Meet Bruce A. Elmore, Jr.
When he was growing up, there was never much doubt in Bruce A. Elmore, Jr.’s mind about the career path he intended to follow. His father, Bruce A. Elmore, Sr., was a prominent Asheville trial lawyer and state legislator, and his maternal grandfather and an uncle were also attorneys.
Bruce was 10 years old when he first saw a trial — his father, before a jury and a judge — and at age 14 he’d begun working in his father’s firm on occasion and during the summer.
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Bruce headed to the University of North Carolina at Chapel Hill, focused on becoming a lawyer as soon as possible. He received both his undergraduate degree and his J.D. at UNC. Bruce became a lawyer after completing his second year of law school and passing the bar exam — the final year of a program that made that possible — and returned to Asheville in 1976 to join his father’s firm.
More than 40 years later, Bruce has compiled a stellar record following in his father’s footsteps as a prominent plaintiff’s attorney representing the working people of western North Carolina. He has secured millions of dollars in recoveries for injured clients and has been named one of America’s Top 100 Attorneys. Bruce has also been selected to Martindale-Hubbell’s Bar Register of Preeminent Attorneys in North Carolina in the field of personal injury.
Bruce’s father died in 2009. In recent years, Bruce had maintained a solo practice. But he and attorney Ruth Smith, who was also working solo, decided to join forces to create The Elmore and Smith Law Firm, PC in early 2019.
The two lawyers have had a professional relationship since 2002, when they were both involved in the legal resolutions of a tragic jail fire in Mitchell County that claimed the lives of nine inmates. Each represented the estates of two of the victims, and they maintained contact ever since.
Truck Accident Case Settlement for a family suffering multiple serious injuries in a tractor-trailer crash
Motorcycle Accident Compensation for a crash victim who suffered a serious fracture to the leg
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More Verdicts & SettlementsThe purpose in creating the new firm, Bruce says, is to offer clients personalized service along with the amenities one might expect from a larger firm.
“They get us,” he says. “And we have been fortunate that we have been successful enough that we can offer much of what larger plaintiffs firms can offer. For instance, we have relationships with the experts that you would need if you have a serious case.”
“I genuinely like helping people,” he says. “Oftentimes, because of an injury, clients literally don’t know what to do. They don’t know how they’re going to make their rent or their mortgage payment, how they’re going to pay for their children’s education, or medical bills. So when you’re able to secure a recovery that puts them in a position where they can survive, that’s genuinely rewarding.”
Bruce has always sought to share his professional knowledge with his peers through speaking engagements. He’s also spoken about legal subjects to non-lawyer audiences, as he did in 2018 when he taught a six-week lecture series on the U.S. Constitution sponsored by the League of Women Voters and the YWCA. In addition, Bruce has been active in the American Civil Liberties Union, having served as president of the state organization, on its legal committee, and on the board of the western North Carolina chapter.
He counts motorcycling as one of his favorite non-work pursuits and also enjoys tennis, hiking, camping, and travel.
- University of North Carolina at Chapel Hill, B.A., 1974
- University of North Carolina School of Law, J.D., 1976
- North Carolina, 1976
- The Buncombe County Bar Association
- North Carolina State Bar
- North Carolina Academy of Trial Lawyers
- Association of Trial Lawyers of America
- Million Dollar Advocates Forum
- Chapter of the American Civil
- Law Dragon Top 500 Leading Lawyers in America
- Marquis Who’s Who in America
Their efficiency, attention to detail are like no other I have ever experienced. If you want the very best, I would give them a call. — William Moore
