< Previous“Part of my job is to be a translator,” explains Durham attorney An- thony “Tony” Taibi. “The way a cli- ent describes a problem is not always the legally significant aspect of their problem. I translate people’s inchoate, ‘here’s what I’m upset about’ and try to figure out where the legal claims lie.” Taibi sometimes represents clients in what he describes as “business divorces” involving small or closely held businesses. “Often, what people are most angry and upset about when their business relationships collapse are not necessarily their strongest legal claims. When business relationships break up, it can be very personal. There can be a lot of emotional drama.” One claim Taibi looks for in a business divorce is the possibility of “constructive fraud.” “When people have a ‘relationship of confidence and trust’—because they are business partners, close family members, or otherwise—they have to be open and evenhanded with each other. If they have concealed information and been less than fair, that’s called constructive fraud.” “Regardless of the kind of case it is, I start by asking, ‘what are the ongoing human and business relationships among the people in the dispute?’ Then you can think about what is the most fair and efficient way to achieve a resolution. Sometimes that means you have to bash the other side over the head and file a lawsuit, and other times it means diplomacy and finesse.” When asked to draft a contract, Taibi suggests that the most critical part of the document is not in the boilerplate or legalese. “The most important thing is, have you really spelled out the purpose of your contract—what your obligations are, what the other side’s obligations are, what your expectations are, and what their expectations are? If you’ve really thought it out, then the contract expresses everyone’s intentions, expectations, and obligations; that’s what’s truly important in a contract. The legalese is mostly fluff.” HIGHEST HONORS AT DUKE Originally from New York City, Taibi moved to North Carolina to attend the Duke University School of Law and graduated in 1990 with highest honors as first in his class. He served as an article editor of the Duke Law Journal and won the “Most Effective Advocate” award for Trial Practice. After law school, Taibi clerked for the late Judge Francis D. Murnaghan, Jr. of the United States Court of Appeals for the Fourth Circuit, and then taught Civil Procedure, Torts, and Regulatory Law and Policy at the University of Illinois College of Law. In 1994, Taibi published Banking, Finance and Community Economic Empowerment as the lead article in the Harvard Law Review. Taibi then spent a couple of years in a transactional practice with a large law firm. “It was mind-numbingly boring, but because of that experience, I have a better understanding of complex business deals, which has helped me in my litigation practice.” Taibi returned to North Carolina and began his litigation practice in 1997. In addition to business divorce, his practice includes fraud, breach of contract, unfair and deceptive trade practices, breach of fiduciary duty, medical business and regulation, and personal injury and Workers’ Compensation. After more than 20 years of successful practice, Taibi launched Carolina Tax Resolutions in 2019 to help people and businesses facing tax problems with the IRS or the NC Department of Revenue. Taibi’s team of accountants and tax attorneys have since helped numerous clients resolve their tax problems. “After graduating from Duke Law, clerking on the U.S. Court of Appeals and teaching law, I felt very good about my understanding of the intellectual and theoretical side of being a lawyer. However, as the years go by, I increasingly appreciate that understanding people and their businesses, people and their relationships, and how judges and juries feel about things are much more important for success in the law than a whole heap of theory.” TAIBI LAW GROUP, PLLC 3710 University Drive, Suite 110 Durham, NC 27707 (919) 916-6000 www.taibilawgroup.com A TT ORNEY PR OFILE Anthony Taibi Understanding People and Their Business WRITTEN BY BOB FRIEDMAN ATTORNEY AT LAW MAGAZINE · NORTH CAROLINA TRIANGLE VOL. 8 NO. 1 10Throughout Attorney Anthony Tai- bi’s career, he has heard many stories of people paying excessive amounts of money to heavily adver- tised “tax relief” companies, often only to end up with little or no resolution to their