Robert E. Harrington Receives Chief Justice’s Professionalism Award

Robinson Bradshaw litigator Robert E. Harrington is a 2025 recipient of the North Carolina Chief Justice’s Professionalism Award. This honor is presented annually to individuals whose contributions have demonstrated the highest commitment to genuine professionalism and the highest standards of legal ethics. Chief Justice Paul Newby presented the award to Harrington at a ceremonial dinner in Raleigh.

“Serving clients as their attorney and counselor and working with fellow members of the bar for more than 35 years has been a great privilege and a rewarding life’s work,” Harrington said.

Harrington has a long history of leadership in the legal profession, including currently serving as president of the North Carolina Bar Association and Foundation. His prior roles include serving as a member of the NCBA board of governors and the NCBF board of directors; president of the Mecklenburg County Bar; a founding co-chair of the Meck Bar’s Diversity and Inclusion Committee; and a member of the North Carolina Commission on the Administration of Law and Justice. Harrington is an emeritus member of the Duke Law School board of visitors, has spent 30 years on the Lawyers’ Committee for Civil Rights Under Law board of directors, and served on the board of Legal Aid of North Carolina.

In the broader community, Harrington has chaired the boards of the Charlotte Mecklenburg Library, the Arts & Science Council and the Levine Museum of the New South. He is currently a board member of the Charlotte Mecklenburg Library Foundation, Opera Carolina and the Young Black Leadership Alliance.

A distinguished litigator at Robinson Bradshaw, Harrington has represented corporate clients and financial institutions in a broad range of complex business disputes throughout his 30-year career. Harrington is a life member of the American Law Institute, a life fellow of the American Bar Foundation and a senior fellow of the Litigation Counsel of America. He is routinely recognized in industry publications like Chambers, among numerous other honors.

Harrington joins his fellow Robinson Bradshaw attorneys Richard A. Vinroot and the late Russell M. Robinson II as recipients of this award.