David F. Kirby

Founding Partner

About David Kirby

Attorney David Kirby is consistently recognized as one of the most outstanding and accomplished trial lawyers in the United States. Following in the footsteps of his esteemed father, the former State Senator J. Russell Kirby, David is also one of the most respected and well-liked attorneys in North Carolina.

Over the last 25 years, David has successfully handled high-profile cases, ranging from product liability and catastrophic personal injury to workplace accidents and injuries. His cases and verdicts have been featured on CNN, 20/20, Dateline NBC, and other national media outlets. In 1997, David and his law partner, John Edwards, secured the largest jury verdict ever awarded in a personal injury case in North Carolina on behalf of the family of Valerie Lakey, a 5-year-old Raleigh girl who was critically injured by a defective swimming pool drain. The following year, David won the national Steven J. Sharp Public Service Award for his role in representing the Lakey family.

Education

University of North Carolina School of Law, J.D. (1977)
University of North Carolina (1973)

Supporting His Community

David Kirby serves on the Board of Directors of the Wade Edwards Foundation and the North Carolina Advocates for Justice. He is also a past president and former board member of the children’s advocacy group, Wake Up For Children. In 2005, he was named the Easter Seals UCP Philanthropist of the Year for his aid to children with special needs. In the past, he has served on the boards of the Wake County Bar Association and the North Carolina Museum of Natural Sciences. David is a member of the Board of Governors of the University of North Carolina School of Law and was the founding donor of the school’s J. Russell Kirby Public Service Scholarship.

David is a former Sunday school teacher and an active member of Edenton Street United Methodist Church. He is married to Lyn Kirby and has three children: Emily, James, and Winston Kirby.

Notable Cases

$30,900,000 settlement (following a $25 million verdict) — 5-year-old girl seriously injured after being trapped on a defective drain at a neighborhood pool.
$10,750,000 settlement — Deaths of two children and brain injury to a third following a truck wreck.
$8,300,000 verdict — Wrongful deaths of two boys killed in a bus accident.
$8,100,000 settlement — Wrongful death of a father of three following a highway wreck.
$7,900,000 settlement — Deaths of two people when an armed disgruntled worker returned to the jobsite (national record).
$6,650,000 settlement — Wrongful deaths of three family members killed on Christmas Day due to a defectively built section of highway.
$5,350,000 settlement — Law enforcement officer killed in a tractor-trailer wreck.
$5,250,000 settlement — Backseat passenger partially paralyzed following a motor vehicle collision.
$5,000,000 jury verdict — $3.5 million for wrongful death and $1.5 million for emotional distress after an 11-year-old boy was struck and killed by an elderly driver as his father watched.
$4,700,000 settlement — Wrongful death of a college student during “hell week” hazing.
$4,600,000 verdict — Woman suffered a brain injury after being struck by a repo wrecker.
$4,600,000 settlement — Wrongful death of a 3-year-old and injuries to both parents in a tractor-trailer crash.
$3,750,000 settlement — Worker seriously injured after being struck by a truck.
$2,350,000 settlement — Family awarded damages after nondisclosure during the adoption process resulted in the assault and abuse of their young daughter.
$1,350,000 settlement — Driver who struck a parked tractor-trailer suffered an amputation of the left arm.

Awards

David Kirby is a member of The Inner Circle of Advocates, an organization of the 100 top plaintiffs’ lawyers from around the country. He is listed in Best Lawyers in America and, in 1996, was named Lawyer of the Year by the national publication, Lawyers Weekly USA. In 2016, he was named a Lawyer of the Year in Raleigh for Medical Malpractice by Best Lawyers in America, the same publication named him Lawyer of the Year in Raleigh for Plaintiff’s Personal Injury for its 2017 edition and Lawyer of the Year in Raleigh for Plantiff’s Product Liability Litigation in 2018.

David is a Fellow in the American College of Trial Lawyers and a Fellow in the International Society of Barristers. Additional honors and accolades include being named among Business North Carolina magazine’s Legal Elite, Lawdragon’s Top 500 Plaintiff Lawyers in U.S., and North Carolina Super Lawyers: Top 10 Lawyers in North Carolina, as well as being a Lifetime Inductee in the William Horn Battle Society of the University of North Carolina School of Law.

In addition to being a frequent lecturer on motor vehicle negligence and damages in personal injury and wrongful death cases, David is also a guest lecturer at the UNC and Campbell University schools of law.

Best Lawyers in America, 2025
- Medical Malpractice Law – Plaintiffs
- Personal Injury Litigation – Plaintiffs
- Product Liability Litigation – Plaintiffs
Named as a Top 10 Lawyer on the 2024 North Carolina Super Lawyers Top List
Named as a Top 25 Lawyer on the 2024 Raleigh Super Lawyers Top List
Lawyer of the Year, 2024
- Plaintiff’s Personal Injury
- Plaintiff’s Product Liability
Best Lawyers in America, 2024
- Medical Malpractice Law – Plaintiffs
- Personal Injury Litigation – Plaintiffs
- Product Liability Litigation – Plaintiffs
Best Lawyers in America, 2023
- Medical Malpractice Law – Plaintiffs
- Personal Injury Litigation – Plaintiffs
- Product Liability Litigation – Plaintiffs
Named into the Lawdragon Hall of Fame 2022
Named as a Top 25 Lawyer on the 2022 Raleigh Super Lawyers Top List
2022 Super Lawyers 15-year Milestone Award Recipient
Best Lawyers in America, 2022
- Personal Injury Litigation – Plaintiffs
- Product Liability Litigation – Plaintiffs
- Medical Malpractice Law – Plaintiffs
Super Lawyers, 2021
- Medical Malpractice
- Personal Injury: General
- Personal Injury: Products
Best Lawyers in America, 2011
- Medical Malpractice Law – Plaintiffs
- Personal Injury Litigation – Plaintiffs
- Product Liability Litigation – Plaintiffs