May 2016
The Elon Business Law Journal is proud to present this part of a three-part interview series with the current presiding Business Court Judges in North Carolina. We had the privilege of sitting down with Judge Greg McGuire on April 7, 2016 to get his thoughts on several aspects of being a judge and the North Carolina Business Court in general.
Background
Judge McGuire was raised just outside of Rochester, New York. He received his undergraduate degree from Cornell University and his law degree from the University of North Carolina School of Law. In his time away from the bench he enjoys high quality stereo equipment and his large record collection.
Interviewee: Judge Gregory P. McGuire, Special Superior Court Judge for Complex Business Cases
Interviewer: Matt Millisor, Executive Editor for the Business Court Division, Elon University School of Law L’16
MM: What prompted you to go to law school and how did you begin your legal career?
GM: I didn’t always know I wanted to go to law school. It is something I started focusing on in my senior year in college. My undergraduate program of industrial labor relations is very reading and writing intensive and in turn sends a lot of its graduates to law school.
MM: Is that the major the reason why you were involved in employment law?
GM: I think that is the reason why the law firm I began working with was interested in me. I didn’t particularly set out looking for a job in employment law, but it was a natural fit.
MM: You’ve been a judge since October of 2014. What do you most enjoy about being a judge?
GM: The intellectual challenge of deciding the types of cases that we get in our court. I enjoy cases involving complex issues and the reasoning process that ensues. The process of coming to what the law considers a correct and/or just decision is what is most enjoyable.
MM: What best prepared you for becoming a judge and what would make your job easier?
GM: My overall practice background and the fact that I was with a large international law firm at the end of my private practice career. I was called to handle high-level litigation in federal district courts. I believe there are several similarities between federal district courts and the North Carolina Business Court in regards to the briefing process and complexity of the cases.
Well-prepared attorneys who do their homework and preparation before coming into court make my job easier. We commonly see lawsuits where the plaintiff is raising ten or fifteen causes of action, and I think it better to focus on maybe four or five good claims rather than bringing more.
MM: You see a lot of lawyers in your courtroom. What is common among the most successful lawyers who appear before you?
GM: Preparation and brevity. You may have heard very similar answers from the other judges. This is also the same advice I would give to a young attorney. Be prepared. If you have just written a twenty-five page brief with eleven pages of annotated facts, there is no reason to come into court and essentially recite these facts virtually verbatim because I, along with Judges Bledsoe and Gale, have read your briefs and would much rather focus on the issues that are critically important to the case.
MM: Did you ever think about becoming a judge or want to become a judge?
GM: I began thinking about it a year or so, maybe a little more than that, before I got appointed, but it definitely was not something that I thought about when I came out of law school or during my first few years of practice. But after about 25 years I began thinking about it.
MM: What advice would you give to a lawyer who wanted to become a judge?
GM: Save your money while you are in private practice. This is not a job that someone should go into expecting to become wealthy. The judges in our state do not get paid enough for the amount of work that they are asked to do.
MM: What are the most common issues that you see in the Business Court?
GM: A fair number of the cases that we get in this court involve businesses that are in the small to mid-size range where you have family members or business colleagues that are friends. They form a business and do not anticipate future problems. They do not provide in the foundation documents that dictate what to do when somewhere down the line the business becomes successful and there is money to be distributed. This is where the problems arise – the relationships underlying a successful business turning south.
MM: What did you enjoy most about private practice?
GM: I enjoyed work that involved collaboration among the lawyers in my firm. I enjoyed working with other lawyers where I could have another set of eyes and ears to talk through ideas with. When I was flying solo is when I didn’t enjoy the work nearly as much.
As a judge I really enjoy collaborating with my clerks and bouncing ideas off of them. I enjoy clerks that challenge me. In this court, I am very frequently on the phone with the other judges exchanging ideas with them and I enjoy the back and forth. They are constantly raising issues that I hadn’t thought of, or hadn’t thought about in a particular way.
MM: What are some of your best memories from private practice?
GM: I would have to say the successful conclusion of various big cases involving jury trials. You have some appreciation of the work you did as an attorney and the fantastic feeling you get when you prevailed and get to share that feeling with your client. Because I primarily did defense work, it was having a jury agree with you that your client was not liable.
MM: Many would assume that you do not have very many jury trials on the Business Court. What is your experience regarding this assumption?
GM: I had lunch with Judge Bledsoe earlier today and we were just talking about that. Neither of us have had a jury trial actually go to trial; they have all settled on the eve of starting. That most likely goes to the nature of the cases that we get here. They are typically very high stakes or the reality sets in between the parties that normally are friends or family members and neither of them wants to walk out of the courtroom having lost. There is a common saying among judges: “If you want a case to settle, put it on the trial calendar.”
MM: What are the qualities of a great law clerk?
GM: We are presuming that anyone interviewing for a clerk position was successful in law school. I think the main thing is intellectual curiosity. When a clerk genuinely has an interest in what the legal answer is and they care about which argument is correct they tend to stand out. On the other hand, doing just a routine reading and choosing an argument is not ideal. It might be an argument that was not in the briefs that we need to come up with. I enjoy clerks who will challenge or stand for their position even if I do not necessarily agree with them. I currently have two great clerks.
MM: What are your hobbies? What do you do to relax?
GM: I enjoy music. When I have time away from the bench I enjoy my high quality stereo equipment and large record collection.
Those are all the questions we have for you today, Judge McGuire. Thank you kindly for your time and for all of the contributions you’ve made to the great state of North Carolina in both business and law.