NCBA Board of Governors

Judge Brenda G. Branch of Halifax serves as Chief District Court Judge for District 6A (Halifax County). She previously served as an assistant district attorney for Bertie County and Halifax County, and was employed by Albemarle Paper Co. She graduated from North Carolina Wesleyan College in 1994 and the North Carolina Central University School of Law in 2001. Judge Branch has been active in the NCBA as a member of the Lawyer Effectiveness and Quality of Life Committee and the Citizen Lawyer Task Force, and was honored in 2010 as a recipient of the Citizen Lawyer Award. She is involved in numerous activities supporting the betterment of young people in her community and is a member of the Roanoke Valley Rotary Club, the Roanoke Valley Chamber of Commerce and the Halifax County Citizen Advisory Team.

Judge W. Allen Cobb Jr. of Wrightsville Beach has served since 2007 as Senior Resident Superior Court Judge for the Fifth Superior Court District (New Hanover and Pender counties). He was appointed to the court in 1993 and re-elected in 1994, 2002 and 2010. He served from 1990-93 as a District Court Judge and previously engaged in private practice with Sperry and Cobb in Wilmington. Active in numerous judicial and bar groups, he has also provided volunteer leadership to several organizations including Boy Scouts of America, where he served as president of the Cape Fear Council, Cape Fear Community College, the University of North Carolina at Chapel Hill and the Wilmington Children’s Museum. Judge Cobb is a 1974 UNC graduate and 1978 graduate of the North Carolina Central University School of Law.

Judge Robert J. "Bob" Conrad Jr. of Charlotte has served on the U.S. District Court for the Western District of North Carolina since 2005. He is a 1980 graduate of Clemson University and 1983 graduate of the University of Virginia School of Law. Prior to joining the U.S. District Court, he served as a U.S. Attorney, Assistant U.S. Attorney, and engaged in private practice with Mayer Brown Rowe. An Academic All-America basketball player and member of the Clemson University Athletic Hall of Fame, he received the Jim Weaver Award as the top all-around student athlete in the Atlantic Coast Conference.

Andrew H. Foster of Durham serves as clinical professor of law and director of the Community Enterprise Clinic at the Duke University School of Law. He is a 1991 graduate of Rutgers University and a 2000 graduate of the University of North Carolina School of Law. Prior to joining Duke University in 2002 he served as an associate with Womble Carlyle Sandridge & Rice. Involved with the ABA and the American Association of Law Schools, he has provided volunteer service and leadership to Community Affordable Housing Equity Corp., the Southern Rural Development Initiative, Empowerment, Inc., and is founder and director of the N.C. Fair Housing Center.

William F. "Bill" Womble Jr. of Winston-Salem will serve a two-year term as vice president. He is a 1964 graduate of Duke University and a 1967 graduate of the Duke University School of Law who has practiced since 1971 with Womble Carlyle Sandridge & Rice. Womble has served on numerous NCBA committees, serving as chair and co-chair of the Bench/Bar Liaison Committee and as the chair of the Committee on Practical Training. He has also provided volunteer leadership to the Winston-Salem/Forsyth County Arts Council, the North Carolina Shakespeare Festival, the Council on Drug Abuse and Festival Stage of Winston-Salem.

William E. "Bill" Cannon Jr. of Waynesville practices with Cannon Law, P.C., which he formed in 2011. He served as vice president of development for The Foundation for Evangelism at Lake Junaluska from 2002-04 and practiced with Brown, Ward & Haynes from 2004-11. A 1974 graduate of Emory University and 1977 graduate of the University of Georgia School of Law, Cannon practiced law in Albany, Ga., from 1985-2002 with Cannon & Meyer von Bremen. He served as president of the State Bar of Georgia in 1998-99 and is active in numerous other bar groups including the NCBA, where he chaired the Professionalism Committee in 2010-11. He has also provided volunteer leadership to Friends of the World Methodist Museum, where he served as president, and the Waynesville District, Western N.C. Annual Conference of the United Methodist Church.

