Harbinson Selected As “Leader In The Law”

Joel C. Harbinson of Alexander County has been selected by NC Lawyers Weekly as one of its 2018 North Carolina “Leaders in the Law.” The presentation was made on October 17th at the Greensboro-High Point Marriott hotel. NC Lawyers Weekly states “these honorees represent the most influential individuals within our state’s legal community; those who have gone above and beyond in their profession and in their community. They are selected by a panel of independent legal professional leaders and peers based on professional accomplishment, personal accomplishment, and community involvement within the Tar Heel State.”

Joel is the senior partner of Harbinson, Brzykcy & Corbett LLP, with offices in Taylorsville and Statesville, which engage in a general trial practice in the primary areas of criminal and traffic, custody and domestic, and personal injury and wrongful death cases.

After graduating from Alexander Central High School in 1972, Harbinson attended the University of North Carolina at Chapel Hill as a Broyhill Industries Scholar. Joel graduated from UNC in 1977 with an A.B. degree and from the University of North Carolina at Chapel Hill School of Law in 1979 with a J.D. degree.

Joel is the former President of the 22nd Judicial District Bar Association and is a current member of the N.C. Bar Association, the N.C. Advocates for Justice, and the Phi Delta Phi international legal fraternity. He has consistently received an “AV Preeminent” rating from Martindale-Hubbell, giving him the highest possible ranking by his fellow attorneys and judges in both competence and ethics.

Harbinson is the former Alexander County Attorney and Taylorsville Town Attorney and is currently the Alexander County School Board Attorney. Also, Joel is a former member of the Alexander County Board of Elections and a former Chairman of the Alexander County Democratic Party.

In 1998, Joel was elected to the office of the Alexander County Board of County Commissioners where he served as Chairman. During his tenure on the board, the county was able to obtain and locate two major state funded projects within the county — the Alexander Correctional Institution and the Catawba Valley Community College Alexander Campus.

In 2007, Joel created and drafted a bill, which later became law under the sponsorship of Rep. Ray Warren, which split the 22nd Judicial District establishing a new District 22A (made up of Alexander and Iredell counties) which improved the efficiency of the local judicial system and guaranteed Alexander County two permanent District Court judge positions.

In 2017, Harbinson helped form The Client Targeting Agency — which assists law firms in marketing their legal services by using IP targeting strategies.

For nearly forty years, Harbinson has devoted much of his practice to representing those who qualify for court-appointed counsel in serious felony criminal cases. Over his career, he has successfully handled at least a dozen jury trials representing indigent defendants of color charged with sexual offenses, none of which ended in convictions. Consequently, the North Carolina Advocates for Justice asked him to chair a seminar last October at their headquarters in Raleigh entitled “Becoming Atticus Finch — Representing the Wrongfully Accused in Sexual Assault Cases.”

Joel is married to Connie Harbinson and has two sons, Justin and Jarrett, a step-daughter, Alexandria Corbett, and a grandson, Hudson Corbett.

The Harbinsons reside in the Bethlehem community of Alexander County.