PUBLICATIONS
John Hutson, one of the firm’s senior litigation attorneys, recently co-wrote with Scott Miskimon of Smith, Anderson, Blount, Dorsett, Mitchell & Jernigan, LLP and published the treatise North Carolina Contract Law. North Carolina Contract Law is published by Lexis Publishing and was first released in February 2001. The treatise is a legal encyclopedia that analyzes and explains two hundred years worth of contract law cases decided by the North Carolina Supreme Court and Court of Appeals. Their book covers cases decided between 1795 and the present, and is updated annually. North Carolina Contract Law is more than 1100 pages long, contains more than 4000 footnotes and cites to more than 1800 cases. The book is the only treatise devoted to analyzing the contract law of North Carolina.
North Carolina Contract Law has already earned praise from several prominent judges and legal scholars. Willis P. Whichard, a former Associate Justice of the North Carolina Supreme Court and former Dean of the Campbell University School of Law, calls North Carolina Contract Law “A magisterial work.” Harry C. Martin, another former Associate Justice of the North Carolina Supreme Court, predicts that “the treatise will be a part of the daily diet of judges” and adds that “any lawyer considering a contract issue should first turn to this source.” Professor Lissa Broome, who teaches contracts at the University of North Carolina School of Law, says that the book is “a treasure trove for a lawyer, judge, or academic . . . .
This is the first and the last place to look to answer a contracts question under North Carolina law.”
Lawyers, judges and law students should all be able to benefit from a first-of-its-kind treatise like North Carolina Contract Law. Co-author Scott Miskimon explains, “Before the publication of North Carolina Contract Law, lawyers and judges would have to spend hours researching a contracts issue with no assurance of finding a definitive answer. However, this treatise puts thousands of cases at the reader’s fingertips and in minutes one can find authoritative answers along with an insightful analysis into the reasoning behind a rule of law."
North Carolina Contract Law is divided in two sections. The first section written by Scott Miskimon, examines contract formation and enforcement under the common law and analyzes several types of contracts, including contracts for the sale of land, options, leases, construction contracts, employment agreements, covenants not to compete, loan agreements and guaranties. The second section of the book, written by John Hutson, covers contracts for the sale of goods governed by North Carolina’s Uniform Commercial Code.
“We are very pleased to share with the lawyers and judges of North Carolina the fruits of six years of research, analysis and writing” Miskimon says. “Contract law is such an important area of the law and having a treatise like this should be a great asset to the legal community in this State. Ironically, at the start of the twenty-first century, one of the most important legal tools for attorneys isn’t a computer or the internet. It’s a book like this that analyzes and explains the binding legal precedents we’ve inherited over the last two hundred years.”
