Interview: Lee Hogewood, Managing

Lee Hogewood

Managing Partner – Raleigh Office K&L Gates LLP

How has demand for your services changed as a result of the pandemic?

We’re a full-service office. We have a corporate practice, a real estate practice, employment, litigation, restructuring and insolvency. Our corporate practice has remained extremely active and engaged in various types of work you’d see in a normal economy: mergers and acquisitions, joint ventures. Real estate has been very active in the residential markets and with land acquisitions in and around Raleigh. People have recognized that they’re going to be spending more time at home and are looking for newer and bigger homes where they can afford them. The employment practice, because of all of the issues and complications related to working at home, has been very busy. Insolvency and litigation was probably the area most affected early in the pandemic. The court systems have reacted by creating a more virtual environment that has proven effective and successful, so now litigation matters are not just completely on hold.

What incoming legislation or regulations are you watching that could affect your clients?

On the insolvency side, one of the things that we’ve been keeping an eye on are the debt limits related to the small business limits on Chapter 11. Those were increased on a temporary basis. Probably fewer businesses than one would have expected have taken advantage of that. That subchapter of the bankruptcy code does make some reorganization much less expensive for the smaller business, and, thus, a more attractive way to reorganize debts. The other thing happening in North Carolina over the course of this summer, and its unrelated to the pandemic, is the change in the receivership statutes in our state. They were modernized and improved in a manner to make state receiverships a more attractive and usable form of relief. So, it’ll be interesting to see if, instead of filing bankruptcies, companies will choose to use the state court process. A number of states use a more modernized approach, so North Carolina was catching up on that front.

The Triangle is at the center of three Tier-1 research institutions, making the region a perfect place to facilitate collaboration between universities and the professional services sector.

( ) The Triangle was no exception to this trend. In February 2020, the region’s Top 25 legal firms counted 1,066 attorneys, 493 partners, 565 support staff professionals and 270 paralegals. By February 2021, the Triangle’s legal ranks had increased to reach 1,136 attorneys, 605 partners, 723 support staff professionals and 354 paralegals. In total overall jobs, this represented a year-on-year increase of 17.7%. “Our community is diverse and notwithstanding its size, has an increasingly cosmopolitan feel,” said Jimmy Yates, managing partner at Wyrick Robbins, about the attractiveness of the Raleigh-Durham region. “We have a lot to offer here: there is a good balance between quality of life and job opportunities. The Triangle area, for many reasons, does not get overheated, and we have a safety net here with the Research Triangle Park, the universities and state government. It’s a good, stable area to either start a business or for those who wish to expand or relocate an existing business. We are seeing an increased interest in corporate relocations from other parts of the country. We have a highly-skilled, educated workforce, which is terrific for employers, and a relatively low cost of living.” In the private equity segment, securities filings show Triangle-based, non-real estate investors raised funds totaling $134.7 million in 2021 alone, demonstrating their high expectations for the opportunities bubbling in the area. In July 2021, Durham-based clinical research