This lawyer lives for science project.

• Position: Fred Hutchison represents high-tech startup companies

Sparks flew when investors in a biotechnology company wanted to bring in a corporate type to replace the scientist-founder. "That would require him to step back into the lab," Fred Hutchison explains. "He was feeling shunted aside."

As the company's lawyer, Hutchison, 41, wrapped up the legal ends of the move, he says, but I was also talking to people about their feelings."

Just another day at work for Hutchison, a lawyer with Petree Stockton & Robinson in Raleigh and a specialist in dealing with hightech start-ups and their enterprising founders. "All of them believe absolutely that, in the particular area in which they have expertise, there is probably no one in the world who can match them," he says.

His whiz-biz clients have made breakthroughs in areas such as microelectronics, biotechnology and electronic-document retrieval systems. As they grope their way through start-up financing and expansion, Hutchison's role extends beyond legal counsel. He says he is also a mediator, hand holder and, most often, financial adviser. He often helps clients organize presentations for potential investors.

"These technology companies require large amounts of money going in, and usually they are undercapitalized to begin with," he says. "So the process of raising money is very important early on."

The other half of his practice is with...