News Article
Justice Burley Mitchell Appointed to N.C. Highway Patrol Review Panel
July 28, 2010
RALEIGH, N.C.—Womble Carlyle attorney and former North Carolina Supreme Court Chief Justice Burley Mitchell has been appointed to a blue ribbon panel on restructuring the state’s Highway Patrol Office.
The six-person panel will report to Gov. Beverly Perdue on needed changes within the Highway Patrol’s organizational structure and policies, as well as its recommendations on who should be the agency’s new commander.
Other members of the panel are:
- Peter Gilchrist, Mecklenburg County’s District Attorney since 1975.
- Former N.C. Court of Appeals Judge Ralph Walker
- Julius Chambers, Professor of Law and Director of the Center for Civil Rights at UNC
- Chris Swecker, former assistant director of the FBI’s Criminal Division
- Norma Houston, UNC professor and former Assistant Attorney General
Justice Mitchell served on the N.C. Supreme Court from 1982 to 1999, becoming Chief Justice in 1995. At Womble Carlyle, he leads the firm's economic development efforts. Last year, he was appointed by Sen. Kay Hagan to an advisory board to help pick North Carolina’s new federal judges. Justice Mitchell is a member of the Board of Trustees of his alma mater, North Carolina State University. He practices in Womble Carlyle’s Raleigh office.