Howard Stallings was founded in Raleigh in 1983 by Cader Howard (a respected business lawyer and litigator), and  Allan From (a tax law and estate planning expert). At the same time, Joe Stallings (a former Wall Street attorney with a practice in complex commercial and litigation matters) and Beth Atkins (a talented transactional and business attorney) were developing a similar practice in New Bern. In 1987 the two practices merged, with Joe’s joining the Raleigh office and Beth’s directing the practice in New Bern.

As the firm’s client base expanded, the firm added principals to meet the varied and growing needs of those clients. Jim Angell (a board certified business bankruptcy specialist and panel bankruptcy trustee), Joan Davis (who handles complex business litigation, real estate, and land use and condemnation disputes, as well as serious injury and death claims), Brian Moore (who is a commercial and estate litigator and an administrative lawyer), and Brooke Dalrymple (who focuses her practice on banking law and creditor rights as well as tax and estate planning) have all enhanced the firm’s reputation.