Our attorneys

Martha Geer

Senior Counsel

Judge Martha Geer has a combination of experience that few attorneys possess and clients find invaluable. She has practiced for more than two decades as a respected litigator and appellate advocate and served for more than 13 years as a rarely-reversed appellate judge. As a trial lawyer and board-certified appellate specialist, Judge Geer is known for obtaining cutting-edge and precedent-setting victories in a diverse set of practice areas, including consumer protection, ERISA, environmental, securities, labor and employment law, antitrust and trade regulation, contingent commercial litigation, and civil rights litigation.

Judge Geer received her B.A. summa cum laude from Bryn Mawr College and her J.D. with high honors from the University of North Carolina School of Law where she was a Morehead Fellow (a merit-based full scholarship) and served as Managing Editor of the North Carolina Law Review.

Following law school, Judge Geer joined Paul Weiss, one of the top law firms in the country where she represented corporate clients in class actions, shareholder litigation, and commercial disputes. Subsequently, she was a partner with two leading North Carolina plaintiffs’ firms (a founding member of the second firm) and represented plaintiffs in a wide range of complex civil litigation, including both class actions and individual cases.

She was first elected to the North Carolina Court of Appeals in 2002. In 2010, because of her reputation as a fair and impartial judge, she garnered strong bipartisan support that resulted in her winning re-election by a 20-point margin. During her tenure on the Court, Judge Geer heard more than 3,800 appeals, authored more than 1,350 opinions, and had her opinions reversed less than 2% of the time. She left the Court of Appeals to become a partner at Cohen Milstein Sellers & Toll LLP, a leading plaintiffs’ class action firm, and founded its Raleigh office. In October 2019, she joined Whitfield Bryson LLP.

Judge Geer is a highly sought-after teacher of continuing education programs for both judges and lawyers. As a trial and appellate lawyer, she has been regularly recognized in The Best Lawyers in America, most recently (2018, 2019, and 2020 eds.) in the areas of appellate practice and mass tort/class actions. Prior to joining the bench, she was selected by Business North Carolina as one of North Carolina’s “Legal Elite.”