Elizabeth Pharr McCullough

Background

Elizabeth is the first woman elected to serve as a member of the firm’s Practice Management Committee.  This committee is responsible for the ongoing management decisions relating to daily operations of the Firm. She is a shareholder, serves as a member of the firm’s recruiting committee and is a member of the firm’s medical malpractice defense team. She joined Young Moore & Henderson in 2004 after practicing with LeClair Ryan, P.C. in the medical malpractice/tort defense group in Richmond, Virginia.

Elizabeth advises and defends health care providers in matters involving patient care issues. She has successfully handled numerous medical malpractice cases and has taken many of them to trial. She has obtained numerous defense verdicts in cases of alleged medical malpractice, a few of which are summarized on her “Milestones” page. Many of these cases involved catastrophic injury or death. She also handles and manages the firm’s Section 1983 civil rights litigation involving medical providers and works closely with the North Carolina Attorney General’s office in the defense of those claims. She has successfully handled appeals in the North Carolina Court of Appeals, North Carolina Supreme Court, Virginia Supreme Court, United States Court of Appeals for the Fourth Circuit and the United States Supreme Court. She is a Fellow of the Litigation Counsel of America™.

Practice Areas

• Medical Malpractice Defense
• Nursing Home/Long Term Care Litigation
• Insurance Defense

Education & Bar Admissions

• J.D., Wake Forest University School of Law, 1999
• B.A. with Honors, Davidson College, 1996

Admitted in

• North Carolina, 2004
• Virginia, 1999
• U.S. District Courts for North Carolina
• U.S. District Courts for Virginia
• U.S. Court of Appeals for the 4th Circuit
• U.S. Supreme Court

Awards & Achievements

• Fellow, Litigation Counsel of America™, an invitation-only national trial lawyer honor society, recognizing effectiveness and accomplishment in trial work along with superior ethical reputation.
• Listed in North Carolina Super Lawyers® 2009-2013 in the Rising Stars list, a category for attorneys age 40 and younger, consisting of no more than 2.5% of North Carolina Attorneys.
• Listed in the “Young Guns” category, Business North Carolina’s Legal Elite™, 2009. Selection for this distinction is based on ballots sent to every licensed lawyer in N.C.
• Listed as North Carolina’s Outstanding Young Lawyers™, 2009
• Matters listed in Virginia Lawyer’s Weekly top ten “Biggest Defense Verdicts”
• WFU School of Law National Trial Team, 1997-98, 1999 regional champion

Professional & Civic Activity

• Defense Research Institute
• North Carolina Association of Defense Attorneys
• North Carolina Association for Hospital Risk Managers
• North Carolina Bar Association
• Wake County Bar Association
• Tenth Judicial District Bar
• Member, First Presbyterian Church

Publications & Presentations

• Presenter, “Raising the Bar on Health Care from Behind Bars” at the North Carolina Justice Symposium and at the North Carolina Division of Prison Health Services Medical Leadership meetings, 2011.
• Course Presenter, “Informed Consent,” Professional Advocates Insurance Company.
• Course Presenter, Autumn Care Conference, 2006.

Milestones

• Defense verdict for orthopedic spinal surgeons who were alleged to have caused permanent nerve injury as the result of a misplaced pedicle screw during a spinal procedure.
• Defense verdict for an anesthesiologist who was alleged to have improperly administered medications resulting in the death of the patient.
• Defense verdict for orthopedic shoulder specialists in a case involving a vascular injury during rotator cuff surgery.
• Defense verdict for a general surgeon who was alleged to have failed to diagnose a pulmonary embolism resulting the death of a 35-year-old patient following hernia surgery.
• Defense verdict for an anesthesiologist in a case involving blindness in one eye following use of a horseshoe headrest during spinal surgery.
• Directed verdict/summary judgment granted numerous medical negligence cases during trial.
• Summary judgment granted in more than 60 Section 1983 civil rights claims against health care providers.

Disclaimer: The above information may not necessarily reflect the attorney’s entire record, and the outcome of any particular future matter cannot be predicated on the attorney’s or law firm’s past results.