tax problems. “Even if they weren’t an outright rip-off, these companies were expen- sive, not very attentive and people weren’t getting results of value,” said Taibi. Taibi saw a niche in the market for a local tax resolution service that people could trust. So, in 2019, he launched Carolina Tax Resolutions (CTR) in Durham to handle all sorts of tax problems, ranging from com- plex North Carolina Department of Revenue audits to simple IRS home- owner liens. “Taxpayers often make the mis- take of hiring an accountant to han- dle their tax problems,” said Taibi. “An accountant alone may not be best equipped to handle all aspects of a case. We use a team of tax attorneys, tax accountants and a forensic ac- countant, with a case manager over- looking the entire process.” KNOWING WHEN TO CALL “Often, people don’t call us until there’s a lien on their home or their paycheck is being garnished,” said Taibi. “I wish people would call much earlier.” “When taxpayers go it alone, they don’t understand the laws, what pro- grams they may be eligible for, or how to properly submit all the necessary documentation,” says General Man- ager Timothy Perry. “At CTR, we fill out the right paperwork, apply for the right programs and make a compel- ling case to the taxing authority which individuals simply cannot make on their own.” For example, “many businesses find themselves the subject of a state sales and use tax audit by the NC DOR, but what many business owners don’t know is that failure to pay sales and use tax is a trust fund violation, which may subject them to criminal, as well as civil, liability. Because of this, many businesses will just accept the NC DOR audit and pay without con- ducting their own audit. What we tell our clients is ‘don’t be afraid to push back,’” said “of counsel” attorney Bri- an Westrom. Westrom just completed a sales and use tax audit for a business where the NC DOR claimed they had an addi- tional $2.2 million in taxable income over the audit period. “My audit showed that $1.7 million of that ‘addi- tional income’ was not, in fact, taxable income, but tips, loans, and transfers which are not taxable. The client de- cided to call me before paying the state’s assessment, and now he’s saving hundreds of thousands of dollars.” WORKING WITH THE IRS Sometimes just the simple act of contacting the taxing authority and opening the door to settlement dis- cussion can forestall legal action against the taxpayer. “The IRS wants to work something out; you just have to figure out what they need. For someone whose life is underwater, the IRS is going to look at the whole picture and give the per- son a payment plan that they can live with,” said Taibi. However, as Taibi explained, “tax- payers tend to make ridiculously low offers that the taxing authority is never going to accept, so most get rejected. Our attorneys and accoun- tants know what offer is likely to be accepted based on a client’s income and other criteria.” SOLVING TAX PROBLEMS Some tax problems can be more than a failure to pay taxes or under- reporting. “We had a case recently of a widow whose late husband had not been declaring income for years and years. She appeared not to know any- thing about it. The IRS has an ‘inno- cent spouse’ program. It often comes up in divorces as well,” Taibi observed. “We had a situation where two business partners weren’t getting along,” recalled Carl Allen, a forensic accountant with CTR. “One partner didn’t trust the CPA’s work and was concerned there might be a tax liabil- ity, so we were called in.” Perry noted that even after paying CTR’s fees, the net-net is that clients usually come out with a much better resolution. “Just by being honest, honorable and conscientious, without any claims to magic, we’re getting very good re- sults for people,” said Taibi. CAROLINA TAX RESOLUTIONS 3710 University Drive, Suite 110 Durham, NC 27707 (919) 916-1000 www.carolinataxresolutions.com Carolina Tax Resolutions No Magic – Just Honest and Conscientious Service WRITTEN BY BOB FRIEDMAN GILLIAN KATSUMI, TIMOTHY PERRY, JULIAN MAYORGA, ANTHONY TAIBI, ESQ., CARL ALLEN AND TECLA MCFADDEN | PHOTO BY DAVID MOORE AttorneyAtLawMagazine.com 11FEEDING FRENZY The annual Legal Feeding Frenzy was held at the food bank in Raleigh in February. Approximately 50 mem- bers of the NC Bar’s Young Lawyers Divi- sion worked with Feeding The Carolinas food banks. The project was funded from the NC Bar