Five Attorneys from Wall Esleeck Babcock Listed in Best Lawyers
WINSTON-SALEM, N.C. (SEPTEMBER 21, 2010) – Five attorneys – John W. Babcock, Michael L. Drye, Robert E. Esleeck, James D. Wall and Karen Wilson – of the law firm of Wall Esleeck Babcock LLP were recently selected by their peers for inclusion in The Best Lawyers in America® 2011 (Copyright 2010 by Woodward/White, Inc., of Aiken, S.C.). All five are partners at Wall Esleeck Babcock.
Since its inception in 1983, Best Lawyers has become universally regarded as the definitive guide to legal excellence. Because Best Lawyers is based on an exhaustive peer- review survey in which more than 39,000 leading attorneys cast almost 3.1 million votes on the legal abilities of other lawyers in their practice areas, and because lawyers are not required or allowed to pay a fee to be listed, inclusion in Best Lawyers is considered a singular honor. Corporate Counsel magazine has called Best Lawyers “the most respected referral list of attorneys in practice.”
Babcock was listed in the corporate law and mergers & acquisitions categories; Drye was listed in the mergers & acquisitions section; Esleeck was listed in the corporate law and mergers & acquisitions categories; Wall was listed in the corporate law and health care sections; and Wilson was listed in the corporate law category.
Babcock has extensive experience in corporate, tax and securities law matters, mergers and acquisitions and commercial business transactions. He has served as an adjunct professor of law at Wake Forest University for several years. Babcock also has served as secretary of the North Carolina Bar Association’s Business Law Section and as a council member of the Business Law Section. He is a member of the North Carolina Bar Association, in both the tax and business law sections. Babcock graduated from the University of Michigan-Dearborn in 1982, with distinction, with a bachelor of science in administration. He received his J.D. in 1985 from the Wake Forest University School of Law, where he graduated magna cum laude, and an LL.M. in Taxation from New York University in 1987.Drye focuses his practice on the representation of companies of all sizes with respect to mergers, acquisitions and dispositions. He devotes a significant portion of his practice to advising clients on entity formation, debt and equity financing, and the structure and formation of joint ventures. Drye has advised both public and private companies on a wide range of issues related to corporate governance, including the fiduciary obligations of directors, director independence and the structures and compositions of their boards of directors. He holds an AV rating from Martindale-Hubbell and is a member of the North Carolina Bar Association, Business Law Section, and the Forsyth County Bar Association. Drye received a J.D. degree from the University of North Carolina at Chapel Hill in 1990 and a B.S. in Business Administration (concentration in accounting) degree from the University of Central Florida in 1978.
Esleeck has extensive experience in corporate law, mergers, acquisitions, dispositions and commercial transactions. As head of the corporate finance department in the Winston-Salem office of Kilpatrick Stockton, he managed bank, public and private debt and equity financings, asset and stock acquisitions and dispositions by public and private companies. Esleeck is a Certified Superior Court Mediator by the North Carolina Dispute Resolution Commission. He was appointed to a three-year term on The Educational Foundation Board of Advisors of the University of North Carolina in 2008 and served as an executive-in-residence at Salem College from 2000-2006, where he taught business law, communications law and corporate finance. He is a certified mediator. Esleeck is a Phi Beta Kappa graduate of the University of North Carolina at Chapel Hill, where he earned a B.S. in business administration in 1975, and a master’s in business administration and a J.D., both in 1979.
Wall has vast experience in counseling corporate and healthcare clients in significant contractual relationships, including relationships with employees (non-compete and confidentiality issues), independent contractors, and vendors. A certified mediator, Wall has been recognized as a Legal Elite by Business North Carolina magazine. He holds an AV rating from Martindale-Hubbell. Wall was appointed to the Executive Council of the Health Law Section of the North Carolina Bar Association in 2008. Wall is a 1986 graduate of the College of William and Mary, where he was elected to Beta Gamma Sigma, the national business honor society, and is a 1989 graduate of the University of Virginia School of Law.
Wilson’s practice focuses on estate planning, estate administration, corporate and tax law. She is a Certified Public Accountant. Wilson holds an AV rating from Martindale- Hubbell and has served on the board of trustees of the Winston-Salem Estate Planning Council. She also has served multiple terms on the Wake Forest University Planned Giving Council. Wilson received a J.D. degree cum laude from Wake Forest University School of Law in 1985 and a B.S. degree, also from Wake Forest University, in 1982. She has served as an Adjunct Professor at the Wake Forest University Babcock School of Management, where she taught “Federal Taxes and Management Decisions” to M.B.A. students.
Based in Winston-Salem, Wall Esleeck Babcock LLP is a boutique law firm that combines extensive legal experience with personalized attention to clients. The firm focuses its practice in the areas of corporate law, including mergers and acquisitions, healthcare law, trusts and estate planning, taxation, mediation and commercial real estate.