Robinson Bradshaw’s John R. Wester Again Recognized By Benchmark Appellate

Charlotte Firm Named One of Four ‘Recommended’ Appellate Litigation Firms In North Carolina

John R. Wester, a litigation partner with Robinson Bradshaw, is included in the second annual edition of Benchmark Appellate, a definitive new reference guide that recognizes leading appellate litigation firms and attorneys.

Wester, who was in Benchmark Appellate’s inaugural rankings last year, is one of 10 attorneys identified as Fourth Circuit litigation stars in North Carolina in 2012.

Robinson Bradshaw again is one of four “Recommended” North Carolina firms included in this year’s rankings.

Benchmark Appellate is a sister publication of Benchmark Litigation, a research guide that identifies leading U.S. trial attorneys and firms at local and national levels, and was launched in 2011 to provide a forum offering Benchmark’s analysis relative to appellate lawyers.

Two of Wester’s cases have reached the U.S. Supreme Court, including his successful defense as lead counsel for Ford Motor Co. in Ford Motor v. Equal Employment Opportunity Commission, establishing national precedent for terminating employer damages in discrimination cases. In the class action suit, Hyatt v. Heckler, a case Robinson Bradshaw took as pro bono publico counsel, rulings by the Supreme Court and the lower federal courts granted the right to new hearings for some 150,000 North Carolinians to secure disability payments unlawfully denied by the federal government.

Wester has extensive experience in the U.S. Court of Appeals, the North Carolina Supreme Court and the North Carolina Court of Appeals, arguing business disputes, corporate governance, securities regulation, ERISA and constitutional issues. He is a Fellow of the American College of Trial Lawyers and served as president of the North Carolina Bar Association in 2009-10.

A Morehead Scholar at the University of North Carolina, Wester graduated with high honors from Duke Law School, where he was Note and Comment Editor of the Duke Law Journal.