Section 1377(a)(2) Elections for S Corporations

John, a white man with brown hair and blue eyes, wears a blue jacket, white shirt, and blue tie. By John G. Hodnette

Section 1377(a)(1) generally provides each shareholder of an S corporation is allocated income or loss of the corporation by (a) assigning an equal portion of each item of income or loss to each day of the year, and (b) dividing that portion pro rata among the shares outstanding on that day. For example, if there is $365 of taxable income for the year, $1 of income is allocated to each day. That $1 is allocated among the shareholders pro rata based on stock ownership on that day.

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Paralegal Spotlight: Anna Skaggs’ Journey to Becoming a Paralegal

Peggy Pardue is a white woman with light brown, shoulder-length hair. she is wearing wire-rimmed glasses and a bright blue blouse. She is pictured smiling.

Peggy Pardue

By Peggy M. Pardue on behalf of the Communications Committee

Anna Skaggs is a North Carolina Certified Paralegal who was certified in 2016. She works for Collins Family & Elder Law Group in their Charlotte office.

Anna has been a Paralegal for her entire career and started her journey when she was just 19 years old. She will be celebrating 31 years in June of this year. Anna says, “when you know, you just know.” She had been considering law school but decided to look at the paralegal field. From the moment she sat in her first class at Marshall University, she never looked back or doubted that she made the right career choice. She is so thankful for the teachers, mentors, and attorneys who supported and guided her, and truly loves this work.

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The NCBA Health Law Section Council Needs You: Apply By March 1

Iain, a white man with brown hair, wears a pale blue shirt and grey suit.By Iain Stauffer 

The Health Law Section Council is the leadership of the North Carolina Bar Association’s Health Law Section. We are looking for interested health care attorneys to serve as members of the Section Council. Service on the Health Law Section is great networking and an excellent opportunity for service to our profession, health care providers, and the citizens of North Carolina that those providers serve.

Section Council members can be experienced healthcare attorneys or new attorneys just getting started. We welcome in-house, government and private practice attorneys.

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Calling all Patent Practitioners – Patent Pro Bono Program

Jennifer, a white woman with white hair, wears a peach blouse, pearls, and a black blazer. By Jennifer Knight

Why is Patent Pro Bono important? The demographics of inventors in the U.S. are not nearly as diverse as our society. For example, women represent 50% of the workforce, 27% of STEM workers, but only 13% of inventors. Black and Hispanic college graduates patent at roughly 50% of the rate of white graduates. Also, individuals born into the top 1% of family incomes are 10 times more likely to patent intellectual property than those born in the entire bottom half.

As part of the USPTO Patent Pro Bono Program, Georgia Patents and North Carolina Bar Foundation (NCBF) partner to serve low-wealth inventors of North Carolina and provide you with an opportunity to help a low-wealth individual work toward obtaining a patent. The inventors have a total household income less than 300% of the federal poverty guidelines (individual, $38,640; family of 4, $79,500). They have been screened to ensure that they have a basic understanding of the patent process, an invention ready for patenting, and they have conducted a prior art search. Georgia Patents does the screening and the North Carolina Bar Foundation matches inventors with volunteer Patent Attorneys and Patent Agents. NCBF provides malpractice insurance for NC Patent Attorneys. The inventors are responsible for all USPTO fees.

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Checking In: February 21, 2023

Compiled by Jessica Junqueira

Craige Jenkins Liipfert & Walker LLP Elects New Partner

Chrissy, a white woman with blond hair, wears a blue blouse and black sweater.

The firm announced that Crissy R. Dixon was elected to partner. Dixon focuses her practice on estate planning, estate administration, trust administration and taxation. She received a J.D. from Wake Forest University School of Law in 2016, where she served as the Editor in Chief of Wake Forest Journal of Law & Policy and was honored with the Outstanding Female Law Graduate award. She holds a B.A. from Rutgers University and graduated Phi Beta Kappa.

Cranfill Sumner LLP Welcomes New Associate

Elizabeth, a white woman with brown hair and glasses, wears a white blouse and black blazer.

Elizabeth Leonard has joined the firm’s Charlotte office. Her practice is focused on construction law and civil litigation. She has prior experience practicing civil litigation with a focus on construction law, personal injury, and other liability matters. Before becoming an attorney, she was a writer and editor.  She received a J.D. from the William & Mary Law School, where she was a Review Articles Editor and Legal Practice Writing Fellow. Leonard holds a B.A. in psychology from Wesleyan University.

