12:15 Welcome and Introductions
12:20 Panel Discussion: Recent Legislation
Yolanda R. Fair, NC Office of the Juvenile Defender, Raleigh
Dionne Tunstall Jenkins, Winston-Salem/Forsyth County Schools, Winston-Salem
Matthew D. Wunsche, NC Administrative Office of the Courts, Raleigh
Eric J. Zogry, NC Office of the Juvenile Defender, Raleigh (Moderator)
The recent legislative session enacted several changes impacting juvenile justice, child welfare and education law. The panelists provide an overview of major legislation in each area, moderated by juvenile defender, Eric Zogry.
1:35 Break
1:45 A View From the Bench: Crossover Issues in Juvenile Proceedings
Chief Judge Samantha H. Cabe, NC District Court – 18th Judicial District, Hillsborough (Moderator)
Judge Sam S. Hamadani, NC District Court – 10th Judicial District, Raleigh
Judge Amanda Maris, NC District Court – 16th Judicial District, Durham
Representing youth and families presents unique challenges, as these cases typically involve multiple systems that have impacted the clients, including juvenile justice, child welfare and education. Learn directly from juvenile court judges about crossover issues related to child welfare, delinquency and education in juvenile proceedings, and hear their advice on how to better advocate for youth clients.
3:00 Break
3:10 Compassion Fatigue When Representing a Juvenile†
Robynn E. Moraites, North Carolina Lawyers Assistance Program, Charlotte
Representation of a minor is inherently different from representation of an adult, as minors typically experience significant trauma and mental health needs that contribute to their justice-system involvement. Attorneys who work with this vulnerable population are at a greater risk for compassion fatigue due to their increased exposure to individuals experiencing trauma and the empathy we feel for them. This session provides guidance on how attorneys can identify the signs of compassion fatigue and help to mitigate its impact.
4:10 Adjourn
† Indicates portion providing Professional Well-Being credit
Thank you for joining us for The Child's Advocate: At the Intersection of Juvenile Justice, Child Welfare and Education (2024 Juvenile Justice & Children's Rights Section Program).
This annual CLE by the Juvenile Justice & Children's Rights Section is focused on assisting attorneys who represent youth in North Carolina in juvenile delinquency, child welfare, education proceedings, family courts, and other legal or administrative proceedings.
Chief Judge Samantha H. Cabe presides over NC District Court – 18th Judicial District in Hillsborough.
Chief Judge Cabe practiced law in Orange and Chatham counties as an attorney with Holcomb & Cabe LLP and an associate attorney at Northern Blue LLP.
Chief Judge Cabe earned her B.S., magna cum laude, in Business Administration, Business Law and Accounting from Western Carolina University and his J.D. from the University of North Carolina School of Law.
Click here for more information about Chief Judge Cabe.
Yolanda R. Fair is the Juvenile Project Attorney at the NC Office of the Juvenile Defender (OJD) in Raleigh.
Prior to joining OJD, Yolanda was an Assistant Public Defender with the Buncombe County Public Defender's Office for over eight years. During her time there, she represented youth in delinquency court and adults in criminal matters in both district and superior courts.
Yolanda is a skilled trial attorney and advocate, having tried many jury cases to verdict as well as many bench trials. She is a passionate advocate for those who are marginalized in our society and loves being able to give youth a voice throughout the legal process. She is committed to addressing racial disparities and equity in the justice system and is a member of the North Carolina Racial Equity Network. She has spoken about efforts to address racial disparities in the legal system and has led local efforts to address race in the criminal justice system.
Yolanda's interest in youth justice and advocacy started with her participation in the UNC Youth Justice Clinic. She is motivated to help and assist attorneys throughout the state provide the best possible representation for their young clients. In 2016, she received the Laurette of the Year Award from OpenDoors Asheville, a nonprofit that seeks to provide educational opportunities to youth, for her advocacy of youth in juvenile court. In 2017, she received the James E. Williams award from the Public Defender Association of NC for her efforts to bring education and trainings about racial equity to Buncombe County.
Yolanda earned her B.A. in International Relations from Tufts University and her J.D. from the University of North Carolina School of Law.
Click here for more information about Yolanda.
Deana K. Fleming is an attorney with Stephenson & Fleming LLP in Chapel Hill. She specializes in juvenile law, social services law, adoption, and related appeals.
