BUIES CREEK — Campbell University’s Department of History, Criminal Justice and Political Science recognized a police officer and three lawyers as distinguished alumni during the department’s 23rd Annual Alumni Brunch on Saturday, Oct. 26, in the D. Rich Memorial Building.
The honorees were Russ Gibson, a 2007 graduate who received the Distinguished Criminal Justice Alumnus Award; Jodi D. Hildebran, a 2005 graduate who received the Distinguished History Alumna Award; and Julie Kerr Adams and Norris A. Adams II, a married couple and 2001 graduates who shared the Distinguished Political Science Alumnus Award.
Short bios of the honorees follow.
Julie Kerr Adams and Norris A. Adams II, Distinguished Political Science Alumni Award
Julie Adams is an attorney at the law firm Littler Mendelson in Charlotte. After graduating cum laude from Campbell in 2001, she attended the Wake Forest University School of Law, where she completed her J.D. in 2004. At Littler Mendelson, Adams represents employers in all areas of employment law, including discrimination and harassment suits, leave issues, non-competition and non-solicitation agreements, and retaliation claims. She was named a “Legal Elite in Employment Law” by Business North Carolina magazine in 2013.
Norris Adams II is an attorney and partner at the Essex Richards law firm in Charlotte. His practice centers on civil litigation, with an emphasis on ERISA (Employee Retirement Income Security Act), construction, personal injury and business litigation. He has been named to Business North Carolina magazine’s “Legal Elite” list for the past five years and to the North Carolina Super Lawyers’ list for the past three years. Before joining Essex Richards, he served as a law clerk to the honorable Stephen C. St. John in the U.S. Bankruptcy Court for the Eastern District of Virginia. He’s a magna cum graduate of Campbell, where he double majored in government and history and received the Sarah Virginia Hackney Award. He earned his J.D. from the Wake Forest University School of Law.
Russ Gibson, Distinguished Criminal Justice Alumnus Award
Gibson received his Bachelor of Science in Criminal Justice from Campbell in 2007, and has been a police officer with the Charlotte-Mecklenburg Police Department since 2008. He was named one of the department’s Officers of the Month in 2011. A year later, he served with officers from many local, state and federal agencies in providing security for the Democratic National Convention held in Charlotte. He’s currently serving on an interagency heroin task force that, in addition to traditional drug arrests, visits schools to educate young people on the dangers of heroin. When he was a student at Campbell, he was a former starter on the Fighting Camels basketball team.
Jodi D. Hildebran, Distinguished History Alumna Award
Hildebran is an attorney and a partner/shareholder at the law firm Allman Spry Leggett & Crumpler in Winston-Salem, N.C. She joined the firm after graduating from the Wake Forest University School of Law in 2008. She practices primarily in the firm’s litigation group and handles a variety of cases, including commercial leasing disputes for both landlords and tenants, assisting with adversary proceedings in bankruptcy, and prosecuting and defending clients involved in commercial, contract, condemnation and tort litigation. She was named a “Rising Star” by North Carolina Super Lawyers magazine in 2012 and 2013. She graduated summa cum laude from Campbell in 2005.
Photo, left to right: Norris A. Adams II; Jodi D. Hildebran; James Martin, chair of the Department of History, Criminal Justice and Political Science; Julie Kerr Adams; and Russ Gibson.