Steve Coles

Stephen W. Coles is a Member in the Charlotte and Greensboro N.C. offices, where he focuses his practice on matters related to business disputes.  He serves as the NC deputy for the firm's Business Litigation Practice Group and chair of the firm's Professional Liability Committee.

Coles, who has more than 30 years of experience in business and commercial litigation, has been listed in Best Lawyers in America for civil litigation for over 10 years and has been rated a North Carolina “Super Lawyer” in commercial litigation since its inception in 2006.  He has been named in Business North Carolina Magazine's "Legal Elite" for litigation.       

Mr. Coles has been lead counsel in over 200 medical related lawsuits and represented physicians, hospitals, nurses and manufacturers in cases involving drugs and medical devices, transplants and bone marrow harvestings.  He has defended physicians practicing in all the major specialties.  He has tried over 100 jury trials primarily in the fields of medical injury, commercial disputes, product defects, insurance coverage and contracts. He has represented professionals before the North Carolina Medical Board, North Carolina State Board of Dental Examiners and North Carolina Real Estate Commission. 

He has been a school board attorney for over twenty years and has advised public school boards of education, private educational institutions, and public and private colleges and universities.  He has litigated in state, federal and appellate courts for those clients.  He has also served as the interim County Attorney for Guilford County and assisted Guilford County in performing an assessment study and the hiring of a full-time in-house counsel.  His work in education and county government has included merger of school boards, policy generation, funding disputes, student conduct issues, school assignment, student assignment, teacher tenure and dismissal, general employment, construction and public contracting, premises liability, general liability and First Amendment issues.  He has also been involved in advising municipal and county development entities. 

He earned his undergraduate and law degrees from Wake Forest University. Coles is a member of the North Carolina Bar Association, the American Bar Association, Federation of Defense and Corporate Counsel, Defense Research and Trial Lawyers Association and the National School Boards Association of School Attorneys.  He has served as President of the Wake Forest Alumni Association, Director of the Wake Forest University Athletic Board, Director of the NC Museum of Art, and was a member of the City of Lexington’s Strategic Planning Commission.  He currently serves as Chairman on the Brenner’s Children’s Hospital Advisory Board and on the Wake Forest University Baptist Medical Center Board of Visitors as well as the Lexington Dispatch Empty Stocking Fund.

He served as Co-Chair of the North Carolina Bar Association’s Tort Reform Special Task Force from 2009 until its conclusion in 2012.  He is a former member of the Board of Directors of the North Carolina Association of Defense Attorneys and a former President of Carolina Legal Services, Inc. 

• Named in Best Lawyers in America® in the area of civil litigation for over 10 years (2003-2013)
• Named among NC Super Lawyers® in Business Litigation (2006-2013)
• Named in Business North Carolina's "Legal Elite" for Litigation Law (2009)

• Nexsen Pruet Attorneys Recognized by N.C. Peers; 14 Named to 2013 Super Lawyers® Lists
  Fourteen Nexsen Pruet attorneys have been named "Super Lawyers" in North Carolina.
• Nexsen Pruet Attorneys Named to the 2013 Edition of Best Lawyers in America®
  Nexsen Pruet attorneys have been named to the Best Lawyers in America® list for 2013.
• 62 Attorneys Named to the 2012 Edition of Best Lawyers®
  Nexsen Pruet is proud to announce that 62 of its attorneys have been named to the 2012 edition of Best Lawyers®.
• Attorneys Recognized by North Carolina Super Lawyers®
  Nexsen Pruet is pleased to announce that nine attorneys from the firm’s Greensboro and Charlotte offices have been named to the 2011 list of North Carolina Super Lawyers®. Two attorneys are named as North Carolina “Rising Stars.”
• Fifty-nine Attorneys Selected for Best Lawyers in America®; Five Practice Areas Listed Among Top in the Carolinas
  Nexsen Pruet is proud to announce that 59 of its attorneys have been named to the 2011 edition of Best Lawyers®.
• Nexsen Pruet Moves into New Space in Charlotte
  The firm’s new offices will be located on the 15th floor of the Carillon Building. That’s on the corner of Trade and Poplar Streets.
• "Nexsen Pruet makes uptown office move"
  The Friday, April 23rd edition of the Charlotte Business Journal features an article entitled "Nexsen Pruet makes uptown office move."
• Charlotte and Greensboro Attorneys Recognized by North Carolina Super Lawyers®
  Nine attorneys from the Charlotte and Greensboro offices of Nexsen Pruet have been named to the 2010 list of North Carolina Super Lawyers®. Four more attorneys are named as “North Carolina Rising Stars.”
• Fifty-eight Attorneys Selected for Best Lawyers in America®
  Fifty-eight Nexsen Pruet attorneys will be included in the 2010 edition of The Best Lawyers in America®.
• "Business Milestones" includes item about Steve Coles
  The April 19th edition of the Winston-Salem Journal features an item about Nexsen Pruet attorney Steve Coles in its "Business Milestones" section.
• Steve Coles Appointed Co-Chair of N.C. Bar Tort Issues Task Force
  Steve Coles, a Member (partner) in Nexsen Pruet’s Greensboro office, has been named co-chair of the North Carolina Bar Association Tort Issues Task Force.
• Eight Nexsen Pruet Attorneys Named Among North Carolina’s Super Lawyers®
  Greensboro – Eight attorneys in the Greensboro office of Nexsen Pruet, PLLC have been named to the 2009 list of North Carolina Super Lawyers®.
• Ten Nexsen Pruet Attorneys Named as "Legal Elite"
  Ten Nexsen Pruet attorneys have been named in Business North Carolina magazine’s “Legal Elite.”
• 45 Nexsen Pruet Attorneys Selected for Best Lawyers
  Columbia, SC – Forty-five Nexsen Pruet attorneys will be included in the 2009 edition of The Best Lawyers in America®. The publication also ranks Nexsen Pruet #1 in eleven practice areas in South Carolina and three in North Carolina.
• Stephen Coles Joins Nexsen Pruet's Litigation Practice Group
  Stephen W. Coles has joined Nexsen Pruet as a Member (partner) in the Greensboro, N.C., office, where he will work with the firm’s Business litigation practice group.

• The Carolinas Insurance Litigation Review
  This issue of the Carolinas Insurance Litigation Review includes:

  - "Challenging Policyholder Claims for Bad Faith and Punitive Damages" for North Carolina

  - "Combating Policyholder Bad Faith and Breach of the Covenant of Good Faith and Fair Dealing Claims" for South Carolina