Each year since 2002, North Carolina lawyers, judges and their peers have voted to decide who are the best lawyers in their respective legal fields. Beginning with the 2007 edition, Family Law was added as a distinct category.  For the third time since 2007, J. Gregory Hatcher was named by Business North Carolina as among the Legal Elite in North Carolina in the field of Family Law. Additionally Laura B. Burt was also named this year for her second appearance as among the Legal Elite.  This award holds special meaning because it is decided by votes from all over the state and only a little more than 3% of the state's lawyers are chosen.  Of the 19,762 active members of the North Carolina State Bar, only 603 were chosen in the various fields of law. Lawyers are not allowed to vote for themselves and could only select partners and associates in their own firms if they also picked people outside of their firm in the same categories.  The votes for lawyers outside of their own firm were given more weight.  In Charlotte, Greg and Laura were two of only thirteen lawyers given this prestigious award in the area of family law. The article is featured in the January 2010 edition of Business North Carolina. http://www.BusinessNC.com/LegalElite    Congratulations Laura and Greg.