The Work of Restoration (2021 Government & Public Sector Section Program)

8:25 Welcome and Introductions

8:30 Restoring the Workplace: Implications and Considerations for Returning to the Office or Continuing Work From Home

Katie W. Hartzog, Hartzog Law Group LLP, Raleigh
Kimberly J. Korando, Smith Anderson Blount Dorsett Mitchell & Jernigan LLP, Raleigh

As the pandemic ends, can government and public sector employers require a return to work in the office? Can government and public sector employees be required to take the vaccine? As we seek to restore and improve the public sector workplace, what are the ADA, FMLA, and other labor and employment law implications?

9:30 Break

9:40 Restoring Plain English to Legal Writing: The Plain English Movement for Government Lawyers

Laura P. Graham, Wake Forest University School of Law, Winston-Salem

This session discusses the use of plain English in legal writing so that citizens, elected officials, employees and the regulated community can understand you the first time.

10:40 Break

10:50 Restoring Online Safety for Governments and Their Employees^‡

Tara N. Cho, Womble Bond Dickinson (U.S.) LLP, Raleigh
Michael A. Greer, Womble Bond Dickinson (U.S.) LLP, Raleigh

What are the common attack vectors and technological methods used to hurt or threaten government employees and the governments they serve? Just what is "doxing"? How can governments restore the online safety of their employees (and themselves) when technology is used to threaten or harm employees? This panel explores some of today's most common cyberattacks and best practices to combat the risks associated with an increasingly digital workplace.

11:50 Lunch Break

12:20 Restoring Mental Health for Government Attorneys^†

April Harris-Britt, AHB Center for Behavioral Health and Wellness, Durham

Government attorneys care, work hard, face an ever-increasing number of competing demands from a wider swath of parties, and suffer "compassion fatigue." Restoring government and public sector attorney mental health in the COVID era can be achieved. This session provides research and tips for doing so.

1:20 Break

1:30 Restoring the Ethical Role of the Government and Public Sector Attorney as Civil Servant and Protector of Democracy^*

Amy Y. Bason, General Counsel for NC Association of County Commissioners, Raleigh
William M. Polk, North Carolina Department of Public Safety, Durham
Christine B. Simpson, Retired Town of Cary Attorney, Cary
Anne M. Tompkins, Cadwalader Wickersham & Taft LLP, Charlotte
Janine M. Zanin, UNC School of Law, Efland

Government and public sector attorneys have been at the forefront of recent events: promulgating hate speech on personal social media, being fired for blowing the whistle, intervening in ways deemed political in previously non-political matters, and walking away from jobs they loved to maintain professionalism. Government attorneys have been seen to act with and without integrity. What is the role of the government and public sector attorney in restoring respect for the rule of law and ourselves as guardians of civil service, preserving the rule of law and democracy? How do the Rules of Professional Conduct apply?

3:00 Break

3:10 Restoring Understanding and Implementation of First Amendment Religion Jurisprudence

E. Gregory Wallace, Campbell University School of Law, Raleigh

The Supreme Court's developing First Amendment religion jurisprudence directly impacts both the government and the public sector. Religious beliefs may conflict not only among elected officials, leaders and employees within government, but also those external to government. Employees may seek to act (or not) because of their religious beliefs. Government must protect and serve those with differing beliefs. What shall governments do when citizens assert religious grounds to refuse to deal with government employees? How do we restore some balance?

4:10 Adjourn

*Indicates portion providing Ethics/Professional Responsibility credit
†Indicates portion providing Substance Abuse/Mental Health credit
‡ Indicates portion providing Technology Training credit

Thank you

Thank you for joining us for The Work of Restoration (2021 Government & Public Sector Section Program).

Description

Our Earth Day program, although not directly related to the environment, adopts the international Earth Day theme of "Restore Our Earth." Restoration will be key to the responsibilities of government and public sector attorneys in the year ahead. D.B. Allender says that "the work of restoration cannot begin until a problem is fully faced." Effective, restored government will help us restore civil society and that, in turn, will ultimately help us restore the earth.

Contributors

Amy Y. Bason

Amy Y. Bason serves as Deputy Director and General Counsel for the North Carolina Association of County Commissioners. The NCACC is a non-partisan organization that serves as the official voice of all 100 counties on issues considered by the General Assembly, Congress, and federal and state agencies.

Prior to joining the NCACC, Amy served as General Counsel to the NC Senate Majority Leader and began her legal career as an assistant district attorney in the First Judicial District of North Carolina. Amy graduated from Rutgers University and received her law degree from the UNC School of Law.