Jacqueline R. Clare of Raleigh has engaged in solo practice since 1993 with a focus on mediation and previously served as an associate with Womble Carlyle Sandridge & Rice. She is a 1977 graduate of East Carolina University and a 1982 graduate of the University of North Carolina School of Law. She serves on the N.C. Dispute Resolution Commission and the State Judicial Council Dispute Resolution Committee, and chaired the NCBA Dispute Resolution Section in 2002-03. Clare also served as editor of “Alternative Dispute Resolution in North Carolina: A New Civil Procedure,” published in 2003 by the NCBA Foundation and N.C. Dispute Resolution Commission. She has also provided volunteer leadership to SCPA of Wake County.

David D. Daggett of Winston-Salem is the managing partner of Daggett Shuler. He has practiced personal injury law since 1985 and is co-founder of Safe Sober Prom Night, an award-winning initiative promoting safety and awareness among N.C. teenagers since 1991. A 1982 graduate of Indiana State University and a 1985 graduate of the Wake Forest University School of Law, Daggett is a triathlete who has competed in 18 Ironman competitions. He is also active in various bar organizations, previously serving as chair of the N.C. Conference of Bar Presidents and as president of the Forsyth County Bar Association and the 21st Judicial District Bar. He is familiar to bar leaders across the state as a featured speaker at the Bar Leadership Institute and Bar Leadership Orientation events held annually at the N.C. Bar Center.

Kearns Davis of Greensboro has practiced law with Brooks Pierce McLendon Humphrey & Leonard since 2007 and from 1996-2003. In the interim he served as an Assistant U.S. Attorney. He is a 1991 graduate of Davidson College and 1995 graduate of the University of North Carolina School of Law. Davis clerked for Judge Sam J. Ervin III of the Fourth U.S. Circuit Court of Appeals from 1995-96. He is a past chair of the NCBA Young Lawyers Division and Criminal Justice Section, and served in 2010-11 as president of the Middle District of North Carolina Chapter of the Federal Bar Association. Davis also provides volunteer leadership to the Rotary Youth Leadership Program, the UNC School of Law Alumni Association and the Davidson College Alumni Association.

William H. "Bill" Gammon of Raleigh has practiced law with Nelson Mullins since 2003. He served in the U.S. Army JAG Corps from 1974-78, then engaged in private practice in Washington, D.C., and from 1989-2003 with Moore & Van Allen, specializing in government contracts. He is a 1970 graduate of Davidson College and 1973 graduate of the University of North Carolina School of Law, served as a graduate assistant football coach under Bill Dooley while in law school. He also holds a master of laws from George Washington University. Gammon has been active in the ABA and the NCBA, where he served as chair of the Construction Law Section from 2005-06 and as chair of the Citizen Lawyer Task Force from 2009-11. He has also provided volunteer leadership to the Rex Open, Capital Towers and White Memorial Presbyterian Church.

Clayton D. Morgan of Raleigh serves as associate general counsel for Progress Energy, which he joined in 1996. He previously practiced with Smith Debnam. Morgan is a 1987 graduate of the University of North Carolina at Chapel Hill and a 1991 graduate of the Wake Forest University School of Law. Within the NCBA he has been a member of the Corporate Counsel Section and served as co-chair of the Minorities in the Profession Committee from 2008-11.

Jill L. Raspet of Wilmington practices with Smith Moore Leatherwood, where she has been since 2007. She previously practiced with Schell Bray Aycock Abel & Livingston. She is a 1999 graduate of the University of North Carolina at Wilmington and 2002 graduate of the Wake Forest University School of Law. She currently serves as president of the New Hanover County Estate Planning Council, and has also provided volunteer leadership to the Domestic Violence Shelter and Services and the Lower Cape Fear Hospice Foundation. Active in the NCBA as a 4ALL site co-chair and Wills for Heroes volunteer, she previously served on the council of the Estate Planning and Fiduciary Law Section and chaired the Estate Administration Manual Committee and the Technology Committee.