WASHINGTON, D.C. –  E. Fitzgerald “Jerry” Parnell, III of Poyner Spruill LLP of Charlotte, NC has been appointed a special advisor to the American Bar Association Standing Committee on the Federal Judiciary by ABA President Carolyn Lamm.

The ABA Standing Committee on the Federal Judiciary consists of 15 members – two members from the Ninth Circuit, one member from each of the other 12 federal judicial circuits and the chair.

The committee has been evaluating the professional qualifications of all persons nominated for appointment to the federal bench, including the Supreme Court of the United States, the U.S. Circuit Courts of Appeals, the U.S. District Courts and the four territorial courts, for more than 50 years.  The standing committee’s evaluation of nominees is unique and the only nonpartisan, non-ideological peer review of the professional qualifications of perspective federal judges. The committee evaluates only a nominee’s integrity, professional competence and judicial temperament.  Neither ideology nor politics is considered.  Once an evaluation is completed, the committee sends its report to both the Senate Judiciary Committee and to the administration.

“I’m deeply honored to be appointed to the Standing Committee and am impressed with the amount of work ahead,” Parnell said.

Parnell is a graduate of the University of North Carolina Law School and North Carolina State University.  He is a past president of the North Carolina State Bar, the 2008 recipient of the North Carolina Chief Justice's Professionalism Award, a Fellow of the American Bar Foundation, and a former member of the ABA Standing Committee on Ethics and Professional Responsibility.  Parnell currently serves as the State Delegate for North Carolina in the ABA House of Delegates.  He concentrates his practice in professional malpractice defense, white collar crime, government investigations, and municipal representation.

Parnell is a partner in Poyner Spruill’s Charlotte office.  He can be reached at 704.342.5252 or jparnell@poynerspruill.com.

With more than 400,000 members, the American Bar Association is the largest voluntary professional membership organization in the world.  As the national voice of the legal profession, the ABA works to improve the administration of justice, promotes the programs that assist lawyers and judges in their work, accredits law schools, provides continuing education, and works to build public understanding around the world of the importance of the rule of law.