2011 Legal Elite

That’s a question we posed to those who received the most votes in 14 business-related specialties in this, the 10th annual, class of Business North Carolina’s Legal Elite. Their responses, as well as other information about them, can be found on the pages that follow. (One, William J. Mason, the winner in intellectual property, begged off, saying he didn’t feel worthy.) As in the past, many were called — postcards went to 20,373 active members of the N.C. State Bar, directing them to ballots on BusinessNC.com — but few were chosen: 598, to be exact, fewer than 3% of practicing lawyers. Voters, asked who is the best in each field, couldn’t select themselves and could only pick members of their firms if they also chose someone outside the firm in the same category. And more weight was given to outside votes.

Photography by Steve Exum