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Public: Recent News

John Stuart Bruce is the 2004 recipient of the Outstanding Government and Public Sector Attorney Award. The executive assistant U.S. attorney and senior litigation counsel was honored Friday at the annual meeting of the North Carolina Bar Association’s Government and Public Sector Section at the RBC Center in Raleigh.

Margaret Currin, associate dean of the Norman A. Wiggins School of Law at Campbell University and co-chair of the awards committee, presented the award to Bruce, with whom she worked while serving as a U.S. attorney.

The recipient has devoted the lion’s share of his legal career to public service, where he has worked both sides of the courtroom as a prosecutor and public defender. Bruce has been with the U.S. Attorney’s Office for the Eastern District of N.C. since 1997 in the roles of criminal division chief, interim U.S. attorney and, since August 2002, in his current capacity.

Bruce holds undergraduate (1975) and law (1978) degrees from the University of North Carolina at Chapel Hill and is a staunch Carolina fan, thereby providing a fitting contrast to his acceptance of this award against the backdrop of an three-foot high N.C. State logo.

Bruce began his law career in 1978 as an associate with Poyner, Geraghty, Hartsfield & Townsend (now Poyner & Spruill). He served in the U.S. Attorney’s Office for the Eastern District from 1983-92 as assistant U.S. attorney, criminal division chief and first assistant U.S. attorney.

Following a brief stint in private practice, he returned to public service as a deputy federal public defender and senior litigator for the Middle District of North Carolina. He remained in Greensboro until 1997, at which time he began his second tour of duty with the U.S. Attorney’s Office in Raleigh.

The Government and Public Sector Section was established in 2002 and remains the youngest of the NCBA’s 27 sections. Its annual award has now been presented three times including once while maintaining committee status. Greensboro City Attorney Linda Miles has chaired the section during 2003-04.