NC Court of Appeals Races – PT 2

Due to reader demand, in addition to the Supreme Court races, I am supplying highlights and information on the Court of Appeals races. To quickly recap, there are three seats to run for in the Court of Appeals, however, one candidate has the distinction of running unopposed: Donna Stroud. That means we have two other races to look at:

Judge Robert C. Hunter’s Seat
Judge Mark A. Davis’s Seat

Yesterday we looked at the Hunter seat, today we turn to the Davis race. Judge Mark. A. Davis is running for reelection and Judge Paul Holcombe III is challenging. We’ll start with the challenger first this time.

About Judge Paul Holcombe III

Judge Holcombe is currently the 11th Judicial District serving Johnston, Lee and Harnett Counties. He was first elected in 2008 and was reelected in 2012. Prior to serving on the bench, Holcombe was a prosecutor for the District Attorney’s offices in Johnston (2 yrs) and Cabarrus (4 yrs) counties. Judge Holcombe also served as an Assistant District attorney in Tennessee.

According to his Judgepedia page, the NC Bar has ranked him very highly at the end of 2012. The scale is from 1-5 with 5 being the best score possible:

Overall: 4.15
Integrity & Fairness: 4.32
Legal Ability: 4.11
Professionalism: 4.28
Communication: 4.14
Administrative Skills: 4.12

Full NC State bar results for 2012 are in this report.

A bit about his education and background from his campaign site:

Paul A. Holcombe III was born in Charlottesville, Virginia on February 2, 1969. He was raised in Raleigh where he graduated from Millbrook High School. During high school he participated in both Tar Heel Boys’ State and the Governor’s School of North Carolina. In 1991, he received his B.A. degree with majors in History and Biology from the University of North Carolina at Chapel Hill. In 1994, he received his law degree from the University of Tennessee College of Law at Knoxville where he served on the Tennessee Law Review.

It would appear Judge Holcombe is not faint hearted or afraid to take action according to this story where he helped break up a scuffle in his courtroom in 2009.

Points of Contact for Judge Holcombe III:

Campaign Email: judgeholcombe@gmail.com
Campaign Website: http://judgepaulholcombe.com/
Campaign Facebook: None located.
Campaign Twitter: None located.

About Judge Mark. A. Davis

Judge Mak Davis currently is serving on the Court of Appeals after having been appointed by former Governor Bev Perdue on December 31, 2012. He was appointed to Cheri Beasley’s seat, who was in turn moved up to the Supreme Court by Perdue. Some considered that a controversial move by Perdue in giving herself authority to appoint Justice near the end of her term. It should be noted that before being appointed, Davis served as General Counsel to Perdue.

Judge Davis received his undergraduate degree from the University of North Carolina at Chapel Hill (1984). He obtained his law degree from the University of North Carolina Law School (1991).

Brief professional history courtesy of Judgepedia:

2013-2014: Judge, North Carolina Court of Appeals
2011-2012: General Counsel, Governor Bev Perdue
2006-2011: Special Deputy Attorney General, North Carolina Department of Justice
1993-2006: Attorney, Private practice

More background per Davis’s website:

Judge Davis spent five years as a Special Deputy Attorney General in the North Carolina Department of Justice. Prior to that, he worked for thirteen years as a litigation attorney with the Womble Carlyle Sandridge & Rice law firm, where he was a member of the firm. Judge Davis also served as General Counsel in the Office of the Governor for approximately two years. Upon graduating from law school, he served as a law clerk to the Honorable Franklin T. Dupree, Jr. in the United States District Court for the Eastern District of North Carolina. Prior to becoming a judge, he handled over 65 appeals in the NC Court of Appeals, the Supreme Court of North Carolina, and the United States Court of Appeals for the Fourth Circuit. He has also been very active in the North Carolina Bar Association.

Points of Contact for Judge Davis: