Lawyers In The News

Listen to this article

Lisa D. Griswold has joined the Laurinburg law firm of Williamson, Dean, Williamson, Purcell & Sojka. A former member of the UNC Women’s NCCA championship soccer team, Griswold was named to the all-ACC academic honor roll and was the recipient of the Athletic Director’s Scholar Athlete Award. For four years Griswold has been an assistant with the public defenders office in Judicial District 16-A, which serves Scotland and Hoke counties. She received her law degree from UNC in 1992….

Granite Falls attorney Dale L. Hamby has been named to the board of directors for Centura Bank. A native of Lenoir, Hamby is an attorney with Robbins & Hamby….

Edward W. Wellman Jr. has become a partner with Parker, Poe, Adams & Bernstein. Prior to joining the firm, Wellman was a partner in the New York firm of Winthrop, Stimson, Putnam & Roberts, where he was a member of its corporate and capital markets group and a managing partner of its Stamford, Conn. office. He received his J.D. from the University of Virginia in 1972. He will work in Parker Poe’s Charlotte office, concentrating in venture capital finance and mergers and acquisitions. Parker Poe currently has 116 lawyers, with six offices in the Carolinas….

Two third-year law students at the University of North Carolina at Chapel Hill captured first prize in the American round of the Manfred Lachs Space Law Competition. Christina Benson of Chapel Hill and Scott Syfert of Charlotte were recognized for submitting the best brief in the space law competition, held March 22 at Georgetown University. The duo also was selected over 11 other squads as the tournament’s best overall team. Benson was named best oralist. In October, Benson and Syfert will face the European champions in the international round in Turin, Italy. The team is coached by professor Mark Weisburd….

David W. Hood and Robert O. Eades have been named partners in the Hickory law firm of Patrick, Harper & Dixon. Hood has been an associate since 1991 and concentrates in civil litigation and intellectual property law. Eades, with the firm since 1992, practices business law and also serves as county attorney for Catawba County. Founded in 1946, the firm now has 10 attorneys….

Also in Hickory, Roy M. Reid has joined the law firm of Russell R. Becker. He will assist in the area of disability claims. Reid was previously in private practice in Philadelphia before joining the Social Security Administration as an attorney adviser. He worked with administrative law judges in Offices of Hearings and Appeals in West Virginia and Greensboro….

Asheboro attorneys W. Edward Bunch and Thomas D. Robins have formed a partnership, effective March 1. Formerly with O’Briant, O’Briant, Bunch, Whatley & Robins, the lawyers will name their new firm, O’Briant, Bunch & Robins, using their own names and that of their former partner Thomas L. O’Briant, who died in 1995. Joining the firm as an associate is Julie H. Stubblefield….

Hendersonville attorney Brian Welch joined the DA’s office in the 29th Judicial District on May 1. An Asheville native, Welch has been practicing for six years, primarily in criminal law. He will be assigned to Rutherford County….

C. Douglas Maynard and Susan H. Gray have been made principals in the Winston-Salem firm of Wells Jenkins Lucas & Jenkins….

Judge Alfred W. Kwasikpui of the Sixth Judicial District was recently the featured speaker at Bertie High School in a program honoring students who have achieved high academic standards….

Sanford lawyer Jeanette Peace was recently profiled in The Sanford Herald. Growing up on a farm near Murfreesboro, Peace said she was determined to be a lawyer since the fourth grade, when she began cutting out newspaper articles about famous civil rights trials. Peace practices in Bill Wilson’s law offices, where she concentrates in workers’ comp and social security disability benefits law. She is a Wake Forest law graduate….