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Articles

Our Commitment to Public Service

August 1, 2003

We may be in the lazy days of summer, but you wouldn't know it at Smith Debnam. The Firm's attorneys and staff are busily engaged in many activities outside of the everyday work scope. Smith Debnam is proud to be involved in a broad range of various civic, charitable and community activities throughout each year. Among those activities are the following:

Professional and Civic Leadership

  • Smith Debnam serves as the sole editor for the Douglas Forms book, which is utilized by attorneys throughout the state and includes forms for civil litigation, business transactions, estate planning, family law and real estate.
  • Named partner Byron Saintsing is currently editing the update revisions to the Construction Law Deskbook published by the North Carolina Bar Association.
  • Attorney Connie Carrigan, a partner at Smith Debnam and a member of its Construction Law practice group, currently serves on the Board of Directors of the Wake County Bar Association and 10th Judicial District.
  • Attorney Cynthia McAlister, a partner at Smith Debnam, whose practice concentration is in Domestic Law, is serving a three-year term on the Board of Directors of the Adolescent Pregnancy Prevention Coalition of North Carolina.
  • Firm attorneys annually volunteer at The Healing Place, a facility dedicated to the comprehensive detoxification and rehabilitation of homeless individuals suffering from alcohol and drug problems. Our attorneys provide legal counsel for these men as they deal with current issues and prepare to re-enter society.
  • Attorney Aaron Bailey, an associate in the Firm's Creditors' Rights practice, serves as co-chair of the Education Committee of the Wake County Young Lawyers Division. He has created a Credit Management and Consequences course, which he presents to local area high school students.

Community and Charitable Activities

  • This past holiday season, Smith Debnam employees raised the spirits of 20 underprivileged children when they donated bags full of holiday packages to the Friends of Wake County Guardian Ad Litem. The Firm's donations went to children removed from home environments of abuse and neglect in an effort to preserve their health and safety.
  • The Firm has been recognized by the local Helping Hand Mission for its donations of clothes, non-perishable goods and other food items to those in need.
  • Smith Debnam participates in the annual United Way campaign, with staff and attorneys having raised over $14,000 in contributions for this organization over the past two years.
  • Smith Debnam sponsors and hosts blood drives twice a year in coordination with the Triangle American Red Cross. The Firm's staff, attorneys and business partners provide the gift of life through a substantial donation of blood each drive. (Our next drive will be held at the firm on Tuesday, September 23, 2003.)
  • This summer a team of attorneys and staff represented Smith Debnam at the 2003 Komen NC Triangle Race for the Cure, sporting custom-designed T-shirts that recognized our commitment to partnering with the community in the fight against breast cancer.
  • Smith Debnam attorneys and staff will pull together as a team this fall to help build a family home through Habitat for Humanity of Wake County.