Elon trustee wins top honors in a legal survey by the state's leading business magazine. Ten others affiliated with Elon Law also make the list.
Business North Carolina conducted a vote in 2012 of the 20,000 active members of the State Bar, asking for their picks for the best lawyers in 14 business-related specialties. Noel Allen ’69, a partner in the Raleigh, N.C., law firm, Allen, Pinnix and Nichols PA, received the most votes in the antitrust category, earning a spot in the magazine’s 12th class of “Legal Elites.”
In this year’s feature, Business North Carolina asked the winners how their college years helped them prepare for law school and their careers. Allen, who has served as an Elon trustee since 1985 and chaired the planning committees for three of the university’s strategic plans, wrote the following:
“While attending Elon University, I served as president of its Student Government Association. That experience taught me a lot about public service, leadership, prioritization, achieving goals and the value of appreciating both sides of a dispute.”
Allen cited Elon University as one of his life’s passions. He chaired the search committee that chose President Leo M. Lambert in 1998 and he was instrumental in the creation of Elon University School of Law. He remains a member of the law school’s advisory board.
The “Legal Elite” feature is in the January 2013 edition of the magazine. See the profile of Allen online at: http://www.businessnc.com/articles/2013-01/legal-elite-antitrust-2013-category/
Less than 3.5% of North Carolina’s lawyers were selected by their peers as the “2013 Legal Elite.” In addition to Allen, lawyers affiliated with Elon University and/or Elon University School of Law who were selected among the “2013 Legal Elite” include:
Business Law – W. Randy Eaddy, a member of Elon’s law school advisory board and a partner at Kilpatrick Townsend & Stockton LLP, Winston-Salem;
Environmental Law – John M. Flynn, distinguished practioner-in-residence at Elon Law and a director at Carruthers & Roth PA, Greensboro;
Bankruptcy Law – Damon Duncan, a 2006 graduate of Elon University, a 2009 graduate of Elon University School of Law and an attorney with Duncan Law PLLC, Greensboro;
Employment Law – J. Heydt Philbeck, Elon Class of 1989, Bailey & Dixon LLP, Raleigh;
The following members of the extended faculty of Elon Law were selected as “2013 Legal Elite”:
Bankruptcy Law – Rayford K. “Trip” Adams III, Spilman Thomas & Battle, Winston-Salem;
Construction Law – Harper Heckman, Nexsen Pruet LLC, Greensboro and Neale T. Johnson, Smith Moore Leatherwood LLP, Greensboro;
Family Law – Afi Johnson-Parris, The Law Office of Afi Johnson-Parris PLLC, Greensboro and Barbara R. Morgenstern, Barbara R. Morgenstern PLLC, Greensboro;
Intellectual Property – Jack B. Hicks, Womble Carlyle Sandridge & Rice PLLC, Greensboro;
Real Estate – William P. Aycock II, Aycock & Aycock PLLC, Greensboro.