Professional Malpractice Defense, White Collar Defense and Government Investigations, Civil Trial and Appellate Practice, Municipal Representation

Jerry Parnell is a Past President of the North Carolina State Bar and concentrates his practice in professional malpractice defense, white collar crime, government investigations, and municipal representation. In more than thirty years of practice he has been involved in a wide array of civil and criminal cases throughout the western half of North Carolina, in the Fourth Circuit Court of Appeals and in the appellate courts of North Carolina.

After graduation from the University of North Carolina School of Law, Jerry served as law clerk to Chief Justice William H. Bobbitt of the North Carolina Supreme Court and as an Assistant United States Attorney for the Western District of North Carolina. He was a founder and chairman of the North Carolina Federal Bar Advisory Council, a founder of the Chief Justice’s Commission on Professionalism, he is a founding member of the North Carolina Equal Access to Justice Commission, and is a permanent member of the Fourth Circuit Judicial Conference, a member of the Southern Conference of Bar Presidents and the National Conference of Bar Presidents. He has served as a member of the Standing Committee on Ethics and Professional Responsibility of the American Bar Association, and currently serves on the Boards of  Legal Services of Southern Piedmont, the Community Defender for the Western District of North Carolina, and the North Carolina Association of Defense Attorneys. Jerry represents North Carolina attorneys in the House of Delegates of the American Bar Association.

Belk v. Cheshire, 159 N.C. App. 325, 583 S.E.2d 700 (2003)

• a case affirming summary judgment in favor of a lawyer establishing the elements of a legal malpractice action arising from criminal defense.

Mabry v. Huneycutt, 149 N.C. App. 630, 562 S.E.2d 292 (2002)

• establishing an extension of the applicable statute of limitations.

Bolton v. Crone, 162 N.C. App. 171, 589 S.E.2d 915 (2004)

• affirming summary judgment in favor of a lawyer in a real estate-transaction malpractice action.

In Re: Grand Jury Subpoena Under Seal, 175 F.3d 332 (4^th Cir. 1999)

• the first reported decision in the Fourth Circuit affirming the quashing of a Federal Grand Jury Subpoena.

State v. Buckner, 351 N.C. 401, 527 S.E.2d 307 (2000)

• a death penalty post-conviction case establishing the right to discovery orders in such cases.

United States v. Rudisill, 2000 U.S. App. LEXIS 10380 (4^th Cir. 2000)

Fellow of the American Bar Foundation

North Carolina State Bar

• President, 2001 – 2002
• President Elect, 2000 – 2001
• Vice-President, 1999 – 2000
• Chairman, Executive, Ethics, Ethics 2000, Professionalism, and Publications Committees

American Bar Association

• Member, House of Delegates, 2004 – present; the State Delegate and Member, Nominating Committee, 2006 – present
• Member, Standing Committee on Ethics and Professional Responsibility, 2002 – 2005
• Criminal Justice, Litigation, Tort, Trial, and Insurance Practice Sections

Moderator, Permanent Judicial Commission, The Presbytery of Charlotte

The Fourth Circuit Judicial Conference, permanent member

National Conference of Bar Presidents

Southern Conference of Bar Presidents

North Carolina Association of Defense Attorneys, Board Member 2006 – Present

Chief Justice's Commission on Professionalism, Founding Member, 1997 – 2002

North Carolina Equal Access to Justice Commission, Founding Member

North Carolina Federal Bar Advisory Council, Founding Member and Chairman

Board of Directors, Vice-President Legal Services of Southern Piedmont

Board of Directors, Federal Defenders of Western North Carolina, Inc., Founding Member

The Judicial Response Committee of the Chief Justice's Commission on Professionalism, Founding Member

Ranked among Law & Politics magazine's North Carolina “Super Lawyers”, 2006 – 2008 and in “Top 100 Super Lawyers” (Professional Liability Defense), 2006

Recognized in The Best Lawyers in America^® for Criminal Defense, 2001 – 2008, and Legal Malpractice Law, 2007 - 2008

Co-author, “The Law of Attorney Professional Liability in North Carolina,” The Defender, Summer 2007

North Carolina State Bar Journal

• "Talking Past Each Other," Fall 2002
• "Tedium, More Tedium," Summer 2002
• "These Boring Rules," Spring 2002
• "An Interview with Our New President," Winter 2001
• "M.D.P., What If We Do Nothing?" Fall 2000
• "Want to Avoid a Grievance, No Problem," Fall 1998
• "What to Do with a Lying Client," Winter 1997
• "Technology and Young Trial Lawyers – A Contrary View," Spring 1997

Assistant United States Attorney, Western District of North Carolina, 1980 – 1982

Law Clerk to Chief Justice William H. Bobbitt, North Carolina Supreme Court, 1973 – 1974

North Carolina (all state and federal courts), United States Court of Appeals for the Fourth Circuit, United States Supreme Court