McGuireWoods again has been named a North Carolina Powerhouse by the legal news service Law360, which recognized the firm for significant litigation victories and corporate transactions and highlighted the recent addition of top-tier partners who previously served in high-level government positions. Law360 profiled the firm in a Sept. 2, 2025, story.
This marks the second year in a row McGuireWoods earned Law360’s North Carolina Powerhouse honor for exemplary work and for being on the leading edge of legal trends in the state.
The firm won plaudits for significant litigation wins, including a victory at the U.S. Court of Appeals for the Fourth Circuit for client Red Apple Development LLC. The July 2024 decision ended a five-year legal battle over a failed real estate development deal, a dispute that included a civil trial at the height of the COVID-19 pandemic.
Brian Kahn, managing partner of McGuireWoods’ Charlotte office, led a team of McGuireWoods attorneys who represented Red Apple at trial and throughout the appeal. In Law360’s story, he recalled wearing a face shield for opening statements and closing arguments in the Charlotte Division of the Western District of North Carolina in spring 2021.
“As I understand it, this was the very first COVID civil trial — maybe in the United States,” he said.
Law360 also spotlighted McGuireWoods’ nationally recognized private equity industry team, which advised North Carolina-based investment firms on major deals in 2024 and 2025. McGuireWoods assisted Falfurrias Management Partners in closing its sixth middle-market private equity fund, Falfurrias Capital Partners VI, with $1.35 billion in investor commitments in March 2025. McGuireWoods also advised Falfurrias on the sale of portfolio company Sauer Brands to Advent International in February 2025.
In an interview with Law360, Charlotte partner Chris Nesbit said Falfurrias secured investor commitments for its sixth fund in just a few months.
“With other funds, it often takes one or two years to raise,” said Nesbit, who has represented Falfurrias since 2008.
Law360 noted the addition of three Raleigh partners who came to McGuireWoods in 2025 after serving in high-level government posts — Michael Easley Jr., former U.S. attorney for the Eastern District of North Carolina; Charlotte Mitchell, former chair of the North Carolina Utilities Commission; and former North Carolina Solicitor General Ryan Park.
Easley, who spent 11 years at McGuireWoods before his appointment as U.S. attorney, said he returned to the firm because competitors “didn’t have anywhere near the well-rounded bench necessary to service the core drivers of North Carolina’s economy the way that McGuireWoods can.”
“One of the most incredible things about it is the frenetic energy with which this team works and the hunger with which we insist on growing our client relationships and client base,” Easley said.