MikeMooreMedia

Seth Woodall & Associates 12.02.24

Rockingham County Attorneys Seth Woodall and Matt Warman. Update on new offices under constructiion; staff and services in Eden and Madison; Beneficial Ownership Information requirement; residential home closings; Chris Freeman, NC Court of Appeals; Presidential pardon.
www.Woodall-Law.com
Facebook.com/SethM.Woodall&Associates

Duration:: 11m
Broadcast on:: 02 Dec 2024
Audio Format:: other

Mike Moore Media. Welcome to Mike Moore Media. Seth Emwood on Associates. We are back after missing you for November. We're excited to see you back here in December. I'm Matt. I'm Seth. I am sorry that we missed November. We had a lot going on trying to wind up the end of the year. So we're back. We've got some updates moving forward and we're looking forward to 2025. I think it'll be the best year yet. I think so too. So this is going to be a great setup month in December getting us set over for big 2025. I know the last episode we talked a little bit about our impending move. But Seth, why don't you give everyone a little bit of an update on that new office? Yeah. So we're currently renovating 515 Thompson Street in Eden. It's only a couple hundred yards away from our current office. But we're going to have a lot bigger space there. We're going to have a lot. We're going to be more efficient because we're going to have space. We're just busting in the seams. We have people sitting on top of each other. We don't have room for filing anymore. We have just truly been blessed with the amount of work that we get out of this community. And we just need a bigger space. So we have started to move. And we're going to be at 515 Thompson Street sometime after the first of the year. So it's coming along. But it is a huge project. It's about 13,000 square foot of renovations. And so we're plugging away. But we're not done yet. Yeah. I mean, I think it's going to be an awesome, really cool space. I mean, I know, you know, when the firm started and you've carried on the tradition of it really wanted to be a small town law firm where anyone in the community can come in and we're there to help and solve the problems. And this is just going to really take it to the next level and be really be able to assist. I mean, I know Seth, if you want to go through a little bit of all some of the different areas that we highlight and some of the different attorneys that work at both of the offices. Yeah. So we do have two offices currently. One in Eden at 645 Drive, we will be moving to 515 Thompson Street after the beginning of the year. I also have an office in Madison at 117 West Murphy Street. And over there in Madison, we've got three full-time attorneys. We've got Ben Tucker, who was the founder of that firm. He in Law and Folger, I guess, back in the maybe 70s. And I bought that from Ben three years ago this May. So I bought Ben out and he's continued to work there full-time force. Ben handles traffic tickets. Some minor criminal matters does a lot of a state administration, estate planning, LLCs, contract drafting. So he is a general practitioner. He truly has been in the community for 45, 47 years practicing law and has a tremendous following over in Madison. So I was lucky enough to be able to kind of capitalize on what he had started in and trying to move forward because we are, like you said, community oriented. Then we've got Sam Viscuso. Sam's been practicing for nine years now, nine and a half years. He was an Eline Law School graduate. And he is over there in Madison. He does some criminal stuff, does some CPS Child Protective Services stuff for children and parents in need in the community. Also does some guardianship work through the clerk's office and does some domestic and general civil. So Sam has a vast background and a lot of civil matters. And just as a great, great guy and a wealth of knowledge in so many areas. And then we've got Hannah Gellban. Hannah has been practicing for going on two years maybe. And she does a lot of work. Matter of fact, I would venture to say she's one of the hardest working attorneys in Rockingham County and will not turn down anything. So she's over there. Ready, willing, and able. So we've got a full staff in Madison that can meet the needs of anybody in the community. Then here in Eden, we've got multiple attorneys that do everything ranging from traffic tickets to the highest in criminal matters that you can imagine. And then we do a lot of business matters. Matt does LLCs. And I know one thing that we're going to talk about today is the beneficial ownership information requirement that has to go to the Department of Treasury for notification to the state to the state as to who owners are. So we we can pretty much handle anything outside of bankruptcy and disability between the two offices. So we're we're there for the community. Yeah, yeah. Super excited. And in Eden in the new office, one thing I want to highlight. One kind of something we've been doing for a little while, new with the BOI. But we are doubling down our efforts on doing our residential home closings. We may be the most technologically advanced home closers, attorneys in in the Eden area. And that we just are building brand new conference rooms. We're going to have a really cool space for that. Oh, when you say we're the most technologically advanced attorneys in Eden, as far as residential home closings, I would say by far the most technologically advanced in the county. So I don't think we've got a lot of a lot of good colleagues that do home closings in Eden and Madison and Reesville. So don't want to take anything away from those guys. But but I think we really have stepped up multiple steps. Really, we've really stepped up with what we're planning to do. And we're just trying to do that to make things more convenient, make it more efficient for the buyers and borrowers and sellers. Because one of the biggest issues that any law firm has is communication. And so we have spent tremendous money on some software systems that's going to help us to better organize and communicate with clients and looking forward to implementing that here at the beginning of the year. Yeah, I think it's going to be great. And then the new thing. So there's a looming deadline. Seth had just mentioned a minute ago, beneficial ownership information, or known as BOI. So the Department of Treasury is requiring now all LLCs and corporations to report to them who the owners of