Sunday, February 7, 2016

News and Record: Lewis Pitts: Legal profession fails to pursue, protect justice

http://www.greensboro.com/opinion/columns/lewis-pitts-legal-profession-fails-to-pursue-protect-justice/article_25418888-1a37-5f13-bd8a-944575041a34.html

Lewis Pitts: Legal profession fails to pursue, protect justice

Posted: Sunday, February 7, 2016 12:00 am

By Lewis Pitts

After being a civil rights lawyer for 43 years, I forced the N.C. Bar to let me resign rather than take “inactive status membership.” Allow me to explain why.

In the first paragraph of my 2014 resignation letter, I said: “My resignation is because I see ....

http://www.greensboro.com/opinion/columns/lewis-pitts-legal-profession-fails-to-pursue-protect-justice/article_25418888-1a37-5f13-bd8a-944575041a34.html

Saturday, February 6, 2016

News & Observer: NC State Bar dismisses complaints against prosecutors in racially divisive case

http://www.newsobserver.com/news/local/crime/article58916553.html

NC State Bar dismisses complaints against prosecutors in racially divisive case

BY JOSEPH NEFF

jneff@newsobserver.com

For most of 2015, the North Carolina State Bar vigorously and publicly pressed ethics charges against two anti-death penalty lawyers for what were eventually judged to be unimportant inaccuracies in two sworn affidavits.

During the same time, the bar privately dismissed complaints that three prominent prosecutors – one running for attorney general, another now a Superior Court judge ....

Read more here: http://www.newsobserver.com/news/local/crime/article58916553.html#storylink=cpy

http://www.newsobserver.com/news/local/crime/article58916553.html

News & Observer: Former NC Supreme Court justice calls for review of state bar

http://www.newsobserver.com/news/local/crime/article58916823.html

Former NC Supreme Court justice calls for review of state bar

BY ANNE BLYTHE

ablythe@newsobserver.com

RALEIGH

Bob Orr, a former North Carolina Supreme Court justice, says it’s time for a comprehensive outside review of the state agency that oversees lawyers.

Orr, a licensed lawyer in North Carolina for four decades, is part of a committee looking at legal ....

Read more here: http://www.newsobserver.com/news/local/crime/article58916823.html#storylink=cpy

http://www.newsobserver.com/news/local/crime/article58916823.html

Tuesday, February 2, 2016

News & Observer: Bar dismisses grievance against lawyer who worked on Racial Justice Act cases

http://www.newsobserver.com/news/local/crime/article58002193.html

FEBRUARY 2, 2016 6:01 PM

Bar dismisses grievance against lawyer who worked on Racial Justice Act cases

Cassandra Stubbs cleared in unusual case

Bar panel reconsidered its earlier admonishment

Peer’s case handled differently

BY ANNE BLYTHE

ablythe@newsobserver.com

RALEIGH

An N.C. State Bar disciplinary panel has vacated a five-month-old ruling against Cassandra Stubbs, a lawyer who worked on successful Racial Justice Act cases.

The panel issued a new order Monday that dismissed the grievance filed against the Durham defense attorney and entered a judgment in Stubbs’ favor. The admonishment she received has been wiped off her record from a disciplinary ....

Read more here: http://www.newsobserver.com/news/local/crime/article58002193.html#storylink=cpy

http://www.newsobserver.com/news/local/crime/article58002193.html

NC Supreme Court: Order denying Tillett's motion for discretionary review

https://appellate.nccourts.org/orders.php?t=PA&court=1&id=305484&pdf=1&a=0&docket=1&dev=1

Monday, February 1, 2016

WRAL: State Bar reverses itself, clears lawyer in Racial Justice Act case of wrongdoing

http://www.wral.com/state-bar-reverses-itself-clears-lawyer-in-racial-justice-act-case-of-wrongdoing/15306718/

State Bar reverses itself, clears lawyer in Racial Justice Act case of wrongdoing

Posted February 1

RALEIGH, N.C. — A disciplinary panel of the North Carolina State Bar has dismissed a complaint against a lawyer who participated in the first case to be heard under the Racial Justice Act, five months after the lawyer was admonished for her actions in the case.

Cassandra Stubbs was part of a team of lawyers who represented Marcus Robinson, whose death sentence was commuted in 2012 after .....