Florida Lawyers Accused of Making ‘Sham’ Claims for Credit Card Holders

Two Florida lawyers and their affiliated firms are accused in a lawsuit of making “sham” claims on behalf of consumers seeking to avoid payment of credit card debt. The suit by Chase Bank claims the lawyers falsely tell customers that the credit card company violated the federal Fair Credit Billing…

Mar 6, 2008 1:42 PM CST

McGuireWoods Merges With N.C. Law Firm

McGuireWoods is merging with a 120-lawyer firm in North Carolina, a move that will increase the larger firm’s roster to almost 900 lawyers. Currently McGuireWoods has just one North Carolina office, in Charlotte. The merger gives it additional offices in Raleigh and Wilmington and increases the number of lawyers in…

Mar 6, 2008 11:43 AM CST

Appeals Court Upholds N.C. Judge’s Disbarment

A North Carolina judge who lost his law license based on accusations he took money and property from an elderly woman has also lost his appeal. James Ethridge had contended disbarment was too harsh a punishment, the Associated Press reports. The North Carolina Court of Appeals disagreed in a ruling…

Feb 22, 2008 2:41 PM CST

‘06 Lacrosse Team to Sue Duke U

The 38 members of the 2006 men’s lacrosse team at Duke University reportedly plan to sue the school in federal court today, contending that Duke officials remained silent about exonerating evidence as a rape investigation took an emotional toll. Although only three players were charged—and later determined to be innocent—in…

Feb 21, 2008 5:21 PM CST

N.C. Drops Ethics Charges Against PD Who Told of Dead Client’s Confession

The North Carolina State Bar has dismissed an ethics complaint against the appellate defender who revealed statements his client made long before he committed suicide in prison that could help exonerate another inmate. Editorials in the Raleigh News & Observer and the Greensboro News-Record are praising the decision to drop…

Feb 5, 2008 3:37 PM CST

Judge Dismisses Nifong From Duke Player’s Civil Suit, For Now

A federal judge in North Carolina has kicked a disgraced former prosecutor from a lawsuit brought by three wrongly accused Duke lacrosse players. U.S. District Judge James A. Beaty ordered that former Durham District Attorney Mike Nifong be dropped from the litigation, at least until his bankruptcy proceedings are resolved,…

Jan 30, 2008 8:58 PM CST

Reading Men’s Magazine in Court Costs Attorney $300

A North Carolina judge held an attorney in contempt this week after spotting him reading a copy of Maxim that featured a scantily clad Heidi Montag (headlined as “The Hills’ Hottest Bad Girl”) on the cover. Although attorney Todd Paris protested that the men’s magazine is not pornography and that…

Jan 25, 2008 6:57 PM CST

Duke Rape Prosecutor’s Bankruptcy May Not End His Money Problems

The punishment continues for a disbarred North Carolina prosecutor who lost his job and his law license after pursuing a meritless rape case against three members of the Duke University men’s lacrosse team. Mike Nifong filed today for bankruptcy against creditors, including the three athletes found by the state attorney…

Jan 15, 2008 9:24 PM CST

Trail of Dog Poop Leads Police to Suspect

It didn’t take police in Durham, N.C., long to get their man after a resident reported his yard had been torn up when an apparent drunken driver ran off the road and drove through it. Resident Bill McDonald owns two large dogs and hadn’t cleaned up their recent dog poop…

Jan 14, 2008 5:09 PM CST

Powell Goldstein in Serious Merger Talks With Womble Carlyle

Powell Goldstein’s merger talks with Womble Carlyle Sandridge & Rice are getting serious, sources tell Legal Times. The Atlanta-based Powell Goldstein has been plagued by departures in its Washington, D.C., office and has struggled to grow. A merger with Womble Carlyle, based in Winston-Salem, N.C., “would create an 800-lawyer regional…

Jan 14, 2008 12:00 PM CST