Judgeship field narrowed in Durham

Judgeship field narrowed in Durham
Topic Started: Jun 6 2008, 02:48 AM (67 Views)
Deleted User	Jun 6 2008, 02:48 AM Post #1
Deleted User	. His wife may get his spot! - or one of Nifong's ADA's Contest for judge position narrowed By John Stevenson : The Herald-Sun jstevenson@heraldsun.com Jun 6, 2008 DURHAM -- The largest field of candidates ever to vie for a single judgeship in Durham was drastically reduced Thursday, falling from 14 to three as the result of an election conducted by the local bar association. The names of the three top vote-getters -- Brian Wilks, Martha New Milam and Catherine Constantinou -- will be sent to Gov. Mike Easley, who has 60 days to appoint one to a District Court position just vacated by Craig Brown. Citing health issues, Brown recently and abruptly announced he would retire effective May 31, ending a 12-year bench career during which he received high praise for helping found the award-winning Triangle Residential Options for Substance Abuse -- a live-in program that attempts to rehabilitate drug users and divert them from lives of crime. Thursday's vote-counting was not open to the press or public. However, insiders said the results stacked up this way: Wilks came in first with 200 ballots, followed by Milam with 148 and Constantinou at 100. Wilks is an assistant prosecutor in Durham, while Milam and Constantinou are private practitioners. Constantinou is married to the newly retired Brown. "I'm honored that my colleagues saw enough in my résumé to think I would be a good judge," said Wilks. "It's good to have made it past this phase," he added. The three top vote-getters have listed the following credentials for themselves: * Wilks received a bachelor's degree in political science from UNC in 1993 and a law degree from N.C. Central in 1996. He supervises District Court operations in Durham and has worked as an assistant public defender, assistant attorney general, private practitioner and adjunct law professor. * Milam obtained a bachelor's degree in political science and urban studies from UNC Greensboro in 1980 and a law degree from Wake Forest in 1987. A Durham native, she is a certified family law specialist and mediator. Her practice has included civil litigation, worker compensation cases, estate administration and criminal defense. * Constantinou holds a bachelor of arts degree from UNC Greensboro and a law degree from NCCU. She cites 14 years of courtroom experience, representing litigants in domestic, civil, criminal, traffic and juvenile cases, along with special proceedings matters. She is a partner in Constantinou Law Group. Whoever gets the gubernatorial nod will bring the number of district judges in Durham to seven, a level officials had lobbied long and hard to attain. They finally reached the goal just last year, only to be set back by Brown's unexpected departure. A District Court judgeship is one of the most demanding jobs in the legal system. Such courts are thronged by hundreds of people each day as they handle everything from traffic cases to juvenile delinquency and misdemeanor criminal offenses, not to mention divorces and other domestic disputes. http://heraldsun.southernheadlines.com/durham/4-956732.cfm?
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