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Areas of Interest
Civil procedure, courts, and administration of estates
Profile
Ann Anderson joined the School of Government faculty in 2007. Prior to that, she was an associate for six years with the law firm of Kennedy Covington in Raleigh and Durham, where she specialized in real-estate litigation and quasi-judicial proceedings. Anderson earned a BA in history with highest distinction from the University of North Carolina at Chapel Hill and a law degree with honors from the University of North Carolina at Chapel Hill School of Law, where she was a member of the North Carolina Law Review.
Areas of Interest
Law of judicial administration; courts and judicial education; constitutional law; voting rights; alcoholic beverage control law
Profile
Michael Crowell joined the School of Government faculty, for the second time, in 2007. He was initially on the faculty from 1970 to 1985, before entering private practice with Tharrington Smith LLP, in Raleigh, North Carolina. From 1994 to 1996 Crowell served as executive director of the Commission for the Future of Justice and the Courts in North Carolina. Crowell holds a bachelor's degree from the University of North Carolina at Chapel Hill and a law degree from Harvard University.
Areas of Interest
Motor vehicle law, including legal aspects of impaired driving and driver’s license revocations
Profile
Shea Denning joined the School of Government in 2003. Prior to that, she was an assistant federal public defender for the Eastern District of North Carolina and practiced law with the firm of King and Spalding in Atlanta, Georgia. Denning began her career as a law clerk to the Honorable Malcolm J. Howard, U.S. District Judge for the Eastern District of North Carolina. She is a member of the North Carolina State Bar. Denning earned an AB in journalism and mass communication and a JD from the University of North Carolina at Chapel Hill.
James C. Drennan
Areas of Interest
Court administration; legal responsibilities of clerks of court; pattern jury instructions; North Carolina constitution
Profile
Jim Drennan joined the Institute of Government in 1974. He teaches and advises on court administration issues, judicial ethics and fairness, criminal sentencing, and judicial leadership. Drennan is also responsible for the School’s educational programs for clerks of superior court and court administrators.While on leave from 1993 through 1995, he served as director of the North Carolina Administrative Office of the Courts. He is a member of the North Carolina State Bar, the American Bar Association, and the National Association of State Judicial Educators. Drennan earned a BA from Furman University and a JD from Duke University, where he served on the editorial board of the Duke Law Journal.
Cheryl Daniels Howell
Areas of Interest
Courts; family law; judicial education
Profile
Cheryl Howell joined the School of Government (then the Institute of Government) in 1992. Prior to that, she practiced law in Winston-Salem and Fayetteville and worked as a research assistant to Chief Judge R.A. Hedrick of the NC Court of Appeals. Currently, Howell works with the NC Association of District Court Judges in planning and coordinating their judicial education programs. She is a member of the NC Bar Association and the NC Association of Women Attorneys. She also has served as a member of the Family Court Advisory Committee, appointed by the Chief Justice of the NC Supreme Court, since its creation in 1998. Her publications include articles and bulletins relating to family law and family court, as well as chapters created for the Trial Judges’ Bench Book, District Court edition. Howell earned a BA, magna cum laude, from Appalachian State University and a JD, with honors, Order of the Coif, from the University of North Carolina at Chapel Hill.
Areas of Interest
Magistrates' issues (non-criminal law), including summary ejectment, small claims procedure, performing marriages, and appointment and removal matters
Profile
Dona Lewandowski joined the faculty of the Institute of Government in 1985 and spent the next five years writing, teaching, and consulting with district court judges in the area of family law. In 1990, following the birth of her son, she left the Institute to devote full time to her family. She rejoined the School of Government in 2006. Lewandowski holds a BS and an MA from Middle Tennessee State University and a JD with honors, Order of the Coif, from the University of North Carolina at Chapel Hill. After law school, she worked as a research assistant to Chief Judge R.A. Hedrick of the NC Court of Appeals.
Areas of Interest
Criminal law and procedure, especially community corrections and sentencing law
Profile
Jamie Markham joined the School of Government faculty in 2007. His area of interest is criminal law and procedure, with a focus on the law of sentencing, corrections, and the conditions of confinement. Markham earned a bachelor's degree with honors from Harvard College and a law degree with high honors, Order of the Coif, from Duke University, where he was editor-in-chief of the Duke Law Journal. He is a member of the North Carolina Bar. Prior to law school, Markham served five years in the United States Air Force as an intelligence officer and foreign area officer. He was also a travel writer for Let's Go Inc., contributing to the Russia and Ukraine chapters of Let's Go: Eastern Europe.
