Friday, November 21, 2025
Board of Continuing Legal Education
By Ashleigh S. Parker, Chair of the Board of Legal Education
On behalf of the Board of Continuing Legal Education, I am honored to present our annual report.
Lawyers continue to meet and exceed their mandatory continuing legal education requirements. I am pleased to report that approximately 99% of the active members of the North Carolina State Bar with a compliance date of February 28, 2025, complied with the mandatory CLE requirements for the 2024 CLE year. Reported attendance records show that North Carolina lawyers took 381,835 hours of CLE in 2024.
The CLE program operates on a sound financial footing and has done so almost from its inception over 30 years ago. Funds raised from attendance and non-compliance fees not only support the administration of the CLE program, but also support three programs that are fundamental to the administration of justice and the promotion of the professional conduct of lawyers in North Carolina. The program’s 2024 contribution to the operation of the Lawyers Assistance Program (LAP) was $380,888.28. As of September 30, 2025, the board has also collected and distributed $289,503 to support the work of the Equal Access to Justice Commission, and $289,503 to support the work of the Chief Justice’s Commission on Professionalism. In addition, the CLE program has generated $72,378 to cover the State Bar’s costs for administering the CLE-generated funds for the LAP and the two commissions.
The CLE program has undergone significant changes this year marked by the appointments of Nichole McLaughlin as CLE director and Lauren M. Stines as CLE managing director, following Peter Bolac’s transition to executive director of the State Bar and Debra Holland’s retirement.
The CLE program has continued to navigate the transition to the new CLE rules and procedures that took effect on March 1, 2024. The department remains focused on ensuring these changes are implemented accurately and consistently by enhancing the CLE components of the State Bar’s Regulatory Management Software (RMS) to better serve both the Bar and North Carolina lawyers. Over the past year, the new Sponsor Portal was launched and now operates in conjunction with the Member Portal’s CLE tab providing sponsors and members with improved access to CLE information and resources.
Regrettably, the term of board member Robert Ponton Jr. has concluded, and he has chosen not to seek reappointment as he enters retirement. His input and contributions will be greatly missed.
The board remains committed to ensuring that the continuing legal education requirements meaningfully enhance the competence of North Carolina lawyers. We welcome any feedback or recommendations from councilors on how to further this goal. On behalf of the board, I extend our gratitude for the opportunity to support the State Bar’s mission to protect the public through oversight of the mandatory continuing legal education program.
Board of Paralegal Certification
By Benita Powell, Chair of the Board of Paralegal Certification
Ladies and gentlemen of the council, it is my pleasure to present the annual report of the Board of Paralegal Certification.
Our program continues to do the good work of the North Carolina State Bar by serving the public and contributing to the improvement of legal services offered in this state. North Carolina’s Paralegal Certification Program exists for two reasons: First, to assist in the delivery of legal services to the public by identifying individuals who are qualified by education and training and have demonstrated knowledge, skill, and proficiency to perform substantive legal work under the direction and supervision of a licensed lawyer; and second, to improve the competency of those individuals. Nineteen years after the first application for paralegal certification was accepted by the board in 2005, there are today over 3,530 North Carolina State Bar certified paralegals. I am proud to report that, under the guidance of the Board of Paralegal Certification and with the tireless efforts of various volunteers and staff, our program is thriving and continually achieving the very purpose for which the State Bar Council created the program. Importantly, our program is entirely self-sufficient.
Since 2020, our program has administered our certification exams via remote proctoring. Our use of remote proctoring has allowed more paralegals from all parts of North Carolina to take the exam, rather than requiring examinees to incur the expense of traveling to an in-person exam. The software used to remote proctor the exams (ExamSoft) has produced minimal, if any, technological issues for examinees and assists us in ensuring the integrity of our exam. On June 7, 2025, we administered our paralegal certification exam to 122 applicants via remote proctoring; of those applicants, 86 achieved passing scores and were certified by the board. On October 4, 2025, we administered the new exam via remote proctoring to 141 applicants, with exam results released in December. We continue to see impressive numbers of applicants and new certified paralegals on a yearly basis, and we expect these trends to continue in 2026.
Also, in 2025 the board will have considered over 3,500 recertification applications. To maintain certification, a certified paralegal must complete six hours of continuing paralegal education (CPE) credits annually, including one hour of ethics. I am pleased to report that certified paralegals have continued to improve their competency by taking over 21,000 hours of CPE in the last twelve months.
