8:55 Welcome and Introductions
9:00 Workers' Compensation: Virtual Updates by the NCIC
Deputy Commissioner Jesse M. Tillman, North Carolina Industrial Commission, Raleigh
Hear about the transition to virtual hearings before the North Carolina Industrial Commission during the COVID-19 pandemic.
10:00 Break
10:10 Job Searching During the Pandemic and What You Need to Know
Nicole "Nikki" Green, Ave Staffing, Raleigh
Learn tips for searching for a job during the pandemic and what paralegals need to know about interviewing, drafting a resume and employer expectations.
11:10 Break
11:20 Notary Updates by the North Carolina Secretary of State's Office
Ozie Stallworth, North Carolina Department of the Secretary of State, Raleigh
Review the most recent changes for North Carolina notaries during the COVID-19 pandemic.
12:20 Lunch Break
12:50 From Chaos to Calm: Building Resilience at Work and in Life
Annelies M. Gentile, Conduit for Change LLC, Raleigh
Gain an understanding of the indicators and consequences of stress during the paralegal workday. Explore and learn about the pillars of resilience unique to our professional needs.
1:50 Break
2:00 Hot Topics in E-discovery
Debbie Beeler, Consilio LLC, Nashville, TN
Examine what electronic discovery (e-discovery) is and how it interacts with your daily work and explore recent changes and hot topics.
3:00 Break
3:10 Breathe: Put Your Own Oxygen Mask on First*
Colleen L. Byers, Bell Davis & Pitt PA, Winston-Salem
Examine how we as paralegals can practice and perfect mindfulness techniques to improve focus, efficiency and effectiveness to establish a good work-life balance.
4:10 Adjourn
* Indicates portion providing Ethics/Professional Responsibility credit
Thank you for joining us for 2021 NCBA Paralegal Division Annual Meeting CLE.
This program explores the impact of the COVID-19 pandemic on paralegals and provides opportunities to grow and update your professional knowledge in your field.
Debbie Beeler has been in the legal industry for over 30 years and comes from a background as a litigation paralegal. She is currently employed with Consilio in Nashville, TN as a Case Management Specialist with one of the company's client-facing consultant teams. Consilio is a global leader in eDiscovery, document review, risk management, and legal consulting services. For the past 14 years, Debbie's work has been focused on litigation discovery and the many changes that have emerged with the nexus of litigation discovery and technology.
Debbie has been involved in Women in eDiscovery – Seattle chapter as a board member for 4 years and is currently a member of the Women in eDiscovery – Nashville chapter. She also served as a speaker at Relativity Fest 2019 in Chicago where the subject was The Long & Winding Road: Career Paths in eDiscovery.
Colleen L. Byers is the founder and owner of Colleen Byers Mediation LLC in Winston-Salem. A seasoned civil litigator with deep business and legal experience, Colleen focuses on mediating complex business, employment, trust, estate, fiduciary and family disputes to help companies, families and individuals solve their legal problems outside the courtroom.
Colleen's conflict resolution approach weaves together practical business insight, active listening, and strategic foresight. Colleen leverages more than a decade of litigation experience to help people, whether business owners or families, settle legal disputes quickly, effectively, and creatively.
In addition to being trained in the collaborative law process, Colleen is also certified by the North Carolina Dispute Resolution Commission to mediate Superior Court cases as well as matters pending before the Clerk of Court. Colleen currently serves on the Boards of Directors of both the North Carolina Civil Collaborative Law Association and Forsyth Humane Society.
All of Colleen's education is from Creighton University, a Jesuit University in Omaha, NE. She is proud to be a triple Blue Jay, having earned her B.A., summa cum laude, her M.B..A, and J.D., cum laude, from Creighton University.
Colleen's training as a trauma-informed, registered yoga teacher also influences her unique mediation style. Applying yoga and mindfulness principles to her mediation practice, Colleen effectively de-escalates conflict and guides parties to expand their perspectives and achieve settlement outcomes. Colleen's role as a mother, wife and community leader also provide her ample opportunity to practice her conflict resolution and communication skills.
Click here for more information about Colleen.
Stephanie B. Elliott is a North Carolina State Bar Certified Paralegal and a member of the consumer litigation team at Wells Fargo in Charlotte.
She has vast litigation experience in medical malpractice, insurance defense, commercial, corporate and complex business litigation. She also has experience with filings in the North Carolina Complex Business Court; State Court filings in counties across North Carolina, Federal Filings in the Western, Eastern and Middle districts of North Carolina, the North Carolina Court of Appeals and the Federal Fourth Circuit Court of Appeals.
Stephanie is a faculty member of the University of North Carolina at Charlotte's Continuing Education Paralegal Certification Program, where she teaches Paralegal Profession and Legal Technology. She is also a member of the Academic Advisory Board and a faculty member of Gaston College's Paralegal Program.
Stephanie has dedicated many years of service to the paralegal associations of North Carolina, where she has served in multiple capacities, including as President and as an Executive Committee Member of the North Carolina Paralegal Association. She currently serves as the Vice Chair of the North Carolina Bar Association's Paralegal Division Council, and Co-Chair of the Continuing Paralegal Education Committee.
Click here for more information about Stephanie.
