Justin Outling - Making a Lasting Impact

Pathways to Success

HE LEFT NEW YORK FOR NEW CHALLENGES.

Justin Outling has always looked to the legal profession as a way to make a positive and lasting impact in the lives of others. After law school, a year-long clerkship, and years of building a successful practice in New York City, he realized that he was looking for an opportunity to practice law that had a deeper impact on the lives and businesses of the clients he was serving.

Since coming to Brooks Pierce in 2012, Outling has been able to do just that, diving into litigation that has a clear and direct impact on clients’ businesses and lives. “One of the reasons I enjoy practicing law at Brooks Pierce is the opportunity for lawyers to work together to get a good result so that our clients can continue to provide for themselves and their families,” Outling said.

Another reason that Outling was drawn to Brooks Pierce was the firm-wide focus on community service. He noted that many of the firm’s attorneys were deeply involved in improving the community, serving on boards and providing pro bono counsel. He credits Brooks Pierce colleagues in helping him build connections with organizations that needed his skills, and has paid it forward by doing the same for younger lawyers coming up behind him. He appreciates the firm’s culture of giving back, whether through nonprofit boards or through public service.

“One of the reasons I enjoy practicing law at Brooks Pierce is the opportunity for lawyers to work together to get a good result so that our clients can continue to provide for themselves and their families.”

Outling became part of the long history of Brooks Pierce lawyers serving in public leadership roles when he was elected to the Greensboro City Council in 2015. The appointment has led to multiple opportunities to directly impact his community, including introducing policies to release police officer body-worn camera footage to the public. These policies, designed with input from police, city attorneys, and Brooks Pierce colleagues, helped alleviate community concern over police accountability, and strengthen the City’s faith in its leadership. Outling added, “Those policies represented the contribution that communities can make, and what the attorneys at Brooks Pierce could do to directly impact the community.”

Outling attributes much of his ability to serve as a Greensboro City Councilman to the support of his Brooks Pierce colleagues. “The firm creates a culture of respecting everyone as professionals and allowing them to do what they need to do to provide excellent service to their clients,” he said. He credits that flexibility and trust with his success in balancing the demands of client work and City Council obligations. In deliberately hiring lawyers who are hardworking and have internal drive and focus, Outling said, the firm culture can allow lawyers the flexibility to manage their own daily schedules and handle additional matters that may arise, whether related to community service work, family obligations, or extracurricular pursuits.

Whether through his litigation practice or through community service, Outling said that he is happiest when he’s helping people solve difficult problems. “For me, that’s what it means to be a litigator – using the law to help your clients achieve their goals and make their lives and businesses better.”