Administrative Law Section Honors Nichols

By Brad Williams

Jack Nichols, director and attorney at Nichols, Choi & Lee, PLLC in Raleigh, N.C., is the 2018 recipient of the Administrative Law Award for Excellence, an annual award given by the Administrative Law Section of the North Carolina Bar Association.

Nichols received the Administrative Law Award for Excellence on Friday, April 20, at the section’s annual meeting and CLE at the N.C. Bar Center.  He chaired the Administrative Law Section in 1994-1995.

Section member Anna Baird Choi, Nichols’ law partner at Nichols, Choi & Lee, PLLC, presented the award.

Nichols has practiced law for more than 40 years with a focus on public policy development and advocacy, administrative law and civil litigation, including employment law where he routinely represents public employees.  He is a former legal counsel to the Secretary of Administration and served as deputy legislative liaison to Governor James B. Hunt, Jr.  After leaving state government to return to private practice, Nichols has represented both occupational licensing boards as well as clients before regulatory bodies.  He is a former vice-chair of the N.C. Rules Review Commission and was elected to the Wake County Board of Commissioners where he served from 1990-1994.

Born in Quantico, Virginia and raised in Charlotte, N.C., Nichols is a graduate of Davidson College and Wake Forest University School of Law.

The award was established “to honor an outstanding Administrative Law Section attorney as an exemplar of the excellence, dedication and passion for administrative and/or regulatory law” to an active, practicing member of the section.

The honoree must meet the following criteria:

• The attorney must currently be practicing administrative or regulatory law and must have at least ten (10) years of recent, continuous experience in such practice;
• The attorney must be a current member of the NCBA and its Administrative Law Section;
• The attorney must have an exemplary record and reputation in the legal community, and must follow the highest ethical standards;
• The attorney must have an exemplary record of active participation in efforts to improve the administrative and regulatory process for regulators, the regulated public, the citizens of North Carolina and in the interests of justice; and
• The attorney must be a resident of the state of North Carolina and must also be nominated by a member in good standing of the North Carolina Bar Association.