Judge Mann Receives Administrative Law Award
Judge Julian Mann, who served as chief administrative law judge and director of the N.C. Office of Administrative Hearings for more than three decades, was honored this spring as the fifth recipient of the North Carolina Bar Association Administrative Law Section’s Administrative Law Award for Excellence.
Vice Chair Bain Jones presented the award to Mann, who was nominated by Charles Case and Dan McLawhorn, during the section’s recent annual meeting.
“I am deeply grateful to be recognized in this way and delighted to be here among so many of my friends and colleagues,” Mann said in accepting the award. “It seems it was only yesterday that the North Carolina Bar Association and then the Administrative Law Committee sponsored a reception at the old bar center upon my initial appointment.
“In fact, it was over 32 years ago in December of 1989. But it was a kindness I will never forget.”
Mann received the Friend of the Court Award – the highest award bestowed by the state’s Judicial Branch – upon his retirement last year. Mann was initially appointed by Chief Justice James G. Exum in 1989 and subsequently served under five additional chief justices.
One of those chief justices, Mark Martin, who now serves as dean of Regent University Law School, has appointed Mann as Senior Lecturing Fellow and invited him to join his Delphi Dispute Resolution team.
Mann is a graduate of the University of North Carolina at Chapel Hill and Cumberland School of Law at Samford University. He began his career in private practice, at first as an associate in Gulley & Green and later as a partner in Green & Mann, Attorneys at Law.
Mann is a former vice president of the NCBA Board of Governors and former director of the North Carolina Bar Foundation Board of Directors. He served as chair of the Administrative Law Committee which preceded the Administrative Law Section, and is also a past chair of the NCBF Endowment Committee.
Nationally, he has served as president of the National Association of Administrative Law Judiciary and as chair of the National Conference of Administrative Law Judiciary. Mann has also devoted extensive service to the Judicial Division of the American Bar Association; he currently serves as vice chair and will begin his term as chair in 2024.
When asked to reflect upon the importance of his longtime involvement with the NCBA, Mann said that it actually stemmed from his days in law school.
“Far too many years ago,” Mann said, “as a fledgling law student, I wrote a paper on the higher calling of a lawyer to adhere to professional ethics when those ethics conflicted with business norms. After passing the bar exam, I relished my entry into our profession.
“After five years as a litigator, I began my administrative law practice with the representation of three professional licensing boards: architects, landscape architects, and veterinarians.”
This representation, Mann continues, sharpened his understanding and appreciation of the higher calling of professionals.
“But it was not until our law firm (Green & Mann) moved to the lower floor of the atrium at the old bar center on Annapolis Drive that I began to observe the legal titans of the North Carolina Bar Association. I stood in awe of their commitment to our profession. I then joined the Administrative Law Committee (now Section) and again was awed by the expertise exemplified in my field of practice.
“What I know now from these observations, is that when clients engage with the fiduciary responsibilities of this, the greatest profession, I stand in awe of the legal services that these professionals deliver to their clients and to the public. As my career is ending, I stand indebted to these bar titans who have taught me so much about professionalism.
“For that I am most grateful.”
The Administrative Law Award for Excellence is designed to honor an attorney who:
- has practiced administrative or regulatory law for at least ten years and who has continuous experience in this practice;
- is a member of the North Carolina Bar Association and the Administrative Law Section;
- has an exemplary record and reputation in the legal community and follows the highest ethical standards; and
- has an exemplary record of active participation in the efforts to improve the administrative and regulatory process for regulators, the regulated public, the citizens of North Carolina and in the interests of justice.
Previous recipients of the Administrative Law Award for Excellence are Fred Morrison (2017), Jack Nichols (2018), John N. (Nick) Fountain (2019) and Daniel F. McLawhorn (2020).
Russell Rawlings is director of external affairs and communications for the North Carolina Bar Association.