Prominent Litigator Mark Merritt Returns to Robinson Bradshaw

Mark Merritt rejoins Robinson Bradshaw today, where he was a litigator for 33 years prior to serving as vice chancellor and general counsel of the University of North Carolina at Chapel Hill.

A former president of the North Carolina State Bar and the Mecklenburg County Bar, Merritt is a highly regarded trial attorney. His broad range of business litigation experience includes antitrust, complex, class action and shareholder litigation. He has represented clients in governmental investigations, including civil and criminal investigations conducted by federal antitrust agencies and investigations by the Securities and Exchange Commission.

Merritt's many accolades include recognition in The Best Lawyers in America® and in Business North Carolina's Legal Elite Hall of Fame, and the North Carolina Bar Association's H. Brent McKnight Renaissance Lawyer Award. Merritt is a Fellow of the American College of Trial Lawyers, the International Society of Barristers and the American Bar Foundation.

For the past two years, Merritt led UNC-Chapel Hill through some of the most pressing legal challenges in its history. He provided invaluable counsel to the administration, the Board of Trustees, faculty and staff on legal matters involving or affecting the institution, and led outside counsel on all cases and issues. He also served as a liaison with the Office of the President of the University of North Carolina System, the state Attorney General's Office and other authorities on legal issues affecting Carolina's campus.

"I look forward to applying the knowledge I've gained in higher education law to benefit Robinson Bradshaw's clients and higher educational institutions across the country," Merritt said.

Merritt was a Morehead Scholar (now Morehead-Cain) at UNC-Chapel Hill and graduated with a degree in economics and political science in 1979. He earned his law degree from the University of Virginia, where he was editor-in-chief of the Law Review. After graduating from law school, Merritt clerked for the Honorable John M. Wisdom on the U.S. Court of Appeals for the Fifth Circuit.