Areas of Interest
Juvenile court; delinquency; child welfare law; adoption; marriage law
Profile
Janet Mason joined the School of Government (then the Institute of Government) in 1982. Prior to that, she practiced law for seven years with legal services programs in North Carolina. Before law school she worked as a social worker in Baltimore and as a juvenile court counselor in Orange County. She works in the area of juvenile law with district court judges and attorneys who practice in juvenile court. Her publications include a book on the child abuse reporting law and articles and bulletins relating to juvenile delinquency; child abuse and neglect; termination of parental rights; and North Carolina marriage law. She has served on a variety of university committees. Mason earned a JD from the University of North Carolina at Chapel Hill.
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.
Areas of Interest
Criminal law and procedure; judicial education; bail and pretrial release; evidence; post-conviction procedure
Profile
Jessie Smith joined the Institute of Government in 2000. Prior to that, she practiced law at Covington & Burling in Washington, D.C. She also clerked for U.S. District Judge W. Earl Britt in the U.S. District Court for the Eastern District of North Carolina and for Senior U.S. Circuit Judge J. Dickson Phillips Jr. in the U.S. Court of Appeals for the Fourth Circuit. At the School of Government, Smith teaches and consults with judges and other public employees involved in the criminal justice system. She is the 2006 recipient of the Albert and Gladys Hall Coates Term Professorship for Teaching Excellence. Smith earned a BA, cum laude, from the University of Pennsylvania and a JD, magna cum laude, Order of the Coif, from the University of Pennsylvania Law School, where she was managing editor of the Law Review.
Thomas H. Thornburg
Profile
Tom Thornburg has been the School's senior associate dean since 2004 and director of the North Carolina Judicial College since December 2011. He joined the School of Government (then the Institute of Government) in 1990, and he was associate director, then associate dean, from 1996 until 2004. His responsibilities include overseeing faculty recruitment and welfare, assisting with day-to-day School management, and program development and oversight. He is a 2010–2011 Academic Leadership Fellow at UNC-Chapel Hill’s Institute for the Arts and Humanities. Thornburg is a member of several commissions and boards, including the North Carolina Criminal Justice Education and Training Standards Commission, the School of Government Foundation Board of Directors, and the Earlham College Board of Trustees. His faculty work focused primarily on criminal law and courts. Thornburg was chief legal counsel to the North Carolina Department of Correction in 1992–1993. He edited and revised North Carolina Crimes: A Guidebook on the Elements of Crime (Fourth Edition, 1995); revised Introduction to Law for North Carolinians (Second Edition, 2000); edited and revised Notary Public Guidebook for North Carolina (Ninth Edition, 2004); and has published on the topic of juvenile curfews. He earned a BA from Earlham College and an MPP and JD from the University of Michigan.
Areas of Interest
Criminal law and procedure; evidence; prosecutor training; police attorneys
Profile
Jeff Welty joined the School of Government in 2008. Prior to that, he completed a federal judicial clerkship, spent eight years in private practice, and served as a Lecturing Fellow at Duke Law School. Welty holds a bachelor's degree from the University of California at Berkeley and a master's degree in economics and a JD, with highest honors, from Duke University, where he was executive editor of the Duke Law Journal.
Profile
Susan Jensen joined the School of Government in 2008. In her role as program manager, she works with magistrates and new District Court judges. Jensen holds a BA from UNC-Chapel Hill in radio/TV/motion pictures and in political science, and an MA in political science from Appalachian State University.
Profile
Cindy Lee joined the School of Government in 2007. Prior to that, she was a program manager at the Kenan-Flagler Business School. In her role at the School of Government, she works primarily with District Court judges, but she also works with Superior Court judges, magistrates, clerks and assistant clerks of Superior Court, and district attorneys. Lee earned a bachelor's degree from UNC-Chapel Hill.
Profile
Audrey Williams joined the School of Government in 2003 as a program manager, and in 2011 she was named courts group manager. Prior to joining the School, Williams was a professional development coordinator for Carolina Biological Supply Company. Williams holds a bachelor's degree in early education and a master's degree in liberal studies, both from UNC-Greensboro.
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