Happy Friday and Happy Passover!  This week we have a new tip, a new post from the School of Government and another community event worth noting, a couple of new resources, and approaching deadlines for and updates to training and job opportunities. Tip of the Week – Discovery Defenders – you have a statutory right to discovery in all of your juvenile cases (§7B-2300-2303).  Don’t be afraid to use it!  Some jurisdictions provide it without a motion, but it’s never bad practic

Happy Friday!  This week there are few additions, but we have two new training/networking events to share, the new weekly tip, and reminders for upcoming deadlines below. Tip of the Week – Discovery discovery rules to those followed in adult criminal court.  Though Juvenile Court is in District Court, most jurisdictions understand that discovery transfer is a practice for both misdemeanors and felonies in Juvenile Court.  Even if there’s an “automatic discovery” rule in your

Registration for the 2018 Felony Defender Training scheduled for February 14-16, is available at https://www.sog.unc.edu/courses/felony-defender-training. This training is co-sponsored by the UNC School of Government and the Office of Indigent Defense Services.  The agenda is posted on the course webpage. Program: This program is for attorneys who are new to handling felony cases. Topics will include discovery and investigation, suppression and other superior court motions, l

Late last year, John Rubin of the UNC School of Government and I published the 2017 edition of the North Carolina Juvenile Defender Manual. This edition was three years in the making.  In addition, its publication coincided with a year-long initiative to commemorate the 50th anniversary of In re Gault, 387 U.S. 1 (1967), the Supreme Court decision that transformed the protections for juveniles in delinquency cases. The new edition of the manual builds on the structure of the

ICYMI Last weekend, from Oct. 20-22, the National Juvenile Defender Center held its 21st Annual Juvenile Defender Leadership Summit in Albuquerque, NM. During this year’s Summit, topics included challenging the use of electronic monitoring in juvenile court, the impact of social media, acquiring discovery, unfair fines and fees imposed on youth and their families, expunction, and education advocacy.  N.C. Juvenile Defender Eric Zogry also joined a panel alongside Joshua Dohan

What’s the Issue? Recently our office has been made aware that not every jurisdiction handles the distribution of discovery the same way.  Traditionally, the assistant district attorney will receive discovery from law enforcement and share with defense counsel. Some jurisdictions practice “open file discovery,” where the prosecution delinquency file is made available to defense counsel to inspect and copy. Yet in other jurisdictions, the juvenile court counselor receives the