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Mr. Rhodes is a principal who concentrates his practice in civil litigation and housing and economic development law. He also provides general counsel services to public and private clients on policy and business operation matters that enable them to avoid the cost and disruption of litigation in the first place.

Over his career, Mr. Rhodes has represented public and private clients in a wide variety of civil litigation matters at both the trial and appellate levels, including before the North Carolina Business Court and the North Carolina Industrial Commission. He has successfully resolved or tried to verdict lawsuits related to real estate development transactions, corporate ownership disputes, corporate fraud, condemnation and land use, construction, personal injury, and landlord/tenant matters. His public sector clients have included counties, housing authorities, and state agencies. Mr. Rhodes regularly represents housing authorities and other providers of federally subsidized housing in lawsuits requiring a deep understanding of the unique regulations that apply to such entities. Since 2017, Mr. Rhodes has represented the North Carolina Department of Transportation as lead counsel in over 80 inverse condemnation lawsuits based on the Map Act. He has also represented NCDOT as lead counsel before the North Carolina Court of Appeals and managed the settlement of scores of Map Act lawsuits throughout eastern North Carolina.

Mr. Rhodes’s clients in the private sector have ranged from private universities and utility companies to small businesses and non-profits. As a seasoned litigator, he specializes in helping clients identify cost-effective ways to achieve their goals in complex disputes.

Mr. Rhodes also provides general counsel services to public and private sector clients throughout North Carolina. Whether drafting contracts and development agreements or advising clients on compliance and general risk mitigation, Mr. Rhodes excels at helping clients navigate complex business, legal, and regulatory matters. As a member of The Banks Law Firm’s housing and economic development practice, he has assisted municipalities in crafting policies permitting the use of tax incentives to encourage private developers to include public benefits in new development projects.

Prior to joining The Banks Law Firm, P.A., Mr. Rhodes was a law clerk for the Honorable United States Magistrate Judge Robert T. Numbers, II for the Eastern District of North Carolina. Before assuming his clerkship on the federal court, Mr. Rhodes was a law clerk for Justice Robert N. Hunter, Jr. on the Supreme Court of North Carolina.

Before law school, Mr. Rhodes was an assistant professor at the University of Iowa and an adjunct professor at the University of Iowa College of Law, where he taught courses on First Amendment jurisprudence as well as the law of armed conflict. Mr. Rhodes holds a Ph.D. from Princeton University.

• J.D., Duke University School of Law
• Ph.D., Princeton University
• M.T.S., Harvard Divinity School
• B.A., University of North Carolina – Greensboro, summa cum laude

North Carolina

• U.S. District Court for the Eastern District of North Carolina
• U.S. District Court for the Middle District of North Carolina

North Carolina Bar Association