Robert chairs the Financial Services & Securities Enforcement department, focusing on complex business and financial services litigation and trials. He handles “bet-the business” matters and manages multi-front litigation threats, coordinating large teams.
He serves as trusted counselor to companies and individuals faced with crisis and risk, including helping to guide communications and media response. “The right result for the client may or may not include trial. It’s critical to know the client’s business inside and out and understand their business goals.” Robert also advises clients in the motorsports industry, serving as primary outside counsel for the first-ever Drivers Advisory Council in NASCAR.
In his pro bono practice, Robert is routinely appointed to represent indigent criminal defendants and has tried numerous criminal cases to jury verdict. Prior to joining McGuireWoods, Robert clerked for Chief Justice Jean H. Toal on the South Carolina Supreme Court.
- University of South Carolina School of LawJD1997
- University of VirginiaBA1993
Member, North Carolina Bar Association
- Speaker, "Ethics," Current Legal Issues and Trends in Mortgage Origination and Servicing, Mortgage Servicing In-House Counsel Forum, February 4, 2016
- Hon. Jean H. Toal, Supreme Court of South Carolina, 1997-1998
- North Carolina
- South Carolina
- U.S. Court of Appeals for the Fourth Circuit
- U.S. District Court for the District of South Carolina
- U.S. District Court for the Eastern District of North Carolina
- U.S. District Court for the Middle District of North Carolina
- U.S. District Court for the Western District of North Carolina
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Selected for inclusion in The Best Lawyers in America, Commercial Litigation, Woodward/White, Inc., 2022, 2023, 2024, 2025
Selected for inclusion in “Legal 500 United States,” Securities Litigation: Defense, 2021; General Commercial Disputes, 2022-2024
Named to the “Power List: Business Defense,” North Carolina Lawyers Weekly, 2023
Selected for inclusion in America’s Leading Lawyers for Business, Litigation: General Commercial, North Carolina, Chambers USA, 2012, 2013
Named to “40 Under 40,” Charlotte Business Journal, 2009
- Author, "Avoiding Liability During Corporate Dissolution," Bloomberg Law, July 2020
- Author, Subsequent Mortgagee Excused from Face-to-Face Meeting, McGuireWoods Legal Alert, October 14, 2014
- Co-author, Appellate Practice in South Carolina, 2nd ed., South Carolina Bar Continuing Legal Education Division, 2002
- Co-author, Appellate Practice in South Carolina, 1st ed., South Carolina Bar Continuing Legal Education Division, 1999