Carolyn A. Murchison (fka Waller) - Raleigh, NC
Attorney at Tharrington Smith LLP
Education Law Lawyers in Raleigh, NC
150 Fayetteville Street Suite 1900 Raleigh, NC 27601
Raleigh Education Law Lawyer
Updated: 03/10/2026
Areas of Practice
- Education Law
- Special Education
- Employment
- Redistricting
- Election Law And Redistricting
Attorney Information
Overview
Carolyn Waller joined the Education Section of Tharrington Smith in 2000. Her practice includes representation of public schools and other educational institutions, special education, and employment law, with particular interest in the areas of freedom of speech and the First Amendment, search and seizure in the school setting, due process, open meetings laws and public records issues, and election law. Ms. Waller is a member of the North Carolina Council of School Attorneys and the Education, Labor and Employment, and Constitutional Rights and Responsibilities sections of the North Carolina Bar Association. She is admitted to practice before all state and federal courts in North Carolina and the federal Fourth Circuit Court of Appeals.
Ms. Waller graduated with honors in 1998 from the University of North Carolina School of Law, where she served as an editor of the North Carolina Journal of International Law and Commercial Regulation, was awarded a Daniel H. Pollitt Fellowship, and granted membership into the James E. and Carolyn B. Davis Society. Before joining Tharrington Smith two years later, she worked as a policy analyst with the North Carolina Center for Public Policy Research where her focus was on higher education in North Carolina.
Ms. Waller earned her undergraduate degree from the University of California, Berkeley in Anthropology in 1990, after which she moved to Micronesia and worked first as a field archaeologist and later as a journalist for the Commonwealth of the Northern Marianas Islands and the Commonwealth Council for Arts and Culture. Ms. Waller is a native of Michigan but calls Apex home, where she lives with her three children. If she survives the middle school years, she hopes to one day complete a triathlon.
Awards and Honors
Honors
- Daniel H. Pollitt Fellowship
Education
-
Legal Education
-
University of North Carolina School of Law,
Chapel Hill,
North Carolina, 1998
J.D.
Honors: Daniel H. Pollitt Fellowship
Law Journal: North Carolina Journal of International Law and Commercial Regulation, Editor
-
University of North Carolina School of Law,
Chapel Hill,
North Carolina, 1998
-
Non Legal Education
-
University of California, Berkeley , 1990
B.A.
Major: Anthropology
-
University of California, Berkeley , 1990
Current Employment Position(s)
-
Attorney
Past Positions
- North Carolina Center for Public Policy Research, Policy Analyst, 1998 - 2000
- Field Archaeologist in Hawaii and Micronesia, 1989 - 1991
- Commonwealth Council for Arts and Culture, Archivist and Journalist, 1991 - 1993
Bar Admissions
- North Carolina, 1998
- U.S. Court of Appeals 4th Circuit, 2002
- U.S. District Court Eastern District of North Carolina, 2000
- U.S. District Court Middle District of North Carolina, 2002
- U.S. District Court Western District of North Carolina, 2002
Other Affiliations
- North Carolina Council of School Attorneys (Member)
- North Carolina Bar Association, Labor and Employment, and Constitutional Rights and Responsibilities Section (Member)
- Wake County Bar Association (Member)
- 10th Judicial District Bar (Member)
- North Carolina Bar Association (Association)
- National School Boards Association, Council for School Attorneys (Member)
Photo
Contact
150 Fayetteville Street
Suite 1900
Raleigh, NC 27601
Phone: 919-821-4711
Fax: 919-829-1583
Email: Send a message
Website: http://www.tharringtonsmith.com
Disclaimer
Your Profile? Update Now
When viewing a listing, consider the state advertising restrictions to which lawyers and law firms must adhere, as well as our FindLaw.com Legal Directory disclaimer. Some lawyers publish comparative information regarding the services that they provide which may be subject to specific comparative communications restrictions.