Joseph Houchin, Managing Director – Raleigh Office, Kaufman & Canoles, P.C.

In an interview with Invest:, Joseph Houchin, managing director for the Raleigh office at law firm Kaufman & Canoles, discussed the firm’s Raleigh growth, evolving legal needs, and the impact of AI on litigation. “We have to understand how to apply AI in ways that can be helpful while balancing those benefits against inherent risks and the evolution of the technology,” Houchin said.

What changes over the past year have impacted the firm, and in what ways?

Kaufman & Canoles launched its Raleigh office approximately five years ago. The firm is a long-established Virginia firm headquartered in Norfolk with around 100 attorneys and seven offices. As the firm has grown, our clients’ legal needs have extended into North Carolina, which led to the decision to establish an office in Raleigh. 

As the firm considered where to place an office within North Carolina, Raleigh made the most sense so we could cover the regional needs of our existing clients. It is probably the biggest market the firm is in, or one of the biggest. Along with addressing our clients’ existing legal needs, our location provides an opportunity to grow along with the rest of Raleigh and North Carolina.

Five years after the office opened, we now have five attorneys in our Raleigh office, and we remain committed to continuing to grow. Hiring comes with its own challenges, but we are committed to our presence in North Carolina, specifically identifying needs that either exist or allow for growth opportunities. With the population and industry growth of Raleigh, our real estate practice, commercial litigation practice, and healthcare group are all areas where the firm stands ready to assist. 

How have client needs changed in today’s increasingly complex regulatory environment?

In white-collar criminal defense and government investigation matters, which is where I focus, having to look to the horizon and see what the next thing is has always been part of the exercise. That is always changing depending on what law enforcement is focusing on and what our local and federal administrations have prioritized.

Right now, there is a heavy emphasis on waste, fraud, and abuse cases, and that has led to additional investigations in the healthcare and government contracting industries that require legal counsel, both for businesses and individuals who might find themselves the target of an investigation.

Within North Carolina, there has also been a significant increase in both local and federal investigations into the hemp industry. It has always been a high-risk industry without much regulatory oversight. However, the last six to 12 months seem to have brought a significant increase in enforcement action on hemp growers, wholesalers, and retailers that can lead to criminal prosecution, tax consequences, asset forfeiture, and ABC permitting issues. 

What legal issues are clients asking about more frequently when it comes to technology, AI, and cybersecurity risk?

There are a lot of answers to that. As a litigator, I do less transactional work, but I know that our M&A teams are continually adapting their practices to appropriately implement AI to help our business clients.

From where I sit, clients want their legal services delivered efficiently, and AI offers that opportunity. But it is also layered with nuance, including the need to make sure we are abiding by the rules of professional conduct, ensuring confidentiality, and making sure clients are not doing things through the use of AI that can prejudice their case or unknowingly open themselves up to additional exposure or discovery problems.

Educating clients on the way AI operates within the legal field has been a learning curve for everybody. We have to understand how to apply AI in ways that can be helpful while balancing those benefits against inherent risks, applicable rules unique to lawyers, and the evolution of the technology.

There is also an increase in the use of AI among pro se litigants. Access to courts is important, but pro se litigants now have an additional tool that can make abuse of the system an increased risk, and both practitioners and the court will be forced to adapt to how this balance is achieved. 

How is the firm attracting and retaining top talent?

It is a challenge for a mid-sized firm like ours, but I think our place in the market comes with benefits that we can use to attract top talent. And that includes attorneys, paralegals, legal assistants, and administrative staffing. We have the ability to deliver sophisticated legal services at competitive and reasonable rates. Our size also allows us to be responsive to client needs and to pivot as needs change.

Our firm already hires from some of the top law schools for our Virginia offices, and we expect to be able to do the same in North Carolina. For our lateral hires, we try to identify candidates with an entrepreneurial bent. We are looking for attorneys who are unafraid to be part of a relatively new satellite office of an established firm.

What I have repeatedly stressed is that we can offer the best of both worlds, where a lawyer can maintain practice autonomy and achieve a healthy work-life balance while also offering an established firm infrastructure and deep bench of experience. Most of all, the firm’s established reputation for collegiality and excellent legal services speaks for itself and makes Kaufman & Canoles an excellent place to build a career.

What are your key goals and priorities for the firm over the next two to three years?

The firm is based in Norfolk, so we maintain close communication about the firm’s overall goals, not just what we are trying to achieve in Raleigh. 

Our firm’s current clients have legal needs in North Carolina that we want to continue to provide for, and that requires additional manpower here in Raleigh. We also want to tap into the growth that Raleigh enjoys and provide services to new clients as well. That includes clients looking for efficient, competent services, as well as companies that may not have legal needs before but whose business is growing and entering a stage where they have issues arising requiring legal help. 

While open to being creative about new practices, we are primarily emphasizing areas where we already have established practice groups. That includes healthcare, corporate and transactional work, ESOPs and corporate benefits matters, and labor and employment. Anywhere we already have a practice group, we would love to add experienced attorneys who can help the firm’s existing clients and service new clients in the Raleigh area.