Well known Charlotte lawyer Bill Diehl passes away at age 78

CHARLOTTE — One of Charlotte’s most well known attorneys passed away overnight Thursday due to complications from a stroke.

Bill Diehl is considered by many to be a Charlotte legend, and his decades-long career in the Queen City included numerous high-profile cases alongside his reputation as a tough divorce attorney. He rose to prominence by representing former Charlotte Hornets owner George Shinn in a civil trial, and also represented famous Charlotteans like Rick Hendrick, Rae Carruth, and John Isley.

After moving to Charlotte in 1970, Diehl spent decades working at the law firm James, McElroy and Diehl, tackling some of the city’s largest cases.

He was described as a force to be reckoned with, even being named one of the “Ten Scariest People in Charlotte” in the early 2000s. But to those who knew him personally, he was much more than his courtroom character.

“Before he was a big shot lawyer or iconic or anything like that‚ he just had a way of making you feel incredibly special to him,” Danny Diehl, Bill’s brother, told Channel 9.

It wasn’t just the criminal and civil courts that Diehl was known in -- he would often be spotted near the basketball court as a fixture with the Charlotte Hornets.

He was a season ticket holder since the team launched in 1988, and his brother says he never wanted to miss a game.

Diehl was 78.

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