2020 vision: North Carolina's largest law firms.

Byline: Teri Saylor

Lawyers Weekly's annual ranking of the Largest Law Firms in North Carolina is always a snapshot of a moment in time, with firms reporting the number of attorneys they had working for them on Jan. 1 of a given year. But never in the history of this list, not even during the depths of the Great Recession, has so much changed between Jan. 1 and the publication of the list a few months later.

So the 2020 Largest Law Firms special section is, necessarily, a look at where the legal profession in this state stood just before the COVID-19 pandemic began. It's more difficult than ever to say where things may be going in 2021, or what changes next year might bring, but at least we can say where we've beenand at the start of 2020, things looked broadly pretty similar to what they looked like at the start of 2019.

Womble Bond Dickinson reduced its headcount since 2019, dropping from 289 attorneys to 272, yet maintained its top spot in the rankings.

WBD is also one of several firms that is making notable strides in expanding attorney categories beyond the typical partner, associate, and of counsel roles and reporting new professional options for attorneys to pursue, including staff attorney, counsel, senior counsel, division counsel, and project attorneys positions.

"We strive to offer our clients and our attorneys with choices that meet their needs. There are many talented attorneys who may not be interested in a partner track position, and our clients benefit from us having a more flexible approach to staffing," said Bruce Buchanan, the firm's director of media and communications. "The type of work these attorneys do varies greatly, but many are doing the same high-level legal work performed by partner-track attorneys."

Womble Bond Dickinson was followed closely by Moore & Van Allen (271), which grew by five attorneys since last year.

Legal Aid of North Carolina (224) also experienced a significant growth spurt of 26 attorneys, propelling the non-profit organization into third place, and dropping McGuire Woods (205) to fourth, after a decline in attorney numbers (-18). Parker Poe (148) grew by three attorneys and held onto its spot as the fifth largest firm in North Carolina.

Robinson Bradshaw (142) grew by 8 attorneys and Smith Anderson (137) grew by four attorneys, maintaining their spots at sixth and seventh place. They were followed by...

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