Perspectives: Financial services

PLLC, said his firm is among those that have been busy in the segment, with much of the activity coming from the tech sector. “We do between 15 and 30 M&A transactions a year. M&A is certainly one of our core competencies. For most of our companies, it’s the first time they are involved with M&A, so there’s a lot of counseling going on in the process. We help them with the terms or the letter of intent. We spend a lot of time on the deal’s terms and making sure everything is in order.”

Overall, on the financial planning side in 2020, the aggregate number of licensed professionals, Series 7, fully licensed brokers and total number of employees reached 3,919, a nearly 3% increase compared to 2018’s 3,811 professionals.

Legal In the legal sector, CBRE findings show Raleigh-Durham stands among the most high-performing U.S. markets for law firm growth, ranking ninth in legal market growth. The Triangle’s 27 largest law firms employ in aggregate more than 1,000 lawyers. Of those 27 firms, 14 have their headquarters in the region. “We have many great law firms with many great lawyers in this region—and I suggest that we are a bargain compared to the bigger city markets,” said David Paulson, Carolinas Managing Partner at Williams Mullen. “Any business in

Jeff Brovet

Audit Partner – Thomas, Judy & Tucker, P.A. One of the reasons we opened an office in Durham is that we wanted to work with people in our local market, as well as the access to talent in the Durham market. Previously, hiring someone who lived in Durham meant they had a 45-minute commute. Making an employment decision is a lot different when you have an option that is five to 10 minutes from your residence.

David Cove

Managing Partner – MassMutual North Carolina Historically this has been a white, male dominated industry. It still is to a certain extent but there has been a major shift both in attitude and action. Attracting more women into the business is a major initiative MassMutual is focusing on alongside generally being open to more diversity. We’ve made a lot of progress, but I believe focusing on diversity is something that companies must be intentional about.

Jim Holmes

Managing Partner – Sentinel Risk Advisors Now, in all of North Carolina there is a talent deficit. Companies with a vibrant, employee-focused culture have done well. Those that don’t have that, have lost talent. I would love to see a functional, nonpartisan approach for legalizing a lot of workers. If we can get rid of the polarized issues of politics, we can come to an issue that will help a large pool of people get work.

Jackie Prillaman

Raleigh Office Leader, Business Tax Partner – RSM US LLP In the future, clients will start thinking about advancing their technology and remote capabilities earlier than they had planned and are building that into their budget. From our clients’ perspective, we’ve seen a lot more interest in how they’ll work differently moving forward and what role technology will play on that.

Robert Turner

President & CEO – Capitol Financial Solutions In the social media age, there are now more investors dipping their toes into the market, which is important because it is critical to start investing early. However, the risk is the lack of knowledge surrounding highly volatile trades, such as the GameStop trade. If these young investors expecting to make significant returns get burned, they’re unlikely to return to the market in the future.