The Great Profession

Twenty years ago, as the first edition of North Carolina Super Lawyers was published, the state was in
a renaissance.

Its population was growing faster than ever, adding hundreds of new residents every day. Musicians like Eric Church, Kellie Pickler and Anthony Hamilton were still in the early years of releasing hits. The UNC men’s basketball team was crowned the NCAA champions, led by their new coach Roy Williams.

Things haven’t slowed down since.

In this anniversary edition, we caught up with a few of the attorneys who made the list for every one of those 20 years: Maureen Demarest Murray, Rob Harrington, Gary Parsons and Lana Warlick.

They reflect on the cases, changes and lessons that shaped their careers and share advice for future generations of attorneys. “This is a great profession,” Parsons says. “It’s the best puzzle there is.”

Favorite Legal Memory from the Last Two Decades

Rob Harrington, Robinson Bradshaw; Charlotte; Business Litigation: I particularly enjoy working with young lawyers. It’s nice to have had some limited impact on lawyers, even those who haven’t come to the firm, and then see them in their practices almost 20 or 30 years later.

Maureen Demarest Murray, Fox Rothschild; Greensboro; Health Care: I remember a day of appellate arguments in the North Carolina Supreme Court for a certificate-of-need matter for hospital renovations in the eastern part of the state. This particular day was in the old Legislature, with those little colonial-type desks, like old-fashioned school desks. We alone represented our client, and on the other side were several parties, including the state. I was being asked many, many challenging questions alone. One of the judges kept asking me if I thought something improper was happening here. I said there was no proof in the record of that. We ended up losing, but it was a case where a lot of people saw me handling that, and one of those people was integral in proposing that I be admitted to the American College of Trial Lawyers.

Gary Parsons, Brooks, Pierce, McLendon, Humphrey & Leonard; Raleigh; Business Litigation: This is an old story and people that don’t do personal injury litigation probably won’t get it, but I represented a defendant in a bicycle crash. My client had pulled up, trying to see around some bushes, and she’s coming down a hill full speed on a bicycle and locked her brakes and went over the handlebars. It broke her lower jaw and most of her posterior teeth. The plaintiff’s lawyer was examining her and trying to stress the point that she’d had to change her diet because of her injuries. He asked, “What were you able to eat before?” And she said carrots and other vegetables, but he kept trying to get her to tell him more, so finally he said, “When’s the last time you had a big, juicy steak?” And she said “Oh, it’s been a long time.” So of course, having read her medical records, I said, “That’s because you’ve been vegetarian since two years before this accident, right?”

Lana Warlick, Law Offices of Lana S. Warlick; Jacksonville; Family Law: The cases that are the most fun are when you have the evidence you need going into it, and you’ve got the other party on the stand, and you’re asking them questions, and unfortunately, they’re continuing to be less than honest. And then when you’re able to put on that witness, that private investigator, or that neighbor or whatever, and they just lay out the facts. Those are the ones where you inwardly smile.

Your Biggest Case of the Last 20 Years

Demarest Murray: One involved alleged health care fraud related to billing of inpatient services. This wasn’t the health care fraud you read about in the paper where somebody drops a bill and they never delivered any service. There were legitimate services offered. It was about how the bills were categorized. Naturally, any institution that’s faced with those challenges takes it very seriously and tries its best to defend itself. So it was a case that brought to bear a lot of different aspects of law: regulatory considerations, billing considerations, criminal law. We got it resolved, but it was a case where everybody gets scrutinized.

Parsons: The longer you do it, the bigger the cases get. And if you’re defending, that means the longer you do it, the worse they get. The more experience you get, the more your clients tend to call you to defend worse and worse injuries, or worse and worse losses.

Warlick: Pretty much every contested custody case brings back a flood of memories. They all have a place in my heart, because we’re dealing with small children. I recently ran into a lady that said, “You’re not gonna remember me, but you represented my parent when I was little to help get custody of me. I just wanted to thank you.” And I thought, “Well, wow, maybe what I do does make a difference.“

Harrington: There’s some that I’ll exclude for client preferences, but in this one we were representing a financial institution that served as trustee, and the suit was by the beneficiary of the trust. It lasted for several years and covered important but not uncommon issues. It stands out because the lawyers on all sides were good and because it was in a specialized business court.

Demarest Murray: The very biggest is outside the 20 years. I was breastfeeding my third child of four, so that would have been in the 1992-’93 timeframe. The case involved an unfortunate incident in a behavioral health hospital where an adolescent was out of control and needed to be restrained. Seven people were involved in trying to manage the young man, and he died in the course of the incident. From a legal standpoint, the case had just about every issue in it that you could imagine. It ended up on 60 Minutes. It was a fascinating case, and it all got resolved. The hospital continued to operate. One staff member was charged with criminal manslaughter and found not guilty. No one lost their license, but some staff left the profession because it was more than they could handle. And the family of this young man used the money to establish a foundation that worked with people with challenges.

