Legal Elite 2015![""]("clientuploads/Archive_Images/2015/January/Legal)
ENVIRONMENTAL WINNER
Garry S. Rice
Duke Energy Corp., Charlotte
Vita: 53; born in Greensboro; bachelor’s and law degrees from UNC Chapel Hill; wife and three daughters.
Memorable case: An original jurisdiction case in the U.S. Supreme Court. South Carolina sued North Carolina over water and interbasin transfers. Duke Energy was in the midst of relicensing its 11-reservoir, two-state hydroelectric project and moved to intervene. The court typically does not permit private parties to intervene in original-jurisdiction cases but did permit Duke Energy to intervene. The water flows agreed to in our multi-stakeholder relicensing settlement agreement, signed by 70 different parties, was the basis for the settlement of the Supreme Court case.
Passions: Problem-solving, the outdoors and teaching.
Where he’d live if he had to practice somewhere else: A small town in a rural setting.
What he’d be if not a lawyer: I’ve done a little teaching at the local law school and have enjoyed it. Assuming I could handle the inevitable rejection, I think I would have been OK in some sort of sales.
Heroes: Veterans, and people like Pat Tillman — the Arizona Cardinals linebacker who enlisted in the U.S. Army following the terrorist attacks of Sept. 11 and later died in service — who sacrificed themselves for the benefit of others.
Don’t ask him to: Cook. I can do grits, and that’s about it.
ENVIRONMENTAL
WINNER: Garry S. Rice, Duke Energy Corp., Charlotte; Stanford D. Baird, K&L Gates LLP, Raleigh; Stephen R. Berlin, Kilpatrick Townsend & Stockton LLP, Winston-Salem; David W. Berry, Smith, Anderson, Blount, Dorsett, Mitchell & Jernigan LLP, Raleigh; F. Bryan Brice Jr., The Law Offices of F. Bryan Brice Jr., Raleigh; Charles S. Carter, Nexsen Pruet PLLC, Raleigh; David A. Franchina, K&L Gates LLP, Charlotte; Thomas N. Griffin III, Parker Poe Adams & Bernstein LLP, Charlotte; Keith H. Johnson, Poyner Spruill LLP, Raleigh; Steven J. Levitas, Kilpatrick Townsend & Stockton LLP, Raleigh; Donald M. Nielsen, Bell, Davis & Pitt PA, Winston-Salem; William A. Raney Jr., Wessell & Raney LLP, Wilmington; William Ross Jr., Brooks, Pierce, McLendon, Humphrey & Leonard LLP, Raleigh; Mary Katherine H. Stukes, Parker Poe Adams & Bernstein LLP, Charlotte; Sean M. Sullivan, Troutman Sanders LLP, Raleigh; William W. Toole, Robinson Bradshaw & Hinson PA, Charlotte; Carol Jones Van Buren, Van Buren Law PLLC, Charlotte; Amy P. Wang, Ward and Smith PA, New Bern; I. Clark Wright Jr., Davis Hartman Wright PLLC, New Bern.
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