Nicholas Valaoras

Nick Valaoras is a partner in the firm’s Charlotte office where he has been practicing since 1993.  His practice is focused exclusively on workers’ compensation defense representing employers and insurance carriers.  He is also a Board Certified mediator in workers’ compensation cases.  Nick is a problem solver who enjoys helping his clients identify which cases to defend and which to resolve.  He is a strong advocate of mediation as a way to resolve and settle claims and his years of experience as a mediator have made him an effective negotiator. After growing up in the Chicago suburbs, Nick has called North Carolina home since attending both college and law school at Wake Forest University.  A devoted husband and father, Nick also enjoys coaching youth sports, hiking and camping, and following politics and military history in his free time.

Nick has represented employers and workers’ compensation insurance carriers in evidentiary and appellate hearings before the North Carolina Industrial Commission, North Carolina Court of Appeals and North Carolina Supreme Court since 1993.  Nick has experience in handling traumatic injury by accident cases, occupational disease, repetitive motion disorders, asbestosis, and permanent-total disability claims.  He is active with the Workers’ Compensation Section of the North Carolina Bar Association and served as Section Council Member from 2010 – 2013 and serves on the Cranfill Sumner & Hartzog LLP COVID-19 Response Team.

Articles, Presentations, and Publications

• Nick is a frequent speaker at seminars before workers compensation insurance carriers, employers and rehabilitation professionals on various topics such as Medicare legislation, return to work procedures, occupational diseases, burdens of proof, disability and case law updates.