Deana first became involved with the juvenile court system in law school as a volunteer guardian ad litem and family court intern in Durham. After graduating law school, she entered private practice in family law, but quickly realized her passion was juvenile law. As an assistant public defender in Durham, she represented parents in abuse, neglect, dependency and termination of parental rights proceedings and criminal defendants. She worked 13 years for the Administrative Office of the Courts,12 years serving as Associate Counsel for the North Carolina Guardian ad Litem Program, and one year as Assistant General Counsel focusing primarily on child welfare and juvenile delinquency law.
Deana is a member of the North Carolina Bar Association Juvenile Justice Children's Rights Section and serves as legislative chair. She was the first recipient of the section's annual Children's Champion Award. She has extensive appellate experience in juvenile cases, including Amicus Curiae, and has argued four times at the North Carolina Supreme Court. She has presented at numerous legal education conferences on child welfare issues. She has been involved in several legislative drafting committees to improve the practice of juvenile law, including legislation that raised the age of juvenile court jurisdiction to age eighteen.
Deana is a Board Certified Specialist in Child Welfare Law.
Deana earned her B.A. in Anthropology from the University of North Carolina at Chapel Hill and her J.D. from North Carolina Central University School of Law.
Click here for more information about Deana.
Judge Sam S. Hamadani is a Wake County District Court Judge in NC District Court – 10th Judicial District in Raleigh. She was appointed by Governor Roy Cooper in June 2017. She is the first Iranian American judge in North Carolina.
After graduating from college, Judge Hamadani committed her life to public service. First, she moved to Washington, D.C. where she worked as a Legislative Correspondent for then-Senator Joe Biden. Then, after a few years in D.C., she returned to North Carolina to attend the law school. Upon graduation, she served Wake County as an assistant public defender, representing thousands of indigent individuals in criminal court.
Judge Hamadani earned her Bachelor's degree in Psychology and Sociology from the University of North Carolina at Chapel Hill and her J.D. from the University of North Carolina School of Law.
Click here for more information about Judge Hamadani.
Dionne Tunstall Jenkins is Chief Legal Counsel at Winston-Salem/Forsyth County Schools in Winston-Salem. She advises the Board of Education, the Superintendent, administrators, and provides various trainings to other school officials on various topics including, but no limited to, state and federal law compliance, employment law issues, board governance, student privacy and confidentiality issues, student discipline, and other education law related topics.
After law school, Dionne spent the first few years of her career in private practice and as a solo practitioner of her own law firm focusing on the areas of criminal law defense, family law, personal injury, real estate, and general civil litigation. In 2013, she joined the Winston-Salem/Forsyth County Schools (WS/FCS) as a Staff Attorney, and three years later was named Chief Legal Counsel to the WS/FCS Board of Education. She is the first African American to serve in that role.
Dionne is a member of the Education Law Section of the North Carolina Bar Association and both the state and national Council of School Attorneys. She is also a member of the North Carolina School Boards Association, where she is a frequent presenter at school law conferences for Superintendents, School Administrators, and School Board members across the state.
Dionne earned her B.A. in Political Science from Wake Forest University and J.D. from Wake Forest University School of Law.
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Judge Amanda Maris is a District Court Judge presiding over NC District Court – 16th Judicial District in Durham. She was first appointed to the bench by Governor Roy Cooper in July 2017, retained by the voters in 2018, and was most recently re-elected in 2022. She is a Juvenile Court Judge and also presides regularly in domestic violence, traffic, child support, civil and criminal courts. She was an assigned Family Court Judge for over five years before assuming responsibilities in Juvenile Court in 2023.
Judge Maris is a longtime community leader on issues impacting our youth and in the area of expunctions, driver's license restoration and second chances in our court system. She was a Board Member (and President) of the Durham Co. Teen Court & Restitution Program for 10 years and a volunteer judge beginning in 2007. In 2008, she co-founded a public expunction clinic in partnership with Legal Aid of NC and was a nominee for the NCBA Chief Justice Award in 2015. In 2018, she was instrumental in the creation of a new court referral program called, The Durham Expunction and Restoration (DEAR) Program which dramatically increased access to expunctions, certificates of relief and driver's license restoration and debt relief for Durham and other NC residents. She continues to lead and support the DEAR program as a Co-Chair of the Advisory Board.
