Pitts Carr of Carr & Weatherby has recovered over $1 billion for his clients in cases in which he was lead counsel, and he has also defended some of the largest companies in the world, including Mobile Oil Corp. and PepsiCo. Not bad for the son of a well-digger in South Georgia who put himself through Duke University Law School by driving tractor-trailers on the weekends and started his own law firm in 1973.

Some of Pitts’ notable successes over the years include a $120 million recovery for members of the Cobb Energy Management Corp. addressing conflicts of interest and other issues and a $119 million settlement in which he represented charities attacking the conversion of Blue Cross/Blue Shield from a charitable organization to “for-profit status.”