8:55 Welcome and Introductions
9:00 2020 Cases from the North Carolina Supreme Court
Former Justice Robert H. Edmunds Jr., Fox Rothschild LLP, Greensboro
Former Justice Barbara A. Jackson, North Carolina Supreme Court, Raleigh
Troy D. Shelton, Fox Rothschild LLP, Raleigh
Listen as the panel reviews 2020 cases from the Supreme Court of North Carolina that provides context for the presentations later in the program. Troy Shelton, a Fox Rothschild associate whose practice focuses on state and federal appeals, gives an overview of the most salient constitutional law opinions issued by the Supreme Court of North Carolina. Former Justices Jackson and Edmunds also call on their experiences on the bench to discuss particular aspects of Supreme Court practice.
10:30 Break
10:40 2020 Cases from the United States Supreme Court
Wilson Parker, Wake Forest University School of Law, Winston-Salem
Hear a review the significant cases from the October 2019 term of the SCOTUS, preview significant cases in the October 2020 term and discuss the implications for the future of the court following the death of Ruth Bader Ginsburg.
12:10 Lunch Break
12:40 Litigating COVID-19 Issues in North Carolina
Brian F. Castro, Womble Bond Dickinson (US) LLP, Winston-Salem
Jeanette K. Doran, North Carolina Institute for Constitutional Law, Raleigh
Andrew A. Kasper, North Carolina Department of Revenue, Raleigh
S. Chuck Kitchen, Kitchen & Turrentine PLLC, Raleigh
During this session, the speakers discuss the front of currently pending COVID-19 cases from the barricades.
1:40 Break
1:50 COVID-19 and the First Amendment
Robert P. Joyce, UNC School of Government, Chapel Hill
C. Amanda Martin, Stevens Martin Vaughn & Tadych PLLC, Raleigh
COVID-19 restrictions on group meetings have brought new law to the First Amendment, including right to assemble and right to worship. Review the law and its meaning for practitioners.
2:50 Break
3:00 Best Mental Health Practices in a COVID-19 Environment†
Nicole "Nicki" Ellington, North Carolina Lawyer Assistance Program, Raleigh
Richard Hicks, HRC Behavioral Health & Psychiatry PA, Chapel Hill
COVID-19 has remade the practice of law and created new mental health stresses for practitioners. Help is on the way.
4:00 Adjourn
†Indicates portion providing Substance Abuse/Mental Health credit
Thank you for joining us for COVID-19 v. The Constitution: The New Normal? (2020 Constitutional Rights & Responsibilities Section CLE)!
In 2020, the COVID-19 crisis has raised new constitutional issues that have not been seen in court in quite some time
Brian F. Castro is an associate with Womble Bond Dickinson (U.S.) LLP in Raleigh. He is a litigation attorney who focuses on defending counties, public officials, and businesses. As part of the firm's business litigation service group, Brian plays an active role in defending clients from individual and class action product liability cases and consumer fraud claims. In particular, he focuses his practice on defending businesses and government officials in complex disputes at the trial court and appellate level. He also serves clients in the Insurance sector, advising on liability and coverage disputes.
Prior to joining Womble Bond Dickinson, Brian gained valuable in-house experience as an intern for the general counsel's office of a global pharmaceutical company. He has also served as judicial extern for three North Carolina judges, in the N.C. Supreme Court, N.C. Court of Appeals, and United States Bankruptcy Court.
Brian earned his B.A. in Political Science and Romance Languages from University of North Carolina at Chapel Hill and his J.D., cum laude, with a Business Law and Litigation focus from Campbell Law School.
When not practicing law, Brian likes to stay involved in a number of civic activities and often uses his musical talents as a means to help others in his church and in the community. He is also a fluent Spanish speaker.
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Jeanette K. Doran has served as President and General Counsel of the North Carolina Institute for Constitutional Law since returning to the Institute to reorganize and restart the organization in July 2019.
Jeanette started her career as a federal law clerk in the Middle District of North Carolina after graduating with honors from Campbell Law School.
Jeanette's past work experience includes a clerkship in the Middle District of North Carolina, work in the appeals section of the Federal Public Defender as the Research and Writing Attorney, and a staff position at the School of Government at UNC-Chapel Hill. She joined NCICL in 2005, eventually becoming the Institute's Executive Director in 2011. In December 2013, she was appointed by the then-Governor to serve as Chairman of the newly established Board of Review at the Division of Employment Security, Department of Commerce and completed her public service there in June 2019.
Jeanette is an active member of the North Carolina Bar Association and the community. She served on the Appellate Rules Committee for ten years and, in 2012, was elected to serve on the Section Council leading the Constitutional Rights and Responsibilities Section of the Bar Association. Also, in 2012, she was appointed by the North Carolina House of Representatives to serve a two-year term of the Rules Review Commission and continues in that capacity today.
