Prominent lawyer stays on the case.

PositionPeople - Tom Ellis

Tom Ellis is not the retiring type, even though he turned 83 in August. Four months earlier, he left Maupin Taylor & Ellis PA, the Raleigh law firm he formed in 1960, to join union-busting Haynsworth Baldwin Johnson & Greaves LLC.

Greenville, S.C.-based Haynsworth, with eight offices in the Southeast, is picking up the services of the man The News & Observer of Raleigh dubbed "North Carolina's political chess master." Ellis chaired Jesse Helms' four winning U.S. Senate campaigns, headed the 1980 John East and 1992 Lauch Faircloth Senate campaigns and helped Ronald Reagan become president. He also created one of the nation's most successful campaign fundraising organizations.

Now he's playing strategist for the state Republican Party's challenge to the legislative district map. In 2001, Democrats in the General Assembly drew districts that seemed likely to continue their control of the legislature. The Republicans sued. A judge redrew the lines, resulting in GOP gains in the 2002 election. The case is now in the state Supreme Court. Ellis and Tom Farr, lead counsel in the litigation, joined Haynsworth after it agreed to support the case, which Ellis calls "the most important in North Carolina that I've ever been associated with."

Ellis earned a bachelor's in finance from UNC Chapel Hill in 1943...

To continue reading

Request your trial

VLEX uses login cookies to provide you with a better browsing experience. If you click on 'Accept' or continue browsing this site we consider that you accept our cookie policy. ACCEPT