The Honorable Anita Earls Named Northeastern Law’s Brown Forum for Women in the Law Practitioner-in-Residence
06.21.23 — The Honorable Anita Earls, associate justice of the North Carolina Supreme Court, has been named by Northeastern Law’s Judith Olans Brown Forum for Women in the Law (WIL) as its Practitioner-in-Residence for 2023-2024. She will visit the law school for three days, from November 14 to 16. While in residence at Northeastern, Judge Earls will focus on sharing her insights about voting rights. Her visit will include class lectures, meetings with groups such as the school’s Women’s Law Caucus, and she will hold office hours to build personal connections with students, graduates, staff and faculty.
Prior to joining the bench on January 1, 2019, Judge Earls was a civil rights attorney litigating voting rights, police misconduct and other civil rights cases for 30 years. Following her graduation from Yale Law School in 1988, Judge Earls was recruited by civil rights champion James Ferguson II to join North Carolina’s first integrated law firm, Ferguson, Stein, Watt, Wallas, Adkins & Gresham, where she practiced civil rights litigation first as an associate and later as partner. She later founded and served as executive director of the Southern Coalition for Social Justice, a nonprofit legal advocacy organization in Durham, North Carolina. Appointed by President Clinton, Judge Earls was a deputy assistant attorney general in the US Department of Justice, Civil Rights Division, from 1998 to 2000. She has served on the North Carolina State Board of Elections, the North Carolina Equal Access to Justice Commission and currently co-chairs the Governor’s Task Force on Racial Equity in Criminal Justice. Judge Earls has taught as an adjunct professor at the University of North Carolina and University of Maryland law schools and in the Department of African & African American Studies at Duke University. Judge Earls lives in Durham with her husband Charles Walton. She has two grown sons and two grandchildren.
“This beneficial program is now in its third year and we are truly honored to have Judge Earls join us in residence in November,” said Mielle Marquis, director of external affairs and co-founder of the Women in the Law program. “With her illustrious background in voting and civil rights, our community will be richer by having her be this year’s Brown Forum Practitioner in Residence. Voting rights are the underpinning of democracy and vital for the success of our nation. As always, we are grateful for the support from Jim and Judy Brown and many other WIL supporters who make this opportunity possible.”
The 16th annual Brown Forum for Women in the Law Conference will take place on May 3, 2024. As part of its expanded programing, the Brown Forum will also support a networking event in New York City on September 27, 2023, which will include an informative program on pivoting during your career.
About Northeastern University School of Law
The nation’s leader in experiential legal education since 1968, Northeastern University School of Law offers the longest-running, most extensive experience-based legal education program in the country. Northeastern guarantees its students unparalleled practical legal work experiences through its signature Cooperative Legal Education Program. More than 1,000 employers worldwide in a wide range of legal, government, nonprofit and business organizations participate in the program. With a focus on social justice and innovation, Northeastern University School of Law blends theory and practice, providing students with a unique set of skills and experiences to successfully practice law.
For more information, contact d.feldman@northeastern.edu.