Seminar Presenters Honorable Gale M. Adams: Gale M. Adams is a superior court judge for the 12B Judicial District of the Fourth Division of the Superior Court, serving Cumberland County, North Carolina. She was elected on November 6, 2012 for a term that expires in 2020. Adams received her B.A. degree from the University of North Carolina at Chapel Hill in 1981 and her J.D. degree from the North Carolina Central University School of Law in 1984. Adams began her career in 1984 as a Judge Advocate General in the U.S. Navy. She then worked as an Assistant District Attorney in Fayetteville, N.C. from 1988 until she became an Assistant Federal Public Defender in 1992. She was then elected a Superior Court judge in 2012. Eric J. Brignac: Mr. Brignac received his JD from the University of North Carolina at Chapel Hill in 2002. Immediately after law school he worked as an associate at Covington & Burling in Washington D.C., focusing on transportation law and employee benefits law. Mr. Brignac also clerked for Judge James L. Dennis on the United States Court of Appeals for the Fifth Circuit and Judge Allyson K. Duncan on the United States Court of Appeals for the Fourth Circuit. Mr. Brignac is currently employed as an assistant federal public defender with the Federal Public Defender s Office for the Eastern District of North Carolina. He also teaches a seminar on Sex Offenders and the Law as a adjunct law professor at UNC-Chapel Hill. James L. Corpening, Jr.: Mr. Corpening has 20 years of work experience in the United States Probation Office in the Eastern District of North Carolina. He assumed the responsibilities of Chief U.S. Probation Officer in January 2012, having served as Deputy Chief of the Supervision Services Unit for five years. He also served as the district s Program Development Coordinator where he developed programs for post conviction offenders. In 1989, James graduated from the University of North Carolina at Charlotte with a degree in Criminal Justice. Following graduation, he continued his education at North Carolina A&T State University in Greensboro, NC, where in 1991 he earned a Master of Science degree in Adult Education. He furthered his education at North Carolina State University, where in 2003 he earned a doctorate degree in Adult Education, focusing his studies on organizational development, leadership, and the phenomenon of team learning within the paradigms of organizational learning and the learning organization. James has served on numerous district and national committees including the national IT Advisory Council and the Evidence Based Practices Working Group. He is a facilitator for the Federal Judicial Center s Strategic Planning Program and is also an adjunct faculty member at the National Training Center in Charleston, SC.
Joseph B. Gilbert: Mr. Gilbert is an Assistant Federal Public defender for the Eastern District of North Carolina. He received his B.A. in English at the University of Texas at El Paso in 1975, and his M.B.A. from National University in San Diego in 1981. Mr. Gilbert graduated from Notre Dame Law School in 1984. He also served in the United States Marine Corps from 1975 to 1993, when he transferred his active commission to a reserve commission as a Lieutenant Colonel. Mr. Gilbert s military duty assignments included four years as Appellate Defense Counsel, Navy-Marine Corps Appellate Review Activity, Washington, D.C. From 1993 until September 2002, he was a partner with the firm of McNeil & Gilbert, of Jacksonville, North Carolina. Mr. Gilbert is admitted to practice in Indiana and North Carolina, and bef ore the United States Supreme Court, the Court of Appeals for the Fourth Circuit, and the United States District Court, Eastern District of North Carolina. Detective William Chuck Hastings: Detective Hastings in working with the Charlotte- Mecklenburg Police Department, has made numerous state and federal arrests involving gang members. While working in the Special Investigations Bureau - Gang Unit and the FBI Safe Streets Task Force he investigated an MS-13 RICO drug investigation involving over 26 defendants where he also worked the first MS-13 capital murder case in the country. Detective Hastings assisted in starting the Gang of One prevention program in Charlotte in 2004, was the NCGIA Region 3 Coordinator from 2005 to 2007 and presently he is the North Carolina Gang Investigators Association Director of Information. Joshua B. Howard: Mr. Howard graduated cum laude from Duke University in 1995 and with honors from the University of North Carolina School of Law in 1999. He clerked for Judge William L. Osteen in the Middle District of North Carolina. He then worked in Washington, DC as an Associate Independent Counsel in the Of fice of the Independent Counsel, where he helped conclude the W hitewater and Monica Lewinsky investigations. Josh began work as an Assistant United States Attorney in the Western District of North Carolina in 2001. He focused his time in Charlotte on white collar cases, including identity theft, mortgage fraud, and tax evasion. In 2005, Josh returned to Washington, where he was part of a White House-DOJ team designed to assist the Senate confirmations of Chief Justice John Roberts and Associate Justice Samuel Alito. Josh returned to North Carolina in 2006 and served as Deputy Criminal Chief for Economic Crimes in the United States Attorney s Office in the Eastern District of North Carolina until 2009. Josh was in-house counsel and Chief Ethics Officer at RTI International in Research Triangle Park from 2009 to 2012. Josh began his private criminal defense practice at Gammon, Howard & Zeszotarski, PLLC in 2012.
