Tom Lawton Named UNC Asheville's First General Counsel

North Carolina Assistant Attorney General Tom Lawton will join UNC Asheville on August 4 as general counsel. Lawton has worked for the past decade in the Education Section of the Special Litigation Division of the N.C. Department of Justice. As an assistant attorney general, he has represented a wide variety of clients associated with North Carolina public education, including each of the 16 University of North Carolina constituent universities, the UNC Board of Governors, the N.C. Department of Public Instruction, and the State Board of Education.

As UNCA's first general counsel, Lawton will advise the campus on university-related matters ranging from policies and personnel to intellectual property.

Lawton holds a J.D. from Georgetown University Law School and a bachelor's degree in ethics and political philosophy from Brown University in Providence, R.I. Before attending law school, he was a reporter for the Raleigh Times and the Fayetteville Observer, and was the editor of the Hamlet News in Hamlet, N.C. He later served as press secretary for the late U.S. Senator Terry Sanford.

Lawton and his wife, Rachel Perry, have two children.

Media Contact:

• Merianne Epstein, UNCA Public Information Director, 828/251-6676