THE NORTH CAROLINA STATE BAR SUMMER JOURNAL2019 IN THIS ISSUE It Was a Wonderful Life page 8 Fixing a Broken Election System page 12 Tort Claims for Alienation of Affections page 18 THE NORTH CAROLINA STATE BAR JOURNAL FEATURES Summer 2019 Volume 24, Number 2 8 It Was a Wonderful Life Editor By L. Thomas Lunsford II Jennifer R. Duncan 10 Ingenuity, Chicanery, and Deception: The History of the John B. McMillan Distinguished Service Award © Copyright 2019 by the North Carolina By Anthony S. di Santi State Bar. All rights reserved. Periodicals postage paid at Raleigh, NC, and additional 12 Fixing a Broken Election System—Our offices. Opinions expressed by contributors Democracy Depends On It are not necessarily those of the North By Tom Ross Carolina State Bar. POSTMASTER: Send address changes to the North Carolina State 15 Hurricane Florence: A Chance for Bar, PO Box 25908, Raleigh, NC 27611. Attorney Volunteerism The North Carolina Bar Journal invites the By Katherine Asaro submission of unsolicited, original articles, essays, and book reviews. Submissions may 18 Tort Claims for Alienation of be made by mail or email (jduncan@ Affections and Criminal Conversation ncbar.gov) to the editor. Publishing and edi- torial decisions are based on the Publications are Alive and Well in North Carolina Committee’s and the editor’s judgment of By G. Edgar Parker the quality of the writing, the timeliness of 24 I Lost a Client the article, and the potential interest to the readers of the Journal. The Journal reserves By Bill Powers the right to edit all manuscripts. The North Carolina State Bar Journal (ISSN 10928626) is published four times per year in March, June, September, and December under the direction and supervision of the council of the North Carolina State Bar, PO Box 25908, Raleigh, NC 27611. Member rate of $6.00 per year is included in dues. Nonmember rates $10.73 per year. Single copies $5.36. The Lawyer’s Handbook $16.09. Advertising rates available upon request. Direct inquiries to Director of Communications, the North Carolina State Bar, PO Box 25908, Raleigh, North Carolina 27611, tel. (919) 828-4620. ncbar.gov Follow us at: Twitter: @NCStateBar Facebook: facebook.com/NCStateBar THE NORTH CAROLINA STATE BAR JOURNAL 3 DEPARTMENTS 32 IOLTA Update BAR UPDATES 5 President’s Message 33 Lawyer Assistance Program 46 In Memoriam 7 State Bar Outlook 34 Pathways to Wellbeing 47 Client Security Fund 27 Trust Accounting 36 Legal Specialization 48 Law School Briefs 28 The Disciplinary Department 38 Proposed Ethics Opinions 50 Distinguished Service Award 30 Legal Ethics 41 Rule Amendments 50 July 2019 Bar Exam Applicants Officers 16: Dorothy Hairston Mitchell, 39: Rebecca J. Pomeroy, Lincolnton G. Gray Wilson, Winston-Salem Durham 40: Anna Hamrick, Asheville President 2018-2019 William S. Mills, Durham 41: H. Russell Neighbors, Marion C. Colon Willoughby Jr., Raleigh 17: Charles E. Davis, Mebane 42: Christopher S. Stepp, President-Elect 2018-2019 18: Charles Gordon Brown, Chapel Hill Hendersonville Barbara R. Christy, Greensboro 19: William C. Fields Jr., Raeford 43: Gerald R. Collins Jr., Murphy Vice-President 2018-2019 20: David F. Branch Jr., Lumberton Alice Neece Mine, Chapel Hill 21: Richard Buckner, Rockingham Public Members Secretary-Treasurer 22: Alan S. Hicks, Roxboro Thomas W. Elkins, Raleigh John M. Silverstein, Raleigh Matthew W. Smith, Eden Dr. Joseph E. Johnson, Greensboro Past-President 2018-2019 23: Thomas W. Anderson, Pilot Mohan Venkataraman, Morrisville Mountain Councilors 24: Patrice A. Hinnant, Greensboro Executive Director By Judicial District Stephen E. Robertson, Greensboro Alice Neece Mine 1: C. Everett Thompson II, Elizabeth 24H: Raymond A. Bretzmann, High City Point Assistant Executive Director 2: G. Thomas Davis Jr., Swan 25: Jay White, Concord Peter Bolac Quarter 26: David N. Allen, Charlotte 3: Charles R. Hardee, Greenville Robert C. Bowers, Charlotte Counsel 4: Debra L. Massie, Beaufort A. Todd Brown, Charlotte Katherine Jean 5: Kevin Joseph Kiernan, Clinton Mark P. Henriques, Charlotte 6: W. Allen Cobb Jr., Wilmington Dewitt McCarley, Charlotte Editor 7: Takiya Fae Lewis, Ahoskie Gena Graham Morris, Charlotte Jennifer R. Duncan 8: Charles S. Rountree III, Tarboro Eben T. Rawls, Charlotte 9: C. Branson Vickory III, Goldsboro 27: Jennifer Davis Hammond, Salisbury Publications Editorial Board 10: Heidi C. Bloom, Raleigh 28: John Webster, Albemarle Andrea Capua, Chair Walter E. Brock Jr., Raleigh 29: Richard Costanza, Southern Pines Stephen E. Robertson, Vice Chair Theodore C. Edwards II, Raleigh 30: H. Ligon Bundy, Monroe Phillip Bantz (Advisory Member) Katherine Ann Frye, Raleigh 31: George M. Cleland IV, Winston- Heidi C. Bloom Fred M. Morelock, Raleigh Salem Margaret Dickson (Advisory Member) Robert Rader, Raleigh Kevin G. Williams, Winston- John Gehring (Advisory Member) Donna R. Rascoe, Raleigh Salem Darrin