By Wm. Joseph Austin, Jr.Of Counsel, Narron O’Hale & Whittington, P.A. “I cannot praise a cloistered and fugitive virtue”John Milton, Areopagitica “Academic Freedom” is an elusive phrase, yet liberty of expression within the academic community is vitally important to a free society. This paper will discuss several aspects of a tradition in academe that means different things to different people, …
The county in which an action is filed and litigated is referred to as the venue. One of the initial determinations made by a plaintiff’s attorney is in which county to file. Where does the plaintiff want it to be filed? Where can it be filed? Where should it be filed? All of these are important questions. Likewise, defense attorneys …
Negotiations have broken down, and the parties are not close to reaching an agreement. Soon, one party will file a complaint and, in turn, start down the road to trial. Once a complaint has been filed, is trial the only option? Fortunately, the answer is no. Civil actions may be settled immediately after the complaint is filed,on the courthouse steps …
By Wm. Joseph Austin, Jr. In a case that was already topical, the Fourth Circuit recently rendered an opinion that renewed the concept of Academic Freedom as legal doctrine based in the First Amendment. The case of Wood v. Arnold, 915 F.3d 308 (4th Cir. 2019), involved two statements concerning Islamic beliefs presented in a high school world history class. …
By Wm. Joseph Austin, Jr. Of Counsel, Narron Wenzel, P.A. Labor and employment law has been described as a Rubik’s Cube of federal and state statutes, regulations, and common law. The lawyer who specializes in this practice advises both employers and employees on these legal standards which are placed on the employment relation under the Rule of Law. The applicable …