If you were about to argue a motion in a case involving a breach of fiduciary duty, and the Judge hearing the motion had written a paper on that very subject, or had been to a presentation about it, wouldn’t you want to know that?

I’m writing this post because if you are looking for insight into the judicial thought process, you will certainly find value in materials on the website of the North Carolina School of Government.

The SOG runs, twice a year, the North Carolina Superior Court Judges Conferences.  Presentations from the last 15 conferences are on the SOG website.  There are a number of papers and powerpoints there that might be really useful to you, and it’s worth a look.

In October 2008, for example, Judge Robert Ervin gave a detailed presentation on cases involving claims for breach of fiduciary duty, and Judge Albert Diaz of the Business Court spoke about Recent Personal Jurisdiction Cases in North Carolina.  In October 2007, Judge David Lee spoke about Documentary, Voice Identification, and "E-Evidence" – Foundational Requirements.

Other items worth noting from other conferences are

Judge Robert Hobgood on Evidentiary Rulings and Enforcement of Settlement Agreements;

Judge Kimberly Taylor on Opinion Testimony by Experts;

Judge Richard Boner on Disqualification and Recusal of Judges

Judge Susan Taylor on Contempt;

Judge Lindsay Davis with a  powerpoint on Res Judicata and Collateral Estoppel and a paper on the subject; and

Judge J. Gentry Caudill on Jury Selection.

There are also high quality presentations here by lawyers, like Tom Fowler on Injunctive Relief; a powerpoint presentation and handout on TROs and Preliminary Injunction in Covenant Not to Compete Cases by Mark Weidemaier; and a presentation by David Pishko on the Trial of a Legal Malpractice Case.  Also, every June, Don Cowan does a summary of the prior year’s significant appellate cases.  The 2008 presentation is here.

Another resource on the SOG website is the Orientation for New Superior Court Judges run periodically by the School.  The most recent Orientation took place just a few days ago, from January 26-30, 2009.  The new Judges heard from Judge Lee on A Judge’s Perspective on Evidence, Judge Catherine Eagles on Jury Management, and from Judge Albert Diaz on Findings of Fact and Conclusions of Law, among other things.

There’s a whole lot more on the SOG website not mentioned in this post.  The site is now searchable by keywords: you can go here to do that.