Allen N. Trask

Allen N. Trask


Ward and Smith, P.A.

Recognized since 2023

Wilmington, North Carolina

Practice Areas

Agriculture Law

Cannabis Law

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Allen began his career as a traditional litigator focused on business and real estate disputes. Over time, his practice has expanded to include clients from a variety of markets with a variety of needs. Litigation and dispute resolution remain essential parts of his daily practice, but he also enjoys advising clients on a broad range of general legal, business, regulatory, and practical matters, craving the opportunity to serve as a trusted advisor. His unique and varied journey through the practice of law has led him to his current roles as co-leader of its Community Associations, Insurance Counseling and Recovery, and Hemp and Cannabis Law Practice Groups, and leader of the Firm's Agribusiness Practice Group. Allen also serves the Firm as the co-Geographic Team Leader for its Wilmington office and is a member of the advisory board for Ward and Smith Business Consulting.

Working with North Carolina real estate developers and the community associations that they create was where Allen found his professional footing. He continues to handle a wide range of issues for these clients, including the preparation, amendment, interpretation, and enforcement of restrictive covenants and governing corporate documents, declarant control transition and disputes, fiduciary concerns, and collections. Allen's representation of community associations in disaster recovery cases gave rise to his interest in the insurance space, which he actively leverages for the Firm's clientele. His work with real estate developers goes beyond just their relationship with community associations and embraces both land use and zoning matters and commercial leasing and property management concerns.

Allen also devotes a significant portion of his time to the Firm's diverse base of Agribusiness clients, which include farming and timber operations, crop storage facilities, equipment and inputs suppliers, and agritourism ventures. He coordinates the Firm's resources to address the specialized issues facing these clients, such as bona fide farm designations, farmland leases, crop insurance, corporate organization and succession planning, equipment financing and leasing, environmental concerns, and regulatory compliance and permitting. In 2015, partially as an outgrowth of his Agribusiness practice and borne also of a desire to develop work in emerging domestic markets, Allen began to work with clients in the hemp space, both in North Carolina and beyond. Tracking legal developments over the last several years, that representation has expanded to include clients both in and adjacent to the hemp and greater cannabis markets, and Allen currently helps guide the Firm's practice in those efforts.

Contact & Links
Location
  • University Corporate Center
    127 Racine Drive
    P.O. Box 7068
    Wilmington, NC 28406-7068
Education
  • East Carolina University, B.S., graduated 2005
  • Campbell University, J.D., graduated 2009
Bar Admissions
  • North Carolina, North Carolina Bar Association, 2009
Affiliations
  • American Agriculture Law Association - Membership committee member, 2021-2022; law seminar planning committee member, 2022-present
  • North Carolina Bar Association — Sections: Appellate; Litigation - Cco-chair, membership committee 2014-2015; co-editor, newsletter committee 2014-2015
  • New Hanover County Bar Association, Inc. - Member, board of directors 2010-2014; president 2013-2014; vice president 2012-2013; secretary-treasurer 2011-2012
  • Greater Wilmington Chamber of Commerce - Leadership Wilmington Alumnus, Class of 2012; Education Session co-Chair 2013
  • Cape Fear Museum of History and Science - Member, Associate Board 2016-2019; co-chair Development Committee, 2016-2017; member, Advisory Board 2010-2016; chair 2013-2015; member, Strategic Planning Committee 2013-2014
  • Community Associations Institute, North Carolina Chapter - Member, Coastal Regional Advisory Council 2014 - 2017
Court Admissions
  • United States District Court for the Eastern, Middle, and Western Districts of North Carolina
  • All state and federal courts in North Carolina

Ward and Smith, P.A.
Headquarters: New Bern, North Carolina

54 The Best Lawyers in America® awards

13 Best Lawyers: Ones to Watch® in America awards

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Recognized in The Best Lawyers in America® 2025 for work in:
  • Agriculture Law
  • Cannabis Law
Awards:
  • The Best Lawyer in America, Best Lawyers®, 2021-2024

  • "Future Star," Benchmark Litigation, 2024
    • "Rising Star," Business Litigation, North Carolina Super Lawyers, 2014-2023
    • "Legal Elite," Business North Carolina, Litigation, 2012 and 2014-2015, 2022-2023
    • "40 & Under List," Benchmark Litigation, 2018-2022

Publications

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