William A. Webb

William A. (Bill) Webb served for fourteen years as a United States Magistrate Judge in the Eastern District of North Carolina. Judge Webb has comprehensive expertise in the areas of employment law, federal regulations and procedure, and federal appeals.

Barbara Jackson

Barbara Jackson is a retired Associate Justice of the Supreme Court of North Carolina.  Justice Jackson received both her undergraduate and law degrees from the University of North Carolina at Chapel Hill, where she was a Thomas J. Watson National Merit Scholar and served on the staff of the Law Review and as President of Phi Delta Phi in law school. She also has a Master of Laws in Judicial Studies from Duke University School of Law. 

Julian Mann

At the conclusion of his eighth appointed term and after almost 32 years, Julian Mann retired as North Carolina’s Chief Administrative Law Judge. During his tenure, Judge Mann decided numerous administrative law contested cases and also directed the affairs of two other divisions in the Office of Administrative Hearings (OAH).  As the director he served as the chief operating officer and legislative liaison to the North Carolina General Assembly. As the presiding judge he decided a wide range of administrative law contested cases, but he also resolved many cases during litigation. He formally served as a settlement judge in many other contested cases where he was not the presiding judge. Julian Mann is certified by the North Carolina Dispute Resolution Commission as a Superior Court Mediator.

Mark Martin

Carlton (J.C.) Cole

Carlton (J.C.) Cole retired as a Judge after more than 26 years of service on the NC Superior Court (2009-2021) and District Court (1994-2009) benches. His District Court jurisdiction in northeastern North Carolina covered the counties of Camden, Chowan, Currituck, Dare, Gates, Pasquotank, and Perquimans. As a Superior Court judge his jurisdiction was the entire State of North Carolina.  Prior to joining the Court he was a sole practitioner in a general practice of law.  He earned his law degree from North Carolina Central University School of Law and prior to attending law school worked as a federal agent in New York City for ten years.

Ann Carey

Ann D. Carey graduated cum laude from the University of Delaware and two and a half years later received her J.D.  from Delaware Law School.  During her 33-year legal career Ann has been licensed and practiced law before the bench and jury in six states.  Two of her cases have gone to the Delaware Supreme Court and one to the U.S. Supreme Court. Ann has been recognized as a distinguished litigator, mediator, and arbitrator of complex cases. She has been trusted by the judiciary to mediate high-dollar, high-profile cases.

Frank Laney

Frank C. Laney was Circuit Mediator for the US Court of Appeals for the Fourth Circuit for 25 years, mediating more than 5000 cases, before retiring in April 2022.  He has been an ex-officio member of the NC Dispute Resolution Commission since its inception in 1995, then in 2021 was appointed as a Commissioner. He is also an adjunct professor at Campbell University, High Point University, and North Carolina Central University Schools of Law.  He teaches the Commission required training for mediator certification with CDSS.  Since 2015 he has taught mediation in Belarus, including one fall as a visiting Fulbright Specialist.  More recently he has taught mediators in Ukraine, Russia, and Kazakhstan.  He helped lead the effort to design and implement each of the court-based mediation programs in North Carolina.