Former N.C. judge named chair of ABA Judicial Division

Julian Mann III, former chief administrative law judge for North Carolina, has been named chair of the American Bar Association’s Judicial Division. He took office at the ABA’s Annual Meeting earlier this month in Denver.

The Judicial Division is the ABA's home to judges, lawyers, tribal members, court administrators, academics and students interested in the courts and the justice system.

Mann’s theme for the upcoming year will be implementing Goal III of the division’s Strategic Plan:  achieving a fair and impartial justice system by demystifying the judicial election and selection process for both state and federal courts through a series of educational programs directed at judges, lawyers and the public as guardians of the rule of law, judicial independence and court security.

Mann served 32 years – from 1989 to 2021 – as North Carolina’s chief administrative law judge and director of the state Office of Administrative Hearings. He was appointed and re-appointed to eight four-year terms by five chief justices of different parties.

In 2021, Mann received the Friend of the Court Award, the highest award bestowed by the state’s judicial branch, and the Order of the Longleaf Pine, the highest award for state service bestowed by the governor upon his retirement. Last year he was honored as the fifth recipient of the Administrative Law Award for Excellence from the North Carolina Bar Association’s Administrative Law Section. He is former president of the National Association of Administrative Law Judiciary and former chair of the ABA’s National Conference of the Administrative Law Judiciary.

Mann is the author of a novel, “Madam Vice President,” which explores issues of the 25th Amendment to the U.S. Constitution. He has a law degree from Samford University's Cumberland School of Law, where he was chosen as a distinguished alumnus in 2017, a master’s degree in public administration from North Carolina State University and a bachelor’s degree from the University of North Carolina.