Brooks Pierce attorney Collins Saint has been selected as one of the American Bar Association’s 2022 On the Rise – Top 40 Young Lawyers. This award recognizes attorneys who are visionaries and leaders, both professionally and in their community, who are members of the American Bar Association (ABA) and are 36 years of age or younger or received their law license within the last 10 years. The award will be presented at the American Bar Association’s annual meeting in Chicago in August.
“Collins has quickly established themselves as an attorney who is able to advise clients on a number of complicated legal issues, while also giving unselfishly of their time to a number of issues and causes about which she is passionate,” said Reid Phillips, managing partner of Brooks Pierce. “I am delighted to see their dedication to our clients and their work get recognized in this way.”
Saint advises and litigates on behalf of public and private educational institutions and school boards on an array of education law issues, including special education and disability issues, civil rights laws, and tort claims. He also represents businesses in a variety of industries to resolve disputes, litigating in state and federal court when necessary. He has a particular focus on diversity and civil rights issues, including issues related to race, sex, sexual orientation, gender identity, disability, and religion. Saint has provided pro bono legal support in a number of lawsuits related to LGBTQ+ rights across North Carolina, including representing dozens of transgender clients in completing the process to have government recognition of their identity.
Active in the community and the legal profession, Saint is the chair of the Sexual Orientation and Gender Identity Committee of the North Carolina Bar Association (NCBA), Administrative Division Director of the Young Lawyers Division of the NCBA and serves on the NCBAs Task Force on Integration, Equity and Equal Justice. He is the chair of the Sexual Orientation and Gender Identity Committee of the ABA’s Young Lawyers Division and also serves on the Credentials Board, the Leadership Academy Task Force and the National Conferences Team for the Young Lawyers Division of the ABA. Saint serves as co-chair of the board of trustees for Triad Stage, a community arts organization, is the Region V representative to the North Carolina Council of School Attorneys executive committee and a member of the Rose Council at Wake Forest Law School. He has also organized and led 13 name change and gender marker clinics around the state and participated in four others. These clinics have helped more than 200 individuals understand how to legally change their names or gender markers.
Saint has received numerous other awards and accolades including being selected by his peers for inclusion in The Best Lawyers in America “Ones to Watch” for Labor and Employment Law – Management (2021-2022) and Business North Carolina’s Legal Elite in the Young Guns category (2022). He has been named to the North Carolina Pro Bono Honor Society in 2020 and 2022 in recognition of completing more than 50 hours of pro bono service each of those years. In 2021, he was recognized by the University of Alabama College of Education as one of 15 alumni under the age of 40 who are upholding the school’s ideals including fairness and equity, commitment to diversity and a culture of collaboration. Most recently, he has been recognized as one of the Triad Business Journal’s Leaders in Diversity.