Annelies M. Gentile, MA, PCC helps professionals navigate change. As an integrative life and leadership coach with Conduit for Change LLC in Raleigh, she also acts as consultant, facilitator, speaker, and trusted guide for leaders, entrepreneurs, and executives ranging from Fortune 500 companies to fields of government, healthcare, law, education, non-profits, arts, tech, science and sales.
Annelies' approach is both interesting and inspiring. You won't often find her in front a PowerPoint slide (very much) but you will find her facilitating catalyzing workshops, restful retreats and thought-provoking keynote presentations exploring core essentials that range from resiliency to communication skills to empathy and leadership to mindfulness and creativity. She also coaches individuals, groups, and teams to better nourish their integrity and fuel personal and professional visions.
Although she's rich in credentials, Annelies' notes her real secret to success—is compassion. She's traversed twenty-two countries and forty-nine U.S. states, confirming her philosophy that most people want and need the same three things: to be heard, to feel safe, and to have a sense of belonging. How we all get there is what tears us apart, triggering conflict and additional chaos. Through a presence-based approach, Annelies reminds us of what's important.
Her education includes a master's degree in coaching (Maryland University of Integrative Health), and additional graduate studies in creativity, conflict transformation, and peacebuilding (European Graduate School in Switzerland), and transformative leadership (Tai Sophia Institute). She is also professionally accredited with ICF (International Coaching Federation). Annelies is also a published author.
Annelies lives in Raleigh with her family and sweetheart Greg Whitt of Drum for Change.
Click here for more information about Annelies.
Nicole "Nikki" Green leads Ave Staffing in Raleigh, bringing in years of experience in both recruiting and team building. She is a sought-after staffing strategist for law firms across the country.
Nikki has had years of experience in recruiting before founding Ave Staffing. Since 2016, she has watched her client base blossom from local North Carolina to nationwide. She has been featured in publications such as Attorney at Law Magazine, KNOW, and NALA.
Ave Staffing's "Right Fit" program has been notorious for digging diligently into the personalities of hiring clients. Doing so has allowed Nikki and her team to successfully supply the best candidates for their clients. From company culture to the candidate's skill sets and aspirations - no element is overlooked during the "match-making" process.
Click here for more information about Nikki and Ave Staffing.
Melissa Stockley Jones is an Advanced Certified Paralegal at UNC Rex Healthcare in Raleigh. Melissa is a member of the North Carolina Bar Association's Paralegal Division, the National Association of Legal Assistants and the North Carolina Paralegal Association. She earned her designation of Certified Paralegal (CP) from the National Association of Legal Assistants in April of 1998 and earned her designation of Advanced Certified Paralegal (ACP) in Discovery from the National Association of Legal Assistants in May of 2010. Melissa received her designation of North Carolina Certified Paralegal (NCCP) from the North Carolina State Bar in December of 2005.
Click here for more information about Melissa.
Leslie Pegram, NCCP is a paralegal with the UNC Health Care System focusing on commercial real estate transactional work. Leslie has extensive experience in litigation, compliance and corporate environments. Her experience includes three years as a corporate paralegal for International Farming Corporation, seven years at Bayer CropScience focusing on products liability, personal injury, asbestos litigation, and compliance support. She started her career as a medical malpractice defense and asbestos litigation paralegal at Patterson Dilthey.
Leslie is a member of the North Carolina Bar Association's Minorities in the Profession Committee (MIP) and Awards Recognition and Blog Communications Subcommittee Co-Chair. She received her B.A. degree from the University of North Carolina at Chapel Hill and her Certificate in Paralegal Studies from Duke University.
Click here for more information about Leslie.
Ozie H. Stallworth is the Electronic Notarization and Notary Enforcement Director at North Carolina Department of the Secretary of State. Ozie, the 2020 recipient of the Governor's Award for Excellence in Innovation and Efficiency, arguably has more experience in the unique area of eNotarization than any other individual in the country and easily qualifies as the nation's foremost expert on eNotary policies, procedures and implementation and is the Department's resident expert on eCommerce.
Among his many accomplishments in the field of eCommerce is launching the North Carolina eClosing Initiative after successfully overseeing the execution of the first electronic mortgage closing in the history of North Carolina. The first electronic recording of a plat in the nation also was completed under his direction in addition to directing the efforts of the Secretary of State's office to promulgate rules for electronic notarization and electronic recording, resulting in nearly 90% of the state's population having access to electronic recording; and organizing the first international conference on electronic notarizations and electronic apostilles with the Hague Conference, the International Union of Latin Notaries and the National Notary Association (NNA).
Ozie received his Bachelor's degree from Howard University in 1990.
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Jesse "Jay" Tillman is Deputy Commissioner with the North Carolina Industrial Commission in Charlotte. He was appointed in August of 2015. Before joining the Commission, he was in private practice concentrating in the areas of personal injury, products liability, and real property liability. He is admitted to practice law in both North Carolina and South Carolina.
Jay is also a recently retired Captain of the United States Navy (reserve component) and last served while activated and mobilized as the Occupational Safety and Operations Risk Management Officer and as a battle director for the Commander of U.S. Fifth Fleet in Bahrain. He was also active in Operations Desert Shield, Desert Storm, Southern Watch, Iraqi Freedom, Enduring Freedom, and Inherent Resolve.
Jay earned his B.A. in English from the University of North Carolina at Chapel Hill and his J.D. from the Campbell University School of Law.
