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Areas of Interest
Criminal law and procedure; public defender training; evidence; indigent defense; domestic violence; subpoenas
Profile
John Rubin joined the Institute of Government in 1991. Prior to that, he practiced law for nine years in Washington, D.C., and Los Angeles. At the School he specializes in criminal law and indigent defense education. He has written several articles and books on criminal law, including the North Carolina Defender Manual, and he designs and teaches in numerous training programs each year for indigent defenders. He is a frequent consultant to the Office of Indigent Defense Services, which is responsible for overseeing and enhancing legal representation for indigent defendants and others entitled to counsel under North Carolina law. Rubin earned a BA from the University of California at Berkeley and a JD from the University of North Carolina at Chapel Hill.
Profile
Alyson Grine joined the School of Government in 2006. Prior to that, Grine worked for five years as an assistant public defender representing many non-English speaking Hispanic clients in Orange and Chatham counties. She previously served as a judicial clerk for Chief Justice Henry Frye of the NC Supreme Court in 2000 and Judge Patricia Timmons-Goodson of the NC Court of Appeals in 1999. Grine earned a BA with distinction from UNC-Chapel Hill, a MA in Spanish from the University of Virginia, and a JD with honors from UNC-Chapel Hill.
Profile
Whitney Fairbanks joined the School of Government in 2008. Prior to that, Fairbanks worked for three years as an assistant public defender in Durham County where she represented respondent parents in abuse and neglect, and termination of parental rights proceedings; and juveniles in delinquency proceedings. She was in private practice in both Raleigh and Greenville before joining the public defender's office. Fairbanks earned a BA from the University of Tennessee, and a JD with honors from Gonzaga University in Spokane.
Meredith Wales
Profile
Meredith Wales joined the School of Government in 2008. Prior to that, she worked in Washington, DC, for Appleseed, a national network of public interest law centers, and the Department of Justice. In her role at the School of Government, Wales directs the day-to-day operations of the Indigent Defense Education team’s continuing education program. Wales graduated magna cum laude from Georgetown University with a BS in business administration and is an MBA candidate at UNC’s Kenan-Flagler Business School.
Profile
Gail Wilkins joined the School of Government in 2008 to provide program support for the Local Elected Leaders Academy and Public Executive Leadership Academy. She transitioned to her current role as Indigent Defense Education program manager in 2010 and now works with public and private indigent defense attorneys. Before coming to the School of Government, Wilkins was a program coordinator for the Office of Continuing Medical Education at the UNC-Chapel Hill School of Medicine.
Other School of Government faculty who specialize in courts and criminal justice issues, including their areas of interest, are listed below:
| Ann Anderson |
Civil procedure; courts; administration of estates |
| Michael Crowell | Courts and judicial education; constitutional law; voting rights; alcoholic beverage control law |
| Shea Denning | Motor vehicle law, including legal aspects of driving while impaired and driver’s license revocations |
| James Drennan | Director, North Carolina Judicial College; judicial ethics; judicial administration; legal responsibilities of clerks of court; pattern jury instructions; North Carolina constitution |
|
(part-time, retired) |
Criminal law and procedure; police attorneys; evidence |
| Cheryl Daniels Howell | Courts; family law; judicial education; child support |
| Dona Lewandowski | Magistrates’ issues (non-criminal law) including summary ejectment, small claims procedure, appointment and removal matters |
| Jamie Markham | Criminal sentencing; corrections; community corrections; jails and prisons |
| Janet Mason | Juvenile law; social services law; adoption; marriage law |
| Jessica Smith | Criminal law and procedure; judicial education; bail and pretrial release; evidence; post-conviction procedure |
| Jeff Welty | Criminal law and procedure; evidence; prosecutor training; police attorneys |
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