Jeanette is admitted to practice before the United States Supreme Court, the United States Court of Appeals for the Fourth Circuit, various federal district courts and all North Carolina Courts. She is a frequent speaker at continuing legal education programs and has published scholarly articles in law reviews, whitepapers, and op-ed commentary.
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Justice Robert H. "Bob" Edmunds Jr. (Ret.) served as an appellate judge for 18 years, most recently as Senior Associate Justice of the Supreme Court of North Carolina. He now serves clients with that same dedication as part of the Fox Rothchild's Appellate group in Greensboro.
Justice Edmunds began his legal career as an assistant district attorney in Greensboro, and later was an assistant U.S. Attorney for the Middle District of North Carolina. In 1986, he was appointed U.S. Attorney for the Middle District of North Carolina by President Ronald Reagan and was retained by President George H. W. Bush. Justice Edmunds entered private practice in 1993. In 1998, he was elected to the North Carolina Court of Appeals and served on that court until his election to the Supreme Court.
Justice Edmunds reentered private practice in 2017, practicing appellate law in the Greensboro office of Fox Rothschild LLP. He is board certified as a specialist in appellate practice and in state and federal criminal law. He is president of the Appellate Judges Education Institute, has chaired the American Bar Association's Appellate Judges Conference, has chaired the North Carolina Bar Association's Judicial Independence and Integrity Committee, and is on the Education Committee of the National Judicial College. He has served as an adjunct professor at Campbell University School of Law and Regent University School of Law.
Justice Edmunds earned his B.A., with honors, from Vassar College, his J.D. from the University of North Carolina School of Law and his LL.M. from the University of Virginia School of Law.
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Judge Robert N. "Bob" Hunter (Ret.) is Of Counsel with Higgins Benjamin PLLC in Greensboro. He was a judge for the North Carolina Court of Appeals and Justice Supreme Court of North Carolina (Fall term, 2014) 2009-2019.
Prior to judicial service, Bob's trial practice involved labor law, Fair Labor Standards Act, federal securities law, class actions, and real estate and decedent estates as Public Administrator. His practice included substantial time in disputed election contests, redistricting, voting rights, and equal protection claims.
Bob served as adjunct professor of law at Wake Forest University School of Law, Elon University School of Law, and North Carolina Central School of Law teaching appellate advocacy and the law of democracy.
Bob is a certified superior court mediator in the first class of ADR professionals licensed in North Carolina for Superior Court, Farm Nuisance, and Family Mediations. Prior to judicial service, he mediated approximately 150 cases. As an NASD arbitrator, he sat on 30 panels and served as Chairman on 9 panels.
Bob earned his B.A. from the University of North Carolina at Chapel Hill, J.D. from the University of North Carolina School of Law and his L.L.M. from Duke University School of Law.
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Former Justice Barbara A. Jackson joined the Supreme Court in 2011, having first served there as a law clerk for Justice Burley Mitchell. She also has served on the Court of Appeals, as General Counsel to Commissioner Cherie Berry, in Governor James G. Martin's office, and worked in private practice.
Justice Jackson is UNC-Chapel Hill graduate, where she was a National Merit Scholar and served on the Law Review. She also has a degree in Judicial Studies from Duke Law.
In 2015, Chief Justice Martin appointed Justice Jackson as a co-chair on the North Carolina Commission on the Administration of Law and Justice. Her focus was on the area of technology.
Justice Jackson is active in the NCBA and has served as both a member of the Board of Governors and a Section Chair, as well as on the WCBA Board of Directors. Currently, she serves on the NC Courts Commission.
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Robert P. Joyce is professor of public law and government at the School of Government of the University of North Carolina at Chapel Hill. He has practiced law in New York and North Carolina. He has been on the faculty of the School for 37 years. He focuses his research, teaching, and consulting in the areas of elections law, public employment law, public education law, and higher education law. He is a graduate of UNC-Chapel Hill and Harvard Law School.
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Andrew A. Kasper is an Assistant United States Attorney with the U.S. Attorney's Office for the Eastern District of North Carolina in Raleigh. He is the office's Affirmative Civil Enforcement Coordinator. In that capacity, he is responsible for investigating and bringing a variety of environmental and environmental justice enforcement actions on behalf of the United States.
Prior to joining the U.S. Attorney's Office, Andrew served as counsel to two state agencies, and spent several years in private practice, focusing on administrative, antitrust, commercial, and constitutional litigation. Andrew also served as a career law clerk to the Honorable James A. Wynn, Jr., on the U.S. Court of Appeals for the Fourth Circuit.
Andrew earned his B.A. from the University of Michigan, his M.S. in Economics from the University of Texas and his J.D. from the University of North Carolina at Chapel Hill School of Law.
