Brooks Frye

You can tell a lot about a person by the people who had the greatest influence. For Brooks Frye, that person was his grandfather on his dad's side.

Willie R. Frye was a Quaker minister, and Brooks says he could fix anything. He reminded his grandson of Andy Griffith, the way he told stories, the cadence of his voice and how he always treated everyone fairly. Once in the ‘60s, two decades before Brooks was born, a young black couple wanted to be married in Willie's church. A small faction of Willie's congregation was against it, but he went ahead with the ceremony because he knew it was the right thing to do.

One of Brooks' favorite possessions is a book of short autobiographical stories his grandfather wrote with the poetic title, "Deep Wells, Dry Springs and Crooked Creeks," available on Amazon.

"He and Grandma were always helping people out, one way or another. I admired that he always stood up for what he believed in."

Brooks grew up in the suburbs of Winston-Salem, North Carolina. He considers himself to be highly competitive, got straight A's in school and played numerous sports growing up. He believes he inherited his competitiveness at an early age while playing cards and board games with his grandparents.

Brooks was largely self-reliant and did not mind helping with chores around the house including laundry, washing cars, and mowing the yard. From his father, he learned the value of hard work. His dad began his career as a truck driver and worked his way into management of a trucking company.

Brooks did his undergraduate work at the University of North Carolina and went straight from there to the UNC School of Law. He credits his mother for encouraging him to attend law school. He saw himself practicing in a courtroom, interacting with juries and witnesses in front of a judge. Brooks' first job was as an assistant prosecutor in the North Carolina counties of Nash, Edgecombe, and Wilson. In 2015, he became Edgecombe's chief prosecutor.

He met Lauren in 2014 at a football game. He admired her for pursuing a career as a vascular surgeon. He claims to have won her over by preparing meals for her and taking them to the medical center where she completed her residency. Brooks and Lauren were married in 2017. They share their Brentwood home with their son, Blaise, who turned four in the spring of 2023.

Brooks enjoys exercising and hopes one day to get back into long distance running. He has completed seven marathons. He'd like to get back to playing more golf, too. But Blaise has put a bit of a crimp in his free time.

Brooks believes he's doing the work he was meant to do with his personal injury practice.

"I prefer personal injury work to being a prosecutor because I'm representing a real person, not the state. I'm forming relationships with clients, trying to get them to successful outcomes. The downside of being a prosecutor is, you can't undo the harm that has happened to the victim. You can only punish the wrongdoer.

"With personal injury, you can help your client collect in a way that hopefully alleviates the damages that have occurred to them."