In 2020, the Supreme Court of North Carolina approved the rule amendment presented to the State Bar Council at the end of 2019 that allows a paralegal to qualify to take the paralegal certification exam based upon the applicant’s work experience. The new rule recognizes our state’s valuable and experienced paralegals who did not obtain particular degrees prior to joining the paralegal profession by allowing paralegals with five years of paralegal work experience plus ethics training to qualify for the exam. The board feels this new rule works well with our ongoing educational requirements, allowing only those paralegals who have demonstrated specific educational achievements or substantial paralegal work experience to sit for the exam, thereby ensuring the high standards communicated by our certification process. We are thankful for the State Bar Council’s and Supreme Court’s support of this rule amendment. I am happy to report that over the past five years, 135 paralegals qualified to sit for our certification exam by way of their work experience. In 2026, we again expect that number to grow.
Our exam continues to be a strong and objective measure of proficiency for paralegals, and we are ever striving to improve both the content of the exam and the testing experience. Dr. Adam Meade from North Carolina State University was hired on a contract basis to provide psychometric services. We also continue to utilize ExamSoft and its testing program, Examplify, for all our testing needs. ExamSoft is a secure, cloud-based software that is used by many law schools and on most bar exams. The program’s significant capabilities help streamline all aspects of the testing process, from writing and storing exam questions to grading and analyzing exams. We are excited that the use of this software and its remote proctoring capabilities have proven useful in reaching more paralegals in more parts of the state, thereby increasing paralegals’ access to our program and the public’s access to improved legal services via certified paralegals.
We continue to be thankful for the State Bar Council’s support of our program, including its thoughtful consideration in appointing the chair and vice-chair during the October 2025 meeting that will carry forward and build upon the tradition of excellence and integrity that embodies our program.
The Board of Paralegal Certification looks forward to continued success certifying qualified paralegals to help with the delivery of legal services to the citizens of North Carolina. We welcome any recommendations or suggestions that councilors may have for ways in which the board might improve the paralegal certification program. On behalf of the other members of the board, thank you for the opportunity to contribute to the protection of the public by overseeing this important program of the North Carolina State Bar.
Board of Legal Specialization
By Matthew Ladenheim, Chair of the Board of Legal Specialization
Ladies and gentlemen of the council, it is my pleasure to present the annual report of the Board of Legal Specialization.
North Carolina’s Legal Specialization program exists for two reasons: First, to assist in the delivery of legal services to the public by identifying lawyers who have demonstrated special knowledge, skill, and proficiency in a specific field, so that the public can more closely match its needs with available services; and second, to improve the competency of the Bar. I am proud to report that, under the guidance of the Board of Legal Specialization, and with the tireless efforts of the specialty committees and staff, our program is stronger than ever and continually achieving the very purpose for which the State Bar Council created the program in 1985. On top of that, our program is entirely self-sufficient.
With the addition of 62 new specialists last November, there are more than 1,150 certified legal specialists in North Carolina. The State Bar’s specialization program certifies lawyers in 15 specialties. This spring we received 109 applications from lawyers seeking certification. Of these applicants, 107 met the substantial involvement, CLE, and peer review standards for certification and were approved to sit for their respective specialty exams. Certification exams will be administered using a combination of remote proctoring through ExamSoft, the software program our board has employed in administering our exams for the past six years, and in-person at the State Bar Building. We began offering remote proctoring in 2020 and it has successfully increased access to our program across the state by eliminating the barriers of time and travel that may have previously prevented lawyers from pursuing certification.
The board remains active in evaluating its own administrative rules and its current roster of specialty certifications to identify and pursue improvements in the program for the betterment of the public and the profession. The board remains grateful to the council for its support of the specialization program as we strive to improve what is already a nationally respected specialty certification program.
The Board of Legal Specialization typically holds an annual luncheon in the spring to honor both long-time and newly certified specialists. This year, the board hosted a luncheon in August in Greensboro to honor those who obtained their initial specialty certifications in 2024, as well as those who reached the important milestones of 25, 30, and 35 years of specialty certification in 2025. The event was a great success, and our hope is that, in addition to holding our annual luncheon, we can also host smaller events in the western, central, and eastern parts of the state in 2026.
I am also happy to report that the Jeri L. Whitfield Legal Specialty Certification Scholarship Fund established to provide scholarships for specialization application fees for prosecutors, public defenders, and non-profit public interest lawyers who wish to become certified specialists, continued to experience success in 2025. The fund is administered by the North Carolina Legal Education Assistance Foundation (NC LEAF). We received many donations from specialists and board members during 2025. All contributions are tax-deductible and can be made through NC LEAF. As a result of this scholarship fund, I am pleased to report that ten public interest applicants received scholarships this year, thereby offering these lawyers the opportunity to not only attain certified status, but also instill trust and confidence in the legal services received by the clients they serve.
Our exams continue to be a strong and objective measure of proficiency for the various specialties, and we are constantly working to improve both the content of the exams and the testing experience. Our psychometrician, Dr. Adam Meade from NC State University, continues to provide psychometric services. We continue to utilize ExamSoft and its testing program, Examplify, for all of our testing needs. ExamSoft is a secure, cloud-based software that is used by many law schools and on most bar exams. The program’s significant capabilities help streamline all aspects of the testing process, from writing and storing exam questions to grading and analyzing exams.