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Tara N. Cho

Tara N. Cho chairs Womble Bond Dickinson (US) LLP's Privacy and Cybersecurity Team in Raleigh. Her practice is dedicated to counseling clients on privacy and data security issues across industries such as technology, retail, e-commerce, healthcare, health-tech, and life sciences. She advises clients on matters related to the CCPA, CPRA and other state privacy laws, HIPAA, Gramm-Leach-Bliley Act, TCPA, CAN-SPAM, and other state and federal privacy, cybersecurity and data breach laws in the U.S. She also advises clients on the GDPR (and UK GDPR) and related requirements of European data protection laws.

Tara helps companies establish and assess compliance programs, respond to data breaches and security incidents, conduct risk analyses, negotiate contracts that govern data use and security, respond to regulator requests and investigations, and address new and evolving issues stemming from the development of mobile and web-based applications, cloud computing, machine learning and AI tools, IoT devices, and other technology solutions that rely on personal data.

Tara became certified as a legal specialist in Privacy and Information Security Law by the North Carolina State Bar Board of Legal Specialization in 2018 as part of the inaugural class of specialists in this field. She is also recognized by the IAPP as a certified information privacy professional for the US (CIPP/US) and Europe (CIPP/E).

Click here for more information about Tara.
Laura P. Graham

Laura P. Graham is the Director of the sixth-ranked Legal Analysis, Writing, & Research Program at Wake Forest University School of Law. She is active in the national legal writing community, currently serving as President-Elect of the Association of Legal Writing Directors.

Professor Graham's research and speaking interests center on how to maximize beginning law students' early success in legal writing. In addition to publishing law review articles and essays, she is a regular contributor to various state and national bar journals, where she provides writing refreshers for practicing attorneys. She is the co-author of two books, The Pre-Writing Handbook for Law Students and North Carolina Legal Research.

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Michael A. Greer

Michael A. Greer is a veteran of the United States Marine Corps and the North Carolina Army National Guard. He was on active duty in the USMC from 1984 until 1988 and subsequently served in the NC ANG until 1992 including a nine-month CONUS deployment during Operations Desert Shield and Desert Storm.

Following his active-duty military service, Mike completed undergraduate studies in Computer Information Systems at Appalachian State University in 1992. He then joined the law firm of Womble Carlyle Sandridge and Rice LLP where he held subsequent roles as the Litigation Support Supervisor and the Accounting System Database Administrator.

Mike left Womble in 1999 to seize a unique opportunity to join the Federal Bureau of Investigation as a Special Agent in the Washington Field Office where he served from 1999-2005. His next assignment took him to the Charlotte Field Office (Raleigh Resident Agency) in 2005. Throughout his 20-year career, Mike worked on a variety of Federal violations: in Cyber on National Security/Criminal Computer Intrusions, Internet Fraud and Child Exploitation; on the Joint Terrorism Task Force (JTTF): International/Domestic Terrorism and Homegrown Violent Extremists (HVE). He also supported investigations with video/audio surveillance and data intercept technology and was an FBI Swat Sniper, FBI Firearms Instructor, FBI Active Shooter and an Advanced Law Enforcement Rapid Response Training (ALERRT) Instructor. Mike received numerous commendations including multiple awards for Outstanding Counterterrorism Investigation, the International Association of Chiefs of Police Leadership in Prevention of Terrorism Award and Superior Services and Achievements rendered to the FBI.

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April Harris-Britt, PhD

April Harris-Britt, PhD is a licensed psychologist who maintains an active practice in NC and VA while also engaging in research and teaching at the University of North Carolina at Chapel Hill and Fielding Graduate University. In addition to providing child, adolescent, adult, and family therapy, she conducts comprehensive psychological evaluations and forensic evaluations. Specific areas of expertise include trauma and violence, adoption and attachment, medically fragile children, divorce transitions, ADHD and learning disabilities autism spectrum disorders, and multicultural issues.

April's primary orientation is to utilize a systems-based, holistic approach to wellness. She is actively involved in several committees and task forces for the American Psychological Association, North Carolina Psychological Association, and the Association for Family and Conciliatory Courts.

April is currently a member of the Board for the Center for Cooperative Parenting, APA Advocacy Coordinating Committee, APA Working Group to Review Scientific Literature for High Conflict Family Relationships and AFCC Task Force on Model Standards of Practice for Child Custody Evaluations.

Click here for more information about April.
Katie W. Hartzog

Katie W. Hartzog became a founding partner of Hartzog Law Group. Katie has experience successfully representing businesses, governmental entities, and educational institutions in a wide range of matters. She focuses her practice on advising and representing clients regarding employment disputes, constitutional claims and Title IX matters.

