Grief With Somewhere to Go: Honoring Cheslie C. Kryst
By If you didn’t know Cheslie Kryst, I wish you had.
She was the kind of person you remember long after she leaves the room: sharp, radiant, grounded in purpose.
Cheslie was compassion in action.
She was brilliance without ego.
She was joy, justice, and power, all in one.
I first met Cheslie when we were student ambassadors at Wake Forest University School of Law. I was new and nervous; she was poised and practiced. With one luminous smile and a warm hand on mine, she made me feel like I belonged. That was her gift. She had presence, yes, but more importantly, she left you feeling like you were the most important person in the world. She made people feel seen, truly seen, without ever shrinking herself to do it.
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Iain Stauffer, who practices in the firm’s Raleigh office, was elected as a shareholder. Stauffer assists health care providers with Certificate of Need matters, which include complex litigation regarding disputed Certificate of Need awards. He represents health care facilities with North Carolina licensing issues. He provides counsel to practitioners in licensing board matters and regulatory compliance. Before working in private practice, Stauffer worked for more than ten years in the North Carolina Attorney General’s Office. Stauffer serves on the NCBA Health Law Section Council. He graduated magna cum laude from North Carolina Central University School of Law. He received a bachelor’s degree from St. John Fisher College.
Elizabeth Buckley is now a partner in the firm’s Raleigh office. She focuses on litigation and employment law. She represents businesses involved in employment disputes, which include discrimination, retaliation, breach of contract and wrongful termination claims. Buckley graduated from the University of North Carolina School of Law, where she received high honors and was a member of the Order of the Coif. While in law school, she served as an intern for Judge Cheri Beasley and Judge Donna Stroud of the North Carolina Court of Appeals. Before attending law school, Buckley worked in the finance and banking industry. She holds a bachelor’s degree from the University of North Carolina at Chapel Hill.
John G. Hodnette is a partner in the Charlotte office. Hodnette advises clients in matters of business taxation, which include structuring merger and acquisition transactions, resolving partnership, S corporation and C corporation tax issues and researching complex income taxation matters. As a member of the NCBA Tax Section, Hodnette is a contributor to the section’s NCBarBlog page and has written posts for the section since 2018. He received an LL.M. from the University of Florida Levin College of Law, where he earned the Book Award in International Taxation. He graduated from Wake Forest University School of Law and holds a bachelor’s degree, summa cum laude, from Auburn University.
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