Public Service Opportunity: Wills for Heroes

Perhaps you've heard of Wills for Heroes.  It is a pro bono program of the Young Lawyers Division of the North Carolina Bar Association under which local volunteer attorneys donate their time and knowledge to help provide free essential estate planning and health care planning documents to first responders including law enforcement officers, firefighters, and emergency medical technicians and their spouses at no cost.

Having volunteered at a number of Wills for Heroes legal clinics across North Carolina, I can vouch for its effectiveness and the sense of reward it brings to the volunteer attorneys.  Some of the finest lawyers I know I have met through Wills for Heroes clinics (and Project Grace clinics, a sister program of the Young Lawyers Division).    

I have been attempting for years to arrange a Wills for Heroes event in my home town of New Bern, and it will finally be held on February 23, 2013 thanks to the generosity of Craven Community College and the efforts of several individuals, including particularly Jillian Brevorka and Kristen Kirby.

If you are a North Carolina licensed attorney and would like to volunteer, please register here.  (You need not practice in the area of estate planning to participate.  Training will be provided and estate planning attorneys will be on site to address any issues that arise.)

The 2013 "Legal Elite" List Has Been Released

I am very honored to have been included among the Legal Elite for 2013.  When Business North Carolina magazine surveyed more than 20,000 North Carolina attorneys, they asked only one question: "Whom would you rate among the current best in these categories?"  Less than 3 percent of the state's attorneys were selected for this distinction. Among the talented and diligent lawyers named were 25 of my colleagues at Ward and Smith, as well as many other extraordinary lawyers across the state.

To those of you who take the time to participate in this and other peer surveys, I give you my sincere thanks.  Please know that I always respond to this and other peer survey requests, and I am very pleased to recommend exceptional professionals.

New Limits on Counsel’s Review of Employee Email Communications

I've had an article published in The Business Lawyer, a publication of the Corporate Counsel Section of the North Carolina Bar Association, regarding limits on a lawyer's ability to access and review the email messages of a client's employee.  Here's an excerpt:

"We all know there are limitations on the discoverability and admissibility of attorney-client email communications, but under an ethics opinion recently adopted by the North Carolina State Bar, there may now be an additional consideration—whether obtaining or reviewing employee email messages amounts to a breach of a lawyer’s professional responsibility that could result in disciplinary action."

You can read the full article here. 

Thanks to my colleague Grant Osborne for his great work on this piece!

Internet Privacy Policy Mistake Costs Google $22.5 Million

The Federal Trade Commission has announced that Google has settled claims brought by the agency arising from allegations its privacy policy falsely informed users of Apple’s Safari internet browser that it would not use cookies to track those users (and their activity) or serve targeted ads to those users.  Google agreed to a record $22.5 million civil penalty to settle the claim, a record for this type of violation. 

Google was already under restrictions arising from a settlement with the FTC over practices employed by its now-defunct social network, Google Buzz.  (I've mentioned that settlement, which cost Google a reported $8.5 million, here and here.)

Jon Leibowitz, Chairman of the FTC, commented on the Google settlement:  “No matter how big or small, all companies must...keep their privacy promises to consumers, or they will end up paying many times what it would have cost to comply in the first place.”

The message from the FTC is clear: Internet privacy policies and procedures are right in the agency's crosshairs.  Any company with a website should have a carefully-drafted website privacy policy that accurately describes the company's privacy-related practices.  A "form" policy that does not accurately describe what the company is actually doing with users' information is the best way to attract the attention of the FTC, state regulators and plaintiffs' class action lawyers.

You can read the FTC's press release here, the Complaint here, and the Order here.

Google has not yet issued any statement on its privacy policy blog.

 

Banking Law Modernization Act Enacted

The Banking Law Modernization Act was signed into law on June 21, receiving unanimous support in the Senate and only one negative vote in the House.   My colleague, Knox Proctor, was involved in the drafting of this much-anticipated legislation.  You can find your very own copy here.  Most of the provisions of the Act become effective on October 1, 2012.

You may rest assured that much ink will be spilled in the coming days analyzing the effect of this important legislation.

Update: Ray Grace Nominated to Finish Joe Smith's Term as Banking Commissioner

Governor Purdue obviously reads this blog, which is why she followed my suggestion to nominate Ray Grace as the next Banking Commissioner.

Once approved by the General Assembly, Commissioner Grace will serve for the remainder of Commissioner Smith's existing term, which ends March 31, 2015.

In related news, Commissioner Smith has returned to his former law firm where he will be "of counsel" while heading up oversight of the nationwide mortgage settlement.  Sounds like he'll be busy.

You can read the Governor's press release here.

Commissioner Smith moves on; Ray Grace to serve as Acting Commissioner

North Carolina Banking Commissioner Joseph Smith, Jr. has been appointed to oversee the $25 billion mortgage settlement we've all read so much about, and has resigned his position with the OCOB effective Thursday (tomorrow).  We are grateful to Joe for the outstanding work he has done on behalf of the people of North Carolina over the past decade and wish him the best.  On a personal note, I want to publicly express my thanks to Joe for the nice things he's said to, and about, me in my short career in banking law.

Chief Deputy Commissioner Ray Grace, who joined the OCOB in 1974, will serve as Acting Commissioner in the near term.  By law, Governor Purdue must submit the name of a permanent successor to the General Assembly within four weeks for confirmation.  In an election year with a besieged Democratic Governor and a Republican legislature, the process could become politicized. 

As far as I know, no other names have been publicly mentioned at this point.