Press Release
Womble Carlyle's Burley Mitchell to Lead Statewide Advisory Panel for Senator Kay Hagan
April 1, 2009
Public Relations Contact: Bruce Buchanan, (336) 728-7027
RALEIGH-Former North Carolina Supreme Court Chief Justice Burley Mitchell has been named to lead an elite task force that will help pick the state's next federal judges and other key federal appointments.
Sen. Kay Hagan has asked Mitchell to chair the four-person statewide panel. Panel members will screen candidates for United States Attorney and Federal District Court Judgeship positions. The panel will make recommendations to Sen. Hagan, who, in turn, will make recommendations to President Barack Obama.
Also named to the panel are former U.S. Attorney Janice McKenzie Cole, Greensboro defense attorney Locke Clifford and Anthony di Santi, Vice-President of the North Carolina State Bar.
"Selecting federal judges and U.S. attorneys is a vitally important process for our legal system," Justice Mitchell said. "I am honored to be working beside these three outstanding attorneys in this critical endeavor."
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. Recently, he secured a landmark victory for Dell, Inc., in a challenge to state and local economic incentives used to build Dell's new manufacturing plant in Winston-Salem. Justice Mitchell is a member of the Board of Trustees of his alma mater, North Carolina State University.
Read press release from Senator Hagan's office
Womble Carlyle - Innovators at Law
A full-service business law firm, Womble Carlyle ranks among American Lawyer magazine's list of the 100 leading firms in the country and is a top law firm for companies doing business in the Southeast and Mid-Atlantic states.
The firm is a recipient of the Thurgood Marshall College Fund Corporate Leadership Award, making Womble Carlyle the first law firm ever to receive the highest honor given to a business organization in recognition of its support of the Fund and its 45 member educational institutions.
The firm also is the first law firm to be awarded the Employer Support of the Guard and Reserve Freedom Award, which is the highest recognition given by the U.S. government to employers for their support of employees who serve in the National Guard and Reserve.