A Look Into My Internship With the U.S. Department of Veterans’ Affairs Office of General Counsel

Sadie, a white woman with light brown hair, wears a navy blue sleeveless dress. By Sadie Pruett 

After previously interning with the Committee on Veterans’ Affairs in the U.S. House of Representatives and with the Department of Defense, I have actively sought internships involving advocacy for veterans since 2020. Four years later and in my 1L year at Wake Forest Law, I took advantage of the opportunity to intern in the Office of General Counsel for the U.S. Department of Veterans Affairs.

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A Look Into My Internship With the U.S. Department of Veterans’ Affairs Office of General Counsel

Sadie, a white woman with light brown hair, wears a navy blue sleeveless dress. By Sadie Pruett 

After previously interning with the Committee on Veterans’ Affairs in the U.S. House of Representatives and with the Department of Defense, I have actively sought internships involving advocacy for veterans since 2020. Four years later and in my 1L year at Wake Forest Law, I took advantage of the opportunity to intern in the Office of General Counsel for the U.S. Department of Veterans Affairs.

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A Look Into My Internship With the U.S. Department of Veterans’ Affairs Office of General Counsel

Sadie, a white woman with light brown hair, wears a navy blue sleeveless dress. By Sadie Pruett 

After previously interning with the Committee on Veterans’ Affairs in the U.S. House of Representatives and with the Department of Defense, I have actively sought internships involving advocacy for veterans since 2020. Four years later and in my 1L year at Wake Forest Law, I took advantage of the opportunity to intern in the Office of General Counsel for the U.S. Department of Veterans Affairs.

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Invest in Your Career: Why Attending Paralegal Conferences Pays Off

Lakisha, a Black woman with black hair in a bun, wears a black sleeveless shirt and gold earrings.By Lakisha Chichester

I entered the paralegal field in 2011 as a mid-career pivot. I was juggling school, working an entry-level paralegal job, and raising school-aged kids. The thought of taking time off or traveling for a conference was not on my to-do list, but I did wonder if attending conferences might pay off in terms of professional growth or getting me closer to my dream job and salary. I asked other paralegals about their experiences, and the responses were all over the place — from “don’t waste your time” to “conferences are worth their weight in gold.” Ultimately, I decided to take a chance and invest in my career.

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Checking In: October 29, 2024

Compiled by Jessica Junqueira

Baker Donelson Welcomes New Shareholder

Peter, a white man with brown hair, wears a white shirt with a black blazer.Peter E. Bosman has joined the firm as a shareholder and is based in the Raleigh office. Bosman has practiced law for 15 years. He focuses his practice on guiding and representing banks, private credit funds, and other non-bank lenders, as well as private equity firms and public and private companies, through a broad range of complex transactional matters. Bosman serves as chair of the board of Artspace, a non-profit visual arts center located in downtown Raleigh. Bosman holds a J.D. from the University of Virginia School of Law and a bachelor’s degree, with honors, from the University of North Carolina.

Brooks Pierce Elects New Managing Partner

James, a white man with white hair, wears a white shirt, blue tie and black blazer. James (Jimmy) C. Adams II has been elected managing partner. He will begin this role on February 1, 2025. Adams has practiced with the firm for more than 30 years. He previously was a member and a chair of the firm’s finance committee and now serves on the management committee. Adams will work with Reid L. Phillips, the current managing partner, as Adams transitions into his role. Adams’s practice is focused on representing large national enterprises, small local companies, and individuals in all aspects of disputes and litigation. Adams received his J.D., magna cum laude, from Georgetown University Law Center and a bachelor’s degree from the University of North Carolina at Chapel Hill with honors in economics and distinction.

Associates Join Poyner Spruill

Cecelia, a woman with dark brown hair and brown glasses, wears a bright pink dress and black blazer. Cecilia Barreca has rejoined the firm, where she previously was a summer associate. Her practice is focused on transactional law. She holds a J.D. from the University of North Carolina School of Law. While in law school, she worked for the Dean’s Fellow Program as a co-coordinator. She earned 200 hours of pro bono work. She was also a member of the Transactional and Corporate Law Association. She received a bachelor’s degree from East Stroudsburg University of Pennsylvania.

Stephen, a white man with brown hair and brown glasses, wears a pale blue shirt and a grey blazer.Stephen Gambill focuses his practice on real estate and transactional matters. Gambill graduated from the University of South Carolina School of Law. He received both an undergraduate and a master’s degree in religious studies from Lenoir-Rhyne University. He is a classically trained singer.

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Pro Bono Spotlight: Christopher Fowler

Chris, a white man with brown hair, wears a white shirt, pink tie with blue stripes and black blazer.

