Publications

Budgets are more than simply accounting tools. They are legal documents that set the priorities, programs, and policies of a local government for the next fiscal year. This textbook covers critical considerations for those who work with budgets in North Carolina. Topics range from citizen engagement in the budget process to performance management and economic development. It brings...

 This is an update to the 2020 edition of North Carolina Pattern Jury Instructions for Criminal Cases. 

Across North Carolina, the clock is ticking for communities to have a comprehensive land use plan. Beginning on July 1, 2022, NC towns and counties must have a reasonably up-to-date plan in order to enforce zoning. The School of Government has two great options to access resources for small towns to begin the planning process:

1)    PlanNC Guidebook: A Practitioner's Guide to Preparing...

This guide focuses on what a G.S. 35A guardian ad litem attorney should do in the first week after being appointed. Strategies are explored that will improve client representation and help attorneys better manage their workloads and stress. This guide highlights concrete steps that guardian ad litem attorneys can incorporate into their practices to hit the ground running early, including how...

 This supplement covers legislation enacted and case law decided from January 1, 2012, through December 31, 2020. It is an essential companion to North Carolina Crimes: A Guidebook on the Elements of Crime, Seventh Edition, 2012, which incorporates statutory changes made through the 2011 session of the General Assembly and case law through December 31, 2011.

Purchase of the 2020...

The fifth edition of Local Government in North Carolina is an interactive textbook that can be used at the K-12 level, by informal learners, adult education programs, and as a supplement for civic education programs such as local government citizens academies. The e-book is enhanced with multimedia features, such as augmented reality, videos, podcast and interactive data charts. The book...

This item is a package of Arrest, Search, and Investigation in North Carolina and the 2020 Cumulative Supplement to Arrest, Search and Investigation.  

This book covers the legal rules that govern an officer’s authority to enforce laws and to investigate criminal offenses. It also covers the basic rules of evidence in criminal cases. Supplementary material is placed in footnotes at the...

Appointed boards are a vital part of local government in North Carolina. This book provides model procedural rules for their meetings.  The model rules cover, among many other topics, the organizational meeting, open meetings law requirements, the role of the presiding officer, agenda preparation and approval, substantive and procedural motions, voting, and public hearings.  Legal and...

This new edition will be available in both print and online formats.

The eleventh edition of the North Carolina Guidebook for Registers of Deeds is the updated essential resource for registers of deeds and those who depend on their services. In addition to updating the prior edition's comprehensive description and analysis of the law and practice for office operations, public records management, real estate instrument registration and indexing, and marriage...

This guide focuses on what parent attorneys in G.S. 7B juvenile abuse, neglect, and dependency proceedings should do in the first week after being appointed. Strategies are explored that will improve client representation and help attorneys better manage their workloads and stress; these strategies include the use of various templates—examples of which are included in the guide. This guide...

A new 2020 Cumulative Supplement to Arrest, Search, and Investigation in North Carolina will be released in mid-October 2020. Please visit this page to sign up for notification of the forthcoming publication. 

This supplement updates Arrest, Search, and Investigation in North Carolina, Fifth Edition, 2016, written by former School of Government faculty...

 This is an update to the 2020 edition of North Carolina Pattern Jury Instructions for Civil Cases. 

Designed as a reference for North Carolina judges and litigants, this supplement discusses Davis v. Washington, the United States Supreme Courts first decision interpreting Crawford; describes a number of key issues that remain open even after Davis; and summarizes significant Crawford cases decided since publication of Crawford v. Washington: Confrontation One Year Later

 This is an update to the 2019 edition of North Carolina Pattern Jury Instructions for Criminal Cases.

 This is an update to the 2020 edition of North Carolina Pattern Jury Instructions for Criminal Cases.