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| Contact Us |
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NC Academy of Trial Lawyers
1312 Annapolis Drive
PO Box 10918
Raleigh, NC 27605
(800) 688-1413 (ph)
(919) 832-6361 (fax)
webmaster@ncatl.org
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| Our Mission |
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The North Carolina Academy of Trial Lawyers is a nonprofit, nonpartisan association dedicated to protecting people's rights through professional and community legal education, championing individual rights, and protecting the safety of North Carolina's families -- in the workplace, in the home, and in the environment.
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Our Goals |
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The North Carolina Academy of Trial Lawyers was formed 40 years ago by a small group of trial lawyers who wanted to protect peoples' rights. Today, the North Carolina Academy of Trial Lawyers (NCATL) has almost 4,000 members and is one of the top protectors of individual rights in North Carolina. Academy members champion individual rights and protect the safety of North Carolina’s families in the workplace, in the home, and in the environment – they represent those injured by the wrongdoing of others, workers, the disabled, those with family problems, consumers, those in debt, and those accused of crime.
In addition to protecting people's rights, the North Carolina Academy of Trial Lawyers (NCATL) serves as a valuable aid for lawyers, providing numerous seminars to help attorneys improve their skills and to update them on changes in law. The North Carolina Academy of Trial Lawyers (NCATL) also celebrates public service via the Wade Edwards Mock Trial Program and other public education initiatives.
Legislative
Working with the legislature as an advocate for the rights of individual citizens has become the North Carolina Academy of Trial Lawyers (NCATL) most visible priority.
Early legislative goals of the Academy were modest. The first bill the North Carolina Academy of Trial Lawyers (NCATL) actively tried to have enacted was one to increase the minimum automobile liability insurance limits to $10,000 per person and $20,000 per accident. It failed to pass the 1963 and 1965 General Assemblies, but finally became law during the 1967 General Assembly.
The North Carolina Academy of Trial Lawyers (NCATL) built on that early success and has increased legislative efforts ever since. This year, the North Carolina Academy of Trial Lawyers (NCATL) is coming off an especially active legislative session. For the first time, it pursued an affirmative legislative agenda, and was quite successful in achieving its goals. Among the legislation enacted were bills that:
- increased minimum automobile bodily injury rates
- limited the power of District Attorneys to abuse the case calendaring system
- clarified several workers' compensation issues, and
- protected consumers from negligent businesses.
The North Carolina Academy of Trial Lawyers (NCATL) will continue to work to protect the civil justice system and the rights of those accused of crimes.
Legislative efforts are led by CEO Dick Taylor and Political and Government Relations Director Bill Wilson. Please click here to view the North Carolina Academy of Trial Lawyers (NCATL) 2003-04 Legislative Agenda.
Public Education
Many people do not realize the importance of preserving the justice system. What little they do know about it focuses on unusual cases reported by the media such as the McDonald's coffee case. Unfortunately, the point of view tendered in these reports is usually one-sided. In order to combat negative stereotypes and build public knowledge and trust of lawyers, the North Carolina Academy of Trial Lawyers (NCATL) has developed several different programs, the flagship being the Wade Edwards High School Mock Trial Competition.
The Wade Edwards High School Mock Trial Competition offers high school students hands-on experience with the law. This program presents either a civil or criminal case to students, who portray the attorneys, bailiff, courtroom artists, journalists, and witnesses. Academy members participate as team coaches, regional coordinators, site coordinators, and evaluating and presiding judges. A warning, however--working with the Mock Trials is addictive! According to Steve Schmidly of Randolph County, an attorney advisor for Asheboro High School, "for the first time, attorneys become 'heroes' to the students, teachers, and parents in their community. I have team members and their parents stopping by the firm 'just to say hello' six months after competition."
In 2003, over 85 schools registered for the program--which translates into more than 1,000 students working one-on-one with attorneys for a period of two months in the fall. The winning team of the State Competition is invited to attend the National Championship where they have the opportunity to challenge their skills against students from across the country.
