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An Overview of Judicial Elections and Appellate Courts

Applied for one hour course for: NC CPE, NC CLE, CFP     **NO NC CIE
0745 Announcements
0800 Program begins

Speakers
Judge Lucy Inman &  Judge Chris Brook

Lucy Inman
, a judge on the North Carolina Court of Appeals, is a candidate for the North Carolina Supreme Court in 2020. Judge Inman was elected statewide to the Court of Appeals in 2014.

Judge Inman was raised in Raleigh by parents who taught her the value of hard work and respect for people of all races, faiths, and walks of life. She graduated from Sanderson High School and earned a degree in English from N.C. State University.

Judge Inman’s first career was as a newspaper reporter. While covering court proceedings, she was inspired to participate in the justice system. She then moved to Chapel Hill and earned her law degree from UNC School of Law in 1990. Her first job after law school was working as a law clerk for North Carolina Supreme Court Chief Justice Jim Exum.

Judge Inman went on to practice civil litigation for 18 years, first in Los Angeles and then back home in Raleigh. Her clients included small business owners, large corporations, famous individuals, and lesser known -- but no less important -- survivors of negligence, fraud, and sexual abuse.

In 2010, Judge Inman was appointed by Governor Beverly Perdue to serve as a special superior court judge. She served in that role for four years, presiding in hearings and jury trials across North Carolina. Since her election to the Court of Appeals, Judge Inman has authored over 400 appellate decisions in a wide variety of cases, including criminal, civil, and constitutional disputes. She has presided in thousands of other cases.

Judge Inman brings hard work and respect for all others to her personal and professional life every day. She hopes to bring these values, and equal justice for all, to the North Carolina Supreme Court.

Judge Inman and her husband Billy Warden live in Raleigh. They have two college-age children and a black lab rescue who keeps their nest from ever being empty.


Chris Brook spent his formative years in Raleigh, attending Daniels Middle School and Broughton High School. He received his undergraduate and Juris Doctor (J.D.) degrees from the University of North Carolina at Chapel Hill. At Carolina Law, he was managing editor of the North Carolina Journal of International Law and Commercial Regulation and director of the school's Pro Bono Program. From 2007 to 2011, Chris served as an adjunct professor at Carolina Law.

Chris first practiced law in the Raleigh office of Cranfill, Sumner & Hartzog. He then worked as a staff attorney at the Southern Coalition for Social Justice in Durham. From 2012 through his appointment to the Court of Appeals by Governor Roy Cooper, Chris was the legal director of the American Civil Liberties Union of North Carolina. Chris was admitted to practice in North Carolina state courts as well as each federal district court in the state, the Fourth Circuit Court of Appeals, and the Supreme Court of the United States. He successfully litigated matters in both state and federal court, including before a rare sitting of the full Fourth Circuit.

Active in the local community, Chris serves as Chair of the Board of the Orange County Partnership for Young Children and Vice-Chair of the Board of Transplanting Tradition Community Farm. In 2012, he was a founding member of a monthly housing law clinic at El Centro Hispano in Durham. Chris also served on the Size of the School Task Force and Pro Bono Alumni Board at Carolina Law, and as an attorney volunteer at the Compass Center for Women and Families. Chris is the incoming Chair of the North Carolina Bar Association's Constitutional Rights and Responsibilities Section.

Chris has received numerous recognitions for his contributions to the community and the legal profession in the state. He was inducted into the James E. and Carolyn B. Davis Society upon his graduation from Carolina Law and was subsequently honored as the school's Outstanding Recent Graduate. In 2016, the North Carolina Association of Women Attorneys awarded him with the Gwyneth B. Davis Public Service Award. Chris was also the winner of the North Carolina Justice Center's Defender of Justice Litigation Award in 2017.


10 minutes

8:00 – 8:10am

I. Appellate Court Overview

A. Two Levels of Appellate Court System

B. Composition of Court of Appeals and Supreme Court

C. What are Key Distinctions Between Courts?

 

15 minutes

8:10 – 8:25am

II. A Case Passes Through the Court of Appeals

A. Preservation of Issues and Notice of Appeal: Rules and Exceptions

B. Briefing

C. Assignment to Panel and within Panel

D. Perspectives on a Chambers Preparing to Vote in a Case

E. Oral Argument and Conference

F. Opinion Circulation within and beyond Court


G. Motions for Reconsideration and En Banc Review

H. Mandates

I. Remands

15 minutes

8:25 – 8:40am

III. A Case Passes Through the Supreme Court

A. Writs and Petitions

B. Preparation by Justices and Clerks Before Oral Argument

C. Oral Argument

D. Written Opinion Assignments

E. Circulation, Revision, and Separate Opinions

F. Remand to COA or Trial Courts

G. Appeals to SCOTUS

 

10 minutes

8:40 – 8:50am

IV. Politics and the Court

A. Terms of Office

B. Partisans on the Ballot

C. Fundraising

D. 2020 Election

E. North Carolina Practices Compared to Other States, Federal Judiciary

 

10 minutes

8:50 – 9:00am

V. Q&A

 

When:
Tuesday, August 18, 2020, 7:45 AM until 9:00 AM
Where:
Zoom Meeting
Look for connection info in reminder email


Additional Info:
Event Contact(s):
Gregg Schlaudecker
Category:
Membership Meetings
Registration is required
Payment In Full In Advance Only
No Fee
No Fee