Also in this year’s specialization news, the State Bar Journal featured interviews with Ashley Sappenfield, a social security disability specialist from Greensboro; Grant Osborne, Nicole Patino, and Jennifer Spyker, among the newest to become employment law specialists from Asheville, Asheboro and Charlotte; Steven Epstein, a family law specialist from Raleigh; and Gay Stanley, a child welfare specialist from Goldsboro. Additionally, the director of our program, Brian Oten, continues to serve as chair of the American Bar Association’s Standing Committee on Specialization, thereby adding to the impressive national profile that our program enjoys.
In July of this year, Julie Beavers and John C. Bircher III were reappointed to serve an additional three years on the board. The board is also grateful for the council’s reappointment of Barbara Morgenstern as vice-chair to the board, and I am humbled by your action in reappointing me to serve as chair of the board. The board looks forward to continued success in certifying lawyers in their specialty practice areas, thereby contributing to the State Bar’s mission of protecting the public by improving the quality of legal services available to the people of this state.
The specialists who serve on the board’s various specialty committees are vital to the specialization program. The specialty committees write the standards for their specialty, vet all applications for certification and recertification, draft and grade the certification exams, and make certification recommendations to the board on applications. The program includes more than 100 specialists who volunteer extraordinary amounts of time and talent to the specialization program. It is one of the largest volunteer efforts of the State Bar. The program would not be nearly as successful if not for their efforts.
We ended 2024 with the retirement of Denise Mullen who was the managing director of legal specialization for over two decades. Sheila Saucier, who had served for many years as our certification coordinator, is now our current managing director. Katie Seruset joined us in December of 2024 as our new certification coordinator. We were excited to welcome Katie to the program, and we are confident that these two dedicated professionals will continue the tradition of excellence we have come to expect in our program.
On behalf of the board, I want to express my sincere appreciation to the members of the Council for your continuing support of the Legal Specialization program.
Lawyer Assistance Program
By Robynn Moraites, Executive Director, NC Lawyer Assistance Program
This year marks our 45th year of operation.
The reporting year got off to a hectic start due to Hurricane Helene. The storm impact was massive and covered the entire Western region. Business as usual was put on hold while we tried to contact our clients and volunteers. As days turned to weeks, communications started rolling in. We had news of two lawyers and their families who were killed in the storm. Almost a year later, recovery efforts in the aftermath of the hardest hit areas are still underway (and will be for years).
As is to be expected, we are only now receiving calls from lawyers who are finally beginning to emotionally process all that has occurred. We explained the slow recovery process through a lens of Maslow’s Hierarchy of Needs in our article entitled, “Hurricane Helene: A Wide Wind Field.” We posted this article on all of our social media accounts, and it has been the most shared and reposted of all our posts. We also conducted educational sessions (essentially modified crisis debrief sessions) in several western districts to give lawyers a safe place and a framework for how to process what had happened. We received tremendous feedback from the lawyers who attended.
Then in February, we got news that the ABA Commission on Lawyer Assistance Programs (CoLAP) was interested in updating the 2016 study. You may recall that in 2016, ABA CoLAP partnered with the Hazelden Foundation and researcher Patrick Krill to conduct the first-ever nation-wide study of lawyer mental health. Many will remember the groundbreaking study – the findings and statistics have been cited in articles and CLE programs for years now. Much has happened in the past decade, from COVID to e-courts to AI. North Carolina agreed to participate in this ten-year follow-up (blind, randomized) study. Only a random sample of NC lawyers and judges received the email (as determined by a software program). The study did not collect any personally identifying information, so neither the State Bar nor researchers had any way of knowing who participated. The study window closed in late-July/early-August and the data is currently being analyzed. We hope to have a report by year’s end or early next year.
For this reporting year, we opened 121 files, with trends remaining consistent: stress, anxiety, depression, and alcoholism are the primary issues lawyers are grappling with. LAP staff and volunteers gave 40 CLE presentations. We recorded and released several new podcast episodes, including interviews with our volunteers, like When to Stop Putting on a Show and Three Amigos, as well as several Mindful Moments with Laura Mahr, like Deconstructing Decision Dilemmas.
We could not accomplish all that we have this year, or any other year, without the footwork and enthusiasm of our dedicated volunteers. It is an honor and a privilege to witness their love for their fellow lawyers and their commitment to fostering the well-being of those in our profession. They inspire me every day. Interacting with our volunteers is unquestionably the highlight of my job, and I want to thank each and every one of them for their unique contribution to making our program one of the strongest, most dynamic, and most effective programs in the country.
The full annual report is here: https://www.nclap.org/wp-content/uploads/2025/09/2024-2025-Annual-Report.pdf.
Filed Under: General News
