OUR SERVICES
Technical co-counsel for out-of-state firms litigating software disputes in North Carolina’s state and federal courts.
You need North Carolina local counsel for a software case, and you have a choice about what kind. Most local counsel arrangements are administrative: someone signs the filings, makes the court appearances, and keeps you current on local rules. That is table stakes, and we do all of it. What we add is a local counsel team that understands software, how it is built, how it is licensed, and how it breaks, so the technical side of the case gets attention from the first call rather than from the first expert report.
This page is written for lead counsel deciding whether to bring us in. It covers what North Carolina courts will require of both of us, what we do beyond the procedural role, and how we run the relationship.
North Carolina treats local counsel as a working member of the trial team, not a mail drop, and the requirements differ by court.
Your motion under N.C. Gen. Stat. § 84-4.1 has to state your bar admissions, attach a signed client statement, commit you to North Carolina jurisdiction and discipline for the matter, disclose your disciplinary history, confirm that your home state extends the same courtesy to North Carolina lawyers, and identify us as the associated North Carolina attorney who personally appears, accepts service on your behalf, and handles the State Bar registration. The fee is $225, and admission stays within the court’s discretion even when the motion is complete. We prepare the motion; you supply the bar and disciplinary information and the client signature.
The Eastern and Middle Districts require out-of-state counsel to associate with a member of that district’s bar, and the Western District requires local counsel for a pro hac vice admission, each under its own Local Rule 83.1 (Eastern, Middle, Western). The mechanics differ: in the Eastern and Middle Districts you file a notice of special appearance; in the Western District we file the motion for your pro hac vice admission. Local counsel’s duties vary as well. The Eastern District requires us to sign all documents filed and attend every proceeding unless the court excuses us. The Middle District requires us to review and sign all pleadings and papers and to attend pretrial conferences, potentially dispositive proceedings, and trial. The Western District requires us to attend all hearings unless the court permits otherwise. Judges in these districts expect local counsel to know the case, not just the docket, and we take that seriously.
The Business Court hears most significant software licensing, intellectual property, and trade secret disputes in the state system, and it enforces the pro hac vice rules strictly. In January 2026 the court warned out-of-state lawyers that appearing on a signature block as “pro hac vice forthcoming,” without North Carolina licensure or pro hac vice admission, is itself an unauthorized appearance. The risk is not theoretical: failure to secure admission first can result in sanctions, denial of admission, and unauthorized-practice consequences. Lexington Ins. Co. v. State of N.C., 2026 NCBC Order 3. Nothing carrying your name as counsel gets filed until your admission is granted, and we manage the timing so that is never an issue.
The ABA Model Rules and North Carolina’s Rule of Professional Conduct 5.5 allow a lawyer admitted in another jurisdiction to undertake representation here on a temporary basis when the work is done in association with a North Carolina lawyer who actively participates. For that reason, we define the division of labor between our two law firms in writing at the outset: who drafts, who signs, who appears at hearings, who addresses the court and opposing counsel, and how the client and its general counsel are kept informed. We remain responsible to the court for everything filed over our signature and for the team’s compliance with the pro hac vice rules, so we ask to be involved early rather than handed a signature page the night before a deadline. Efficiency follows from that clarity, and so does the client’s interest in a single, coordinated strategy.
Your client stays your client. We are there to add North Carolina admission, local knowledge, and technical depth to your team, and that combination is an advantage your client will notice.
We turn the paperwork around as soon as we have three things from you: your bar admissions and disciplinary disclosure, the signed client statement that G.S. 84-4.1 requires for state court, and the caption and court. How long the court takes after filing is up to the court. The Business Court in particular expects the pro hac vice motion before anything else that carries your name, so the motion is the first filing we make, not the second.
The North Carolina Business Court, the superior courts statewide, and the Eastern, Middle, and Western Districts of North Carolina. The Business Court and the Eastern District sit in Raleigh, where our office is.
Our default is to attend and to be prepared to speak to the case if the court asks. The federal local rules require local counsel to attend most or all proceedings, depending on the district, and the Business Court and superior courts expect the same. Excusal is something we request case by case when it makes sense for the client, not something we assume.
Either. Some firms want signatures, service, and local-rule compliance, and we do that well. Most firms that come to us for a software case want more: early technical analysis, preliminary source code review, expert coordination, and a hand in the Business Court designation decision. We scope the role in the engagement letter and adjust it as the case develops.
We run a conflicts check on all parties and known affiliates before accepting the engagement. The engagement letter names your client as our client for the matter and names you as lead counsel. We communicate with the client through you unless you ask us to do otherwise, and we do not solicit your client for other work.
Under N.C. Gen. Stat. § 7A-45.4, disputes over the rights to or performance of intellectual property, including computer software, software applications, information technology and systems, and data security, may be designated as mandatory complex business cases, as may trade secret disputes and contract claims of at least $1 million with a business entity on each side, if all parties consent. A defendant or other party generally has 30 days from service of the pleading to file a notice of designation, so the decision belongs in the first conversation, not the first status conference. We will give you our read on whether designation helps your client.
Hourly, scoped at the outset to the procedural role plus whatever substantive work you assign. We bill the client directly under our own engagement letter unless you prefer a single-bill arrangement, in which case the fee division between our firms has to comply with Rule 1.5(e) in both states. Either way, the engagement letter sets out the division of labor and who communicates with the client, which keeps the arrangement efficient for everyone.