North Carolina Central University (NCCU) has named Atty. Fenita Morris-Shepard as chief legal counsel for North Carolina Central University following a competitive national search.
Atty. Morris-Shepard will report to Chancellor Johnson O. Akinleye and serve as the chief legal advisor to Chancellor and the NCCU Board of Trustees. She will also head the Office of Legal Affairs that provides legal advice and counsel on all matters affecting the legal rights or obligations of the university.
Atty. Morris-Shepard served as interim chief legal counsel at NCCU from March 2020 to January 2021. Prior to joining NCCU, she served as counsel at Phelps Dunbar, LLC. She has worked in both private practice and the public sector for more than 30 years. For eight years, she held an appointment in the administration of President Bill Clinton under United States Attorney General Janet Reno as an assistant United States attorney in the Civil Division in the Eastern District of North Carolina. Additionally, she has worked in numerous in-house counsel roles, including assistant general counsel at Wells Fargo, N.A., and litigation counsel at Laboratory Corporation of America (LabCorp). Atty. Morris-Shepard was also an adjunct professor at Skema Business School.
An active member of the community, Atty. Morris-Shepard has served on the Boards of the North Carolina Justice Center and Alliance of Aids Services Carolina (AASC). In 2010, she opened KoolKidz, a drop-in childcare center in Apex, N.C., and became a certified employment law mediator.
Atty. Morris-Shepard earned her bachelor’s degree from the University of North Carolina at Chapel Hill and received her Juris Doctorate from North Carolina Central University School of Law.
