January 2006

January 14, 2006
Shelby, NC.

Law & Politics, a national attorney-led research team, in conjunction with The Charlotte Magazine, has named O. Max Gardner III of Shelby as one of the 2006 North Carolina “Super Lawyers.” Super Lawyers is a comprehensive and diverse listing of outstanding attorneys, representing a wide range of practice areas, firm sizes and geographic locations. Only 5 percent of the lawyers in each state or region are named Super Lawyers. Law & Politics performs the polling, research and selection of Super Lawyers in a process designed to identify lawyers who have attained a high degree of peer recognition and professional achievement.

Each year Law & Politics sends a ballot to all of the active lawyers in North Carolina who have been in practice for five years or more. The ballot asks lawyers to nominate the best attorneys they’ve personally observed in action. The intent is to discourage votes based purely on reputation. Lawyers may nominate others in their firm, but only if they nominate an equal or greater number of attorneys from other firms. Each vote which a candidate receives carries a point total, with votes from lawyers outside the nominee’s firm weighted greater than votes from within the firm.

The 2006 nominees are grouped into more than 60 practice areas. Those nominees with the highest point totals from each practice area are invited to serve on the blue ribbon panel. Each blue ribbon panel then reviews and scores a list of nominees from their primary practice area. Throughout the selection process, Law & Politics meets and corresponds with hundreds of law firms and thousands of lawyers in North Carolina to identify the top lawyers in the State.

The Law & Politics attorney-led research team actively searches for outstanding attorneys to complement the statewide survey of lawyers. The research team evaluates prospective candidates on more than a dozen indicators of peer recognition and professional achievement as a supplement to the balloting and blue ribbon review panel. Civic service and pro bono activities are also considered.

Mr. Gardner received his undergraduate degree from the University of North Carolina at Chapel Hill in 1969 and graduated with high honors from the UNC School of Law in 1974. He was a member of the North Carolina Law Review, President of the Student Bar Foundation and was elected to the Order of the Coif. Following graduation, he served as Senior Law Clerk to the Hon. William H. Bobbitt, the late Chief Justice of the North Carolina Supreme Court, and to the Hon. J. William Copeland, an Associate Justice. He worked as an Associate with Smith Moore in Greensboro until 1977, when he opened a consumer bankruptcy law practice in Shelby.

Gardner has been the attorney of record in numerous landmark cases including Myrtle Marshall vs Spindale Savings, Marjorie White vs Duke Medical School, and the Shelby Yarn Employees litigation. Gardner represented more than 650 former employees of Shelby Yarn who filed an involuntary Chapter 7 against their employer and subsequently recovered more than $2,000,000.00 in damages from the former officers and directors.

Gardner was named the Outstanding Consumer Lawyer of 2004 by the National Association of Consumer Bankruptcy Lawyers and was elected a Member of the North Carolina Legal Elite by Business North Carolina in December of 2004 and again in December of 2005. He is a long-time member of National Association of Consumer Bankruptcy Lawyers and the National Association of Consumer Advocates. He is a frequent national speaker on many topics of interest related to consumer bankruptcy law. He is recognized as one of the leading lawyers in America in the area of Predatory Mortgage Servicing in consumer bankruptcy cases.

Gardner is the Grandson of former North Carolina Governor, O. Max Gardner, and he is the Grandnephew of another former North Carolina Governor and U. S. Senator, Clyde R. Hoey. His Grandfather also served as Under-Secretary of the Department of the Treasury and as the United States Ambassador to Great Britain during the Truman Administration. Gardner and his wife, Victoria, currently reside at Historic Webbley, their 1852 home located in the Historic District of Central Downtown Shelby, North Carolina. They spend most weekends at Lizmere, their farm located in Northwester Cleveland County deep in the heart of the South Mountains. He is the Father of three children, the late Max IV, Webb and Sarah and has two Grandsons, Oliver and Zane. Max and Victoria raise English King Charles Cavalier Spaniels at Lizmere.

End of Release