Practice Areas
- Appellate Practice
- Construction
- Employment Litigation
- Environmental
- ERISA & Benefits
- Financial Services & Insolvency Litigation
- Intellectual Property Litigation
- Litigation
Education
- B.A., Appalachian State University, 1991
- J.D., Vanderbilt University, 1994
Bar & Court Admissions
- North Carolina, 1994
Other Areas of Law
- Commercial Litigation
- Real Property Litigation
- Municipalities
- Constitutional/First Amendment Law
Jeffrey (Jeff) M. Young
Jeff Young is a trial lawyer in the Triangle office, handling business disputes of all types. He has first chair bench and jury trial experience in both federal and state trial courts. He has also handled evidentiary hearings and trials before various administrative agencies (both state and federal). Mr. Young has prosecuted appeals to the North Carolina Court of Appeals and Supreme Court, and the United States Courts of Appeal for the Fourth and Federal Circuits (Government contract matters).
He works to identify, upfront, ways to resolve matters short of trial (if possible). At the same time, his significant trial experience allows him to efficiently prepare a case for trial if necessary.
In recent years, Mr. Young has focused his trial and disputes work on four general areas. These include:
Contract, construction and other commercial matters
- UCC contracts for the sale of goods
- Services agreements
- Carmack amendment claims relating to damage to or destruction of ocean, rail and truck freight
- Construction claims, with particular knowledge of disputes related to the construction, operation and maintenance of:
- power plants
- electrical power transmission
- distribution equipment
Among other cases, Mr. Young recently obtained a favorable settlement from a railroad for damaging a multi-million dollar transformer.
ERISA Litigation
- Defending claims by employees (or former employees) for benefits under employer sponsored Plans
- Defending or prosecuting claims against various ERISA fiduciaries (plan sponsors, administrators and trustees) for different types of alleged malfeasance in managing the assets of ERISA plans
Mr. Young spent two years successfully defending an ERISA trustee from $10,000,000 in claims by plan participants.
Intellectual Property Litigation
- Defending and prosecuting patent, trademark and copyright claims and representing a wide variety of clients in these areas, including:
- game companies
- hip hop artists
- business software firms
Mr. Young recently was part of a team of lawyers defending a national developer of video games from a patent infringement claim, and led the effort to locate invalidating prior art that resulted in the case settling favorably.
Government Contracts
- Obtaining and managing supply and construction contract work with federal, state and local governments and with handling claims against Government agencies
- He has handled trials before the Boards of Contract Appeals, Miller Act bond claims, appeals to the United States Court of Appeals for the Federal Circuit. Jeff has successfully prosecuted large ($500,000+) Miller Act claims on behalf of government contractors.
Recently, Mr. Young has been heavily involved in the Iraq reconstruction effort. He has counseled entities on the risks (and how to mitigate them) of doing business in Iraq, as well as helping contractors with claims arising from their activities there.
Of Note
Mr. Young's personal interests range from collecting (and playing, badly) vintage guitars to racing sports cars in the Sports Car Club of America's Improved Touring class. Jeff also likes to hike, having done multi-day trips in the Grand Canyon, Zion, Bryce, Glacier and Great Smokies National Parks. If you want to talk guitars, sports car racing, or hiking, he will always make time for you.
Professional Affiliations
- American Bar Association
- North Carolina Bar Association: Young Lawyer's Division, Chair, Arts & Entertainment Committee, 1998-1999
- Wake County Bar Association: Young Lawyer's Division, Executive Committee