Article Date: Tuesday, October 28, 2008

Written By: Russell Rawlings

The Hilton Wilmington Riverside will host the 2010 NCBA Annual Meeting.

The Board of Governors of the North Carolina Bar Association and the Board of Directors of the NCBA Foundation, under the direction of President Charles Becton, convened Oct. 10-11 in Carthage. Numerous items of interest to the entire membership of the NCBA included the following developments:

2010 Annual Meeting
The 2010 Annual Meeting of the North Carolina Bar Association will be held in Wilmington. The Board of Governors unanimously approved the recommendation of the Convention Planning Advisory Committee.

The Hilton Wilmington Riverside will serve as headquarters for the NCBA’s 112th Annual Meeting, scheduled Thursday through Saturday, June 24-27, 2010. The downtown hotel and conference center, which served as headquarters for the 2002 Annual Meeting, has recently undergone an $11 million expansion and renovation.

Additional improvements to Wilmington’s downtown waterfront area are also under way in conjunction with the city’s long-range plan, Downtown Vision 2020, setting the stage for an exciting NCBA return to the Port City.

The 2009 Annual Meeting is scheduled June 25-28 at the Grove Park Inn Resort in Asheville.

Judicial Performance Evaluation
The Board of Governors approved release of the final report of the North Carolina Judicial Performance Evaluation Pilot Program. The document summarizes the data collected during the first phase of the JPE pilot project, during which member attorneys of the NCBA were surveyed via e-mail.

Release of this document is forthcoming and will be communicated to the membership through e-bar and made available online via the NCBA Web site. Release of the document, including responses to media inquiries, will be accompanied by information outlining the survey process and ongoing plans to incorporate a broader cross-section of survey respondents such as court personnel, non-member prosecutors and public defenders, and frequent witnesses.

This more comprehensive process, in fact, is already being tested in Guilford and Cabarrus counties. Upon completion of this phase and a thorough analysis of the data, the committee will consider future steps to take toward implementing North Carolina's first statewide judicial evaluation program.

Lawyers Mutual Leaving Bar Center
Lawyers Mutual Liability Insurance Co. of North Carolina, established by the NCBA in 1977, will leave the N.C. Bar Center in spring 2009. Director Glen Hardymon and President Carl Younger Jr. provided formal announcement of this decision to the Board of Governors.

Lawyers Insurance, established by Lawyers Mutual in 1984, will maintain offices in the N.C. Bar Center, thereby maintaining a presence that has existed for more than three decades between the NCBA and Lawyers Mutual.

As Lawyers Mutual continues to grow in concert with the growth of North Carolina’s legal profession, its need for more space has become obvious. Formal announcement of the new location is forthcoming, although company officials did assure the NCBA Board of Governors that the offices will be near the N.C. Bar Center.

Additional details regarding these plans will be communicated to the membership as they are made available. The move will obviously free up some space in the Bar Center, some of which will require the acquisition of new tenants, and some of which will accommodate existing and future space needs of the NCBA, the NCBA Foundation, Lawyers Insurance and two longtime Bar Center tenants, the North Carolina Association of Defense Attorneys and the Wake County Bar Association/10th Judicial District Bar.

NCBA Money Purchase Pension Plan Trustees Honored
Bill Kennon of Durham and Tom Norris of Raleigh, who have provided volunteer trusteeship of the NCBA Money Purchase Pension Plan for more than three decades, delivered their final report to the NCBA Board of Governors.

The Board of Governors, in turn, honored the outgoing trustees with a standing ovation and presentation of framed prints signed by artist William Mangum.

NCBA Executive Director Allan Head, who has worked with Kennon and Norris throughout their incredible 31-year tenure of volunteer service, commended both gentlemen for their commitment to the association. It would be practically impossible, Head noted, to place a dollar figure on the time and expertise Norris and Kennon have provided to the NCBA and its employees.

The NCBA Money Purchase Pension Plan has been converted into a participant-directed defined contribution plan sponsored by the American Bar Association with State Street Bank & Trust Co. serving as trustee.