D. Jordan (Advisory Member) Warren Savage, Raleigh 32: Kimberly S. Taylor, Taylorsville Ashley London (Advisory Member) 11: James Thomas Burnette, Oxford 33: Sally Strohacker, Mocksville L. Thomas Lunsford II (Advisory Member) 12: Eddie S. Winstead III, Sanford 34: John S. Willardson, Wilkesboro Christopher S. Stepp 13: Marcia H. Armstrong, Smithfield 35: Andrea N. Capua, Boone John Webster 14: Harold Lee Boughman Jr., 36: M. Alan LeCroy, Morganton Fayetteville 37: Clark R. Bell, Asheboro 15: Michael R. Ramos, Shallotte 38: Timothy L. Patti, Gastonia 4 SUMMER 2019 THE PRESIDENT’S MESSAGE What Matters B Y G. GRAY WILSON My year started with a bang in January. of getting at facts directly, and having them ancient Greek culture (where jury trials were After the first quarterly Bar meeting at the passed on by men who understand the con- sometimes held in Athens, after a fashion), helm, which I survived thanks to our new troversies that they seek to solve. Every from which our own Socratic dialogue rears Executive Director Alice Mine and a stellar strongly contested case is replete with long its ugly head in law school. Alfred North cast of other supporting Bar staff, officers, arguments, interminable interruptions, and Whitehead once noted: “The safest general and councilors, I defended a company in a appalling waste.” characterization of the complicated commercial dispute in a highly- But did this public ordeal European philosophical tra- compressed, paperless, five-day business in January have any lasting dition is that it consists of a court jury trial in a rural county in the value for the participants? series of footnotes to Plato.” Piedmont. Opposing counsel, all four of Did this trial and this jury If so, everyone has some them (some not from around here), were make any difference in the commerce with his allegory well prepared and capable. The presiding universe of human inter- of the cave, which dismisses judge was superb in all respects. My client course? Did it matter? Or human perception as little and I managed to escape with a decent result, better yet, to broaden the more than knowledge gained but given my own deficiencies, I can only inquiry, what matters? As in, through the senses, unin- attribute the just outcome to 12 ordinary cit- what in this life has abiding formed by reason. To this izens who patiently sat in the jury box until value that transcends the day, the world abounds in they received the case just before close of daily grind? We all enjoy the cave dwellers. business on a Friday afternoon. Within min- occasional excursion into Head East (no, I am not utes they asked for a calculator (I am not pop philosophy, but no one relishes the referring to the arena rock group of “Never making this up), and later for a flip chart and tyranny of those who presume to pontifi- Been Any Reason” fame), and one encoun- marker. I decided we were well and truly cate on the imponderables at every private ters Asian philosophy. Take Buddhism, for cooked, but some time before 8 PM, the jury (or worse, public) opportunity, someone example, and there again lies that enticing returned with answers to a ten-interrogatory who might charitably be characterized as a rapture one seeks, Nirvana (release from suf- verdict sheet that were fair and reasonable, at veritable “tree of knowledge.” Yet I dare to fering and rebirth), although the roadmap least in my estimation. press this dialectical inquiry within the nar- for this sublime level offers a tortuous course, How did that happen? There were no row confines of this profession, more specif- namely, a boatload of abnegation and denial. professionals in the box, and only a couple ically the practice of litigation, and even I would rank hunger and boredom at the top had education beyond high school. The evi- more narrowly, jury trials. But first, a little of the list for this ordeal. Omphaloskepsis dence was tedious at times, and a few heads background from the ancients might help (Hinduism, primarily) is also in the mix, but could be seen nodding late in the afternoon. set the stage. there is only so much navel contemplation Jurors were permitted to take notes, but from Consider, for a start, the Christian tradi- one can do before the SI joints start to our vantage (with all the high-tech equip- tion. The book of Philippians instructs that scream. And don’t even ask me about Yoga (I ment the other side packed into the court- while a heap of praying is a good exercise, no am married to a diehard yogini), which is room, I could never see more than seven one should worry about anything; that wor- derived from “yoke,” for which there could jurors at any one time), the pads and pencils rying, in fact, is a sin. We are admonished to be no more appropriate etymology. Enough did not receive a lot of use. Lead counsel for do good works and trust in a higher power, already about the Asian Way (Tao).