Business North Carolina has named Ward and Smith's Co-Managing Directors Brad Evans and Devon Williams to its inaugural "Power List 2021."
According to the magazine, the list "is a collective report on the state’s most influential leaders" and is compiled based on interviews with business community officials, research, and reader suggestions. The resulting list honors individuals in 18 different categories, ranging from agriculture to health care and law to transportation, who made a particularly noteworthy impact on their communities and profession.
Brad and Devon are two among 43 attorneys Business North Carolina selected for inclusion in the law category, which "reflects only a sampling of some of the most powerful, most of whom work for larger firms in the bigger metro areas. This list focuses mainly on those chosen for leadership positions by their peers."
About Brad Evans
Brad, a Greenville litigator, has served as a Co-Managing Director since 2017. His practice experience encompasses various areas of civil litigation in both the federal and state courts. He has experience in all aspects of civil litigation, including depositions, hearings, mediations, arbitrations, jury trials, and appeals. Brad advises clients and litigates cases involving all forms of commercial, business, estate, professional licensing, and intellectual property disputes. He regularly represents contractors, subcontractors, and suppliers in construction litigation in state and federal courts. He has litigated numerous matters concerning trade secret misappropriation and intellectual property infringement. He has handled numerous disputes for agribusiness entities, including corporate dissolution, contract, and antitrust disputes. Brad also has experience litigating corporate and partnership disputes before the North Carolina Business Court.
About Devon Williams
Devon was elected to the firm's top executive position last year. Her practice encompasses a wide range of labor and employment issues, including wage and hour matters, federal contractor compliance, employment discrimination, harassment, and retaliation claims, employee discipline and termination decisions, personnel policies and practices, restrictive covenants, and background checks. Devon regularly counsels HR executives and C-suite officers, navigating them through the many state and federal requirements for employers with the aim of helping clients avoid costly litigation and improve workplace relations. In addition to offering clients proactive solutions to avoid costly litigation, Devon routinely dives in to handle complex employment litigation matters, including defending FLSA Collective Actions, wage and hour class actions, Medicare Secondary Payer Act claims, discrimination and harassment lawsuits, breach of contract, and other legal matters arising out of the employment or quasi-employment relationship. In matters relating to employee benefits, she concentrates on issues confronting welfare benefit plans (such as medical, dental, and other plans) and their sponsors, including the provisions and impact of the Affordable Care Act.
