High Point University and the Kenneth F. Kahn School of Law – acknowledge the milestone reached by the Honorable Robert H. Edmunds, Jr.: 50 years of service in the legal profession.
At the Kenneth F. Kahn School of Law, we are honored to have a member of the law school faculty, who also serves as our Jurist in Residence, reach a milestone of legal service marking 50 years in the profession and counting. On this occasion, it is with great admiration that we honor Justice Edmunds and his career achievements.
For students that attend law school, they are usually identified by their particular year in attendance, such as “1Ls”, “2Ls”, or “3Ls”, respectively. Upon their graduation from law school, these students set out on a pathway with no full grasp of their potential or the impact they may have on the legal profession. With only the experience of a few, short, numbered years, it may be safe to say that they would never envision that their legal careers would span a half century of service and be filled with notable achievements. So, when you have a not so young law school graduate who has logged a half-century of legal service in your midst – it is an occasion that must not go unnoticed and, more appropriately, it is an occasion for us to recognize that individual for his accomplishments.
In acknowledging Justice Edmunds, we must mention, at least in short, the many ways he has served the citizens of North Carolina and has contributed to the administration of justice. Upon graduating from the University of North Carolina School of Law in 1975 and becoming a member of the North Carolina State Bar, Justice Edmunds served as a commissioned officer, Ensign, in the U.S. Navy and received jet flight training in Kingsville, Texas. After his honorable discharge from the U.S. Navy, he served as an assistant district attorney in Guilford County, North Carolina. Thereafter, he served as a federal prosecutor for the Middle District of North Carolina. In 1986, President Ronald W. Reagan appointed him to serve as the United States Attorney for the Middle District of North Carolina, and he continued to serve in that office until 1993 under President George H.W. Bush. Following his service as a federal prosecutor, Justice Edmunds practiced criminal and appellate law at the law firm of Stern & Klepfer, LLP, in Greensboro, N.C. where he became board certified as a specialist in state and federal criminal law and in appellate practice.
In 1998, Justice Edmunds was elected to serve as judge on the North Carolina Court of Appeals, and in 2000 he was elected to serve as an associate justice on the North Carolina Supreme Court. During his tenure on the bench in 2004, he obtained a Master of Law in the Judicial Process (LLM) degree from the University of Virginia School of Law. Justice Edmunds was re-elected to the N.C. Supreme Court in 2008, and he retired from the bench in 2016. Thereafter, Justice Edmunds reentered private practice and worked for the Greensboro, N.C. office of Fox Rothschild, LLP, in their appellate practice section. Currently, Justice Edmunds serves as the Jurist in Residence at High Point Law and teaches criminal procedure, among other subjects.
It should stand out that in 2012 Justice Edmunds received the James E. Cross Leadership Award from the North Carolina State Bar and that Justice Edmunds has been an advocate for improving access to justice. With his leadership he helped to establish the North Carolina appellate practice specialty program, he also advanced the cause to increase pro bono representation in the appellate courts, and he has sat on the board of the North Carolina Equal Access to Justice Foundation.
Throughout his career in law, Justice Edmunds has not only served in court as an attorney and as an appellate judge and justice, he has authored and edited many publications, he has been an educator, speaker and lecturer, he has served on numerous judicial committees and conferences, he has received multiple awards from various private, state and federal agencies, he has served on the board of directors of several entities – all the while being well-entrenched in his hometown community of Greensboro, N.C., where he is a member of the Holy Trinity Episcopal Church, resides with his wife Linda of 46 years and where he raised his sons, John and Ted.
Our founding Dean of the law school and fellow judicial colleague of Justice Edmunds, Chief Justice Mark Martin, had this to say about Justice Edmund’s milestone:
“Imagine a lawyer who serves for 50 years, including at some of the highest levels of lawyer leadership. Imagine a lawyer who does so with excellence and without a hint of scandal. If you so imagine, that lawyer is Bob Edmunds.”
For all his accomplishments, Justice Edmunds presented humbly as he reflected on his 50 years in law. In responding to a question asking about his most satisfying achievement, he remarked simply that he enjoys catching up, from time to time, with his former law school classmates to reminisce over their experiences in practice.
Looking back 50 years, would Justice Edmunds have dreamed that his years in the law would have been so filled with achievement? To be sure, the full measure of a person is not what they dream to do but what they dare to do. So, where did all his motivation come from for him to dare as he has?
In 1975, the year he became a member of the Bar in North Carolina, the well-known (even to this day) pop music group The Eagles, released a hit song entitled “Take It to the Limit.” The chorus from that song says to “put me on a highway – And show me a sign -And take it to the limit one more time.” Certainly, that is what Justice Edmunds has done and continues to do.