We were thrilled when Ashley Fillippeli decided to join our firm as an attorney! How happy were we? This happy: we couldn’t wait for her to start despite the fact that she dangerously tilts the balance of power in the office toward North Carolina State. Also, despite the fact that, as a former member of the NC State Dance Team, she celebrated – more than once – events where future members of the Triangle team were in the stands and suffering.

It takes an exceptional person to rise above this type of history and Ashley is surely that.

Ashley graduated Campbell Law (Cum Laude) with an eye toward criminal law. In law school she interned in the Federal Public Defender’s Office in Raleigh, the North Carolina Court of Appeals, and North Carolina Innocence Inquiry Commission.

It seemed as if she was well on the way to a career as a criminal defense attorney after graduation from law school, when the firm where Ashley worked became in need of a family law attorney. Ashley either volunteered or was volunteered (the facts are somewhat cloudy), but the result was like something out of Hollywood sports movie: the [almost] brand new attorney thrown into a family law trial and thriving.

Flash forward almost ten years, and Ashley is not only a family law attorney, handling a heavy load of cases from intake through depositions, mediation, and trial when necessary, she’s on an impressive – and close to unprecedented – six years and counting run as a North Carolina Super Lawyers Rising Star.

It’s pretty easy to see why all of us at Triangle Smart Divorce are thrilled Ashley chose to bring her knowledge, experience, empathy, and passion for family law to our team.

When Ashley is not setting the bar for excellence in family law, she is with her family and Great Pyrenees – Minnie – doing all the things that make living in North Carolina so great. An avid concert-goer, she is also a dedicated true crime documentary addict.