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Joshua Van Kampen is a multi-award winning employment attorney, solely dedicated to protecting those who have been wronged by their employers. Recognized statewide for his niche specialization in plaintiff-side employment representation, Josh has consistently been ranked one of the Top 100 attorneys in the state of North Caroline by SuperLawyers from 2017-2025, and has been named one of Charlotte’s Top 25 attorneys, across all areas of practice, from 2018-2023 and again in 2025. Josh is proud to be among the youngest attorneys in North Carolina to belong to this elite group and receive these recognitions so consistently. 

 Management Trained
 
 The road to plaintiff-side employment representation began on the opposite side of the negotiation table. Having started his career in Chicago in 1998, Josh cut his teeth at two nationally recognized employment law defense firms: Seyfarth Shaw and Franczek Sullivan. During his six years as a defense attorney, Josh represented companies ranging from Fortune 500s to SMBs, counseling them on matters related to age, race, gender, disability, compensation, litigation avoidance, and sexual harassment training. 

 Plaintiff Focused
 
 From the onset, Josh knew that he sought more from his law career. Despite winning major cases for his defense clients, he felt increasingly dissatisfied by his personal misalignment with the outcomes: working in a profession where success for a client often came at the expense of honest, hardworking people and their families, who simply lacked the resources to adequately defend themselves against a large employer. The emotional toll of feeling like he was defending the wrong party finally led Josh to leave Chicago and move to North Carolina in 2004, forgoing a comfortable salary to start his own firm and transition his practice from defending employers to exclusively representing victims of employment law cases. Today, Van Kampen Law is regarded as one of the most effective and aggressive plaintiff-side employment law firms in the state. Josh’s experience working for large defense firms has proven to be invaluable in shaping the perspective he brings to his plaintiff clients today, allowing him to anticipate defense tactics well in advance, bringing proactive strategies and invaluable opposing perspectives to every client’s case. 


 Heart Centered
 
 After visiting Costa Rica in 2021, Josh had a realization that would profoundly alter his approach towards his vocation, and building his practice. Spending time in unobstructed nature helped reawakened Josh to the truth of his own: that more than an attorney, he sees himself as a brave, compassionate, heart-centered leader and companion to those whom he employs and the clients that he represents. In a profession that beats the heart out of law students and teaches them to think only with their minds, Josh had a vision to build a firm that would blaze the trail for the next generation of heart-centered legal professionals who see their work not only as a livelihood-sustaining, but soul-sustaining as well.

Passionate Advocate
 
 In addition to building a law firm for the next generation, Josh is active in the legal community as a frequent lecturer on employment law issues and negotiation strategy. He has also assumed several leadership roles within the plaintiff-side employment law bar in North Carolina, currently serving as vice-chairman of the Mecklenburg County Bar Association’s Labor and Employment section and previously serving as chairman and ethics chair of the North Carolina Advocates for Justice’s Employment Law Section. Josh has served on the North Carolina Bar Association’s Employment Law Executive Committee for several years. He is also a member of the National Employment Lawyers Association and Southern Trial Lawyers Association. 

Attorney Nicole Patino is a North Carolina Employment Law Specialist and a zealous advocate for her clients. She loves the practice of Labor and Employment Law and considers herself lucky each day she gets to practice.

Attorney Patino graduated from Elon University School of Law where she was a staff member of the Elon Law Review in 2013-2014 and became Notes and Comments Editor during the 2014-2015 school year.  Nicole was a law clerk with the Law Offices of Fred T. Hamlet during her second and third year in law school.  She continued her legal career as an associate with Law Offices of Fred T. Hamlet for five years until Mr. Hamlet's passing.  Her goal is to honor his memory and work with the same dedication and devotion to the ethical practice of law.

Before attending law school, Attorney Patino worked as a substance abuse counselor where she gained knowledge of HIPAA, FMLA, federal privacy laws, and medical records.  She also gained experience working with EAPs, human resources personnel, employers, and employees.  Attorney Patino uses her knowledge of medical records and medical practices in her representation of medical practices, nurses, and in litigating cases which require medical knowledge.

Education
Law School: Elon University School of Law - J.D. 2015
Graduate Degree:  Virginia Tech - M.A. English - 2007
Undergraduate: Virginia Tech - 2005

Memberships:
North Carolina State Bar
Greensboro Bar Association
High Point Bar Association
North Carolina Bar Association (Labor and Employment Law Section)

Admitted to practice before the following courts:
North Carolina Supreme Court
U.S. District Courts for the Middle and Eastern Districts of North Carolina
 

Liam Duffy is a dynamic, high-motor trial lawyer with significant experience in complex, high-stakes injury and wrongful death cases. In the last several years alone, he has obtained over $110 million in jury verdicts and settlements on behalf of clients.

Liam’s practice focuses on representing people who have suffered catastrophic injuries—or families who have lost a loved one—because of negligent conduct. He has handled a variety of cases involving issues of workplace safety, products liability, tractor-trailer collisions, power line safety, dram shop liability, and more. And he has faced off in courtrooms against some of the world’s largest corporations including electrical utility companies, consumer and automotive product manufacturers, trucking companies, road construction contractors, and retail and hospitality enterprises.

Some of Liam’s recent results include:

• $21 million verdict against Dominion Energy for the wrongful death of a landscaper who was electrocuted by an overhead powerline while trimming palm trees.
• $16 million against Cadence Education, one of the nation’s largest daycare chains, for the wrongful death of an infant as a result of violations of safe sleep protocols.
• $15.75 million against multiple defendants, including Sunbelt Rentals, for an injured worker in Louisiana who suffered a spinal cord injury as a result of a defective scaffold and unsafe worksite.
• $9.75 million against a regional distributor for a global beer brand, its employee, and a dram shop defendant for injuries caused by the distributor’s employee while drunk driving.

Today’s world is technology-driven, and Liam’s practice is no different. He has a creative and forward-thinking approach to his cases and has spent hundreds of hours working to master and incorporate the latest, cutting-edge trial and case management technologies to better communicate with juries and advance his clients’ interests in the courtroom.

Because of his experience and commitment to his craft, Liam is regularly sought out as a speaker on litigation and trial strategy.  He has presented at numerous seminars hosted by organizations including the South Carolina Bar, the South Carolina Association for Justice, the Injured Workers Advocates, the Kentucky Justice Association, the Louisiana Association for Justice, and the Attorneys Information Exchange Group.  He has published numerous articles in AAJ’s Trial Magazine and SCAJ’s Justice Bulletin, and is the primary author of the leading treatise, Dealing with Objections to Written Discovery: The Modern Approach to Discovery Objections in SC State and Federal Courts. Year after year, Liam has been recognized by Super Lawyers as one of South Carolina’s “Rising Stars.”

Liam is also active in legal and community organizations. He is a member of the Attorneys Information Exchange Group (AIEG), the American Association for Justice (AAJ), and serves as the Legal Tech Chair and member of the Board of Governors for the South Carolina Association for Justice (SCAJ). Liam’s professional leadership and community involvement recently earned him recognition as the South Carolina Bar’s 2023 Young Lawyer of the Year.