Administrative Law Honors Morrison

Judge Fred Morrison, left, accepts award from Judge Julian Mann.

Judge Fred Morrison Jr., senior administrative law judge in the N.C. Office of Administrative Hearings, is the initial recipient of an award created by the Administrative Law Section of the North Carolina Bar Association.

Morrison received the first Administrative Law Award for Excellence on Friday, March 31, at the section’s annual meeting and CLE at the N.C. Bar Center. He chaired the Administrative Law Section in 2003-04.

Judge Julian Mann, director and chief administrative law judge in the N.C. Office of Administrative Hearings, presented the award.

Morrison has practiced law for more than 50 years and has served in the Office of Administrative Hearings for more than three decades. He is also a former solicitor of the Thomasville Recorders Court, former legal counsel to Governors Bob Scott and James Holshouser, and was the first executive director of the North Carolina Inmate Grievance Commission.

Raised in eastern Tennessee, Morrison is a graduate of Maryville College and Wake Forest University School of Law.

The award was established to “honor an outstanding Administrative Law Section attorney as an exemplar of the excellence, dedication and passion for administrative and/or regulatory law” to an active, practicing member of the section.

The honoree must meet the following criteria:

  • The attorney must currently be practicing administrative or regulatory law and must have at least ten (10) years of recent, continuous experience in such practice;
  • The attorney must be a current member of the NCBA and its Administrative Law Section;
  • The attorney must have an exemplary record and reputation in the legal community, and must follow the highest ethical standards;
  • The attorney must have an exemplary record of active participation in efforts to improve the administrative and regulatory process for regulators, the regulated public, the citizens of North Carolina and in the interests of justice; and
  • The attorney must be a resident of the state of North Carolina and must also be nominated by a member in good standing of the North Carolina Bar Association.