Katie has represented businesses and governmental entities on all types of employment disputes including wrongful termination, discrimination, retaliation, breach of contract, misclassification, wage and hour and FLSA claims, failure to hire and promote, and claims based on alleged violation of the federal and state constitutions. Katie has developed an aggressive motions practice in which she is frequently successful in obtaining dismissal or summary judgment. She has also minimized damages and successfully negotiated favorable settlements for numerous clients in a variety of employment and litigation matters. Katie has obtained favorable outcomes for employers in the federal and state trial courts of North Carolina, state and federal appellate courts, the Equal Employment Opportunity Commission, Department of Labor, and Office of Administrative Hearings.

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Jennifer M. Jones

Jennifer M. Jones is a Deputy County Attorney for Wake County. She previously served as an Assistant Attorney General in the North Carolina Department of Justice. She is a past Section Council member of the Workers' Compensation Section of the NCBA and served on the NCBA/NCBF Board of Governors from 2010-2013. She served as a Division Director in the YLD of the NCBA in 2009-2010. She is also a member of the Labor and Employment Law Section. She also serves as the Chair of the Swearing-In Committee for the Wake County Bar Association. She is a member of the NC Association of Defense Attorneys and has served as the Government Section Vice-Chair.

Jennifer's undergraduate and law degrees are from Peace College and from Norman Adrian Wiggins School of Law At Campbell University respectively.

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Terri A. Jones

Terri A. Jones is the first in-house Town Attorney for Garner, North Carolina, and has served in that role since October 2020. Except for a brief job with a private environmental consulting firm in Connecticut upon graduation from law school, she has dedicated her career to public service on the federal, state, and local levels. She has over 20 years of local government experience—six years with the City of Greensboro, three years with Montgomery County, Maryland, and 14 years with Carroll County, Maryland. Before joining Garner, she served as Deputy City Attorney for the City of Greensboro.

She received a BA degree in Biology from St. Mary's College of Maryland in 1990, graduating summa cum laude from the Honors Program. Jones also received her JD degree, graduating magna cum laude, and a Master's degree in Environmental Law, graduating summa cum laude, from the Vermont Law School in 1993.

Jones is a graduate of the University of North Carolina's School of Government Municipal and County Administration course, Community and Economic Development Academy, and Development Finance Institute. She is also a graduate of the University of Maryland's Academy for Excellence in Local Governance.

She is currently serving on the Section Councils for the NCBA Government and Public Sector and Zoning, Planning, and Land Use Sections.

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Kimberly J. Korando

Kimberly J. Korando is recognized as one of North Carolina's leading employment lawyers by Chambers USA: America's Leading Business Lawyers, Law and Politics North Carolina Super Lawyers, Best Lawyers® and Business North Carolina Legal Elite. She is a partner with Smith Anderson, one of North Carolina's oldest and largest law firms where she founded the firm's Employment, Labor and Human Resources practice group and served as its inaugural leader.

Kim serves as a trusted advisor to public and private companies throughout the U.S. as well as municipalities and law firms in matters of financial, reputational and operational significance. She often is retained as special counsel to conduct independent internal investigations, workplace compliance audits and workplace culture assessments, including those arising from #Me-Too and Social Justice movements and allegations of hostile and toxic work environments.

Kim is a thought leader who frequently speaks and writes on human resources compliance and risk management issues, regularly collaborates with employers developing in-house training programs, serves on the Board of Editors for the nation's leading employment discrimination treatise, and authors a leading North Carolina workplace policies and forms guidebook that is updated annually through the North Carolina Chamber.

Click here for more information about Kimberly.
William M. Polk

William M. Polk serves as Deputy General Counsel in the NC Department of Public Safety (NCDPS) and serves as in-house counsel for the Division of Emergency Management. Mr. Polk has served as a chair of the Legal Counsel Committee for the National Emergency Management Association and was a member of the Legal Services Corporation, Disaster Task Force.

Prior to his duties in NCDPS, Mr. Polk served as Deputy General Counsel in the Office of the Governor. Polk has also served as General Counsel in the Office of the Lt. Governor, and as Director of the Victims and Citizens Services Section of the Attorney General's Office. He started his career in state government as a public safety policy analyst for the Office of the Governor. He also was a chair of the workplace violence committee of the N.C. Council for Women/Domestic Violence Commission. He served as the Attorney General's designee to the N.C. Council for Women/Domestic Violence Commission. He was recognized for his legislative efforts, by being awarded the Legislative Advocacy award by the North Carolina Coalition against Domestic Violence.

Mr. Polk is a native of Harrisburg, N.C., and received a BA in Political Science/Criminal Justice Concentration from North Carolina State University in 1996, and his J.D. from N.C. Central University School of Law, in 1999. He is admitted to the N.C. Bar and U.S. District Court for the Eastern District of North Carolina.

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Christine B. Simpson

Christine B. Simpson a graduate of Catholic University Washington (BA) DC and William & Mary Law School (JD).