Foundation Endowment. FOOD BANK VOLUNTEER COORDINATOR LEAH STEFFENS LAMONTE GARRETTDOROTHY JONES AND HALEY MANNALISIA DELAMERE MARK HOLT MICHELE LIVINGTONE EVENT SPOTLIGHT 12 ATTORNEY AT LAW MAGAZINE · NORTH CAROLINA TRIANGLE VOL. 8 NO. 1The Setting Every Community Up for Retirement Enhance- ment (SECURE) Act became law on Dec 20, 2019. The Act is meant to improve savings habits in the United States. It includes changes to retirement and college savings ac- counts. Both areas add some new fi- nancial planning opportunities and challenges. Here are some of the changes: The Age restriction on tradition- al IRA contributions has been re- moved. Before the act, additions to IRAs were not allowed once an indi- vidual reached age 70 ½. Starting this year with 2020 contributions, anyone at any age may make contributions if they meet the income requirements. Qualified Charitable Distribu- tions (QCDs) have a new limit. Pri- or to the SECURE Act, QCDs were limited to $100,000 per year. A new limitation reduces this amount… but consult a CPA. It’s complicated. Required Minimum Distribu- tions (RMDs) now begin at age 72. This change only affects those who turn 70 ½ after 2019. Those who started RMDs last year remain in that status and must comply with prior rules. Those who did not reach 70 ½ in 2019 may delay their first RMD un- til age 72. The “Stretch IRA” is gone. Under prior rules, inheritors of IRAs were able to stretch out withdrawals over their own lifetimes with RMDs. Un- der the SECURE Act, nearly all non- spouse IRA inheritors must remove all funds by the end of the tenth year. All funds may be removed in the first year, tenth year, or any year in be- tween… but it will not go beyond the 10th year. This presents a significant challenge for those with high-value retirement accounts who don’t want to leave a tax burden to their heirs. 529 Plans can now help Repay Student Loan Debt. The SECURE Act allows families to take tax-free 529 plan distributions for student loan repayment. The Act includes an aggregate lifetime limit of $10,000 in qualified student loan repayments per 529 plan beneficiary and each of the beneficiary’s siblings. A 529 plan account owner may change the 529 plan beneficiary within the family at any time without tax consequences. This presents a planning opportu- nity. Since 529 assets affect financial aid eligibility, holding back some of the funds in a sibling’s account to be used to pay down future loans might be helpful. The SECURE Act means that IRA owners have more flexibility and IRA inheritors have less. 529 Plans have greater flexibility. Since retirement accounts tend to be the greatest in- vestment accounts of most investors, it presents a problem for estate plan- ning. Inheriting a sizable IRA may result in pushing many people into higher tax brackets at multiple points during the ten-year distribution pe- riod. If IRA balances are held primarily for the benefit of heirs, consider some alternative planning strategies. Roth IRA conversions may take on greater importance to the estate plan. In this scenario, the IRA owner accepts the tax burden so their heirs do not inherit one. This solution may not be ideal for high-earners or those concerned about higher taxes during retirement. Bear in mind, that con- versions must be held for five years before becoming tax-free at distribu- tion. Converting a traditional IRA into a Roth IRA has tax implications. Investors should consult a tax advisor before deciding to do a conversion. Insurance products become great- er planning tools. Funds removed from IRAs increase taxable income to the IRA owner. If there is room for more income before entering a higher tax bracket or RMDs provide more income than is needed, the ex- cess may be used to pay premiums on a life insurance policy. At the death of the owner, heirs will have a tax-free insurance benefit in addition to what- ever remains in the IRA. This solution requires the insured to be insurable. Spend down the IRA first. Many savers have more accounts available than just retirement assets. Taxable assets receive a step-up in cost-basis at the death of the account owner and are very tax-efficient for heirs. If the goal is to create a tax-efficient estate plan, consider using the retirement accounts as primary retirement in- come vehicles. The SECURE Act has a much broader reach than just those areas mentioned here and the Federal gov- ernment is working on