Fox Rothschild LLP congratulates Thomas E. Terrell Jr., who was selected as a 2023 Leader in the Law by North Carolina Lawyers Weekly.

An annual award celebrating lawyers who are “setting the standard” for others, the Leaders in the Law series spotlights those who have made significant contributions to the practice of law in North Carolina by improving the justice system, acting as role models and mentors, and making essential contributions to North Carolina’s legal community and/or the community at large.

Terrell, a partner in the Land Use and Zoning Group, has helped clients successfully navigate land use, zoning and environmental matters in more than 350 counties and municipalities throughout North Carolina, representing a variety of difficult-to-permit industries including mines and quarries, landfills, solar farms, industrial parks and cell towers. He has also handled or consulted on renewable energy projects totaling over 4,000 megawatts of energy in four states and has represented several mining companies on a broad range of land use and regulatory matters in the development of rock quarries, sand and sand rock mining.

North Carolina Lawyers Weekly highlighted Terrell’s key role in re-zoning the approximately 2,000-acre megasite in Randolph County, North Carolina where Toyota is constructing its lithium battery plant.

When asked about his biggest career challenge, Terrell stated that “most governmental practices gravitate to Capital cities,” but he was able to develop a “huge practice footprint from a small firm in High Point and then Greensboro…at a time when land use was a ‘backyard’ practice.”

A longtime leader in the industry, Terrell chaired the North Carolina Bar Association drafting committee that rewrote the statute governing boards of adjustment in 2012 and 2013. He subsequently chaired the Bar Association committee that prepared a comprehensive rewrite of North Carolina’s zoning and land use statutes.

He earned his J.D. from the University of North Carolina School of Law, M.A. from the University of Chicago and B.A. from the University of North Carolina at Chapel Hill.