Justice Robert H. Edmunds Jr.

Hon. Robert (“Bob”) H. Edmunds currently serves as HPU Law’s first Jurist-in-Residence and Lecturer on Law.

Following service as a line officer in the United States Navy, Bob Edmunds began his legal career as an Assistant District Attorney in Guilford County, North Carolina. He was later named an Assistant United States Attorney for the Middle District of North Carolina and was then appointed in 1986 by President Ronald Reagan to serve as the United States Attorney. President George H.W. Bush retained Edmunds as United States Attorney until he left to enter private practice in 1993.

While in private practice, Edmunds practiced criminal and appellate law with a firm in Greensboro, and he became board certified as a specialist in state and federal criminal law and in appellate practice. In 1998 Bob Edmunds was elected to the North Carolina bench. He first served on the North Carolina Court of Appeals and then served for sixteen years—from 2001 to 2016—as an Associate Justice on the Supreme Court of North Carolina. After his judicial service, Justice Edmunds reentered private practice, working in the appellate practice section of the Greensboro office of Fox Rothschild, LLP.

Throughout his career, Justice Edmunds has exemplified a heart of service. He has served as President of the Appellate Judges Education Institute and as a member of the Education Committee of the National Judicial College. He is the past Chair of both the American Bar Association’s Appellate Judges Conference and the North Carolina Bar Association’s Judicial Independence and Integrity Committee. He is an elected member of the American Law Institute and has served as an adjunct professor at multiple law schools. He also contributes his time to community service and has donated blood more than 100 times since college.

Justice Edmunds received his A.B. from Vassar College and his J.D. from the University of North Carolina School of Law. While on the Supreme Court, he earned a Master of Law in the Judicial Process at the University of Virginia School of Law.

Hon. Robert Edmunds teaches legal writing this semester and will co-teach Criminal Law in the spring semester. As Jurist in Residence, he will be available to students to discuss their studies and the various opportunities available to them as a lawyer. Justice Edmunds served as an Associate Justice on the North Carolina Supreme Court. He earned his B.A. from Vassar College in 1971, his J.D. from the University of North Carolina School of Law in 1975 and his Master of Law in the Judicial Process from the University of Virginia in 2004.