Chris Fowler

By Paul Yale

Chris Fowler is a firm member and corporate finance and transactional attorney with Moore & Van Allen (MVA) in Charlotte. Chris began volunteering on pro bono projects immediately after joining MVA in 2012 after graduating from the University of North Carolina Law School at Chapel Hill. He heads the firm’s Pro Bono Wills Project in partnership between MVA and the Charlotte Center for Legal Advocacy to assist elderly residents of Mecklenburg County with estate planning services.

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Federal Income Tax Update

Keith, a white man with brown hair, wears wire-rimmed glasses, a white shirt and black jacket.By Keith A. Wood

I. Conservation Easement Charitable Deduction Limited to Taxpayer’s Basis in Ordinary Income Property; Oconee Landing Property vs. Commissioner, TC Memo 2024-25.

Oconee Landing Property, LLC claimed a charitable contribution deduction of almost $21 million for its donation of a conservation easement on property it owned in Georgia. The IRS disallowed the entire deduction. The Tax Court held the charitable contribution failed in its entirety for two reasons. First, the appraisers were not qualified appraisers, which meant Oconee failed to attach a qualified appraisal to its tax return. Second, because the property on which the easement was granted was ordinary income property, the amount of the charitable contribution was limited to Oconee’s basis in the donated property. Because Oconee could not prove its tax basis in the property exceeded zero, its charitable contribution was zero.

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Know Your Rights

Laura, a white woman with brown hair, wears a white blouse and black blazer.Carlo, a man with brown hair and a beard, wears a white shirt, blue tie and grey suit.By Laura Merriman and Carlo Ballesteros-Flores

We will cover frequently asked questions regarding in-person North Carolina voting and special issues. If you have any questions, you should check with the North Carolina State Board of Elections (“NCSBE”) and your local county board of elections.

When can you vote?

Early Voting began on October 17 and will continue until November 3 at 3 p.m. Election Day is November 5, polls will be open from 6:30 a.m. to 7:30 p.m. Any voter in line at their assigned polling place at 7:30 p.m. will be able to vote. You must be registered to vote before Election Day.

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North Carolina Bar Exam Horror Stories

Kayla, a woman with dark brown hair, wears a pale pink blouse, bright pink jacket, and gold fairy pin on the lapel.By Kayla Britt

What’s worse than taking the bar exam? When something goes wrong on the day of the exam. In the theme of horror season, read a few bar exam horror stories from our fellow North Carolina attorneys.

Kevin Hornik

To preface, I am a Type 1 diabetic. When I signed up to take the bar exam, I was using insulin injections rather than an insulin pump. So, I wasn’t required to get an accommodation to bring in an electronic device. However, over the summer, I decided to switch over and use an insulin pump. At that point, I was so underwater with bar study and work that it didn’t occur to me to check in with the NCBLE about whether I would need accommodation.

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A Look Into My Internship With the Alamance County Public Defender’s Office

Grant, a white man with brown hair, wears a grey shirt, black blazer and maroon, navy and pale grey tie.By Grant Gergen 

This past summer I spent my first summer as a law student interning at Alamance County’s newly opened public defender’s office. The reason I chose this opportunity truly began from my time in college and the long journey I took before entering law school. I began law school as somewhat of a non-traditional student, having graduated from undergraduate studies at the University of Florida in 2019. I spent the next fifteen months living in Ecuador as a teacher for the Peace Corps (unfortunately, cut short by the pandemic), after that, a year in Wyoming for AmeriCorps, then, two years of graduate school at the University of Wisconsin–Madison, and finally, choosing to attend law school at the University of North Carolina in Chapel Hill.

The right balance of circumstances and chance brings someone to where they are now. My path to becoming interested in working in public defense began with the right professor, in the right class, in my sophomore year of college. This man, whom many University of Florida college grads who went on to law school came to know, was Samuel Stafford. Professor Stafford teaches part-time at the University of Florida, with most of his hours and responsibilities dedicated to his work as a judge in Alachua County. It was him, and as a sad testament to our society’s failure to educate on inequality and injustice, and him alone, who pulled the curtain back on the deeply classist and racist strands that weave the American fabric and that touch virtually all aspects of our country’s criminal legal system. There is a much greater amount of text that could be written here to talk about my experiences in Professor Stafford’s three college courses (Civil Liberties; Constitutional Law; Race, Law, and the Constitution), which all took place at an almost-impossible-for-a-college-undergrad time of 7:25 a.m. in the morning.

I believe that these courses enabled me not only to think more critically about the inequality built into our country but also to actually see it in the everydayness of life when I looked the right way. Perhaps I would have found myself down a similar path eventually, but it was these experiences in the classroom with Professor Stafford that likely stand as some of the greatest inflection points in my life.

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