Five Ward and Smith attorneys delivered keen guidance on a host of matters pertinent to in-house counsel and company preparation for the imminent economic climate.

As part of the firm's 2022 In-House Counsel Seminar, these legal professionals engaged with topics such as:

• Potential changes resulting from the midterm elections
• Legal issues with remote workers
• Securities laws
• Insurance claim issues relevant to insured corporations/entities
• Implications of workplace DEI policies

General Assembly Updates

Whitney Campbell Christensen, a government relations attorney with over ten years of experience representing clients before the North Carolina General Assembly, reviewed General Assembly activities from 2022, an analysis of the midterm elections, and projections for 2023.

“The focus of this year’s short session was to enact a budget for the state of North Carolina. Legislators had to grapple with a $6 billion revenue surplus, which sounds like a really good problem to have,” said Christensen. “But that’s significantly more surplus than they’ve had in prior budget cycles, so it was a bit of a struggle for them to decide how to spend it.”

A decision was made to save a majority of the surplus, as well as allocate $1 billion to an inflationary reserve fund. The passage of the fiscal year 2022-2023 budget also included:

• $27.9 billion in spending
• 5 percent state employee raises, on average
• 2 percent teacher pay raises, on average
• No corporate or personal tax cuts

The turnout of...

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