Chris Olson of Olson Law, PLLC was named a North Carolina Super Lawyer for 2025. Super Lawyers is a research-driven, peer-influenced rating service of outstanding lawyers who have attained a high degree of peer recognition and professional achievement. The selection process for Super Lawyers involves peer nominations and evaluation by attorneys credentialed in the nominee’s practice area. On average, only 5% of all attorneys are named to the Super Lawyers list.
Chris Olson was named a North Carolina Super Lawyer in the category of Civil Rights. During the past 15 years, Olson has successfully handled a number of wrongful conviction civil rights lawsuits. Those cases include that of Ronnie Long, who was wrongfully incarcerated for over 44 years. Olson served as a volunteer attorney, along with the Duke Wrongful Convictions Clinic, on the years-long effort to prove Mr. Long’s wrongful conviction. In 2020, an en banc panel of the Fourth Circuit Court of Appeals held that police officers had withheld multiple items of exculpatory evidence and denied Ronnie Long a fair trial, resulting in his wrongful conviction. Following the Fourth Circuit’s ruling, in Ronnie Long v. Hooks, et al., 972 F.3d 442 (4th Cir. 2020), Mr. Long’s convictions were vacated, and he was granted a Pardon of Innocence.
Following the successful effort to vacate Ronnie Long’s wrongful convictions, Chris Olson of Olson Law filed a wrongful incarceration suit on Mr. Long’s behalf. That suit resulted in a settlement of $25 million and a formal, public apology by the City of Concord for its role in Mr. Long’s wrongful conviction.