their companies are. So I mean, they're doing this for the reason what they say is to fight financial crimes, financial terrorism by being transparent and letting the Department of Treasury know who owns that company. Where's the money coming and going through? So one thing a service that we're offering over at our Eden offices, you can come over and see me. Matt Worman asked for Matt when you call in and I'm going to walk you through the process of reporting. When you call in our our front office team is going to let you know what information you need to provide for us to sit down and knock out that reporting because it is due in 2025. And unfortunately they're stating that, hey, if they don't get that beneficial reporting information in, you can be subject to fine. So you really, really want to get that in. It's not a super difficult process, but we're going to need some personal information from you. So we're going to need your IDs. Then also when it comes to your company, we're going to need to know the information regarding the Articles of Incorporation. And then also your EIN number for that for that business. And we'll give you make sure that you get in compliant before 2025. So give us a call over in our Eden office if you need assistance with that. Yeah. And so going back to our Eden office, I got off track for a minute. But we do, we've got a full staff there and Eden as well. We're, we got Jimmy Walker, who does a lot of estate administration, estate planning, a lot of a lot of document prep type type work. He's been there for years. He actually his father started the law firm back in 1930, I believe. So I was able to be part of that and bought them out, bought Jimmy and Marty out several years ago. But Jimmy Walker's still there at 84 years old, still going strong. Then we have Tim Dugan, who does civil matters and domestic. We've got Matt, who just explained kind of what he's doing. And then you've got myself. And we do have some news. We're hiring a or have hired someone. It's going to start January 2nd. Tom Harvey. So Tom Harvey will be joining us in January. Yeah, really excited about Tom. I went to law school with him. He's a great guy. He's had a lot of career experience. Really excited to get him into the community. And he's another attorney that really cares about people and wants to continue the legacy of serving this community and abroad. And that's what we want to be known for is that we are community oriented. We give back to the community. We're there for the community. And I think it's a testament to just see what we've been able to accomplish that we have done that for years and years and years because people do put their trust in us. Well, and we're going to continue that legacy. And we got some interesting updates. I know it's been like I said, it's been a month since we talked to you guys, but November was a busy month on the political front. Seth, tell us a little bit about some of the updates there. Yeah. So, you know, we had we had come on the radio several times and talked about Chris Freeman, who was a is a district court judge here in Rockingham County. And he was running for the court of appeals. He won his seat. So he's going to be going to Raleigh in January. So we're super excited and we're very proud to have been part of Chris's team moving forward and trying to get him at the court of appeals level. So really looking forward to see what what what he has in store for the state. And I think he's going to be one of the best justices of the court of appeals that we've ever seen. So super happy for him. With that being said, he'll be vacating his seat at the district court level here in Rockingham County and Castle County. We're a combined district for judicial purposes with Castle County. So we'll be getting a new district court judge in the coming weeks. There is a local bar meeting, I think next week, where a secret ballot election will be held. And a nomination will go to the governor as to who should fill that seat on a temporary basis. And then they'll have to go through the election cycle. So that's a that that's coming up. I've got a good idea who who I think it'll be. But we'll we'll we'll leave that for for a later conversation. Yep, that'll be we'll reveal next month. Now, big win for Chris, big win for a local guy, a little bit tougher on the rest of the state state races for the old Republicans this year. Yeah, over three on a couple big ones. Yeah, they did. So the Republicans lost the governor's seat, the lieutenant governor's seat and the attorney general's seat. And that's the three highest elected positions in state North Carolina, or three of the highest, the top two. And I think AG falls down a little bit lower. But actually, the attorney general probably holds more power than anybody outside of the governor. So lost those seats, it's gonna be a blank blank slate, a blank canvas for a Republican moving forward in four years to to try to get out there and win one of those seats. Yeah, yeah. So I think probably a lot of Republicans are already starting to eyeball and come up with new strategies and ways to take those seats back. We've also seen some interesting updates as far as politics, the last 24 hours, it turns out if you're if your father's the president, the rules don't apply to you. I'm not sure why anybody was surprised by that, actually. So I know back in June, President Biden had said that he, in fact, would not part in his son that no one was above the law. But with him being an outgoing president, you know, his political legacy is over. He's of advanced age, he's not going to be involved in politics. So for anybody to say that they're surprised by this would I don't know how they would say that. But it is contrary to what President Biden had originally said, but it's no surprise to me. No, not shocking. But just a another sad ending to a political career. I mean, he had reached pretty, you know, incredible heights within his career and to see this last six to eight months unfold has been sad. Yeah, I don't think the Democratic Party has done any favors to themselves or to President Biden in the way that they've handled his departure. Well, we're looking forward to seeing what's going to be coming up in the new year, when all of the cabinet members, everyone kind of gets set into the new positions. And we look forward to speaking to you guys again soon. Yeah, so we'll be back next month and until then, see you [BLANK_AUDIO]