Title, Trusts, Transfers and Terrorists: Legislation That Could Affect Your Practice

Nancy, a white woman with light brown hair and brown round glasses, wears a black turtleneck and red plaid blazer.

Nancy, a white woman with light brown hair and brown round glasses, wears a black turtleneck and red plaid blazer. By Nancy Short Ferguson

Attorneys in substantially all practice areas handle or review deeds, leases and contracts or clients in distress about matters (family law, trespassers, condemnations, estates, etc.) involving real estate from time to time. The 2025-2026 Legislative Session (still in process) has much to consider.

See program recording from Return to the Vault (March 4, 2026), “What’s New, What’s Next:  NC Legislation Every Real Estate Attorney Should Know” and related PowerPoint slides for details, legislation, and resources.

To access the recording, navigate to this link, log in to your NCBA account and click the + next to “RTTV Series.” Then click on “What’s New, What’s Next, NC Legislation Every Real Estate Attorney Should Know 3.4.26.”

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Paralegal Spotlight: LJ Frederick

LJ, a Black woman with curly dark brown hair, wears a grey and cream sweater. Her husband is a Black man with black hair and beard who is wearing a black button-down shirt.

By Lakisha Chichester

LJ, a Black woman with black hair, wears a blue button-down blouse and silver jewelry.Lajon E. Frederick (“LJ”) is a North Carolina Certified Paralegal at Fresh Start Family Law. LJ has an undeniable passion for family law and client support. When LJ reflects on her decades-long paralegal career, she does not describe it in terms of titles or positions. Instead, she talks about the families she has helped, the people she has supported through difficult moments and the importance of working in environments that align with her values and her approach to client care.

Building Skills from the Ground Up

LJ began her legal career in 1996 as a receptionist at the Law Offices of Mark E. Sullivan, P.A. It wasn’t long before the front desk became a stepping stone to broader legal work. LJ quickly moved from receptionist to legal secretary, then to legal assistant, and before long was performing paralegal tasks at the firm. During those early years, LJ learned everything from dictation to drafting pleadings. The experience shaped more than her technical skills. She learned to pay close attention to detail, to value structured process and to think through the work in step with the attorneys she supported. She credits this early exposure to foundational, “old-school” training with developing and sharpening skills that have served her well throughout her career.

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Get to Know WIP Members Kristy Sides and Kasey McCalla

Kristy, a woman with golden brown shoulder-length hair, wears a purple blouse, navy blazer and white beaded necklace.

Kristy Sides

Kasey, a white woman with shoulder length brown hair, weras a blue blouse and black jacket.

Kasey McCalla

By Kristy Sides and Kasey McCalla

This month, we are excited to introduce two WIP members: Kristy Sides and Kasey McCalla!

Kristy Meares Sides

What law school did you attend, and what was your graduation year?

Wake Forest University School of Law, 2004.

Describe what a typical workday is like for you.

I am an attorney who deals with estate planning, estate administration and fiduciary matters. As a small firm partner, a good deal of my time is also spent managing the firm.

Describe what you like to do outside of work.

Act as a tour guide to two teen-aged daughters on trips large and small and scope out great hikes, live music events and porches for sitting and visiting.

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Congratulations to Deputy Commissioner Wanda Blanche Taylor

Kyla, a white woman with brown hair, wears a black blouse with white stripes and a black blazer.By Kyla K. Block

Hello Section Members!

I hope you are all enjoying this beautiful weather and all the daffodils blooming. While this is old news now, congratulations are in order for Commissioner Wanda Blanche Taylor, who has been reappointed to the Full Commission of the North Carolina Industrial Commission. She will serve a six-year term as a Commissioner beginning July 1, 2026, following confirmation by the North Carolina General Assembly. As you all know, Commissioner Taylor has a wide breadth of experience, including twenty years as a Deputy Commissioner at the Industrial Commission, with a portion of that time spent serving as Chief Deputy Commissioner. In addition, prior to serving on the Full Commission for her first term, she was the Director of Litigation/Counsel at Key Risk Insurance (a Berkley Company). The Workers Compensation Section is fortunate to have her knowledge and experience at the Commission.

Commissioner Taylor received her law degree from the University of North Carolina at Chapel Hill School of Law and her undergraduate degree from Duke University. Controversial question, but which sports team does she root for? Given the ferocity of the fan base in this state, she’s probably better off keeping that to herself.

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Commit to Crafting Yourself as a Top-Shelf Brand of Professionalism

Amy, a white woman with brown hair, wears a white blouse and blue blazer. By Amy H. Wooten

“Professionalism.” It’s not a complicated nor hard-to-understand word or concept. At times, being professional is second nature, particularly when those around us exhibit professionalism. When emails are courteous, deadlines are respected, conversations — while sounding in advocacy — are appropriately measured and poignant disagreements remain civil, being professional can feel like the default setting we are called upon to honor in our profession. Unfortunately, this is often not the environment in which our commitment to professionalism is tested. It is when emails belittle and insult, and deadlines are ignored (or are unjustly extended), causing chaos for our professional and personal schedules, conversations are strained and even minor disagreements mushroom into blowups — these are the times when the call to be professional is often taxed. When a co-counsel cuts corners or takes credit that is not theirs; when a client lashes out in frustration; when a judge’s patience wears thin; or when we find ourselves treated in a way that feels disrespectful, unfair or deliberately provocative, those are the moments where many of us must dig deep to ensure professionalism is more than aspirational for us and is instead a core component of who we are.

