Fayetteville native Davis Puryear, a decorated attorney and a partner at Hutchens Law Firm LLP, is a driven young leader who wants to make his city a better place. 

The 35-year-old attorney – practicing in the areas of business law, estate planning, estate probate and litigation – has spent the past decade assisting clients through the life cycle of a business. Starting with the formation of their business, he can also guide them moving to succession planning, mergers or acquisitions and sales. 

Puryear’s skillset includes contract drafting, litigation, mediation, member and shareholder agreements, corporations, corporate dissolutions, partnerships and other areas of business litigation. In the estate planning realm, Puryear works with clients on wills, powers of attorney matters, trusts, business succession plans and real estate planning deeds. 

Puryear left Fayetteville to pursue his undergraduate degree in finance and marketing at the University of South Carolina where he graduated in 2012. 

Initially, Puryear said he wasn’t sure what he wanted to do professionally. He knew he wanted to be in the world of business and finance, but was dissatisfied with the prospect of working as an investment banker. 

“I just didn’t really think that was going to be right for me,” he noted. “And I took a couple pre-law classes, I took some criminal justice classes as an elective, and took my business law class as part of my undergrad work, and really enjoyed all of it.” 

Although his goal wasn’t initially to become an attorney, he shared that the coursework directed him in the right direction. 

"I just kind of fell into it and enjoyed it since then,” he added. 

Puryear went on to earn his law degree from Campbell University’s Norman Adrian Wiggins School of Law in 2015 and was admitted into the North Carolina State Bar Association that same year. His interest in the world of business and finance ended up becoming an asset as he started forging his law career. 

“I just had the opportunity to start doing more of the transactional work and I really enjoyed doing it,” he said. “So I started building those practice areas back up here, and now that’s all I do. I certainly think my background and my business degrees from school have kind of pushed me into that direction.” Puryear’s areas of practice both get him in touch with his hometown in different, yet extremely meaningful ways, he said. 

His business law clients and his work in that space can sometimes intersect with the economic development of Fayetteville. 

“It means a lot to me,” Puryear said. “I grew up here. I’ve seen Fayetteville, what it was 35 years ago. We’ve certainly grown a lot. I’m ecstatic to watch it grow, and how we tried to grow the business center of the area, and how we’re growing and coming up as a relevant and a big player.”

Sometimes that growth means Puryear is representing a startup, or a small business seeking to scale up or, according to Puryear, when a business owner would like to sell their business to a new employee or their child. 

“I always get excited when somebody comes into my office and says: ‘Hey, I want to open this new business.’ I'm honored to be able to do my part in growing Fayetteville,” Puryear said. 

In other instances, Puryear’s job is even more personalized, particularly in the area of estate planning. Puryear said he enjoys how much of a change of pace that type of work brings to his workload.

“So much of the law is adversarial. If your client is winning that means somebody else is losing. Estate planning is different. It’s an area in which I’m able to just help someone,” Puryear noted. “I can go and talk to them, talk about what their goals are, and then hopefully we put an estate plan together that not only helps them, helps their dependents, beneficiaries, children or family and puts them at ease.” 

Building trust with clients during estate planning services is also facilitated by the personal nature of the job, he added. 

“It’s also a time where people trust me to talk about some very personal and vulnerable things,” Puryear said. “I meet with folks with small kids, growing kids, whose intention is to take care of family members that need some help. I also meet with folks frequently at the end of life. I’m able to help them and make their time with their family easier.”

Puryear’s work has earned him some distinctions throughout the years. For instance, he was named on the “Rising Stars” list from 20222025 by SuperLawyers.com. He was also included in the “Ones to Watch” category of the best lawyers list compiled by bestlawyers.com from 2021-2025. 

Much like his hometown, Puryear wants his job to continue evolving locally. 

“My family and I are invested here in Fayetteville. We want to make it a better place, not only for me, my kids, but for everybody around us.”