Three McGuireWoods Charlotte Partners Honored as North Carolina ‘Leaders in the Law’

October 26, 2018

North Carolina Lawyers Weekly has selected McGuireWoods Charlotte partners Brad Kutrow , Raj Natarajan and David Whelpley for its 2018 Leaders in the Law list, honoring lawyers’ contributions to the legal community. Honorees were recognized at an Oct. 17 awards banquet and profiled in a special North Carolina Lawyers Weekly publication.

Kutrow, co-chair of McGuireWoods’ appeals and issues practice, leads class actions and complex litigation matters for Fortune 100 financial services clients in trial and appellate courts across the country. Under Kutrow’s leadership as past chair of McGuireWoods’ acclaimed Financial Services Litigation Department, the firm earned repeated accolades, including being selected “Law Firm of the Year” for banking and finance litigation by U.S. News-Best Lawyers and a “Litigation Powerhouse” by Law360.

He was founding chair of the North Carolina Bar Association’s Appellate Practice Section and chaired its Appellate Rules Committee, which serves as a liaison between the state’s appellate bench and bar.

Natarajan is chair of McGuireWoods’ highly respected Debt Finance Department, consistently ranked among the nation’s top 10 by Thomson Reuters League Tables and repeatedly named “Law Firm of the Year” for banking and finance law by U.S. News-Best Lawyers. He has negotiated hundreds of syndicated, club and single-lender credit facilities, with an emphasis in credit products for middle-market healthcare, pharmaceutical and medical device companies.

Natarajan is a life fellow of the American Bar Foundation and a graduate of Leadership Charlotte – Class XXXI. He serves on the board of the Council for Children’s Rights and chairs the United Way of Central Carolina’s Basic Needs Committee. He also served as outside general counsel to Raksha, Inc., a south Asian-based domestic abuse prevention organization.

Under Whelpley’s leadership as past chair of the firm’s M&A, energy and private equity transactions team, McGuireWoods was consistently ranked among the top 10 firms for U.S. M&A deals and was named “Law Firm of the Year” by Mergers & Acquisitions magazine. Whelpley leads domestic and international mergers and acquisitions, joint ventures and corporate financings across industries, including SPX Corp.’s recent $189 million acquisition of CUES Inc.

While on the Mecklenburg Bar Foundation’s board of directors, Whelpley was the group’s longtime chair of development and led its annual giving campaigns. He also served as adviser to the North Carolina Center for Non-Profits and the Trust for Public Lands. He regularly assists nonprofit groups with Office of Foreign Asset Control licensing for travel to Cuba.