Robert litigates high-stakes disputes that impact industries, safeguard professional standing, and secure critical value in land and license. He has unique experience in complex and high-value real estate and regulatory disputes, and in navigating rights, responsibilities, and authority in transformative matters of government and property. Across his practice, Robert leverages strategic insights and appellate-level analysis to protect individuals, businesses, and common-interest organizations in their most consequential matters.
REGULATORY LITIGATION AND GOVERNMENT AUTHORITY
Robert has unique experience defending clients in complex licensing, rulemaking, and enforcement matters threatening his clients’ livelihoods, businesses, and ongoing operations. In addition to defending disciplinary actions Robert also navigates novel questions under federal and state law, including expansions of regulatory authority over new or unanticipated conduct, or authority pursued through improper procedures. In doing so Robert represents clients before government agencies, administrative tribunals, and the courts, defending client rights and interests in rulemaking, permitting, and enforcement. Robert has also negotiated client disputes with top-level agency leadership, and has liaised with the highest levels of leadership at the North Carolina General Assembly concerning emergent regulatory efforts in forever-chemical governance. Robert also engages at the intersection of state and federal government, as his work also includes public opinion letters addressing the limits of federal regulation over local authorities, and amicus curiae briefing to the Supreme Court of the United States explaining the impact of federal law on guaranteed rights under state laws and constitutions.
Robert’s regulatory work includes litigating key issues in emerging contaminants and “forever chemical” regulation, including the emerging 1,4-dioxane and PFAS regulatory landscape. Robert’s work in this arena synthesizes state and federal law to defend front-line enforcement and permitting actions that shape the future of forever-chemical regulation in North Carolina and beyond. Robert also has experience advising clients on complex CAMA permitting issues, and in evaluating regulation of property and businesses involving agencies ranging from the United States Forest Service to the North Carolina Alcoholic Beverage Commission and Department of Health and Human Services. Robert regularly monitors certain agency rulemaking efforts and notable litigation concerning agency authority at the State and Federal levels, including at the Supreme Court of the United States and the Supreme Court of North Carolina, in ongoing efforts to keep his clients abreast of regulatory changes.
REAL ESTATE LITIGATION AND PROFESSIONAL DEFENSE
Robert has extensive experience representing investors, commercial developers, and real estate industry professionals-including attorneys, brokers, surveyors, and appraisers-when land, value, and license are on the line. Robert serves clients as a courtroom litigator and as counsel before regulatory boards, and in either arena he is called upon to navigate the many critical junctures impacting landowners and the professionals that serve them. Robert has thus represented clients in disputes over multi-million-dollar land transactions, liability and disciplinary claims against industry professionals, conflicts over land, water, and development rights, and in issues arising in title and title insurance that can appear even into the late stages of ownership. Robert’s work also has industry-wide impacts, as he has joined as amicus curiae counsel on briefing concerning land rights to the Supreme Court of the United States, and his legal arguments on mortgages have also been adopted by the North Carolina Court of Appeals resulting in new law cited as authority by local and national legal treatises such as Strong’s N.C. Index and Corpus Juris Secundum.
Robert’s work as a litigator and regulatory counsel in the real estate industry is bolstered by his experience as a transactional attorney closing commercial real estate deals. In addition to his work as a litigator, Robert has a long history representing buyers and sellers in commercial real estate transactions, in which practice he helped his clients purchase, sell, and finance commercial real estate across North Carolina.
COMPLEX CREDITORS’ RIGHTS IN BANKRUPTCY
Robert maintains a creditors’ rights practice where he has special experience in advising creditors in complex bankruptcies with national and international reaches, and in analyzing and arguing the intersection of state property law and federal bankruptcy law when his clients’ recoveries are at risk. Robert also assists clients with recovering losses from debtors prior to bankruptcy, in which regard he assists clients in recovering losses and reaching assets beyond those that a debtor may immediately have at hand.
CLIENT SERVICE
Robert works closely with his clients and inside counsel to provide efficient advice and service focused on his clients’ ultimate outcomes. He balances zealous advocacy with clear, effective presentation, and when matters turn complex, Robert takes pride in close analysis of legal and factual issues. He has counseled clients and litigated cases in North Carolina’s administrative, district, superior, and appellate courts; in federal district and appellate courts; and in matters with State regulators and before the North Carolina Rules Review Commission.
Robert maintains an AV rating with Martindale Hubbell, a prestigious peer review rating that recognizes his professional excellence for legal expertise, communication skills, and ethical standards.
EDUCATION AND PRIOR EXPERIENCE
Robert formerly practiced in commercial litigation and commercial real estate transactions (both for buyers and sellers) in Greensboro, North Carolina. A Raleigh native, Robert earned undergraduate degrees in philosophy and in history at North Carolina State University before earning a master’s in philosophy from Duquesne University in Pittsburgh, PA. Robert studied law at the University of North Carolina, where he graduated with honors after serving on the First Amendment Law Review and the Holderness Moot Court’s international law team.
Results
•Argued to the North Carolina Rules Review Commission in opposition to proposed 1,4-dioxane rulemaking by the North Carolina Environmental Management Commission, on grounds thereafter adopted by the North Carolina Rules Review Commission in its objection to the proposed rules.
•Earned dismissal of a winning bidder’s appeal in a foreclosure proceeding, arguing that the bidder’s rights in a foreclosure proceeding do not include the right to force the sale of the underlying property once borrower and lender reinstate the loan.
•Earned dismissal of counterclaims and third-party complaints by a real estate seller, in a lawsuit based on the seller’s breach of a contract to convey commercial property.
•Earned dismissal of all claims against an HVAC manufacturer in a lawsuit based on alleged defects in HVAC units throughout a large apartment complex.
•Obtained voluntary dismissal from plaintiffs in underground utility case by leveraging jurisdictional, expert witness, and evidentiary issues to obtain a favorable outcome for client.
•Earned dismissal of substantial counterclaims by a commercial tenant in a lease dispute, leading to a favorable outcome at mediation.
News
•Included in Lawyers Weekly most important opinions, 2nd quarter 2018 (in re: Menendez, 813 S.E.2d 680 (N.C. Ct. App. 2018) - https://nclawyersweekly.com/2018/06/29/most-important-opinions-for-2q-2018/ .
Accomplishments
•Selected for inclusion in Best Lawyers: Ones to Watch in America in the field of Litigation - Construction (2024 - 2026), Commercial Litigation (2025-2026), Professional Malpractice Law (2026)
•Selected for inclusion in North Carolina Rising Stars in the field of Civil Litigation, Defense (2023-2025); Administrative Law (2026)
•Martindale-Hubbell, AV Rated
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Big Deal / Little Deal: Why the U.S. Supreme Court’s Loper Bright Opinion Is a Gamechanger While Its Jarkesy Opinion Is Insignificant in Comparison
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Chevron Overruled, Judicial Deference to Federal Agencies Restricted
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Highlights from Oral Argument in Loper Bright Enterprises v. Raimondo
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Chevron Deference to Administrative Agencies Re-examined as the United States Supreme Court Considers Loper Bright Enterprises v. Raimondo
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The Cyber Risk of a Remote Workforce
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COVID-19: FAQs for Employers
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