Formerly, Judge Maris practiced as an Asst. Public Defender in district and superior court including juvenile delinquency court for approximately 11 years. She participated in the first Misdemeanor Diversion Program in the state designed to assist young offenders (ages 16-21) with keeping their records clean and offering individualized treatment as a public defender. She also taught legal writing at NC Central University's School of Law before becoming a judge.
Judge Maris has prior experience in civil litigation, family law, estate planning and as a Guardian ad Litem in Wake County. She also represented the Public Defender's Office on the Durham Crime Cabinet working on various initiatives, such as, exploring a new mental health court, probation reforms, and gun safety measures in Durham. She continues to value participation in local community and government endeavors designed to improve the justice system and dismantle historic injustices and institutional bias.
Judge Maris earned her B.A. in Communications (Rhetorical Studies) from the University of North Carolina at Chapel Hill and her J.D. from North Carolina Central University School of Law.
Click here for more information about Judge Maris.
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.
Click here for more information about Robynn.
LaToya B. Powell is a Deputy General Counsel at the NC Department of Public Safety in Raleigh where she primarily provides in-house legal counsel to the Division of Juvenile Justice and Delinquency Prevention. Prior to joining DPS, she served as Assistant Legal Counsel in the Office of General Counsel at the NC Administrative Office of the Courts where she advised judicial officials and their staff primarily on juvenile delinquency matters. She is also former Assistant Professor of Public Law and Government at the UNC School of Government where her research and teaching focused on juvenile justice issues.
LaToya is also an Adjunct Professor of Law at Campbell University School of Law. Prior to becoming a law professor, LaToya was an Assistant Attorney General in the Appellate Section of the NC Department of Justice and a juvenile prosecutor in the Johnston County District Attorney's Office. She is an active member of the North Carolina Bar Association and is a current co-chair of the Minorities in the Profession Committee and former chair of the Juvenile Justice and Children's Rights Section, which named Powell as the 2020 "Children's Champion."
LaToya earned her B.A., cum laude, in Criminology from North Carolina State University and her J.D. from University of North Carolina School of Law.
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Matthew D. Wunsche is Appellate Counsel at NC Guardian ad Litem Program in Raleigh. His duties include representing children on appeal in abuse, neglect, and dependency and termination of parental rights cases, and recruiting, assisting, and training pro bono attorneys to represent children on appeal for the NC GAL program.
Matt is a North Carolina State Bar Board-Certified Specialist in Child Welfare Law.
From 2003 through 2008, Matt was an Assistant Appellate Defender at the Office of the Appellate Defender, where he represented indigent criminal defendants on direct appeal. From 2008 through 2015, he worked as a staff attorney at the North Carolina Court of Appeals, where he drafted proposed opinions for the Court in Rule 3.1 appeals and other matters, and reviewed petitions for extraordinary writs and motions.
Matt earned his B.A. in English, with an emphasis in Rhetoric and a minor in Political Science, from Penn State University and his J.D. from the University of North Carolina at Chapel Hill School of Law, where he was a member of the Holderness Moot Court Bench Invitational Team.
Click here for more information about Matthew.
Eric J. Zogry is State Juvenile Defender at the NC Office of the Juvenile Defender (OJD) in Raleigh. He was appointed the position by the Indigent Defense Services Commission in November 2004 and has served since then. The core mission of the OJD is to provide services and support to defense attorneys and to evaluate and improve the system of representation.
After working for the North Carolina Sentencing and Policy Advisory Commission and the Research Division of the Administrative Office of the Courts, Eric joined the staff of the Public Defender's Office in Greensboro in February 1999, practicing exclusively in juvenile delinquency and involuntary commitment court. He served as Director of the Southern Juvenile Defender Center from 2010 to 2014, providing resources and support for juvenile defenders in seven southeastern states.
In 2013 Eric was among the first class board certified by the North Carolina State Bar as a specialist in criminal law- juvenile delinquency.
Eric received the Robert E. Shepard Award for Excellence in Juvenile Defense from the National Juvenile Defender Center in October 2013. He was recognized as a Defender of Justice by the North Carolina Justice Center in 2018 and the North Carolina Bar Association Juvenile Justice Section Children's Champion in 2019.
Eric earned his B.A., with honors, in Religious Studies from the University of North Carolina Chapel Hill and his J.D. from the Louisiana State University Paul M. Hebert Law Center.
Click here for more information about Eric.
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