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S. Chuck Kitchen is a partner in the Raleigh law firm of Kitchen & Turrentine, PLLC.
He is a 1980 graduate of UNC-Chapel Hill Law School. He worked as a county attorney in Alamance and Durham Counties for 30 years before retiring from Durham County and entering private practice. His practice is largely centered on government and constitutional issues. He is a past Chair of the Constitutional Rights and Responsibilities Section of the Bar Association.
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C. Amanda Martin is a communications lawyer, representing traditional and social media as well as corporate communicators on issues related to the libel and privacy, the internet, intellectual property, and other speech-based concerns. Ms. Martin is general counsel to the N.C. Press Association, an organization of North Carolina's newspapers. For more than 25 years, she routinely has counseled reporters, editors and news directors about avoiding libel suits, gaining access to closed government meetings and records and resisting subpoenas. With the advent of the internet, Ms. Martin expanded her practice to include counseling and representing non-media individuals and organizations with social media issues.
Ms. Martin is the co-author of the North Carolina section of the Reporters Committee for Freedom of the Press Open Government Guide and co-editor of the North Carolina Media Law Handbook, to which she also contributes the chapter on access to public meetings. For years she co-authored the North Carolina section of the Media Law Resource Center's annual survey on privacy law. She is a frequent speaker and panelist at media law forums and workshops and regularly contributes articles to legal, media and other publications. Ms. Martin has taught as an adjunct instructor of media law at the UNC Hussman School of Media and Journalism, the UNC School of Law, and Campbell Law School.
Ms. Martin's professional activities have included serving as a member of the Newsgathering Committee of the Media Law Resource Center, former chairman of the N.C. Bar Association's Constitutional Rights and Responsibility Section Council and a former director of the Wake County Bar Association and editor of its newsletter. She enjoys reading, cooking, and travel and is an active member of St. Michael's Episcopal Church.
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Tommy Odom is a North Carolinian born & bred; born in Chapel Hill and raised on a farm in Mecklenburg County near Charlotte.
Following obtaining his B.A. in political science at UNC-Chapel Hill in 1983 and his law degree from Wake Forest University in 1987, Tommy practiced law for twelve years at Weinstein Sturges Odom Bigger Campbell and Jonas in Charlotte. In the year 2000, Tommy founded The Odom Firm. He continued to focus his practice on eminent domain, personal injury, and civil litigation.
Tommy has three children, Tripp, Annie and Max, practices law with his wife, Martha, and he and his family love their dog, Yogi.
When not working, Tommy enjoys practicing yoga, cooking, playing guitar and bass with his band Roadkil, making and writing "stuff", and fishing. Tommy coached for the Charlotte Junior Soccer League for many years, has served on a number of boards for local art and environmental non-profit organizations, and volunteers with Urban Ministry Center Soup Kitchen in Charlotte.
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Robynn E. Moraites is the Executive Director of the NC LAP. She obtained her undergraduate degree in education from Florida State and her law degree from UNC at Chapel Hill. Prior to attending law school, she ran a public health program at the University of Miami where she developed continuing medical education programs for healthcare professionals working in the field of geriatric medicine.
Prior to joining the LAP, Robynn practiced law in North Carolina in large firm, small firm, and in-house settings. She has an extensive background and knowledge in helping lawyers in recovery.
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Wilson Parker is a Professor at Wake Forest Law School. He teaches Constitutional Law, Comparative Constitutional Law, Jurisprudence, and a seminar on the history of the Supreme Court. He is the primary author with Michael Curtis of Constitutional Law in Context, a Con Law casebook now in its 4th edition. He was a visiting scholar at University College Cork in Cork, Ireland in 1997 and has taught in Wake Forest Law School programs in London, Venice, and Vienna. He is an honors graduate of Yale College and Duke Law School.
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Troy D. Shelton is a Partner at Fox Rothschild LLP in Raleigh. He partners with trial attorneys to defend their judgment or find creative paths to reversal. He handles appeals in every area of the law.
Troy has been certified by the North Carolina State Bar as an Appellate Specialist. He has a wide variety of trial and appellate experience involving class actions, antitrust, employment, land use and family law cases. He also frequently litigates commercial disputes in federal and North Carolina Business courts and serves as a class action consultant to attorneys inside and outside the firm, for both plaintiffs and defendants.
Troy is a contributing author to the North Carolina Appellate Practice Blog, which provides news, information and tips for practicing law in North Carolina's State and Federal Appellate Courts.
Troy is a member of the Appellate Practice of the North Carolina Bar Association.
Troy earned his B.A., magna cum laude, from Duke University and his J.D., magna cum laude, from the University of North Carolina School of Law.
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