New Division Leaders Serving In 2022-23

Three new leaders have begun their service as chairs of the Paralegal Division, Young Lawyers Division and Senior Lawyers Division of the North Carolina Bar Association in 2022-23.

Yazmeen O. Gadalla will chair the Paralegal Division, Lisa Williford will chair the Young Lawyers Division, and Judge Richard Doughton will chair the Senior Lawyers Division.

Paralegal Division

Yazmeen O. Gadalla, NCCP, Hendren, Redwine & Malone, PLLC, Raleigh

Yazmeen Gadalla is a white woman with curly dark brown hair. She is wearing teal glasses, a teal blouse, a black sweater, and she is pictured smiling.Yazmeen Gadalla serves as a bankruptcy paralegal at Hendren, Redwine & Malone. She previously served as a corporate paralegal with Smith Anderson and as a bankruptcy paralegal with Waldrep LLP. She is a 2016 graduate of North Carolina State University, where she majored in English and Criminology (cum laude) and obtained her Paralegal Program Certificate from Guilford College in 2017. Gadalla became a North Carolina Certified Paralegal in 2018.

Young Lawyers Division

Lisa M. Williford, Fox Rothschild LLP, Greensboro

Lisa Williford is a white woman with straight, dark-brown hair, blue eyes and and golden highlights. She is wearing a white blouse with a black jacket and a silver necklace with a circle pendant, and she is pictured smiling.Lisa Williford is a partner at Fox Rothschild, where she focuses her practice on employment litigation and general employment law counseling. She served as a senior associate at Smith Moore Leatherwood LLP before the firms combined in 2018. She is a 2009 graduate of the University of North Carolina at Chapel Hill, where she graduated with highest honors, and a 2012 graduate of UNC School of Law, where she graduated with honors. Williford recently served as president of the Greensboro Bar Association and is a member of the NCBA Leadership Academy Class of 2016.

Senior Lawyers Division

Judge Richard Doughton, Special Superior Court Judge, Sparta

Richard Doughton is a white man with white hair and blue eyes. He is wearing black wire-rimmed glasses, a white shirt, a black jacket, and a red and white diagonally striped tie.Judge Richard Doughton has served on the bench in North Carolina since 1997. He was a general practitioner in Iredell County from 1971-78, after which he returned to his native Alleghany County to practice law from 1978-97 and serve as attorney for Alleghany County, the Town of Sparta, and the Alleghany County Board of Education. Doughton is a 1968 graduate of the University of North Carolina at Chapel Hill and a 1971 graduate of Wake Forest University School of Law. He served as a vice president on the NCBA Board of Governors in 2017-18 and received the NCBA Citizen Lawyer Award in 2016.

Russell Rawlings is director of external affairs and communications for the North Carolina Bar Association.