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199A Deduction for Real Estate Rental Businesses

John, a white man with dark brown hair, wears a pale blue shirt, lime green and blue tie, and black suit. By John G. Hodnette

Section 199A, as discussed in my prior blog post Section 199A Pass-Through Deduction and the Magic Number, provides for a deduction generally equal to the applicable pass-through entity’s qualified business income. However, the deduction is available only for a qualified trade or business, which Section 199A(d)(1) defines as any trade or business other than certain excluded ones. The regulations under Section 199A define trade or business by reference to Section 162, which applies a facts and circumstances approach to determining whether a trade or business exists, including whether the taxpayer is regularly or actively involved in the activity and whether the taxpayer has a profit motive. See Reg. § 1.199A-1(b)(14).

Reg. § 1.199A-1(b)(14) provides a rental business (including renting of real estate) that does not rise to the level of a Section 162 trade or business is nevertheless treated as a trade or business for the purposes of Section 199A if the property is rented to a trade or business conducted by the individual or relevant pass-through entity (an “RPE”) commonly controlled within the meaning of Reg. § 1.199A-1(b)(1)(i). Treas. Reg. § 1.199A-1(b)(10) defines RPE as a partnership or S corporation that is owned directly or indirectly by at least one individual, estate or trust. Accordingly, a passive real estate rental activity operated by a partnership or S corporation that rents the property to another trade or business under common control with such partnership or S corporation may be eligible for the 199A deduction.

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Making Service Your Professional Identity, Not an Add-On

By Alex Gwynn

For many lawyers, service begins as a requirement and includes pro bono hours, bar expectations and résumé building. Over time, however, service can become something deeper, a professional identity that shapes how we lead, how we practice and how we show up in our communities.

On Saturday, February 28, the Young Lawyers Division (YLD) welcomed 24 members of its inaugural pro bono cohort through a pinning ceremony and oath, civic leadership roundtables and a networking lunch co-sponsored by the Government and Public Sector Section and Lawyers Mutual Insurance Company of North Carolina.

The goal of the pro bono cohort was not simply to host another volunteer opportunity, but to build a culture where pro bono and civic leadership are woven into the professional identities of law students and young lawyers from the very beginning.

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Bringing Water to the Desert, Part Six

Judge Debra Sasser, a white woman with brown hair and brown glasses, wears a purple blouse and pale purple jacket. By Judge Debra Sasser

In Part One, “Bringing Water to the Desert (on a Horse With No Name),” Judge Vince Rozier (Resident Superior Court Judge in the Tenth Judicial District) and Judge Beth Tanner (District Court Judge in the Twenty-Ninth Judicial District) began a conversation on how attorney shortages in legal deserts negatively impact the ability of the State to provide court-appointed attorneys.

In Part Two, Judge Tanner and Judge Rozier addressed concerns on recruiting and retaining attorneys on the court-appointed list, briefly touching on how simple tweaks to case management procedures can address some of the issues preventing attorneys from accepting court-appointed cases. 

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Becoming an Associate in the Age of AI

KimberMarie, a white woman with brown hair, wears a white shirt and green jacket and is smiling.By KimberMarie Faircloth

A fellow attorney friend told me about the moment when one of her clients paused in a meeting to consult ChatGPT regarding their legal approach. She described hearing the client’s nails clacking on a keyboard. Her supervising partner started to say something, stopped and then asked:

“Are you using ChatGPT by any chance?”

The client said, “Yes, and it says right here that your strategy to . . .”

I don’t really need to finish that story, do I? Because in 2026, I would put money down that many attorneys have had a similar — if not identical — interaction.

Since that watershed moment in November of 2022 when OpenAI released ChatGPT for public consumption, generative AI has become an all-in-one pocket doctor, therapist, lawyer and priest for many consumers. So, what are we to do, especially if we are new attorneys, in this age of AI?

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My Internship With the Charlotte City Attorney’s Office

By Nya TilleryNya, a Black woman with black hair, wears a white blouse and orange brown jacket.

During my time at the Charlotte City Attorney’s Office, I was primarily focused on land use, zoning, and planning. This involved attending city council meetings, zoning meetings, meetings with the planning department, and conducting research into matters such as whether you can pierce the corporate veil over a zoning violation, and if it was possible to limit corporate ownership over rental properties.

My favorite project to work on this summer was conducting research into voluntary agricultural districts (VADs). Almost every county in North Carolina has VADs. The goal of VADs is to protect farms within a certain geographical area. This means that lawsuits cannot be brought against the farms by neighbors for nuisances that may come along with agricultural activity, like noise or odor. Participation in the program is completely voluntary, and to participate, all an individual needs is to meet the requirements of a bona fide farm and apply with their local county planning department. The purpose of VADs is to encourage agriculture and foster good relationships between farms and residents nearby.

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