additional regulations. Modifications to finan- cial regulations affect individuals and organizations in varied and, some- times, unforeseen ways. Make an ap- pointment to meet with your financial advisor to discuss your opportunities and challenges in times of change. PATRICK H. YANKE, CFP® | Financial Patrick Yanke is a Raleigh-based financial advisor. Opinions expressed here are mine and not necessarily those of RJFS. The information is not a complete summary or statement of all available data necessary for making an investment decision and does not constitute a recommendation. Raymond James and its advisors do not offer tax or legal advice. You should discuss any tax or legal matters with the appropriate professional. Investing involves risk and you may incur a profit or loss regardless of strategy or asset allocation selected. www.yankefinancial.com. Understanding the SECURE Act AttorneyAtLawMagazine.com 13this risk, and to generally manage their marketing, is a security-con- scious marketing provider that spe- cifically serves the legal market. For most firms, this is the best combina- tion of price and performance. A competent partner that can help with your digital marketing, as well as manage and maintain your site from a security perspective, will have estab- lished systems and processes to help you manage your site and market- ing, including project management, a ticketing/alerting system to quickly take action and track their work, and will be dedicated to the legal market. These systems should all be available to you through a client portal, as well. Legal marketing expertise is specif- ic enough that you don’t want a gen- eral service marketing firm handling it and missing out on a lot of the nu- ances of a successful legal marketing campaign. Monthly prices for this advanced security management, plus high end hosting, site backups, updates, and more is less than you might think at under $150/month….far less than the cost of missing out on a potential cli- ent through your Contact Us link. Think of this pro- tection like the kind of insurance no busi- ness dares to be to without. Are Potential Client Leads Being Hijacked from Your ‘Contact Us’ Page? BRIAN CRAIG | Legal Marketing Brian Craig is the founder and CEO of LegalScapes, a full-service digital marketing agency that works solely with law firms. With over 15 years of experience in online marketing, Brian helps lawyers across the United States get more clients through the Internet. When not working with clients, you’ll find him playing basketball, going to Carolina games, and planning the next adventure with his wife and two daughters. Drop Brian a line at brian@ legalscapes.com, call (919) 646-8707, or visit LegalScapes on the web at www.legalscapes.com. The Contact Us page on your website is likely your number one lead generator. But it’s pos- sible you never get some of those con- tacts because your website has been hacked. It could be happening right now, and you don’t even know it. This direct impact on your firm’s potential revenue can come in the form of missed contacts from clients. In addition to the hacker having ac- cess to any potential clients that go to your firm’s contact us page and submit their information, they may also have access to the information of previous prospects and clients who submitted information on that page. The combination of this breach of information, along with the missed revenue from all the submitted forms that don’t get to you while the site is hacked, is a double impact to your firm’s bottom line and image in the community. Maintaining, updating and moni- toring your website is vital to its suc- cess, especially since we’re seeing more hacking attempts as software becomes more complex and the result of hacking sites is more lucrative. What does a hacked website look like? Check out this local one we found recently in search results. This site stayed in a hacked state long enough that Google indexed it in that state. This is, obviously, a bad thing when people see this result after searching for your law firm online. THE REAL RISK OF WEBSITE SECURITY BREACHES When your law firm’s website is breached, it can go unnoticed for days, weeks, or months, and that’s what the hacker relies on. The longer that a site is compromised, the longer the hacker can make money from in- jected links on the site, and even from compromising potential client infor- mation. More often