Hannah Sheridan & Cochran Adds New Attorney

Aaron, a white man with black hair, wears a dark blue tie and black jacket.

Aaron Gavin has joined the firm. Gavin is a 2022 graduate of Wake Forest University School of Law. While in law school, he served as a research assistant for Alyse Bertenthal. Gavin has experience serving as a volunteer to veterans, children, the homeless and to his church community. He graduated from Auburn University with a double major in history and economics.

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A Balanced Life

Bain, a white man with white hair, wears a white shirt and black suit.By W. Bain Jones Jr.

Our world seems in great turmoil. The United States appears to be challenged by nations with very different political and social objectives. Various outlets blast us with repetitive information about these concerns, and we are left to try to determine what really happened. We are potentially available to others and other groups via cell phones and computers 24/7. The nature of our profession is many times adversarial and too often becomes combative. The desire to be successful, have lots of clients and to win can easily blind our sensibility. Obligations to our families and friends can become a weight on our lives.

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Legal Feeding Frenzy: Register Now For The Kickoff Event

Fritts, a white man with brown hair and a beard, wears a white shirt, blue tie and navy jacket.

Spencer Fritts

Meredith, a white woman with blond hair, wears a black blouse with small white dots and a black jacket.

Meredith Brewer

By Spencer Fritts and Meredith Brewer

One in five children are food insecure in North Carolina, and more than 1.2 million North Carolinians – from children to seniors – face food insecurity and hunger in our state. The NCBA YLD’s Legal Feeding Frenzy is an opportunity for our legal community to come together to fight hunger across North Carolina and in your local community.

This food and funds drive lasts the entire month of March, with each law firm competing to see who can raise the most food per employee to benefit local Feeding the Carolinas food banks. By donating to food banks within our state, your dollars go further. Every dollar provides five meals.

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BarCARES Seeks Nominations for Board Members

Ann, a white woman with short blond hair, wears a white blouse and teal jacket.By Ann Anderson

Do you care about the mental health of lawyers, law students and paralegals? Would you like to serve on a board that works towards making a variety of mental health services readily available for colleagues? BarCARES does that and is seeking nominations for Board members.

For those who don’t know, BarCARES is designed to offer no-cost assistance in dealing with problems that might be causing distress and can be used to help with such matters as personal issues, anxiety, substance use, financial concerns, family matters, work issues, professional stressors, and provide help with case-related stress as well as student coaching on all matters including time management.

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Be a Pro Bono Paralegal at this Year’s 4ALL Statewide Service Day!

Crosby, a white woman with short golden brown hair, wears a pink blouse and black blazer with white dots.By Stephanie Crosby

I am proud to be the co-chair of the 16th Annual 4ALL Statewide Service Day, which will be held on Friday, March 3, 2023, from 11 a.m. to 7 p.m. The 4ALL Statewide Service Day is a pro bono program of the North Carolina Bar Foundation and held in conjunction with the North Carolina Bar Association. During 4ALL, North Carolina lawyers provide free legal answers, information, and resources to callers seeking information regarding North Carolina-related legal matters. Once again, paralegals will be able to participate virtually as call screeners.

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eCourts Pilot Kicks Off in Wake, Johnston, Lee, and Harnett Counties!

Connor, a white man with brown hair, smiles and is wearing a red tie, pale blue shirt and black blazer.By Rick Conner

After much anticipation and several postponements, eCourts is now live in the four pilot counties: Wake, Johnston, Lee, and Harnett.

All new filings in these counties, including subsequent filings in open cases, must be done via eFiling aka File & Serve. Attorneys can file pleadings, submit documents to the court, pay fees, search court records, and obtain file-stamped copies of filed documents using eFiling and Portal. Please see this announcement from the NCAOC.

Mecklenburg County will be next with an anticipated eCourts launch in May 2023, with other groups of counties to follow every 60-90 days thereafter.

For more information on eCourts, please see this informative site maintained by the NCAOC, which includes training information, FAQs, and the rollout plan.

Please be patient with your courthouse personnel as everyone adjusts to this new system. Good luck and enjoy!

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