STEVEN B. DECILLIS

Steven B. DeCillis began his legal career as a practicing attorney in 1994 as an Assistant District Attorney and has served in five counties in North Carolina, including Vance, Granville, Warren, Franklin and Durham. In May 2002, he started his own law firm, and in January 2009, formed the partnership of DeCillis & Turrentine, PLLC.

Experience
Steven has a wealth of trial experience in Superior and District Court, appearing as lead counsel in numerous felony jury trials and conducting hundreds of bench trials for DWI, assault, speeding cases and other misdemeanors. In addition, he is part of a select group of lawyers chosen by the Office of the Capital Defender to appear as a lead attorney in capital and non-capital first-degree murder cases in the state of North Carolina.

Education
Steven is a graduate of the University of North Carolina at Chapel Hill School of Law and received his undergraduate degree at Rutgers University.

Civic and Community Involvement
Steven is very active in the community as a member and trustee of Central Baptist Church in Henderson, and serves as a contributor to the men's ministry group. He has followed God's call into the mission field with trips to the Ukraine in 2004, and Israel in 2006 and 2008. Steven is also a member of the Oxford Lions Club, as well as four County Chambers of Commerce, including Henderson-Vance, Warren, Granville and Franklin.

Steven donates his legal services as a volunteer for the Warren County Free Clinic and is currently chairperson of the Vance County Indigent Committee. Previously, he was a part-time instructor for Vance-Granville Community College where he taught Business and Employment Law. He was also invited to speak as a guest lecturer for an Advocacy course at North Carolina State University in Raleigh, and acted as a judge for moot court competitions at the University of North Carolina at Chapel Hill School of Law and Campbell University School of Law. While in law school, he worked for former Governor James Hunt, the North Carolina Attorney General’s Office and the Wake County District Attorney's Office as an intern.

Personal
On May 17, 2003, he married the former Whitney Sue Todd of Henderson, and today, lives with his wife and their two dogs, Marshall and Minnie, in Oxford.

Karlene S. Turrentine

Licensed to practice in North Carolina since 1998, Karlene S. Turrentine began her legal career as Interim Director of the Land Loss Prevention Project (“LLPP”) in Durham, a non-profit law firm which is the State’s leader in the protection of farmers’ rights, a champion of reform for heir property issues, a catalyst for change in the area of state fair housing law, an innovator in the creative use of civil rights laws to eviscerate public and private discrimination, and a pacesetter for alternative financing that fosters community economic development and investment. Before leaving LLPP, Karlene trained attorneys throughout the State to assist in representing North Carolina family farmers in the class action against the US Department of Agriculture. In 1999, she left that position to accept a clerkship with The Honorable Robert C. “Mountain Bob” Hunter of the North Carolina Court of Appeals. In July 2001, she began her own firm, and; in January 2009 formed the partnership of DeCillis & Turrentine, PLLC.

Karlene’s primary focus is on transactional business/corporate law (contract drafting and negotiation, buy/sell/asset agreements, employer risk management, liability reduction, and entrepreneurial business consulting). However, she also practices juvenile law (including parent defense for abuse/neglect/dependency issues and termination of parental rights issues), criminal, domestic, and appellate law. Karlene has argued before the North Carolina Court of Appeals and North Carolina Supreme Court, and is a DRC-certified mediator and BBB-certified arbitrator. She is also currently the attorney for Warren County.

Education
Karlene is a graduate of North Carolina Central University and North Carolina Central School of Law having completed a joint undergraduate/law program in five years. While attending law school, she clerked for the Honorable H.M. “Mickey” Michaux Jr. (D-NC), current senior chairman of the Appropriations Committee in the NC House of Representatives, and completed a summer clerkship with the Honorable James A. Wynn, Jr., senior member of the North Carolina Court of Appeals.

Civic and Community Involvement
In addition to her work as an attorney, Karlene is a member of Raleigh North Christian Center. As a third-generation missionary (on both sides of her family), Karlene’s heart is solidly based in missions work whether near or far. She has been part of several missions trips to Israel, Haiti, Sierra Leone and Ghana, West Africa, and; to that end here at home, Karlene is very active in her community, offering her time as a volunteer and contributing free legal services and consulting to several churches and nonprofit organizations, including Pregnancy Support Services of Durham and Chapel Hill, Family Health Ministries of Durham, The Encouraging Place of Raleigh, the Chatham County Fair, and the Warren County Free Clinic.

Personal
She is the happy wife of Andre L. Turrentine (of Chatham County), mother of three grown children and “Honey” to her first grandchild. She lives with her family in Wake Forest.