Jeff Patton
   Attorney/Member in Charge of Winston-Salem Office
   Spilman Thomas & Battle, PLLC

What do you value most about being a FAR member?  Being proactive and partnering with our clients is a cornerstone of how we practice law at Spilman. That means not only the business itself and its culture, but also the general industry they are in. Being a FAR member has helped us become more involved in the issues that nonprofits are dealing with daily, as well as the larger issues they will be tackling in their long-term planning. Beyond getting to know new people and businesses that we have not worked with in the past, our relationship with FAR has been invaluable in staying connected to the nonprofit community and more involved in the issues that matter most to nonprofits.

What are you seeing and hearing as the top challenges that will impact nonprofit organizations in the next 6-12 months? How does this insight inform your approach to the industry? There are two main areas that we have identified as challenges for nonprofit organization for 2025 and beyond. The first is cyber-security. Despite the fact that this is not a new issue, and most businesses have been educated on both the risks and the needs, we see more holes and gaps that covered businesses. Data security is the top area where a nonprofit must be proactive – conduct audits, identify risks, make sure all business partners and contracting partners/vendors have done the same, audit your contracts to determine if there is risk and liability you may not be aware of are just a few of the steps that need to be taken.

The second challenge is to stay on top of the ever-changing dynamics in labor and employment, and the need for an audit has never been more important than it is today. While there has always been the need to stay on top of changing laws, the issues are more pressing than ever before with remote workers and navigating all the traps of potentially being subject to different laws in different states.

Both of these challenges point in the same direction – nonprofit organizations must partner with the lawyer and be proactive before a problem occurs.

What products and services does your organization provide to support nonprofits?  Spilman is a full-service law firm covering our clients need throughout the entirety of the Mid-Atlantic Region, as well as nationally, so the surface level answer is “anything and everything.” Specific to nonprofits, our tax and corporate lawyers have a deep understanding of the nonprofit world; our employment lawyers help navigate compliance, investigations and when needed, litigation. Regardless of the subject matter, our philosophy remains the same – we partner with our nonprofit clients to get to know them and their approach to executing their mission, and from that tailor a service-based relationship that aligns with the nonprofit. Finally, because we are not headquartered in expensive cities, we bring a much lower rate structure along with a very sophisticated level of the practice of law, making Spilman a very attractive legal partner.

Okay, enough work questions. What do you do for recreation? (ex. favorite hobbies, sports teams, concerts/events, travel destinations) I have always joked that my highest and best use on planet Earth is to coach youth softball and baseball. I have coached for more than twenty years, including with my three children through their time in rec leagues and travel ball. Given the flexibility that I am usually able to apply to my schedule, today I am able to continue that coaching at the local middle school for its softball team. If I could be anywhere (other than the beaches at Turks and Caicos), it would be on a baseball or softball field.

When you need to unwind, what do you do to unplug? (ex. favorite TV shows, books, movies, guilty pleasures) As a big sports fan, my guilty pleasures usually involve watching football, baseball and softball games. And what I will not admit to is that I am an avid consumer of “trash TV” – reality television, poorly done historical dramas, and just about any series produced by Netflix or AppleTV are binged at an embarrassing rate!