Meet the Contributors
Ann Anderson
Ann Anderson joined the School of Government faculty in 2007. She teaches, advises, and writes about civil procedure, civil practice, and judicial authority, and plans judicial education programs in collaboration with the NC Conference of Superior Court Judges and the North Carolina Judicial College. Prior to her time with the SOG, she was a litigator for six years in Raleigh and Durham, where she specialized in commercial litigation, real-estate litigation, and quasi-judicial proceedings. Ann has a BA with highest distinction from the University of North Carolina at Chapel Hill and a law degree with honors from the University of North Carolina at Chapel Hill School of Law, where she was a member of the North Carolina Law Review.Sara DePasquale
Sara DePasquale joined the School in May 2013. Previously, she was an attorney for seventeen years at Pine Tree Legal Assistance Inc., beginning her legal career there as a Skadden Fellow. In her last nine years at Pine Tree Legal, she was the directing attorney of Maine's first and only children’s law project, KIDS LEGAL. She served as an adjunct professor with the University of Maine School of Law teaching juvenile law. She is a member of the North Carolina State Bar, State of Maine Bar, the U.S. District Court of Maine Bar, and the U.S. First Circuit Bar. DePasquale received a BA with honors in history and sociology from Binghamton University, is a magna cum laude graduate of the University of Buffalo School of Law, and also earned a dual degree with an MSW in child welfare/family systems from the University at Buffalo School of Social Work.Cheryl Howell
Cheryl Howell joined the School of Government (then the Institute of Government) in 1992. Prior to that, she practiced law in Winston-Salem and Fayetteville and worked as a research assistant to Chief Judge R.A. Hedrick of the NC Court of Appeals. Currently, Howell teaches, consults, and writes about family law and other issues, and she works with the NC Association of District Court Judges and the North Carolina Judicial College in planning and coordinating judicial branch education programs. She is a member of the North Carolina Bar Association. She also has served as a member of the Family Court Advisory Committee, appointed by the Chief Justice of the NC Supreme Court, since its creation in 1998, and also serves as a member of the NC Child Custody and Visitation Mediation Advisory Committee, appointed by the director of the Administrative Office of the Courts. Her publications include articles and bulletins relating to family law and family court, as well as chapters created for the Trial Judges’ Bench Book, District Court edition. Howell earned a BA, magna cum laude, from Appalachian State University and a JD, with honors, Order of the Coif, from the University of North Carolina at Chapel Hill.- Presently, Kirsten Leloudis does not have any published blog posts.
Dona Lewandowski
Dona Lewandowski joined the faculty of the Institute of Government in 1985 and spent the next five years writing, teaching, and consulting with district court judges in the area of family law. In 1990, following the birth of her son, she left the Institute to devote full time to her family. She rejoined the School of Government in 2006. Lewandowski holds a BS and an MA from Middle Tennessee State University and a JD with honors, Order of the Coif, from the University of North Carolina at Chapel Hill. After law school, she worked as a research assistant to Chief Judge R.A. Hedrick of the NC Court of Appeals.Austine Long
Austine M. Long joined the School of Government in 2013. Previously she worked as the drug court coordinator for the Montgomery County Circuit Court Adult and Juvenile Drug Courts in Maryland. She has served as a project director at the National Drug Court Institute (NDCI) and an assistant civil public defender for the 14th Judicial District in Durham, North Carolina. Prior to that, she was in private practice for six years, where she focused on family, criminal, and juvenile law. Long received a bachelor's degree in business administration from Towson State University and a JD from the University of Baltimore School of Law.LaToya Powell
LaToya Powell joined the School of Government in 2013. Previously, she spent more than six years with the Appellate Section of the North Carolina Department of Justice handling juvenile delinquency appeals in both state appellate courts and the U. S. Supreme Court. She began her career as a juvenile prosecutor in Johnston County, North Carolina, and has also served as an adjunct professor at Campbell University School of Law. She is a member of the North Carolina State Bar and U.S. Supreme Court Bar. Powell earned a BA, cum laude, from North Carolina State University and a JD from UNC-Chapel Hill School of Law.Meredith Smith
Meredith Smith joined the School of Government in 2013. Previously, she was an associate with the law firm of McGuireWoods LLP in Charlotte, where she practiced with the real estate, corporate, and restructuring and insolvency groups on matters related to a wide range of issues including commercial loan modifications, foreclosures, bankruptcy, corporate governance, mergers and acquisitions, commercial leasing, and real estate purchase and sale contracts. Smith earned a BA in political science and Spanish, with distinction, from the University of North Carolina at Chapel Hill and a law degree, cum laude, from Georgetown University School of Law, where she was a member of the American Criminal Law Review.Aimee Wall
Aimee Wall joined the School of Government in 2001 to work in the public health law field, where her research areas included confidentiality of health information, environmental health inspection and permitting programs, regulation of smoking in public places, and the responsibilities and authority of local boards of health. She also developed expertise in animal control law, including rabies, dangerous dogs and animal cruelty. In 2011, Wall shifted her research focus from public health law to social services law and is in the process of developing her work in this new field. She also coordinates educational programs for new legislators and serves as a faculty liaison with legislators and other state level policymakers. Prior to joining the School, she practiced health care law with Powell, Goldstein, Frazer and Murphy in Washington, DC, and served as a health policy analyst in the Office of the Secretary in the US Department of Health and Human Services. She is a member of the North Carolina State Bar and the District of Columbia Bar. Wall earned a BA in English from the Ohio State University and a JD/MPH from the University of North Carolina at Chapel Hill.
