Some people spend law school figuring out what kind of lawyer they want to be. Katelyn Bailey Hodgins was not one of those people.

A child of divorce herself, Katelyn knew by college that she wanted to practice family law. She understood early on that the way a family gets through a divorce can affect much more than the two people ending their marriage. It can shape what life looks like for their children and their family long after the legal case is over.

Two days into an internship at a family law firm, any lingering doubt was gone. This was it.

Nearly a decade later, Katelyn has gone considerably further than simply sticking with that decision. She is now a North Carolina State Bar Board Certified Specialist in Family Law and has been recognized as a North Carolina Super Lawyers Rising Star every year since 2023.

Apparently, when Katelyn decides she likes something, she commits.

That commitment is pretty evident in her day-to-day practice at Triangle Smart Divorce. Katelyn genuinely loves the work, and there isn’t much in family law she hasn’t handled.

On any given week, Katelyn may be preparing for a custody trial, heading into mediation, untangling a property issue, negotiating support, or trying to find a solution that keeps everyone out of court. Sometimes she is doing several of those things before lunch.

Fortunately, Katelyn is exceptionally organized. She also genuinely likes this stuff.

And she cares a lot about the people on the other side of the case file. Katelyn can be fierce when a situation calls for it, but Clients also know her as the person who brings some clarity and confidence when everything feels overwhelming. For her, those two things have never been mutually exclusive.

Katelyn is comfortable in a courtroom, but she doesn’t believe every family law case belongs there. She also practices Collaborative Law, giving Clients another way to work through a divorce when they want to resolve things without litigation. For Katelyn, the important part is having options. Some cases need a judge. Some need a mediator. Some need everyone to sit around a table and figure out what they can live with. Knowing the difference is part of the job.

And Katelyn has put in the work to know that job exceptionally well.

In 2024, just seven years after becoming an attorney, she became a North Carolina State Bar Board Certified Specialist in Family Law. The designation requires substantial family law experience, advanced continuing legal education, evaluations from attorneys and judges, and passing a comprehensive examination.

Which feels pretty fitting for someone who knew two days into her first family law internship that she had found her thing.

Today, Katelyn helps TSD Clients across the Triangle through just about every version of family law: the cases that settle, the cases that go to trial, and the cases that take a few unexpected turns before anyone knows which one they are going to be. Through all of it, she keeps sight of something she understood before she ever became a lawyer: how a family gets through a divorce matters.

The case will eventually end. The family still has to live on the other side of it.

That same tendency to go all in follows Katelyn outside the office.

She is a voracious reader, particularly of romance, and even has her own Bookstagram. She has traveled for both Harry Potter and Taylor Swift experiences, with enough knowledge of both subjects that challenging her to trivia about either of these topics is probably a poor use of your competitive energy.

She is also a devoted Duke basketball fan, adding yet another allegiance to the ongoing UNC, NC State, and Duke rivalries around the TSD office. We’ll leave it at that in the interest of maintaining a harmonious workplace.

Katelyn is equally committed to the important seasonal traditions. When pumpkin spice lattes arrive in August, she does not particularly care that it is still 95 degrees in North Carolina. Fall has begun. The weather will catch up eventually.

And then there’s Huck, Katelyn’s dog and the unofficial TSD Office VIP Dog. This title was not the result of a particularly rigorous selection process. Huck simply comes to the office more than any other dog and has successfully converted attendance into an award. We respect the strategy.

Katelyn knew a long time ago that family law was what she wanted to do. Since then, she has built the knowledge, experience, and range to help families through virtually every part of it. She still approaches the work with the same certainty she had two days into that first family law internship: this is where she belongs.

And if you happen to need someone who can explain North Carolina family law while simultaneously dominating a Taylor Swift/Harry Potter trivia night with a pumpkin spice latte in hand, we happen to know someone.