Aceto Law Office, P.A. – Owner

Attorney, Arbitrator, Mediator

Owner, Aceto Law Office PA (formerly Steven T Aceto PA), 1983 – 1989 & 1996 – Present; Partner, Brock Drye and Aceto PA, 1989 – 1996; Associate, James H. Atkins PA, 1982 – 1983; Adjunct Professor of Business, Mars Hill College, 2004; Law Clerk, Booke & Co, 1979 – 1982.

Retired from full time practice of law in 2021 with 40 years’ experience centering on transactional matters, including business and nonprofit entity formation and governance; commercial contract negotiation and drafting; private entity mergers and acquisitions including corporate and real estate asset and entity sale contract negotiation, drafting, and closing; real estate and business asset based secured transactions negotiation, drafting, and closing; commercial and residential real property title and escrow services; commercial and residential real estate sales and property management businesses; land use and development including formation and operation of commercial and residential condominium and other property owner organizations; trust and estate administration and estate planning; and as a law practice manager and mentor of employees and professional staff. Clients included auto dealerships and transportation services; medical, dental, engineering, and other professional practices; retail, manufacturing, and distribution businesses; residential and commercial building and specialty contractors; commercial and private lenders; banks and trust departments; commercial and residential real estate agencies; computer and life science technology businesses; private schools and colleges; municipal and other governmental organizations; and national and international Non-Governmental Organizations [NGO’s] including denominational and non-denominational churches and church agencies, and including religious and non-religious humanitarian, academic, museum, publishing and media organizations.

Municipal and non-profit/non-governmental board and agency experience centering on public advocacy, board leadership and conducting public hearings in quasi-judicial roles. Currently member of county board of elections with responsibility for local administration of federal, state, and municipal elections, poll worker staffing, voter registration and ballot certification and adjudication of challenges, and campaign finance. Chaired a county-wide sewer utility board with responsibility for municipal inter-agency cooperation issues and long range planning and finance of major public capital sewer infrastructure construction and engineering projects; chaired a municipal zoning board of adjustment; member of a municipal board of commissioners, and member of a municipal planning and zoning board. Chaired a statewide joint committee of North Carolina attorneys and realtors creating standard real estate purchase and transactional forms in general use. Chaired a local bar fee dispute resolution committee. Chaired a local bar committee convened by the District Court to make recommendations regarding arbitration.

Founder and board member of NGO’s developing and supporting innovative medical, educational, and aviation service delivery programs in Africa, Asia, and Eastern Europe. Currently a board member of an NGO providing humanitarian aid to North Korea. Delivered presentations and advocated on behalf of NGO's for humanitarian aid to North Korea to US State and Commerce Departments and Congressional staff.

Presbyterian church leadership as elder and teacher.

Representative issues include construction disputes involving contractor or subcontractor warranty or payment issues; disputes between owners and pest inspectors; business opportunity franchises; auto accidents; commercial and residential landlord and tenant; title to real property and easements; breach of warranty between real property and business sellers and purchasers; auto repairs; an auto dealer, a customer, and an insurance company as surety on the dealer's bond; delivery and payment for goods. Mediated over 150 mediation/arbitration hearings in a class action by policy holders against a life insurance company. Chaired District Bar Association's attorney fee dispute resolution committee, coordinating a mediation/arbitration process.

Representative insurance issues include life insurance sales practices, uninsured/underinsured motorist coverage, auto liability policy limits, diminution in value of personal property, surety bonding of title agents. Representative construction issues include EFIS and other exterior siding, delay damages, failure to perform, failure to inspect, owner interference, water damage and site drainage, asphalt paving, and code violations. Real estate issues included lease termination, renewals, repairs, rescission of sales, boundaries and easements, and enforcement of road maintenance agreements, environmental Finding of No Significant Impacts on federal lands. Commercial transaction issues including condition and payment for goods, FTC franchise breach of performance and disclosure obligations.

Mediation is a problem solving process that works best by appealing to the ingenuity and intellect of the participants. Mediation works because it puts together in one place the people who know the problem best and collectively have the knowledge and power to solve it. My role as a mediator is to properly discern the issues that each participant brings to the mediation table, provide focus on the right problem at the right time, give each participant a constructive voice, and facilitate offers and counteroffers fairly and expeditiously. My role is also to protect the process by efficient administration and high standards of ethical conduct in regards to confidentiality, conflicts of interest, and deference to the parties in giving them the opportunity to arrive at a solution of their own choosing. In turn I expect participants to engage in the mediation process as problem solvers rather than simply as aggrieved persons or partisan advocates, and to treat one another with deference, dignity, and respect.

Conducted numerous evidentiary and motion hearings by teleconference and video conference.

Wake Forest University (JD-1982); University of North Carolina at Chapel Hill (BA-1977).

Admitted to the Bar: North Carolina (1982); U.S. District Court: Western District of North Carolina (1982).
Certified Superior Court Mediator: North Carolina DRC (1996). Certified Superior Court Clerk Mediator: North Carolina DRC (2009). Certified as a North Carolina Director of Elections by the North Carolina State Board of Elections in 2024.

North Carolina Bar Association; Judicial District Bar Association. Chaired the NC Bar Association/NC Association of Realtors Joint Forms Task Force developing and revising standardized real property transaction forms for statewide use by Realtors and attorneys. Chaired NC Bar Association Real Property Section Council Ad Hoc Forms Committee developing and revising standardized residential and commercial real property transaction contracts and forms for statewide use by attorneys. Served as member of Commercial Realtors Alliance committee developing and revising standardized commercial real estate transaction forms for statewide use by Realtors and attorneys. Served on 28th Judicial District Bar Nominating Committee and Executive Committee and chaired 28th Judicial District Bar Fee Dispute Resolution Committee. Chaired a committee evaluating proposed District Court civil case arbitration for the Chief District Court Judge. Member National Association of Dealer Counsel (Retiree Membership).

Publications:
Presented paper to University of Dhaka, Management Studies Department, Dhaka, Bangladesh, "What to do on the Way to the Law Courts; Business Ethics and Alternative Dispute Resolution," October 2002, comparing the Koran and current Islamic ADR practices to current Western ADR practices.

Speaking Engagements:
Delivered presentations and advocated on behalf of nongovernmental organizations for continuing and expanding US government and private humanitarian aid to North Korea to officials of the US State and Commerce Departments and to Congressional staff on several occasions.

Travel to and within Buncombe County, North Carolina (Asheville NC metropolitan area)

$400 Per Hour

English

United States of America

Montreat, NC