Legal Affairs
The Legal Affairs committee, which is comprised of two sections -- Ethics and Amicus Curiae -- acts as a "watchdog" for the North Carolina Academy of Trial Lawyers (NCATL) membership as a whole. Ethics committee members monitor the development of law and serve as trial attorney advocates to the NC State Bar. They also regularly tackle tough issues of interest to trial attorneys. Amicus members write briefs in support of important and relevant NC cases that are pending at the Appellate Court level.
Continuing Legal Education
The need for continuing education for trial attorneys was evident to early members. In pre-Academy days, nearly all legal seminars presented in the state addressed substantive or procedural law. The few practical seminars were conducted by defense attorneys for their own use.
In December 1961 Eugene Phillips persuaded the National Association of Claimants and Compensation Attorneys (NACCA; now known as ATLA) to present a trial practice seminar in Winston-Salem. Several prominent trial specialists from eastern cities served as presenters, and a crowd of 300 North Carolina lawyers attended. When it was over, NACCA gave Phillips $200 from the proceeds to help form an affiliate in North Carolina, and the North Carolina Academy of Trial Lawyers (NCATL) was born.
Early seminars were organized by volunteers, but as the North Carolina Academy of Trial Lawyers (NCATL) grew, professional staff were hired to do the job. Today, the Academy's Continuing Legal Education program sponsors over 40 live seminars a year focusing on both criminal and civil law issues, and hosts scores of video replays held across the state. In addition, the North Carolina Academy of Trial Lawyers (NCATL) now offers CLEs via the web through e.CLE. The CLE department also organizes the North Carolina Academy of Trial Lawyers (NCATL) Annual Convention and produces valuable manuals for member use, such as the North Carolina Prima Facie Tort Manual, North Carolina DWI Trial Notebook, and the North Carolina Manual of Complaints.
Membership
Since 1961 the North Carolina Academy of Trial Lawyers (NCATL) has provided a support group to the new bar member, the sole practitioner, and the small firm -- almost 4,000 lawyers in our state who know, understand, and have experienced the challenges of trial practice.
Whether it is up-to-date legislative information that impacts one's caseload, changing technology that can streamline one's practice, office management tips that can improve one's productivity, or practical trial skills that can make one more effective in the courtroom, the North Carolina Academy of Trial Lawyers (NCATL) provides a network of nationally recognized litigators who offer personal guidance.
Sections and Divisions continue the North Carolina Academy of Trial Lawyers (NCATL) tradition with activities and services geared to specific areas of practice, including:
- Auto Torts
- Civil Rights
- Consumer Areas of Practice
- Criminal Law
- Disability Advocacy
- Eminent Domain
- Employment Law
- Family Law
- Hispanic/Latino Legal Issues
- Legal Assistants
- Nursing Home Litigation
- Products Liability
- Professional Negligence
- Small Office Practice
- Workers' Compensation
- Young Lawyers
To find out how to become a member, please click here.
Member Services
The North Carolina Academy of Trial Lawyers (NCATL) strong communications network keeps members informed about legal developments and Academy happenings through several different publications and mediums.
- Trial Briefs, the North Carolina Academy of Trial Lawyers (NCATL) substantive legal journal, focuses on legal trends and existing laws that impact the trial lawyer.
- Discovery is the newsletter created especially for the Legal Assistants' Division.
- Legislative Briefing reviews the North Carolina Academy of Trial Lawyers (NCATL) year at the legislature, and is published annually after the legislative session adjourns.
- Timely information about the North Carolina Academy of Trial Lawyers (NCATL), its members, and important legal issues is published bi-weekly in BriefNotes, which is available via fax and on the web.
- All Section and Division members have access to their section/division listserv, which is a lightning-quick way to get answers to questions and share news and information with other members.
- E-clips is a daily e-mail news service containing pertinent national legal news.
Affiliations
The North Carolina Academy of Trial Lawyers (NCATL) is pleased to be associated with organizations that mirror the North Carolina Academy of Trial Lawyers (NCATL) mission and goals:
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