As Noah Huffstetler welcomes guests and visitors to Nelson Mullins’ spacious office in downtown Raleigh at the open house this month, he and his colleagues will celebrate their new home with clients and friends and recognize a milestone — the office’s 20th anniversary.

On Feb. 11, 2003, Noah, another partner, and three associates started work in a small suburban office near the Raleigh Beltline. Their first day was marked by an ice storm. “When we started, I had a three-week jury trial in Wilmington,” he said. “I left them alone to fend for themselves.”

Noah and fellow healthcare attorneys Denise Gunter and Richard Howington left a competitor firm to establish the Firm’s offices in Raleigh and Winston-Salem — the main practices at the time for the offices were healthcare and litigation. This wasn’t the Firm’s first step in to North Carolina, either. Nelson Mullins had already established its Charlotte office in 1995.

Twenty years later, the Raleigh office has 32 attorneys and 18 staff members and, according to Noah, is on a sturdy growth trajectory. “We were able to build from a small start to what we have now. Nelson Mullins was not at all well-known in the market. I think today we are a solid presence,” he said.

The Early Years

After the first wave of attorneys established the office, Raleigh saw immediate growth from the addition in August 2003 of 13 more lawyers plus paralegals and staff from Moore and Van Allen — another firm where Noah had practiced.

Joe Eason, the Raleigh managing partner at Moore & Van Allen, was looking for a new home for several of his attorneys and staff, who did not want to move to that firm’s office in the Research Triangle Park between Durham and Raleigh. Moore & Van Allen’s management supported this separation and tasked Joe with finding jobs for his coworkers and staff.

“Noah called me up to have lunch and tell me about Nelson Mullins,” Joe said. “It turns out we each separately toured the second floor of [GlenLake One] and thought it would be a great place for a new office,” he added with a chuckle.

Coming with Joe were partners Chris Blake, George Teague, as well as paralegal Amy Hill — all of whom are still with Nelson Mullins. Joe, Noah, and Amy have worked together at three different firms since the 1980s.

“We put together a group of people who work well together,” Noah explained. “These are people who are enthusiastic and love what they do…They love practicing law. They care about their clients. They are driven by producing quality results for clients and service to the community.”

Joe credits Nelson Mullins for creating the culture that has kept colleagues together for two decades. “This is an extremely well-managed law firm. That’s what navigates the unexpected seas,” he said. “Good management leads to a good career and promotes a stable personal life.”

Amy said that Nelson Mullins supported her with resources and forward-thinking. “We avoided being a number on a ledger. They have a paralegal retreat; they have much more structure [than my old firm] but it is not rigid,” she said. “The Firm contributes to IT resources and stays on the cutting edge.”

Recent Growth

During his tenure as managing partner, Noah brought more attorneys to the firm. They include Zebulon “Zeb” Alley, who joined Raleigh’s government relations team in 2007. A former state senator, Alley earned the first place “most influential lobbyist in North Carolina” for eight consecutive legislative sessions from the N.C. Center for Public Policy and Research. Two years later, former Lt. Gov. Dennis Wicker brought his government relations team to Nelson Mullins.

In 2016, healthcare attorney Robert L. Wilson, Jr. joined the Raleigh office with his colleague Trish Markus. These additions broadened the North Carolina healthcare group’s capabilities in transactions and regulatory work. Noah and Denise had already cemented their reputations within North Carolina as go-to lawyers for Certificate-of-Need (CON) litigation, which allowed their clients to establish new healthcare facilities in highly competitive markets throughout the state.

“It took me years to recruit Bob to come over, but I finally persuaded him, and he would take over as managing partner [in 2018]. He’s done a terrific job ever since,” Noah said.

The Raleigh office grew further with the addition of nine transactional attorneys and litigators from The Shanahan Law Group in December 2020, followed by additional litigators from Ogletree Deakins in the summer of 2021. The latest attorneys that have joined include Knicole Emanuel, a healthcare litigator and compliance specialist, and Andrew Heath, a former judge and former Director of the North Carolina Administrative Office of the Courts.  

In 2023, the Raleigh office offers clients a wide array of legal services in banking, bankruptcy, commercial litigation, corporate, employment, energy, FinTech, First Amendment and constitutional law litigation, government relations, healthcare, insurance, land use and zoning, mergers and acquisitions, real estate, securities, tax, and white collar and government investigations.  

Presently, attorneys in Raleigh have been recognized nationally for their work. Three practices and five lawyers are ranked in Chambers USA while eight practices are ranked in U.S. News – Best Lawyers Best Law Firms and 13 lawyers are in The Best Lawyers in America®. Managing Partner Robert L. Wilson, Jr. won the 2022 Financial Times Innovative Lawyers Award for co-founding the Rural Healthcare Initiative.

The Future

After 20 years at Glenlake One, situated in the Crabtree Valley area of northwest Raleigh, the Raleigh office moved downtown in November 2022 to a newly developed office tower, Raleigh Crossings, across from Campbell Law School.

The new office has plenty of offices and workspaces, plus a state-of-the art conference room for visual presentations, a wellness room and several multipurpose rooms than can be used for socializing or studying.

“We are in the best location downtown, and we have enough infrastructure in this new building,” Noah said. “We have a terrific platform with law schools in the region. Raleigh and the Triangle are booming. People from New York and D.C. are moving here because it’s a great place to live.”