Max Gardner / North Carolina
O. Max Gardner III
Law Offices of O. Max Gardner III, P.C.
Federal Debt Relief Agency
Consumer Protection Unit
PO Box 1000
Shelby NC 28151-1000
704.487.0616 (v)
704.418.2628 (c)
888.870.1647(f)
maxgardner@maxgardner.com
omaxgardner@yahoo.com
http://www.maxgardnerlaw.com
Shelby, N.C. O. Max Gardner III of Shelby has been named for the third consecutive year as one of the top bankruptcy lawyers in North Carolina in a recent poll conducted by Business North Carolina, a state-wide publication. The announcement was made in the January 2007 Edition of the magazine. The "Legal Elite" represent those North Carolina lawyers who their peers believe are the very best in their respective areas of practice. Gardner was selected for his expertise in "consumer bankruptcy law."
Gardner was also selected by Law & Politics and the Charlotte Magazine as one of North Carolina "Super Lawyers" for 2006 and received the same honor for a second consecutive time in January of 2007. The selection process was designed to identify the North Carolina lawyers who have attained a high degree of peer recognition and professional achievement. Super Lawyers are outstanding attorneys in North Carolina, representing a wide range of practice areas, firm sizes and geographic locations. Less than five percent of the licensed and active lawyers in North Carolina have been selected as 2006 Super Lawyers.
Gardner received his undergraduate degree from the University of North Carolina at Chapel Hill in 1969 and graduated with High Honors from the UNC School of Law in 1974, where he was elected to the Order of the Coif and served as President of the Student Bar Foundation. Following graduation, he served as Senior Law Clerk to the Hon. William H. Bobbitt, the late Chief Justice of the North Carolina Supreme Court and after the retirement of the Chief Justice he served as Senior Law Clerk to J William Copeland, a former Associate Justice. He worked as an Associate with Smith Moore in Greensboro for approximately 3 years following his clerkship with the Supreme Court.
Gardner opened his own consumer bankruptcy practice in Shelby in 1977. He is well-known for his aggressive representation of consumer debtors. During the last few years, he has been involved in a number of class action cases against national mortgage servicers and trustees of mortgage-backed securitized trusts. He recently received national attention when he secured a $2.2 million dollar settlement for the former Employees of the Shelby Yarn Company. In that case, Gardner represented the 650 former employees who successfully filed an involuntary Chapter 7 bankruptcy case against their employer. The unique nature of this litigation and the fact that the employees successfully sued management has been the subject of numerous articles in all of the major trade, business and financial publications and in the national media.
Mr. Gardner has also received national recognition for his unparalleled success in pursuing violations of the automatic stay, the discharge injunction, predatory lending practices, and predatory mortgage servicing practices. He is a long-time member of the National Association of Consumer Bankruptcy Attorneys and has been a frequent national speaker and recognized authority on consumer bankruptcy law throughout the United States. He was recognized in April of 2004 as a Champion of Consumer Rights at the Annual meeting of National Association of Consumer Bankruptcy Attorneys in Boston.
Gardner has been featured in many news story over the years that have been published in The Washington Post, the New York Times, the Wall Street Journal, Lawyer's Weekly USA, the Charlotte Observer, the Greensboro News-Record, the Raleigh News & Observer, and The Shelby Star. He was also featured on the front cover of Business North Carolina in September of 2000 in a lead article regarding the Shelby Yarn Employee's litigation. His "Consumer Bankruptcy Boot Camp" program was recently featured in the January 15, 2007 Edition of Business Week, a national publication.
Gardner is the Grandson of former North Carolina Governor and United States Ambassador to Great Britain, O. Max Gardner, and is the Grandnephew of another former North Carolina Governor and United States Senator, Clyde R. Hoey. Gardner and his wife, Victoria, currently reside at Historic Webbley, their 1852 home located in the Historic District of Central Downtown Shelby, North Carolina. They spend most weekends at Lizmere, their farm located in Northwestern Cleveland County deep in the heart of the South Mountains. Max is the Father of three children, the late Max IV, Webb and Sarah and has two Grandsons, Oliver and Zane. Max and Victoria breed and show their beloved English Cavalier King Charles Spaniels at Lizmere.