Smith Moore Leatherwood LLP is pleased to announce Senior Associate Carrie Hanger was recently honored as one of Triad Business Journal’s 40 Leaders Under Forty. This award recognizes 40 individuals under the age of 40 who are making major advances in their careers and are creating a positive impact on their communities.

Carrie Hanger

Hanger’s practice focuses on the needs of healthcare providers and entities engaged in clinical and preclinical research throughout the United States. She provides solutions for issues relating to healthcare enrollment and reimbursement, regulatory and corporate compliance, medical staff matters and business disputes. She has worked with hospitals, long term care facilities, hospice and home health providers, drug and device companies, and DME suppliers. Hanger represents her clients in state and federal court as well as in administrative proceedings and arbitration.

Hanger received her bachelor’s degree from Davidson College in 2001 and her juris doctorate from Wake Forest University School of Law in 2006. She is a graduate of Leadership Greensboro Class of 2016 and serves on the steering committee of the Future Fund of the Community Foundation of Greater Greensboro as well as the Bell House board of directors.

She will be recognized at the 40 Leaders Under Forty awards ceremony on February 16 at the Elliott University Center, University of North Carolina Greensboro and will be featured in an upcoming edition of the Triad Business Journal.

Piedmont Triad Women Attorneys

The Nuts and Bolts of a Court of Appeals Case

by the Honorable Richard Dietz

March 21, 2017

The Piedmont Triad Women Attorneys is proud to host the Honorable Richard Dietz to present “The Nuts and Bolts of  a Court of Appeals Case.” We invite you to join us and learn best practices for appellate practice from Judge Dietz, an appellate judge who has heard hundreds of cases and personally argued in the U.S. Supreme Court.

Pending 1 CLE Credit

Location: Elon School of Law, Classroom 105

Date: March 21,2017, 6-8 pm

Light hors d’oeuvres will be served

Cost is $10 for PTWA members and law students,
$20 for non-members.
Space is limited and registration is required.
Deadline for registering is March 17

Registration forms can be found at:  PTWA CLE Registration Form 2017

The purpose of the Piedmont Triad Women Attorneys is consistent with those of the North Carolina Association of Women Attorneys:

a) To increase the participation of women attorneys in the legal profession;

b) To protect the rights of women under the law

c) To promote and improve the administration of justice;

d) To engage in any other lawful activity to achieve the purposes of NCAWA, as set forth in the Articles of Incorporation of NCAWA.

North Carolina Association of Women Attorneys, Piedmont Triad Women Attorneys Chapter

https://ncawa.org/

The office of the Clerk of Superior Court seeks four (4) qualified Attorneys to serve as Public Guardians for Guilford County.  The Public Guardian serves the community by providing fiduciary services when property is discovered belonging to a minor or incompetent person without a guardian or when a person who is eligible to be guardian is unable or unwilling to serve.  Pursuant to N.C.G.S.§ 35A, your responsibilities would include ascertaining and securing assets, income sources, benefits, and debts as well as filing proper inventories, petitions, and accountings with the Court. Interested persons should contact Lisa Johnson-Tonkins, Clerk of Superior Court, at (336) 412-7301.

Hopefully by the time you read this, you will already have donated (or pledged a donation) and completed a volunteer form for our eighth Habitat for Humanity House.  On the chance that you have not done so, both the 2017 Contribution Form and the 2017 Volunteer Form are available on the Greensboro Bar Association website.  We also offer the option of donating online.  Although your payment can be made either this year or by February 28, 2017, we need to obtain donations and commitments as soon as possible.

On December 27, 2016, the Administrative Appeals Office (AAO) issued a rare “precedent” decision in Matter of Dhanasar, 26 I&N Dwec. 884 (AAO 2016).  Gerard M. Chapman, principal at Chapman Law Firm, was counsel for Dr. Mookesh Dhanasar, the applicant, throughout most of his green card case and the entire appeal that resulted in the precedent decision.  The AAO issues only a very limited number of such decisions, and in this case, it vacated the last precedent decision on National Interest Waiver (NIW) cases from 1998, Matter of New York State Dep’t of Transp., 22 I&N Dec. 215(Acting Assoc. Comm’r 1998) (“NYSDOT”).

In issuing its decision, the AAO confirmed that the test under NYSDOT was not appropriate for several reasons, and created a new standard that is more practical and likely to be useful for a wider range of applicants, including entrepreneurs, who typically have few, if any, avenues to immigrate to the US.  Although the new standard under Dhanasar will be more user-friendly, under that new standard, USCIS (the agency that receives these cases initially) will demand proof of the following:  the applicant’s proposed endeavor has both substantial merit and national importance; the applicant is well-positioned to advance that endeavor; and on balance it would be beneficial to the United States to waive the requirements of a job offer and a labor certification application (the first step in a green card case).