Chris entered private practice in Norfolk Va and joined Wishart, Norris, Henninger & Pittman in NC in 1985. She represented Cary while with Wishart Norris and left the firm in 1999 to become Cary's Assistant Town Attorney. Chris was appointed as Cary's Town Attorney in 2005 and served in that capacity until her retirement in December 2020.

She's served on the boards of the North Carolina Association of Municipal Attorneys, including as President in 2015-2016 and with the Government and Public Sector Section of the NC Bar Association. She received the that Section's Grainger Barrett Award for Excellence in 2019.
Anne M. Tompkins

Anne M. Tompkins is a partner in Cadwalader, Wickersham & Taft's White Collar Defense and Investigations Group, resident in the Charlotte, N.C., and Washington, D.C., offices, and a member of the firm's Management Committee. Her practice focuses on representing companies and financial institutions, as well as their officers and directors in criminal, civil, and administrative investigations. Anne has been regularly recognized in The Best Lawyers in America for Bet-The-Company-Litigation and voted by her peers as the Lawyer of the Year for Criminal Defense: White-Collar in Charlotte in 2018, 2020 and 2021.

Anne was the United States Attorney for the Western District of North Carolina from April 2010 to March 2015. She led numerous high-profile, complex criminal and civil investigations during her tenure, including a public corruption case involving the former mayor of Charlotte, the national security case against former general and CIA Director David Petraeus, numerous securities and financial fraud cases, as well as significant matters in the mortgage-backed securities business. Anne served on the Attorney General’s Advisory Committee, which acts on behalf of all of the other U.S. Attorneys in providing advice and counsel to the Attorney General. Anne was appointed Co-Chair of the Civil Rights Subcommittee and was an active member of the Health Care Fraud and White Collar Crime Subcommittees, giving her insight into the priorities and decision-making processes at the highest levels of the Department of Justice.

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Ann B. Wall

Ann B. Wall is General Counsel for the North Carolina Department of the Secretary of State in Raleigh. She has served as an attorney in the North Carolina Departments of Justice and Labor, as well as the National Labor Relations Board. She has provided advice regarding public records requests, open meetings and records retention issues during her years of State and federal service.

Anne is a member and past chair of the Administrative Law and Government and Public Sector Sections of the NCBA. She is a past recipient of what is now called the Grainger Barrett Award for Excellence awarded by the Government and Public Sector Section. She is also a member of the Business, Constitutional Rights & Responsibilities, Corporate Counsel, Criminal Justice, Labor and Employment Law and Litigation Sections. She is a member of the ABA and several of its sections, and of the NC Association of Women Attorneys.

Anne's undergraduate and law degrees are from Meredith College and from the University of North Carolina at Chapel Hill respectively.

Click here for more information about Ann.
E. Gregory Wallace

E. Gregory Wallace teaches constitutional law with an emphasis on religious freedom, the right to arms, free speech, and constitutional interpretation.

Gregory received the S.J.D. and LL.M. degrees from the University of Virginia School of Law. His doctoral dissertation was entitled "Higher Call: Foundations of Religious Freedom in American Constitutionalism." He received his J.D. degree with high honors from the University of Arkansas at Little Rock School of Law. He also has an M.A. degree with honors from Dallas Theological Seminary.

Before joining the Campbell Law faculty in 1995, he served as a law clerk to United States District Judge Susan Webber Wright. Professor Wallace is co-author of the online chapters and forthcoming third edition of Firearms Law and the Second Amendment: Regulation, Rights, and Policy, a law school textbook and treatise. His writings have been published or set for publication in several law reviews, including the Tennessee Law Review, Florida State Law Review, and Penn State Law Review.

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Janine M. Zanin

Janine M. Zanin is a Clinical Professor of Law at the University of North Carolina at Chapel Hill where she also serves as the Assistant Director of the Externship Program. Her teaching and research interests include Legal Ethics and Professionalism. She is a regular presenter at academic conferences and continuing legal education programs on the topic of ethical supervision of law students and new lawyers.

Prior to joining the faculty at UNC, her legal practice was primarily in the government and non-profit sector, including serving incarcerated individuals in the state of North Carolina and practicing in the New York City Criminal Court, providing legal counsel on city-wide matters in the Office of the Chief Court Attorney.

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Thank you

Description

Contributors

Amy Y. Bason

Tara N. Cho

Laura P. Graham

Michael A. Greer

April Harris-Britt, PhD

Katie W. Hartzog

Jennifer M. Jones

Terri A. Jones

Kimberly J. Korando

William M. Polk

Christine B. Simpson

Anne M. Tompkins

Ann B. Wall

E. Gregory Wallace

Janine M. Zanin