North Carolina Law Life » Durham County Bar Association

Corporate Legal Clinic on October 22, 2010

Donna Ray Berkelhammer — Mon, 04 Oct 2010 10:53:28 +0000

Small business owners in the Triangle are invited to attend a free corporate legal clinic on Friday, October 22, 2010, sponsored by the Durham County Bar Association, North Carolina Lawyers for Entrepreneurs Assistance Project (NC LEAP) and the Small Business Center at Durham Technical Community College.

This is the place for you if:

You are thinking about starting a business and have questions for an attorney;
You tried to form your own corporation or LLC and don’t know if you did it right;
You have a contract to be reviewed;
You have questions about how to protect your company’s name or other intangible assets;
You need help collecting money from your customers;
You’ve received a legal notice you don’t understand;

Durham County Small Business Legal Clinic March 5, 2010

Donna Ray Berkelhammer — Sat, 20 Feb 2010 18:19:33 +0000

Small business owners are invited to attend a free corporate legal clinic on Friday, March 5, 2010, sponsored by the Durham County Bar Association, North Carolina Lawyers for Entrepreneurs Assistance Project (NC LEAP) and the Small Business Center at Durham Technical Community College. Receive vital information concerning business start-up; contracts; employment matters; purchase and sale of a business; and protecting your company’s trademarks, copyrights, trade secrets and other intellectual property.

The clinic will be held at the Small Business Center, SOUTHBank Building, 400 W Main St, Suite 101, Durham, NC 27701, from 10 a.m. to 1 p.m. Space is limited. Please call for an appointment, (919) 686-3448.

Walk-ins are accepted, but plan to arrive early to fill in registration documents. Clients will be scheduled in groups for one-hour slots and will be able to talk individually to local attorneys for up to 30 minutes on a first-come, first-served basis. Priority will be given to registrants over walk-ins.

The clinic is held in conjunction with the North Carolina Bar Association’s 4ALL campaign, a day of public service by North Carolina attorneys who will donate time to helping low-income residents of North Carolina.

NC LEAP assists low-wealth entrepreneurs with their legal needs in starting or expanding their businesses through pro bono service by North Carolina business and transactional lawyers. Services range from basic transactional legal needs as struggling entrepreneurs strive to establish their business and create jobs, to potential long term client-counselor relations as their businesses grow.

The Durham Technical Community College Small Business Center is a state funded organization which is part of the Small Business Center Network of North Carolina. The Small Business Center (SBC) provides small business owners with information they need for success, including advice on marketing, sales, bookkeeping, and management.

Free Corporate Legal Clinic

Donna Ray Berkelhammer — Wed, 10 Jun 2009 14:52:28 +0000

Small business owners in the Triangle are invited to attend a free corporate legal clinic on Friday, June 26, 2009, sponsored by the Durham County Bar Association, North Carolina Lawyers for Entrepreneurs Assistance Project (NC LEAP) and the Small Business Center at Durham Technical Community College.

Volunteer lawyers will be available to advise on entity formation and start-up issues, contracts, leases, employment, termination, collections and other general business questions that face starting and growing businesses.

The clinic will be held at the Small Business Center, SOUTHBank Building, 400 W Main Street, Durham, NC 27701, from 10 a.m. to noon. Space is limited. Please call for an appointment, 919-686-3448 .

The Durham Technical Community College Small Business Center is a state-funded organization which is part of the Small Business Center Network of North Carolina. The Small Business Center provides small business owners with information they need for success, including advice on marketing, sales, bookkeeping, and management.

Why Is An Honest Lawyer A Mythological Creature?

Donna Ray Berkelhammer — Fri, 13 Feb 2009 20:52:55 +0000

Santa Claus, the tooth fairy, an honest lawyer, and an old drunk were walking along when they simultaneously spotted a hundred-dollar bill laying in the street. Who gets it?
The old drunk, of course, the other three are mythological creatures.

One of the things I struggle with most as a lawyer is the low regard with which attorneys are held. We are liars, pitbulls, cheats, and all going straight to hell.

As a profession, we are trained to zealously advocate for our clients. I suppose zealous to one side might seem aggressive or obnoxious to the other.

I try to combat this prejudice by convincing one person at a time that I am honest, diligent, reasonable, and here to help. I also try to give back to the community in a professional capacity wherever possible. That means serving on non-profit boards, pointing people toward appropriate resources, and volunteering. This past year, I’ve been able to help coordinate a couple free legal clinics for small businesses.

Members of the Durham County Bar Association and the NC Lawyers for Entrepreneurs Assistance Project (NC LEAP) are teaming up to provide a small business legal clinic on Friday, March 6, 2009 from 10 a.m. to 4 p.m. The Clinic will be held at the Durham Tech Small Business Center:
The SOUTHBank Building
400 West Main St.
Durham, NC 27701

Small business owners will have the opportunity to spend up to one hour with business attorneys and have them answer questions on a number of topics including entity choice, intellectual property, contracts, employment law and more. Please call 919-536-7241 to make an appointment. Space is limited and reservations are strongly encouraged.

But back to my main point. What gives lawyers such a bad rap? I’d love to hear your opinions and experiences.