than not, when your website is breached, it’s a potential client that informs you this has hap- pened to your site. We don’t need to tell you that this is bad for your law firm’s reputation and can lose you sig- nificant amounts of money and im- age. HOSTING ALONE ISN’T ENOUGH Odds are, you’re purchasing web hosting from your web guy or a mass provider like Bluehost, GoDaddy or a ton of others. And maybe it’s even worked out so far for your firm. The risk of these providers is they’re generally on (or reselling) a lower-end shared hosting platform, with limited backup and restore capability (if any), and no legitimate security and uptime monitoring/alerting for your site. This can hurt you when something actu- ally does happen to your site without you finding out until it’s too late. THE SOLUTION The solution law firms have to fight AttorneyAtLawMagazine.com 15THE LAST STOP “The Last Stop On Your Way Home” is the firm’s slogan, which Asekesai “Kesai” Arnette Harris, owner of Morrisville-based Arnette Law, explained as “buying a home is a culmi- nation of weeks, months and sometimes years of goals and work. It does not matter how long it took a buyer to get to that point, it’s a mo- ment they should enjoy. You should leave a closing feeling informed about your purchase, excited about your new home and proud. We want our clients to leave our office feeling like this was it. This was the goal and we were the last stop on the way.” Her 10-year-old boutique law firm handles residential real estate closings in Wake and surrounding counties. THE CALMEST PERSON IN THE ROOM From contract to closing, the home buy- ing process can be stressful. “I need to be the calmest person throughout the transaction and at closing,” said Arnette Harris. “In a transaction, we can wear multiple hats. We are sometimes the mediator, prob- lem solver or the sounding board for the agents as we move the transaction forward to closing for the buyer. It’s our job to stay calm, find solutions and get the buyer through the process of buying a home.” PARTNERSHIP WITH AGENTS “The recurring theme of our office is to be a resource for real estate agents whether you consistently work with our office or not,” said Arnette Harris. “Our dedication to our clients and their agents is what makes us different.” “We are not only proud of the work we do with buyers, but we also pride ourselves on the relationships that we have with residential real estate agents. We are on their team. We work with new agents when they are learning the ropes and have a lot of questions and with more experienced agents because real estate ASEKESAI ARNETTE HARRIS REAL ES T A TE A TT ORNEY OF THE MONTH THE WAY HOME BY BOB FRIEDMAN PHOTOS BY HEADSHOTS AND CORPORATE ASEKESAI “KESAI” ARNETTE HARRIS ATTORNEY AT LAW MAGAZINE · NORTH CAROLINA TRIANGLE VOL. 8 NO. 1 16changes every day.” Arnette Law exclusively handles real estate closings which makes being available when needed possible. With homes getting multiple offers and, depending on the price point, selling in just a few hours, real estate agents sometimes need immediate answers even in the eve- ning or on the weekend. “If agents are out negotiating and they need to get something done quickly, we are that resource. Being accessible and flexible helps our agents grow their business, and it helps us grow as well.” STAYING CONSISTENT Asekesai Arnette Harris is a native of Eastover, NC. She graduated from UNC-Wilmington and earned her Juris Doctor from the Univer- sity of Miami School of Law. Arnette Harris has seen it all, from bust to boom. Her first job out of law school in 2007 was handling home foreclosures before the residen- tial real estate implosion that triggered the Great Recession. Now she’s in the midst of the steadily growing Triangle Market. “We try not to ride the waves. I stay consistent in what we do and how I approach our business.” MOM LIFE As if the craziness of running a real es- tate law firm in a go-go growth market isn’t enough, Arnette Harris goes home to Ella, 5, Nora, 4, and Lila, almost 1. With husband Hugh, an attorney in the NC At- torney General’s office, the weekends are all about the kids and runs to Target, bal- let, and PTA projects. “Real estate actually prepared me for being a mom … I just keep repeating to stay calm,” joked Harris. ARNETTE LAW 2500 Gateway Centre Blvd., Suite 100 Morrisville, NC 27560 (919) 747-2208 www.arnette-law.com “The recurring theme