Olive & Olive is proud to have a highly-qualified team of professionals, who collectively have worked at our firm for over fifty years, assisting our attorneys.

• Joseph T. Blackley is a graduate of Durham Industrial Education Center (A.D., Drafting and Design Technology) and of Durham Technical Institute (A.A.S., Paralegal Technology, high honors). In addition to his paralegal work in all areas of the firm’s practice, with a focus on patents, he is the firm’s chief draftsman and supervises the technical drawings required for the firm’s patent and trademark applications and litigation, and also serves as the firm’s Assistant Administrator. He is a member of the North Carolina Bar Association’s Legal Assistants Division and is certified by the North Carolina State Bar Board of Paralegal Certification.
  
  
• Annette Crossan is a graduate of Katharine Gibbs School and attended The City College of New York. Ms. Crossan worked in the intellectual property field in New York City for six years before moving to Durham, North Carolina and joining the firm. Her work focuses on trademarks, copyrights, and licensing matters. Ms. Crossan is a member of the North Carolina Bar Association’s Legal Assistants Division.
   
• Stephanie A. Durham is a graduate of Howard University (B.A., Communications and Culture with a concentration in Legal Communication Studies). Before relocating to North Carolina Ms. Durham worked as a paralegal for a Washington, D.C. law firm and at the United States Department of Justice, Consumer Litigation section. She served as a Court Appointed Special Advocate from 2003-2005, and was the Debate Team Coach for Eastern Senior High School during her college years. Ms. Durham's focus is in the area of intellectual property litigation.
   
• Erin A. Rall attended the University of North Carolina at Greensboro and Brown University. She has worked with the firm for several years primarily in the areas of litigation and legal research. Ms. Rall is a member of the North Carolina Bar Association’s Legal Assistants Division, and an associate member of the North Carolina Association of Women Attorneys and of the North Carolina Academy of Trial Lawyers, and is certified by the North Carolina State Bar Board of Paralegal Certification.
   
• Candace E. White is a graduate of the University of Maryland, College Park (B.A., Art History), and of Georgetown University (Legal Assistant Certificate). Ms. White has more than 10 years of experience working as an intellectual property paralegal in the areas of Domestic and International Patent and Trademark Prosecution and Litigation. Prior to relocating to North Carolina she worked as a deputized Courtroom Clerk in Worcester County Circuit Court. Ms. White's focus is in the area of patent administration and prosecution.