The old NYSDOT standard demanded proof that still can be used in cases filed under Dhanasar, so much of the work in an NIW case will resemble the evidence gathered in pre-Dhanasar cases.  At the same time, it is significant that the AAO decision contained a number of examples and cited several types of cases in which an NIW application could be approved.    For years, petitioners have asked the AAO to replace the standard in NYSDOT, and in announcing the new Dhanasar standard, the AAO gave significant guidance to practitioners and to USCIS that it should be flexible and reasonable in its handling of NIW applications.

The most important aspect of the case is the likely expansion of approvals in NIW cases, which should allow applicants in business, entrepreneurialism, science, technology, culture, health, or education to submit approvable NIW applications.  The flexibility of this decision reflects the need for USCIS to adjust to changing conditions in all of these areas, and the AAO should be commended for its vision in announcing the new Dhanasar standard.

Mr. Chapman has been an NC State Bar Board Certified Immigration Law Specialist since 1997, and currently serves as a member of the NC State Bar Immigration Specialization Committee.

On December 20, 2016, members of the GBA delivered approximately 200 books to students in the Neighborhood Leadership Program (NLP) at David D. Jones Elementary School. The NLP is designed to positively impact the academic and social lives of children growing up in Warnersville, the first organized African-American community in Greensboro. The success of this year’s GBA Elementary School Project was thanks to individuals who donated more than $1,300 in total and helped wrap the books at the GBA Holiday Party on December 14.  As has been done in years past, the books were purchased through Jones Elementary’s Scholastic Book Fair, which sends 50 cents of every dollar spent back to the school in the form of funds that can be used to purchase new books for the school library and classrooms.

Above: Books were delivered by members Eloise Hassell, Nicole Patino,Afi Johnson-Parris, Gwendolyn Lewis, Adam Kerr (Co-Chair), Hon. Bill Davis, Erin Reis (Co-Chair) and principal Ron Luciano.

Remaining funds will be used to purchase books as gifts for all 99 fifth graders graduating from Jones Elementary this year in both the NLP and Spanish Immersion programs.

The GBA would like to thank the following individuals for their generosity in donating to the annual Elementary School Project:

• Michael R. Abel
• Jonathan S. Anderson
• Vance Barron, Jr.
• Joseph R. Beatty
• Barbara R. Christy
• Bob & Sally Cone
• Catherine Eagles
• W. Erwin Fuller, Jr.
• Kathleen A. Gleason
• A. Robinson & Eloise Hassell
• Patrice Hinnant
• Kenneth R. Keller
• Adam Kerr
• Henry B. Mangum, Jr.
• Barbara R. Morgenstern
• Erin D. Reis
• Michele G. Smith
• Norman B. Smith
• Donald K. Speckhard
• Theodora A. Vaporis

Smith Moore Leatherwood LLP is pleased to announce that 23 of the firm’s attorneys in Greensboro were recognized in North Carolina Super Lawyers magazine for their high-degree of peer recognition and professional achievement. Seven of those attorneys were recognized as Rising Stars.

Super Lawyers is an independent lawyer ranking service that selects attorneys using a rigorous, multi-phase rating process. Through peer nominations, evaluations and third party research, exceptional attorneys are selected within each state. Rising Stars are selected by peer nominations of attorneys who are 40 years old or younger, or have 10 years or less of legal experience.

The Smith Moore Leatherwood LLP attorneys honored in 2017 North Carolina Super Lawyers are:

• Lisa W. Arthur – Business Litigation (Rising Star)
• D. Erik Albright –  General Litigation
• E. Kent Auberry – Business/Corporate
• Brian W. Byrd – Real Estate
• Richard A. Coughlin – Intellectual Property Litigation
• Julianna Theall Earp – Employment & Labor
• Carrie A. Hanger – Health Care (Rising Star)
• Terrill Johnson Harris – Health Care
• Gregory G. Holland – Antitrust Litigation
• Neale T. Johnson – Construction Litigation
• Frankie T. Jones Jr. – Real Estate (Rising Star)
• Patrick M. Kane – Civil Litigation: Defense (Rising Star)
• Allyson Jones Labban – Health Care (Rising Star)
• Alexander L. Maultsby – Employment & Labor
• Charles E. Melvin Jr. – Real Estate
• Maureen Demarest Murray – Health Care
• Kip D. Nelson – Intellectual Property (Rising Star)
• Whit Pierce – Intellectual Property Litigation (Rising Star)
• Patti West Ramseur – Employment & Labor
• D. Clark Smith – Business Litigation
• Thomas E. Terrell Jr. – Land Use/Zoning
• E. Garrett Walker – Real Estate
• Jeri L. Whitfield – Workers’ Compensation