Charles Francis

Charles Francis is an advocate. As an attorney, he often represents the powerless, making sure their voices are heard loud and clear.

The Raleigh native comes from a prominent civic-minded African-American family. His maternal grandfather, Charles Irving Sr., was one of the first black mailmen in the capital city and co-founded the Irving-Swain Press Inc.

For 50 years, the Southeast Raleigh printing company produced church bulletins, Civil Rights events programs and college newspapers including A&T College’s newspaper with a front page photograph of the students who took part in the historic sit-in at Woolworth’s in Greensboro.

Francis, the managing member of the Francis Law Firm, is a trial lawyer who speaks for badly injured clients and counsel for several well-known companies and organizations including North Carolina Mutual Life Insurance Co., Food Lion, First Citizens Bank, and the Raleigh Housing Authority.

In 2002, Francis pled the case of a Chicago woman who suspected her son’s cerebral palsy and severe brain damage were caused by medical malpractice. He won a $19 million settlement, one of the largest of its kind ever won by a North Carolina lawyer.

He takes on those wronged, everyday folks like John H. Hurst and his sister Harriet Hurst Turner, heir to a trust. The state of North Carolina tried to take their family’s 289-acre Onslow County waterfront property without compensation. The land once served as a beach for African Americans in the days of racial segregation.

He negotiated $10.1 million compensation for the Hurst siblings.