Robert L Armstrong

I am a lawyer with over 41 years of experience. For my entire career, I have handled only personal injury cases — nothing else. I represent ordinary people, never insurance companies and never corporations.

When I was 22 years old, I was working on an oil rig in the Gulf of Mexico as a roustabout — and later a part-time roughneck on the drilling floor — trying to save for law school tuition. One morning, while boarding a rig from a crew boat, I watched the boom of an enormous crane fall. It killed several men and severely injured many others within a few feet of where I was standing. The boom fell because a cable had not been properly inspected or maintained.

I kept working while I studied. I worked the oil rig through my first semester of law school and, for the next two years, spent long shifts on New York City construction crews — including extensive work on the World Trade Center site. The men I worked alongside are still, quietly, the people I picture when I decide which cases to take.

I was admitted to the New York Bar in 1985 and started practicing personal injury the same year. There was never a non-injury period; personal injury is what I have done, exclusively, since day one. Between 1985 and 1991 I tried many cases in the New York City courts. In 1988 I was admitted to New Jersey, and I moved my practice to North Carolina in 1991. I have been here ever since.

My office is in Wilmington. I focus on eastern North Carolina — New Hanover, Brunswick, Pender, Onslow, Bladen, and Duplin counties — because I know the courts, the insurance adjusters, and the medical providers here. I do not advertise on billboards or by direct mail. Most of my clients come from former clients, other attorneys, and word of mouth. Once a client, always a client. Relationships count.

My job on any case is to understand who you were before you were hurt and who you are now, and to recover the full long-term cost of what happened — not just the bills already on your kitchen table. I will not stop until my clients get results that reflect the losses they have suffered. If you or a family member have been seriously or fatally injured in eastern North Carolina, tell me what happened. The consultation is free. There is no fee unless I win your case.