Spring Revitalization
As we move past a year into the pandemic, we are starting to ponder what life afterwards will look like. Some of that comes with welcome reintroductions to old traditions, like having our kids back in classrooms and seeing parents and grandparents that have been able to get vaccinated.
 
But for work, the future remains uncertain. Will uptown ever be buzzing the way it once did - restaurants filled with business crowd lunches, eager professionals rushing through the overstreet mall to attend meetings, friends catching up over coffee, and traffic jams redirecting us around never ending development? 
 
As we figure out what that new normal looks like, we wanted to introduce you all to the new virtual face of our firm. We have updated our website to highlight the ways we believe our representation extends beyond traditional legal services. Please take a moment to explore the new mvalaw.com. 
Awards and Accolades

MVA is pleased to announce that 20 attorneys have been named to the 2021 North Carolina Super Lawyers list and 11 attorneys were named to the 2021 North Carolina Rising Stars list. Additionally, Members Valecia McDowell and Karin McGinnis were named to the “Top 50” list of Women North Carolina Super Lawyers and Valecia was named to the “Top 25” list of Charlotte Super Lawyers. The lawyer rating service published this year’s survey findings in North Carolina Super Lawyers Magazine in February.

MVA has been ranked a Best Place to Work for LGBTQ Equality by the Human Rights Campaign Foundation for 2021. The firm received its final rating for the 2021 Corporate Equality Index and achieved a perfect score of 100 which earned the honored designation. Human Rights Campaign Foundation's 2021 Corporate Equality Index is the national benchmarking tool on corporate policies and practices pertinent to lesbian, gay, bisexual, transgender and queer employees.

MVA has ranked first for Charlotte largest law firms and female attorneys in the recent CBJ article titled, “THE LIST: Charlotte's largest law firms — and the practices with most female attorneys.”
 
MVA Financial Regulatory Advice & Response Counsel Nicole Schiavo is one of 11 diverse attorneys selected for inclusion to the Wells Fargo Legal Department’s Class of 2021 Charlotte Diversity College. This is the second year in a row that MVA has had a candidate selected. 
Publications and Media

MVA co-head of the White Collar, Regulatory Defense & Investigations practice and member of the firm’s Management Committee, Valecia McDowell, was highlighted in the Business North Carolina article titled, “Dynamic Diversity: The Changing Look of N.C. Executive Power,” published on February 1.
 
MVA Financial Services Member Lauren Biek, Financial Regulatory Advice & Response co-head Neil Bloomfield, and Financial Services Counsel Ed Ivey served as panelists during the NCBA: The Business Lawyer as First Responder, 2021 Business Law Section Program. This live webcast took place on February 11. Additionally, Financial Services Member Kimberly Zirkle served on the planning committee for the Business Law Section program.
 
MVA Litigation Member Jim McLoughlin and Financial Regulatory Advice & Response co-head Ed O’Keefe’s article titled, “When corporate reporting creates criminal risk: Circuit court limits criminal liability under ambiguous reporting requirements” was published by Westlaw on March 8.
 
MVA Senior Counsel Sarah Byrne, who leads the firm’s Human Trafficking Pro Bono Project, was interviewed on the Human Trafficking Institute’s Trafficking Matters: A Douglass Fellowship Podcast, which aired on March 11.
 
MVA Financial Regulatory Advice & Response Member Barbara Meeks and Associate Jules Carter served as panelists for the Lorman webinar titled, BSA/AML Customer Identification Program and Due Diligence Basics, which took place on March 11.
 
MVA Senior Counsel Tandy Mathis presented during the NCBAR 2021 International Practice Section Program webcast, The World Spins Madly On: Making Sense of the Current State of International Law Practicing International Law in the Digital Age, which took place on March 25. Tandy presented on the session titled, “Practicing International Law in the Digital Age.”
 
MVA Litigation Member Jim McLoughlin and Financial Regulatory Advice & Response co-head Neil Bloomfield‘s article titled, “3rd Circuit panel raises the bar on risk disclosures as the trend toward greater disclosure continues” was published by Westlaw on March 30.
 
MVA co-head of White Collar, Regulatory Defense & Investigations, Valecia McDowell, was a guest speaker for the Extraordinary Women on Boards event titled, “How Corporate Board Members Detect Signs of Trouble -- Where There's Smoke There MAY Be Fire...” On March 31, Valecia shared her actionable insights and best practices for board directors from years of experience in conduct risk management and internal investigations.
 
MVA Litigation Associate Jules Carter‘s article titled, “Fact sheet: AML Act of 2020” was published by Westlaw on April 7. In this article, Jules discusses recently enacted anti-money laundering legislation and its impact on the Bank Secrecy Act, efforts to counter terrorism financing, and advancing interagency cooperation.
 
For more information on Firm news, accolades and recognitions please click here. 






Practicing Law Institute (PLI) is offering free COVID-19 programming: 
 
These programs are available at no cost. Attorneys without PLI memberships will need to create an account before these virus-related programs will be available to them.
 
The NC bar has lifted its previous six-hour limit for attorneys to earn CLE credit online. Attorneys now can earn all 12 of their required CLE hours via on-demand programming.
 
Our CLE offerings are updated weekly. Please contact us for the latest information
Alumni Updates
 
Renee Miller joined Nucor Corporation’s legal team in June 2020. As a Manager of Corporate Legal Affairs, she manages a wide variety of business and legal issues including litigation, investigations, and transactional matters.
 
Malaika Simmons has joined MagMutual, an Atlanta-based mutual company insuring physicians, hospitals and health care facilities, as the Chief Claims Officer. In this role, she is responsible for overseeing and overhauling the company’s claims operating model and processes, integrating technology and data into claims management, and developing the company’s in-house law firm.
 
If you have received a promotion or changed positions, please let us know so that we can share the great news with the network.
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Moore & Van Allen holds third annual Diversity Conference
On January 15, MVA had the opportunity to virtually welcome outstanding first-year law students from across the country as part of the firm’s third annual Diversity Conference. Student attendees were selected through a competitive application process and participated in various networking opportunities, interactive panels, and presentations from MVA attorneys, clients and other leaders in the legal profession during the one-day seminar. We are grateful to have connected with such an inspiring group of future lawyers and we look forward to supporting their continued success!

The Diversity and Management Committees are proud to present our 2021 Diversity Report: A Broader Canvas. The annual publication highlights the firm’s ongoing initiatives and future goals, and can be found here.