Suzanne Little: Since December 2009, Ms. Little has been an Assistant Federal Public Defender for the Eastern District of North Carolina. Prior to joining the EDNC/FPD office, Ms. Little practiced federal criminal defense in the Eastern District of Virginia as both an Assistant Federal Public Defender and in private practice. She took two breaks from the practice of criminal defense law to manage a litigation section of the Department of Justice and to work as Assistant General Counsel for the Department of Defense. She is a 1984 graduate of George Mason Law School. Thomas P. McNamara: Mr. McNamara is the Federal Public Defender for the Eastern District of North Carolina. Mr. McNamara received his B.A. in 1961 from Duke University and his J.D. in 1964 from Wake Forest University. He served as an Assistant United States Attorney, EDNC, from 1969-72 and United States Attorney, EDNC, from 1972-76. Mr. McNamara was in private practice in Raleigh, North Carolina from 1976 until May 15, 2000, when he was appointed Federal Public Defender. Mr. McNamara served for six years as a member of the Federal Judiciary s Criminal Rules Committee and currently serves on the Defender Services Advisory Committee. The major emphasis of his private practice before becoming Federal Public Defender was federal criminal law. Thomas Metzloff: Professor Metzloff is a native of Buffalo, N.Y. He earned his BA from Yale College in 1976 and his JD from Harvard Law School in 1979. He began his professional career with a judicial clerkship on the 5th U.S. Circuit Court of Appeals in New Orleans, followed by a clerkship with the Supreme Court of the United States. He then practiced with a private firm in Atlanta doing civil litigation matters before accepting a position at Duke Law School in 1985. He teaches civil procedure, ethics, and dispute resolution, as well as a specialized course on the American legal system for international LLM students. He has taught that course regularly at Duke's Geneva and Hong Kong summer institutes as well as at Tsinghua University in Beijing. He served as the Law School's senior associate dean for academic affairs from 1998-2001, and currently serves as a member of the executive committee of Duke University's Academic Council. Professor Metzloff is also director of the Voices of American Law project. The goal of the project is interview the parties, attorneys, experts, and judges who were involved in the development of important Supreme Court cases dealing with key constitutional values (such as the First Amendment, privacy rights, property rights). The interviews are then used to create detailed documentaries that are being widely used in law schools and other educational settings to study Constitutional rights and values. Professor Metzloff also has conducted extensive research on the litigation system as it relates to medical malpractice disputes. For example, he conducted a major empirical study of court-ordered mediation in medical malpractice cases funded by the Robert Wood Johnson Foundation. Professor Metzloff is active in a number of professional activities. He has served as an advisory member to the North Carolina State Bar Ethics Committee, and also served on the North Carolina Supreme Court's Dispute Resolution Committee.
Curtis W. Morrow: Mr. Morrow received his Bachelor of Science in Psychology degree, with a minor in Guidance & Counseling in May, 1981 from Western Carolina University, Cullowhee, North Carolina. He received his Masters of Social Work degree from the University of North Carolina at Chapel Hill, North Carolina in December, 1996. From March, 2011 to date Mr. Morrow has been the Veterans Justice Outreach (VJO) Specialist, Healthcare for Homeless Veterans (HCHV) Program, Fayetteville, NC VAMC. The role of the VJO is to provide outreach and assessment services to eligible veterans involved with the criminal justice system. To refer and link these veterans to appropriate VA and community services that will support community readjustment, encourage adherence to treatment and prevent incarceration if alternative treatment options are available. Justice involved Veterans include: Veterans in contact with law enforcement who can appropriately be diverted to treatment in lieu of incarceration; Veterans in jail, detained pre-trial or serving a sentence; Veterans involved in adjudication or monitoring through the courts. Mr. Morrow is a Licensed Clinical Social Worker (LCSW), the highest level of clinical licensure in North Carolina (Certification Number: C003348) and a Board Certified Diplomate (BCD) in Clinical Social Work. Mr. Morrow can be reached at 910-488-2120 ext 7225 or Curtis.Morrow@va.gov. Major Curtis Morrow, USAF (Ret) served as a Licensed Clinical Social Worker (LCSW) in the Air Force for 14 years. Major Morrow served first as an enlisted Airman/NCO and later as a Commissioned Officer throughout the continental US, Germany, Japan and the Republic of Korea. Major Morrow served as a Combat Readiness Team Chief, Mental Health Clinic Element Chief, OIC of Family Advocacy Programs, OIC of the Alcohol & Drug Abuse Prevention and Treatment Program, and Special Needs Provider/Coordinator in US Air Forces Europe. Vidalia V. Patterson: Ms. Patterson is a Research and Writing Attorney with the Office of the Federal Public Defender for the Eastern District of North Carolina. She has been with the office since 2005. She received her B.A. in 1997 from Davidson College, and received her J.D. from Catholic University of America's Columbus School of Law in 2001. Ms. Patterson clerked for United States Magistrate Judge Alexander B. Denson and was retained as a staff attorney for the U.S. District Court for the Eastern District of North Carolina from 2001-2002. Before joining the Federal Public Defender's Office, Ms. Patterson worked in the area of toxic tort ligation as an associate with Womble, Carlyle, Sandridge & Rice, LLC. Samuel G. Bo Thompson: Mr. Thompson graduated from the University of North Carolina - Chapel Hill (1999) and the Campbell University School of Law (2004). He is a partner with the Raleigh law firm of Yates, McLamb & Weyher, LLP. He has been involved with, and held leadership positions within, the Wake County Bar Association, Wake County Bar Association Young Lawyers Division, 10 th Judicial District Bar, North Carolina Bar Association and the North Carolina Chief Justice s Commission on Professionalism. Mr. Thompson also has numerous publications and speaking engagements to his credit. His complete biography can be found at: http://www.ymwlaw.com/samuel-g-bo-thompson-jr/
Windy C. Venable: Ms. Venable is currently an Attorney-Advisor at the Office of Defender Services Legal Policy and Training Division in Washington, D.C. Windy formerly served as a Research and Writing Attorney and an Assistant Federal Public Defender in Raleigh, North Carolina, and as a staff attorney at the Fourth Circuit Court of Appeals in Richmond, Virginia. Windy graduated with a B.A. in humanities in 1996 and graduated cum laude from the Brigham Young University Law School in 1999. Following graduation, Windy worked as a federal law clerk in the Southern District of Texas.