Scott L. Wilkinson
I was born and raised in Raleigh, NC and, with the exception of college and
law school, have lived and worked in Wake County for the past 53 years. I attended
Stough and Lacy Elementary schools, Martin Jr. High School and then graduated
from Broughton High School in 1979. I attended Campbell University in Buies
Creek, NC on a soccer scholarship, as a “walk-on,” being awarded the Jim McVeigh
Freshman Award and the Glenn Brewster Senior award. I graduated in May, 1983
with a Bachelor in Business Administration.
Following graduation, I worked as a legislative assistant in the U.S. Senate in
Washington, D.C. for the late Senator John P. East on the Judiciary Committee,
Subcommittee on Separation of Powers. In September 1984, I returned to Buies
Creek to attend Campbell University School of Law. During that time, I served as the
Editor for the Campbell Law Observer and as a member of the Campbell Law
Review, and graduated in May 1987.
Following a short stint with a law firm in Beaufort, NC, I returned to Wake
County in late 1987 as an associate with the law firm consisting of former EDNC U.S.
Attorney Tom McNamara, former Assistant United States Attorney Joe Knott and
Ash Pipkin, concentrating on general civil litigation, as well as state and federal
criminal defense.
In 1988, I joined the U.S. Attorney’s Office in Raleigh under Margaret P.
Currin and served as an Assistant United States Attorney for 14 years until January
2002. During that time, I specialized in prosecuting white-collar and other financial
crimes, and served as the office’s liaison with Customs and Immigration Enforcement. In addition to conducting thousands of criminal investigations and
prosecutions, including detention hearings, guilty pleas and in excess of 20 federal
criminal trials, I also handled numerous appeals to the Fourth Circuit Court of
Appeals in Richmond, Virginia.
In February 2002, I left the U.S. Attorney’s Office and established my own law
firm in Raleigh, engaging almost exclusively in state and federal criminal defense in
Wake and Durham counties, and in federal courts in the Eastern and Middle
Districts of North Carolina.
Having worked extensively as both a federal prosecutor and a criminal
defense attorney for the past 26 years, I believe that I am a person of high moral
character and that I enjoy a general reputation in the legal community for honesty,
industry and diligence. I believe that I have demonstrated my professional
competence through the breadth of my professional experience, including courtroom and trial experience, and, because of that experience, that I have the judicial
temperament to serve the bar and public in the Tenth District.