Stephanie Gumm

Biography

Stephanie Gumm brings grit and strategic leadership to commercial litigation in North Carolina’s state and federal courts, thanks to her military background.

A U.S. Army veteran with eight years of active-duty service and three combat tours, Stephanie first served in Iraq as a Signal officer, managing critical communication platforms. Once stateside, she pivoted to U.S. Army Special Operations as a Psychological Operations (PSYOP) officer, then deployed to Pakistan to execute high-level strategic PSYOP missions under the U.S. Ambassador and Special Operations Command Central. She was subsequently handpicked for the U.S. Army Special Operations Command’s pioneering Cultural Support Team program, where she underwent rigorous training and immediately deployed to rural Afghanistan, aiding Special Forces in recruiting, training, and developing local security forces.

In the legal arena, Stephanie continues to deliver results—from trials to appellate work—through bold tactics and adaptability. In recent years, Stephanie has handled matters that included:

• serving as lead trial attorney defending an insurance agent against a national brokerage’s breach of contract claims, resulting in a jury verdict of just $1 in nominal damages;
• serving as second chair in a jury trial defending a city against multimillion-dollar stormwater damage claims, securing a directed verdict in the city’s favor;
• serving as lead trial attorney in multiple high-stakes bench trials for a county department of social services;
• successfully arguing to the North Carolina Court of Appeals that collateral estoppel and statutes of limitations barred plaintiffs’ claims against a municipality, resulting in an affirmance in part;
• obtaining a dismissal of a plaintiff’s emotional distress claims from the U.S. District Court for the Eastern District of North Carolina—the Court’s first ruling applying U.S. Supreme Court precedent limiting Title IX claims to contract damages;
• securing a dismissal for lack of personal jurisdiction on behalf of a national association of private schools in a sensitive student matter;
• negotiating a favorable settlement on behalf of a national property management company on claims that the plaintiff contracted Legionnaires’ disease at a vacation rental;
• negotiating a settlement for a television series creator against exclusive production restrictions, freeing the project to advance;
• securing a voluntary dismissal of a quiet title action against a local school board involving a property housing a $16MM elementary school;
• successfully representing a local board of education in a proceeding to remove an elected board member and subsequently securing an order from the superior court that affirmed the board’s decision;
• securing a temporary restraining order and subsequent injunction for a county to block an unlicensed summer camp’s opening;
• securing summary judgment (affirmed by the Court of Appeals for the Fourth Circuit) on a pre-trial detainee’s Fourteenth Amendment challenge to a jail’s mail policy;
• drafting an amicus brief in support of the City of Nashville, which the Court of Appeals for the Sixth Circuit cited in its opinion in Bennett v. Metropolitan Government of Nashville & Davidson County;
• obtaining orders compelling a trust protector to sit for a deposition and produce 20 years of records in a $300MM divorce dispute; and
• serving as outside litigation counsel for an international commercial assets warranty conglomerate.

In addition to litigating high-stakes, dynamic cases, Stephanie is the co-founder of Project Ethos, an initiative dedicated to supporting veterans transitioning to civilian life and growing veteran-led businesses through mentorship, education, and resources.

Areas of Focus

Credentials