General Civil Litigation

Creative Solutions for Difficult Legal Problems

A commercial dispute can present a serious challenge to a corporation or business enterprise. While the cost of pursuing or defending against litigation must be considered, sometimes the firm has no choice but to take assertive action to protect its rights and interests.

Rayburn Cooper & Durham energetically pursues and defends a wide variety civil litigation on behalf of clients. With strong experience in state and federal courts in North Carolina, as well as in South Carolina acting in conjunction with local counsel, the firm can respond effectively to significant threats to clients' legal rights and interests.

Large Firm Performance, Small Firm Responsiveness

The firm's civil litigation attorneys work closely with clients to understand their business objectives and operations. With their extensive experience serving clients ranging in size from multinational corporations to technology entrepreneurs, they understand the business, finance, and accountancy issues their clients face, as well as the law. The firm approaches each legal challenge not just by resolving the legal problem at hand, but doing so in a practical way that positions its client to move forward with its commercial activities.

By delivering high quality legal solutions quickly and efficiently, Rayburn Cooper & Durham combines the performance typically associated with a large law firm with the operational strengths and efficiencies afforded by its small firm structure.

While the firm takes a tenacious approach to the protection of its clients' interests, it is not unmindful of the risks and costs associated with continued litigation. During the case preparation process, the firm's lawyers look for ways to solve the legal problem without the final resort of a court trial. During this process, the firm keeps the client fully aware of these risks and costs through frequent consultation and discussion of alternatives to trial.

Rayburn Cooper & Durham represent clients in a broad range of general litigation matters, including:

• Contract disputes, including complex commercial litigation
• Employment law disputes, including harassment, stock option agreements, non-competition (non-compete) agreements, non-solicitation agreements, and whistleblower rights
• Real estate disputes, land use controversies, and construction litigation
• Product liability and personal injury litigation

Please note that Rayburn Cooper & Durham does not represent large banks or financial institutions, and welcomes clients having disputes with large banking firms.

As with other areas of our practice, our litigation team enjoys a robust stream of conflict referrals. Typically, these involve situations in which the client is a party to litigation against, or merely along with, a bank or large financial institution. These also include situations in which non-litigants require separate counsel in connection with an investigation, a subpoena, or testimony. Often, such conflicts arise in out-of-court situations relating to employment or business transactions, or merely because the anticipation of litigation creates a need for separate counsel.

Attorneys at the firm focusing on general civil litigation include:

James B. Gatehouse
G. Kirkland Hardymon
David S. Melin
Ross Robert Fulton

For a consultation with a civil litigation attorney at Rayburn Cooper & Durham, call (704) 334-0891, or contact us online.