For the fourth year in a row, Blanco Tackabery proudly participated in the North Carolina Legal Feeding Frenzy, a food and fund drive competition among all North Carolina law firms. Conducted by the Young Lawyers Division of the North Carolina Bar Association, this year’s Legal Feeding Frenzy campaign collected over 292,385 pounds of food for the North Carolina Feeding America Food Banks.

North Carolina has one the highest percentages in the United States of children under the age of 18 who are food insecure on a regular basis: over 1 in 4 (26.1%).

Attorney General Roy Cooper, honorary chair, recognized the winning teams recently at the N.C. Bar Center. In the Medium Firm category (51-100 employees), Blanco Tackabery was the winner for the second time with 140 pounds per employee.

SECU Family House highlighted the growing popularity of men who like to cook with a fundraiser recently called Men Who Cook. The event showcased the talents of 20 local celebrity chefs and chef teams who cooked for about 225 guests at The Historic Brookstown Inn. Blanco Tackabery attorney and Shareholder Peter Juran was a proud participant in the event, which also marked the five-year anniversary of the opening of SECU Family House.

Party guests tasted savory samples cooked by the chefs and voted for their favorite chefs through tips that were donated to the Family House. Chef Juran prepared and served his famous Cambodian fish amok. Preliminary numbers indicate that the event far exceeded the $75,000 net proceed goal. All proceeds will help the Family House care for over 4,000 patients and their caregivers who stay at the Family House each year.

Family House provides friendship, support, and affordable family-focused accommodations for adult patients and caregivers who have been referred by one of three local organizations – Wake Forest Baptist Medical Center, Novant Health Forsyth Medical Center and Hospice and Palliative CareCenter. Family House is a compassionate, comfortable alternative to a hospital waiting room or an expensive hotel for people facing the challenge of out-of-town medical care.

Photo courtesy of Daniel Moorefield of Daniel Benjamin Photo. – www.danielbenjaminphoto.com

 

 

Shareholder Jim Vaughan recently completed the 3rd Annual Solar Bear Ride, a three-day, 270-mile, bicycle trek from Winston-Salem to Oak Island, to raise money for – and awareness of – Cancer Services of Winston-Salem. 17 cyclists made the trip this year, raising more than $13,500. Over the course of 3 years, more than $45,000 has been raised.

Blanco Tackabery is a proud sponsor of this event.

View Jim Vaughan’s Full Bio

Attorney Toni Grace was recently a guest speaker at the 30^th Annual Carolinas Council for Affordable Housing Annual Meeting. The presentation, Interpreting Your Lease – Landlord Tenant Training, was designed to educate multifamily property managers and developers on general landlord-tenant law including summary ejectment, reasonable accommodation and fair housing procedures. Carrie Scogin, an attorney with Blanco Tackabery’s Affordable Housing Practice Group, served as moderator for the panel presentation, which also included attorney Dan Lott from the law firm of Lott and Searcy.

Blanco Tackabery recently sponsored a special event entitled “Been Caught Stealing: Discussion of Liability Risks Arising from Unauthorized Transactions in Deposit Accounts” at the North Carolina Business Court at Elon Law School. The program, presented by The Young Professionals of the Risk Management Association (RMA) Triad Chapter, included a presentation and mock trial featuring the Honorable Ben F. Tennille, former Chief Judge of the North Carolina Business Court, and Blanco Tackabery attorneys Elliot Fus and Jim Vaughan as guest speakers. Rachael Dimont, also an attorney with Blanco Tackabery, currently serves as Chair of The Young Professionals of the RMA Triad Chapter and planned the event.

The law firm of Blanco Tackabery & Matamoros, P.A. is pleased to announce that Lauren T. Millovitsch was elected a Shareholder and Director of the firm effective January 1, 2015. Lauren practices primarily in the firm’s Lake Norman office and is an experienced estate planner who has been recognized by her peers as one of the top young estate planning attorneys in North Carolina. She advises clients regarding the preparation of basic Wills, Trusts and Powers of Attorney, as well as more advanced Trusts and other documents to address their family and wealth preservation goals. In addition to the preparation of general estate planning documents, Lauren counsels clients on sophisticated wealth transfer techniques. These include gifting assets to generation-skipping trusts, sales to intentionally defective grantor trusts, the creation of family liability companies to facilitate gifting, and the preparation of associated federal gift tax returns.

 

The law firm of Blanco Tackabery & Matamoros, P.A. is pleased to announce that James E. Vaughan was elected a Shareholder of the firm effective January 1, 2015. Jim joined Blanco Tackabery in 2009 after practicing for 15 years with a major regional law firm and then 12 years as a solo practitioner. With more than 30 years of legal experience, Jim’s practice is devoted primarily to representing financial institutions, companies and individuals as creditors in bankruptcy cases, in state and federal court litigation and in commercial loan workouts. Jim has represented clients in state court throughout North Carolina, and in bankruptcy and district court in all three federal districts. Jim’s years of experience negotiating plans of reorganization on behalf of creditors have provided him with insights helpful in reaching successful settlements of complex litigation and loan workouts.

View James Vaughan’s full bio.

The law firm of Blanco Tackabery & Matamoros, P.A. is pleased to announce that Daniel M. Vandergriff has joined the firm as an associate. He practices in the Corporate and Business Transactions and Commercial Real Estate & Development Groups.

Daniel graduated Order of the Coif, Magna Cum Laude from Wake Forest University School of Law where he served as Executive Editor of the Wake Forest Law Review. Daniel was recently recognized as a 2015 North Carolina Rising Star by Super Lawyers and is a member of the Federal, North Carolina, and Forsyth County Bar Associations.

View Daniel Vandergriff’s full bio.

The law firm of Blanco Tackabery & Matamoros, P.A. is pleased to announce that Debbie McKenney has been elected to serve on the Management Committee of the Firm.  The committee governs the business management of the Firm. McKenney is a Shareholder and Chair of the Affordable Housing and Community Development Practice Group.

View Debbie McKenney’s full bio.

Neal Tackabery was recently selected by his peers for inclusion in The Best Lawyers in America 2015 in the fields of Trusts & Estates and Tax Law, for the fourth consecutive year.

Jim Creamer was selected in the Elder Law practice area for the third year in a row.

Since it was first published in 1983, Best Lawyers^® has become a well-regarded guide to legal excellence. Over 52,000 leading attorneys cast more than 5.5 million votes on the legal abilities of other lawyers in their practice areas. Corporate Counsel magazine has called Best Lawyers “the most respected referral list of attorneys in practice.”

Blanco Tackabery is proud to announce that Elizabeth Foley has been appointed to the North Carolina Housing Finance Agency Board of Directors. The 13-member board oversees the operations of the North Carolina Housing Finance Agency. The Governor, Speaker of the N.C. House of Representatives and President of the N.C. Senate each appoint four members. These 12 appointees elect the thirteenth member. Elizabeth is Counsel in the Affordable Housing Practice Group.

View Elizabeth Foley’s full bio.

Shareholder Elliot Fus was installed as president of the Forsyth County Bar Association and the 21st Judicial District Bar on July 14, 2014.  He will serve a one-year term as the head of the Bar for the Winston-Salem area. Fus has previously served in several officer positions with the county Bar association and previously also served as Chair of the Ethics & Grievance Committee for the county Bar.

View Elliot Fus’s full bio.