of our office is to be a resource for real estate agents whether you consistently work with our office or not,” said Arnette Harris. “Our dedication to our clients and their agents is what makes us different.” TEMPESTT MORTON AND ASEKESAI ARNETTE HARRIS ASEKESAI ARNETTE HARRIS, LILA HARRIS (9 MONTHS), ELLA HARRIS (5 YEARS), NORA HARRIS (4 YEARS) AND HUGH HARRIS. AttorneyAtLawMagazine.com 17A TT ORNEY OF THE MONTH HEADSHOTS AND CORPORATE The photo of two mallards is so vibrant; it almost looks like an oil painting. “I thought it turned out pretty well, didn’t it?” said personal injury attor- ney Joe Tunstall who shot the photo. It’s one of a dozen breath-taking nature photos adorning the walls in the Tarrboro and Raleigh law of- fices of O’Malley Tunstall PLLC. For Tunstall, what started as wanting to take photos of his equestrian daughter, Lilly, turned into a hobby and now impacts how he prepares to try personal injury cases. His practice focuses primarily on motor vehicle accidents, slip and falls, and medical malpractice. His partner, Susan O’Malley, fo- cuses on Social Security Disability cases. Joe Tunstall The Plaintiff Side of the v. BY BOB FRIEDMAN ATTORNEY AT LAW MAGAZINE · NORTH CAROLINA TRIANGLE VOL. 8 NO. 1 18TUNSTALL AND SUSAN O’MALLEY | BILL GOODE PHOTOGRAPHY “At first, I thought photography was just taking pictures; then I figured out it was all about light. I love the creativity. The creative part is trying to take light and convert it over to an image that moves someone. Same deal with being a trial lawyer. I’m trying to move people all the time. So, when I take pictures of a client for a trial, I’m not just looking at the client, I’m also looking at what am I trying to get out of this photo. I’m trying to set a scene and create an image.” “If you watch a TV program, CSI, or any law program, the crime happens, the depositions are taken, and the trial is over in less than 60 minutes. So, in real life, the jury thinks you’re going to have something interesting for them to look at.” HELP PEOPLE: PUSH IMAGES Joe Tunstall was born in Washington, NC. Both of his parents were teachers, who then became administrators in public school systems. His parent’s jobs in public education didn’t pay enough to support Joe his brother and his sister, so they each worked a series of part- time jobs. One of his father’s jobs was selling Amway products. When Tun- stall was 12, his parents were driving home one evening from an Amway convention in Virginia Beach when a drunk driver slammed into their car. His mother suffered multiple neck injuries Her lawyer was his uncle and mother’s brother Jimmie Keel, who practiced in Tarboro. “I watched what went on from that end, and whenever anyone asked me what I wanted to be, from age 12 on, I said I wanted to be a lawyer,” said Tunstall. “Watching my mother sleep on the couch for a year as she recuperated … it just clicked in my brain that being able to help somebody going through some- thing like that was what I wanted to do forever.” He attended UNC, where he was a Morehead scholar. He earned his Juris Doctor from Wake Forest School of Law. Following law school, Tunstall accepted an associate job work- ing for Keel. He stayed for ten years, also practicing with Susan O’Malley, who became his law partner. “It was the best worst experi- ence ever because he was way harder on me that everyone else in the world,” recalled Tunstall. “The best lesson I learned from him was prep- aration. He was big on spending time thinking and working. He just didn’t half-rear end any- thing.” “The second lesson was, don’t think of what the law is, but what it should be. He’d say let’s figure out a way to make it, so it actually helps people the way it’s supposed to,” recalled Tun- stall. “My first year practicing law, I wrote three or four Court of Appeals briefs for Jimmie and Susan. Jimmie and Susan’s idea for the law was, help people, push ideas.” “Jimmie’s philosophy was that in common law, as the world changes, so does the law. I learned that the law changes on an everyday basis, and if you’re not pushing the envelope on some of these things, you’re just wrong.” “At first, I thought photography was just taking pictures; then I figured out it was all about light. I love the creativity. The creative part is trying to take light and convert it over to an image that moves someone. Same deal with being a trial lawyer.” AttorneyAtLawMagazine.com 19Next >