The young & the restless: law firms wrangle over ways to attract and keep talent that's headed to the top of the profession.

• Author: Martin, Edward
• Position: LEGAL ELITE

In his opening statement, James M. Roane III had predicted things would get ugly, and they have. He holds up a photograph--as wide as his outstretched arms--of tangled metal and turns to the jury. "There was a family in this car. The other driver just goes right through the stop sign and plows straight into the oncoming vehicle."

He is persistent but soft-spoken. The crash in Graham was so brutal it broke the safety seat in which a 4-month-old girl was riding in the back seat, hurling her into the windshield. Roane, representing the family, asks her father to testify about the girl, now 7, lagging behind in school and showing signs of permanent brain injury. "She hasn't been right since," the man says, citing impaired speech, blackouts, crying jags and limbs that jerk involuntarily.

When his turn comes, the lawyer representing the other driver and a textile mill--the driver was on the clock--doesn't dispute Roane's description of the accident. But don't jump to conclusions, he tells the jury. "This story has some twists and turns." He attacks the victim's family, suggesting that child abuse, not the wreck, caused the injuries.

In the give-and-take of the videotaped proceedings of this mock trial that will test his arguments before going to trial, nobody notices the fingernail-size scars on Roane's temples. But they help explain the passion he brings to his cases. It's one reason a personal-injury attorney--a specialty some vilify as ambulance chasing--was elected the state's top young lawyer in this year's BUSINESS NORTH CAROLINA Legal Elite.

This is the first year the magazine's annual poll of the state's bar has included a category for lawyers under 40--the profession's young guns. Talented young lawyers are hot properties, which is edging up compensation and stoking competition by firms to hire top law-school graduates and lure away other firms' junior stars--laterals, they call them. Roane's selection might even have a downside for his firm, Greensboro-based Crumley & Associates. "Everybody will be trying to hire him away," his boss, Bob Crumley, jokes.

No young lawyer is exactly like another, so there's no universal formula for attracting and keeping them happy. Some are motivated by money, some by opportunity for advancement. These days, many are drawn to firms that offer them a balance between their work and family. Some, like Roane, want a chance to fight what they consider injustice. He makes a good living but takes pride in helping people get the money he says they need to rebuild their lives. That can be an uphill fight. He found out the hard way.

After graduating from UNC Greensboro in 1992 with a bachelor's in political science, he was drifting along as a bartender by night and running a one-man business cleaning hotel carpets by day. In June 1995, a drunken driver ran a red light in Raleigh, slamming into the car in which Roane was riding. The impact broke his neck, which had to be held in place three months by a halo brace bolted into his skull. That's what caused the scars.

After the drunken driver's insurance company balked at paying for Roane's care, he turned to his own insurer. It insisted it didn't have to pay because, according to its records, he was 65 and should be on Medicare. After Roane convinced the company the records were wrong, it argued he should have gotten preauthorization before going to the hospital. Angry and frustrated, Roane dug through...