Business North Carolina Names 18 Smith Anderson Attorneys Among State’s Top Lawyers

Business North Carolina magazine has named 18 Smith Anderson attorneys to its 2024 Legal Elite List in their specialty areas of law, as elected by their attorney colleagues throughout the state.

BNC contracted DataJoe Research to facilitate an online peer-voting and internet research process, sending ballot notices to every member of the N.C. State Bar living in North Carolina with the question: Of the Tar Heel lawyers whose work you have observed firsthand, whom would you rate among the current best in these categories?

The Smith Anderson attorneys named to the 2024 Legal Elite list and their practice areas are:

• Zeb Anderson – Employment
• Amy Batten – Corporate
• Josh Bryant – Tax and Estate Planning
• Ansley Chapman Cella – Tax and Estate Planning
• Nicolas Eason – Intellectual Property
• Darrell Fruth – Intellectual Property
• Travis Hockaday – Employment
• Rosemary Kenyon – Employment
• Christopher Kiger – Litigation
• Byron Kirkland – Corporate
• Mike Mitchell – Litigation
• Joey Morris – Intellectual Property
• Bill Nelson – Tax and Estate Planning
• Gerald Roach – Corporate
• Kerry Shad – Employment
• Chris Smith – Appellate
• Kimberly Swintosky – Tax and Estate Planning

Kara Brunk, a Smith Anderson employment benefits and executive compensation attorney, was named to the “Young Guns” category.

Approximately 1,300 North Carolina lawyers received votes. Each year, the attorneys with the most votes in their respective categories are named to the BNC Legal Elite Hall of Fame. Smith Anderson Chair Gerald Roach was installed in the Business Hall of Fame in 2009, while attorneys Steve Mason and Allen York were named to the Real Estate Hall of Fame in 2009 and 2020, respectively. Pete Marino has been a Construction Hall of Fame member since 2011.

The entire Legal Elite List can be viewed here.