North Carolina Administrative Code › Title 27 - STATE BAR › Chapter 01 - RULES AND REGULATIONS FOR THE NORTH CAROLINA STATE BAR › Subchapter D - RULES OF THE STANDING COMMITTEES OF THE NORTH CAROLINA STATE BAR › Section .1700 - THE PLAN OF LEGAL SPECIALIZATION › Section 01D .1721 - MINIMUM STANDARDS FOR CONTINUED CERTIFICATION OF SPECIALISTS

Current through Register Vol. 39, No. 2, July 15, 2024
(a) The period of certification as a
				  specialist shall be five years. During such period the board or appropriate
				  specialty committee may require evidence from the specialist of his or her
				  continued qualification for certification as a specialist, and the specialist
				  must consent to inquiry by the board, or appropriate specialty committee of
				  lawyers and judges, the appropriate disciplinary body, or others in the
				  community regarding the specialist's continued competence and qualification to
				  be certified as a specialist. Application for and approval of continued
				  certification as a specialist shall be required prior to the end of each
				  five-year period. To qualify for continued certification as a specialist, a
				  lawyer applicant must pay any required fee, must demonstrate to the board with
				  respect to the specialty both continued knowledge of the law of this state and
				  continued competence and must comply with the following minimum standards.
(1) The specialist's disciplinary record with
				  the courts, the North Carolina State Bar, and any other government licensing
				  agency supports qualification in the specialty.
(2) The specialist must make a satisfactory
				  showing, as determined by the board after advice from the appropriate specialty
				  committee, of substantial involvement in the specialty during the entire period
				  of certification as a specialist. Substantial involvement for continued
				  certification shall be determined in accordance with the principles set forth
				  in Rule .1720(a)(2) of this subchapter and the specific standards for each
				  specialty. In addition, unless prohibited or limited by the standards for a
				  particular specialty, the following judicial service may be substituted for the
				  equivalent years of practice experience if the applicant's judicial service
				  included presiding over cases in the specialty: service as a full-time state or
				  federal trial, appellate, or bankruptcy judge (including service as a federal
				  magistrate judge); service as a judge for the courts of a federally recognized
				  Indian tribe; service as an administrative law judge for the Social Security
				  Administration; and service as a commissioner or deputy commissioner of the
				  Industrial Commission.
(3) The
				  specialist must make a satisfactory showing, as determined by the board after
				  advice from the appropriate specialty committee, of continuing legal education
				  accredited by the board for the specialty during the period of certification as
				  a specialist, the minimum being an average of 12 hours of credit for continuing
				  legal education, or its equivalent, for each year during the entire period of
				  certification as a specialist.
(4)
				  The specialist must comply with the requirements set forth in Rule
				  .1720(a)(1).
(5) The specialist
				  must make a satisfactory showing of qualification in the specialty through peer
				  review. The applicant must provide, as references, the names of at least six
				  lawyers or judges, all of whom are licensed and currently in good standing to
				  practice law in any state and familiar with the competence and qualification of
				  the applicant as a specialist. For an application to be considered, completed
				  peer reference forms must be received from at least three of the references.
				  All other requirements relative to peer review set forth in Rule .1720(a)(4) of
				  this subchapter apply to this standard.