Richard Harper

Education

• • • J.D., Campbell University School of Law
      • Law Review
      • Moot Court
      • Howard Christian Citizenship Award
      • Wiggins Scholarship
    • B.A. in History, University of North Carolina at Chapel Hill
      • Dean’s List

Experience

• • • Deputy Commissioner, North Carolina Industrial Commission: 1987 to 1989
    • Private practice of law: 1981 to 1987; 1989 to 2018

Professional Honors and Recognitions

• • • N.C. State Bar Board Certified Specialist in Workers’ Compensation Law: 2000 to present
    • Best Lawyers in America: 2007-2019 in Workers’ Compensation
    • 2019: Asheville Area “Lawyer of the Year” in Workers’ Compensation Law – Claimants
    • 2016: Asheville Area “Lawyer of the Year” in Workers’ Compensation Law – Claimants
    • North Carolina Super Lawyers: 2008 – 2012, 2016-2017, 2019

Professional Memberships and Bar Association Activities

• • • North Carolina Advocates for Justice:
      • Membership Vice-President: 2005-2006
      • Workers’ Compensation Section Chairman: 2001-2003
      • Executive Committee: 2005-2006
      • Legislative Committee: 2011-2012
    • Workplace Injury Litigation Group (WILG)
      • Member of Executive Board
    • National College of Workers’ Compensation Lawyers
      • One of first 10 N.C. lawyers chosen for induction

Selected Publications and Presentations

• • Authored “Chapter 9: Medical Compensation,” in North Carolina Workers’ Compensation Law: A Practical Guide to Success at Every Stage of a Claim (Johnson & Cammarono eds., LexisNexis 3rd ed. 2016).
  • NCAJ 16th Annual Workers’ Comp Roundtable – sponsored by NC Advocates of Justice in Raleigh, NC on March 4, 2011. Prepared and presented paper entitled “Annuities: When They Are Beneficial and When They Should Be Avoided”
  • “Navigating Claims Through the Industrial Commission” – sponsored by NC Advocates of Justice in Raleigh, NC on May 7, 2010. Prepared paper and oral presentation on “Legal Aspects of Work Restrictions and Limitations”
  • “NCAJ Workplace Torts Seminar” – sponsored by NC Advocates of Justice in Chapel Hill, NC on December 5, 2008. Prepared and presented paper entitled “Handling Complex Rating Cases – Is N.C. Gen. Stat. Sect. 97-31 Your Most Favorable Remedy?”
  • “Avoiding CMS, Structured Settlements, Appellate and Industrial Commission Mistakes”– NCATL Workplace Torts and Workers’ Compensation CLE Seminar sponsored by the NC Advocates of Justice (formerly NC Academy of Trial Lawyers) in Chapel Hill, NC on December 7, 2007. Participated in a panel discussion on “Ramifications of the Year’s Most Important Appellate Court Decisions.”
  • “When Mediators Listen, People Talk: Understanding the Law, the Parties and the Process” – 13th Dispute Resolution Section Annual Meeting sponsored by the NC Bar Association Foundation in Cary, NC on May 5, 2006. Presented a lecture/paper with Vachelle Willis entitled “Workers’ Compensation and Legal Update and Medicare”
  • “When Mediators Listen, People Talk: Understanding the Law, the Parties and the Process” – 13th Dispute Resolution Section Annual Meeting sponsored by the NC Bar Association Foundation in Cary, NC on May 5, 2006. Participated in a Round Table Discussion as a panel member on the topic “Was My Face Red – Mediation Mistakes from Which We Can Learn ”
  • “Eleventh Annual Workers’ Compensation Round Table” – sponsored by NCATL in Raleigh, NC on March 4, 2005. Participated in panel discussion and presentation on “CMS and Medicare Set-Asides and Allocations”
  • “NC Academy of Trial Lawyers” (currently NC Advocates for Justice) – Trial Briefs Magazine in May 2002. Wrote article entitled “Barriers to Justice: Telling the Story,” a case involving self-employed worker killed on the job; family unable to recover because of doctrine of contributory negligence in North Carolina
  • “Third Annual Workers’ Compensation Roundtable”– sponsored by NCATL in Raleigh, NC on September 12, 1997. Presented paper entitled “Protecting Future Medicals.”
  • “Workplace Torts and Workers’ Compensation” – sponsored by NCATL in Raleigh, NC on November 18, 1994. Presented paper entitled “Top Ten Things That Plaintiffs’ Lawyers Do To Hurt Their Clients’ Cases”
  • “Overview of Workers’ Compensation Act” – sponsored by NCATL at Research Triangle Park, NC on February 21, 1992. Presented paper entitled “Overview of Workers’ Compensation ”
  • Richard Boyd Harper, Criminal Procedure – Rape Victim Shield Statute, 3 Campbell L. Rev. 113 (1981).