Your Greatest Lessons Along the Way

Harrington: Trust your instincts. We have to work hard. We have to find the right answers. But I think we’re geared to consider and reconsider and reconsider and reconsider, and at the point when you feel you’ve adequately prepared, trust that and stick with it.

Warlick: I walk into the lawyer’s lounge now and all the young lawyers are on their phones. They’re not talking to each other. And of course, given my age, I can take liberties that I couldn’t when I was younger. I just look around and say, “Look, guys, girls, put your phones down, talk to each other.“ That’s what you’ll remember. You’ll remember the camaraderie, the jokes. Long ago, I remember we had a young judge who sometimes took himself a little too seriously, and so several of the attorneys colluded with each other to put some goldfish in his water pitcher. During the course of the morning session, everybody’s snickering in the back because we can see the goldfish swimming around. It took some time for him to notice, and of course, he immediately adjourned court. To this day, we laugh about it.

Demarest Murray: I was fortunate to have several mentors in my career that were very helpful and gave me opportunities. You learn by doing, and the only way to do is to give people chances. You need to let them try a case with you and be there to support them and give them constructive feedback. Don’t be demeaning or overly critical. It’s their first opportunity.

Parsons: If given a choice, always be nice to people and try to get along with them if they’ll let you. We battle hard for our clients, but we try the case and not the lawyers. We try to conclude it as friends if we can, or as respected colleagues if we can’t. Some people won’t let you do that, and frankly, it’s their loss more than it is mine.

How Have Changes in Technology Affected Your Practice?

Demarest Murray: When I first started practicing, it was the era of dictation. You had a Dictaphone that you spoke into, and then your assistant transcribed what you said. You didn’t have email. You didn’t have the current research methods of using the internet. For lawyers who grew up in an era of dictation, how you wrote was more like how you spoke, and you refined your speaking skills.

Warlick: Now people are able to text and email with clients, and so many of these young attorneys do that. It’s like they can’t get away from it. I’m one of the old horses. I don’t text or email with clients. I don’t want to have to be tied to my phone 24/7.

Harrington: I feel like I started on the cusp of great change. I started practicing in 1988, and my first couple of years, none of us had computers. That changed dramatically in my third or fourth year. We all got desktops and had access to print, then we got emails and personal devices. The expectation that you’ll respond and never really be away from the office happened really early in my career. Now we’re sitting on the cusp of figuring out how artificial intelligence fits into the practice.

Parsons: When I was a law clerk at the [state] Supreme Court my first year out, the opinions were typed on seven carbon sets, and if they made a typo, they had to go back and redo or Wite-Out all seven copies, plus the original. It was cumbersome. Now, I filed motions in a Supreme Court last week in a case, and every one of them was electronically filed. They do not accept paper filings anymore.

How Else Has the Industry Evolved?

Parsons: When I started out, lawyer fees were low enough that a senior partner could take you with them to go to court. The cost of what we do has gotten high enough that you have to ask a client before you can take a second lawyer because of the expense. I’m fortunate to be in a practice where that is less frequent, because the cases I’m doing are so large, the clients are less concerned about incremental costs. But I really benefited as a young lawyer by carrying the briefcases for my senior partners and getting to watch them in action.

Demarest Murray: There were not many women lawyers when I started, and that was a challenge in some respects. I can remember being in a case with one of my female partners, and the judge was trying to talk to both sets of lawyers before the trial to try to get the parties to settle the case. He was sort of a crusty older judge, and he somehow got wind that she had children and said, “So why aren’t you home with your children?”

Warlick: The availability of mediation now is a positive. I think anyone that’s been through that process is much happier with the result than going to court and having a judge tell them how their life has to unfold.

Harrington: When I started out, it seemed more common to know who you were dealing with on the other side of the courtroom. I think we’re a bit more impersonal now. During COVID, we went into silos, and I think we’re just emerging from those silos. I think we function best for our clients, and for our own careers, when we have some personal contact not only with our peers, but also with our adversaries.

Advice for the Next Generation of Lawyers?

Warlick: One case is not so important as to risk ruining your reputation or your relationships with other lawyers, judges, clerks. It’s just one case and your relationships are hopefully lifelong. The other thing I would tell people, particularly young lawyers, is: make time for yourself and your family. You can’t let work control your life 100% of the time.

Harrington: Disagree without being disagreeable. If you’re a lawyer, you’re an advocate, so you’re disagreeing all the time, but I think it comes back to your benefit when people see you as someone that’s honest and fair.

Demarest Murray: My daughters gave me a sign they found in a Greensboro shop, and it says, “Work hard and be nice to people.” I think there’s truth to that. Be committed, do your best and try to always treat people with respect, even when you are a fierce advocate.

Parsons: I tell young lawyers, “I hope you have as much fun doing this for a profession as I have, because if you do, you will have a lot of fun.” I don’t have fun all the time, but I have some fun every single day.