Ward and Smith, P.A.

Paul leads the Creditors' Rights practice and is certified by the American Board of Certification and the North Carolina State Bar as a Board Certified Specialist in Business and Consumer Bankruptcy Law. His practice experience encompasses bankruptcy, collections, creditors’ rights, and lender liability. He concentrates his practice in the representation of creditors in complex bankruptcy cases and state court litigation, including workouts, collection reorganizations, and contested matters.

Paul has represented lenders, trade creditors, farm equipment manufacturers, community associations, contractors and  telecommunications companies in various reorganization proceedings, including commercial real estate, manufacturing, and wholesale and retail transactions. He has extensive experience in state court foreclosures and receiverships and other aspects of creditor-debtor litigation, including appellate advocacy.

Ellen teaches legal ethics, including Professional Responsibility courses for JD students and Unauthorized Practice of Law courses for nonlawyer professionals. She is a co-author on several legal ethics texts, a member of the NC State Bar Ethics Committee, and a subject-matter expert for the Multistate Professional Responsibility Exam. She also serves on the ABA's Standing Committee for the Public Protection in the Provision of Legal Services.

Ellen served as Wake Forest Law's first Associate Dean of Strategic Initiatives and first Assistant Dean of Instructional Technologies and Design. An online teacher since 2009, she was the chief administrative and curricular architect of the school's online Master of Studies in Law, the law school's first fully online degree.

A native of Eastern North Carolina, Ellen has a BS in Agribusiness and is getting an LLM in Agriculture and Food Law at the University of Arkansas (Fayetteville). She is a board member at Blue Ridge Women in Agriculture (BRWIA), a nonprofit that serves the North Carolina High Country.

Prior to joining Wake Forest Law, Ellen was a United States federal appeals court clerk (The Honorable Frank J. Magill, 8th Circuit), a corporate lawyer, and the Executive Director of the Massachusetts Lawyer Assistance Program. She is a 2002 graduate of Wake Forest Law, where she served as Editor in Chief of the law review.