John S. Willardson is a native of Santa Monica, California and a graduate of the University of North Carolina at Chapel Hill where he completed a double major in Spanish and Political Science. Following undergraduate school, he entered basic training and AIT with the US Army and served a total of six years in the US Army Reserve. Following graduation from the UNC School of Law he served as research assistant to the late, Hon. R. A. Hedrick , Judge of the North Carolina Court of Appeals. He and his wife then moved to Wilkes County where they have resided for more than 35 years. During his career, he has he has tried in excess of 185 jury trials to verdict including personal injury, wrongful death, products liability, construction, arson, business and commercial litigation cases. He has a substantial business and corporate practice as well as a general practice that includes wills and estates, contracts, business and commercial litigation.
John is a past president of both the Wilkes County and 34th Judicial District bars, currently serves on the Board of Directors of the NC Municipal Attorneys Association and as a councilor on the NC State Bar Council and previously served on the Chief Justice's Commission on Professionalism. He also continues to serve on the NC Bar Association's Judicial Independence Committee and previously served on its Dispute Resolution Committee. He is past president of the North Carolina Association of Defense Attorneys, past president of the UNC Law Alumni Association, past president of the Wilkes County and 34th Judicial District Bar Associations and is a member of the Bars of the U.S. District Court (Middle and Western Districts of N.C.), U.S. 4th Circuit Court of Appeals and U.S. Supreme Court. From 2004-2007, he served as North Carolina's State Representative to the Defense Research Institute, an international association of corporate and defense counsel and thereafter was elected to the DRI board as Mid-Atlantic Regional Director for North Carolina, South Carolina, Virginia, Maryland and Washington D.C. He also served a six year term on the Board of Directors of the North Carolina Center for Public Policy Research, a non-profit think tank based in Raleigh, N.C. He has been honored by Business North Carolina magazine as one of North Carolina's Legal Elite in the field of litigation as chosen by his peers and has been recognized as a North Carolina Super Lawyer on multiple occasions. In 2016, he was awarded the North Carolina Association of Defense Attorneys J. Robert Elster Award for Professional Excellence and in 2015 received a “Citizen Lawyer Award” from the North Carolina Bar Association. He has served multiple terms as chair of the Wilkes Family YMCA’s Board of Managers and is the recipient of the YMCA of Northwest North Carolina Red Triangle Award for his leadership and volunteer service to the YMCA.
John is peer review rated "A-V" by Martindale Hubbell, is fluent in Spanish and has been a Certified Superior Court Mediator for over 25 years. John is the attorney for the Town of Wilkesboro, North Carolina, where he and his family have resided for the last 35+ years. His son, Drew, is also an attorney and has a separate law practice in Wilkes County.
