Josh Stein, the state of North Carolina's top attorney, will address graduates in the Class of 2018 in a December 15 program inside Elon University's Alumni Gym.
Commencement takes place Saturday, Dec. 15, at 11 a.m. inside Elon University’s Alumni Gym.
As North Carolina’s 50th attorney general, Stein has focused his work on protecting families from crime and consumer fraud. His priorities include combating the opioid crisis and taking on scam artists who target seniors.
“The Class of 2018 will find inspiration in a Commencement address by North Carolina’s top attorney, whose dedication to his state reflects the values we teach at Elon Law,” said Elon Law Dean Luke Bierman. “Attorney General Stein’s record of public service, and his advocacy for our most vulnerable citizens, exemplify the value of a legal education in the pursuit of justice.
“Likewise, students in the Class of 2018 never cease to amaze me with the compassion, focus, and determination they demonstrate in their studies and in the ways they apply their legal knowledge toward the betterment of their communities. They will make great attorneys in the model of our Commencement speaker.”
Prior to being elected Attorney General, Stein served as a state senator and as a senior deputy attorney general in the North Carolina Department of Justice. In the State Senate, Stein led efforts to put more violent criminals behind bars and keep innocent people out of prison by expanding the state’s DNA database, and he worked to strengthen laws against domestic abuse and to ban stalking using GPS tracking devices.
Mothers Against Drunk Driving, the North Carolina Sustainable Energy Association and the AARP of North Carolina each named Stein “Legislator of the Year” during his time in the General Assembly. He also was named the 2011 Defender of Justice by the NC Justice Center, and his Republican and Democratic colleagues selected Stein as the most effective Democratic senator.
As senior deputy attorney general, Stein helped write the School Safety Act, which mandated safety plans and training for school personnel in emergency situations, and he worked to improve safety features on social media websites to protect children from sexual predators. Stein also helped run the payday lenders charging loan shark interest rates on working families out of the state.
Stein has taught high school English and economics in Zimbabwe, served as legal counsel in the United States Senate, worked with the Self-Help Credit Union to transform abandoned drug houses in Durham into affordable, single-family homes and worked on behalf of the North Carolina Minority Support Center to raise capital to invest in small businesses across North Carolina. He also has worked in private practice as an attorney representing the Monitor of the $25 billion National Mortgage Settlement to ensure that the nation’s biggest banks treat home loan customers fairly.
Stein is a graduate of Dartmouth College and earned law and public policy degrees from Harvard University. He and his wife Anna have been married for 20 years and have three children who all attend North Carolina public schools. The Steins are members of Temple Beth Or.
About Elon Law:
Elon University School of Law in Greensboro, North Carolina, is the preeminent school for engaged and experiential learning in law. Elon Law integrates traditional classroom instruction with highly experiential full-time residencies-in-practice in a logically sequenced program of transformational professional preparation. Elon Law’s groundbreaking approach is accomplished in 2.5 years, which provides distinctive value by lowering tuition and permitting graduates early entry into their professional careers.
For more information, visit law.elon.edu.