FEATURE PAGE August 20, 2020

A distinguished career had he... which
he claims came about in spite of himself

Mr. Edmonson with wife Sue, celebrating their 44th wedding anniversary in 2017.

"A. Root Edmonson," he writes, "is a proud graduate of Smithfield High School. He eventually matriculated from the University of North Carolina in Chapel Hill after having served a tour of duty in combat in Vietnam caused by spending way too much time at Clarence’s Bar and Grill during his first three years in Chapel Hill.

"After UNC-CH had the good sense not to accept him into their law school, he spent 15 months in Lake Tahoe, CA where he met Sue McDermott. After marrying Sue, a far better woman than he deserved, and under her steadying influence, he entered North Carolina Central University Law School. With a lot of help from his friends, he graduated from law school and passed the bar exam in 1976.

"He remained in private practice until, after the birth of a second child, he realized that he needed a job. In May 1979, the North Carolina State Bar was unfortunate enough to be in desperate need of a disciplinary counsel, and hired him. They have not been able to get rid of him since."

Not until now, that is.

Aldert Root and wife Sue, who reside in Raleigh, have two children: Ashley, who along with her husband works for a business consulting firm in Atlanta; and Justin, who lives in Raleigh where he does some business writing and operates a house and animal sitting business.

Aldert's father was the late Richard Edmonson, who turned his "freezer locker" business into Smithfield's iconic Johnston County Hams enterprise that gained state and national fame following its establishment in 1946 (no longer in the family, the business shut down last summer). His mother, Olivia, was an accomplished pianist who gave lessons to numerous Smithfield youngsters over the years.

When asked by the Sun to share some highlights of his career, he's what Aldert Root wrote on a recent Sunday afternoon "while sitting on the porch with my iPad... listening to music":

When I started at the State Bar in 1979, Bobby E. James was the Executive Director. In 1992, he resigned abruptly. The State Bar's elected officers asked me to review his spending and reimbursement records, which had been the cause of his resignation. I told the officers that I would have no part in prosecuting Bobby since, if I recommended serious discipline, some would think I was trying to get his job and if I didn't find serious wrongdoing, some would say it was because Bobby hired me. At their persistent request, I did agree to review the records and draft a report of what I found. I drafted the longest investigative report I ever drafted. Upon receiving it from the officers, Bobby surrendered his license and was disbarred by the Council, the State Bar's governing body.

In 1998, a former Johnston County resident, Reginald L. "Rex" Frazier Jr., who practiced in New Bern, was suspended from the practice of law. He filed multiple motions and appeals. In 1989, I tried him for additional misconduct that occurred after he was suspended. He was disbarred. I remained in almost continuous litigation with him, either fighting his attacks on his conviction in the courts or prosecuting him for contempt for continuing to practice law, until his death in February 2005, a total of 17 years. I actually got along with him even when he accused me of forging court orders, etc.

In 1996, I was told that I would have to take over one of the two special responsibilities of a departing lawyer. One was serving as Counsel to the Client Security Fund. I asked for a sample report that was on the board's agenda for its October meeting. It involved a former WFU basketball player who was a Winston-Salem lawyer who I had tried and disbarred. The report concluded that the lawyer had paid the victim all of its loss in criminal restitution. Since I knew the facts, I knew that was not true. I got affidavits from the criminal prosecutor and the judge showing that the court had ordered the highest amount of restitution for the three years the defendant would be on probation but not all of the loss. I got the board to pay the balance of the loss. I took over as Counsel to the Board and served for 24 years. It was the most rewarding responsibility I had with the State Bar.

I will greatly miss the people I worked for and with at the State Bar. Rivers D. Johnson Jr. of Duplin County was the chair of the Grievance Committee for the first eight years I worked for the State Bar. We went to either his law office in Warsaw or I met him in the courthouse in Kenansville at least least once a month. He went over every grievance file with us. We would usually go to the Country Squire for lunch. He was a great mentor. He and others made me understand that my focus should not be to win, but to seek justice while protecting the public....

I went to my first meeting of the National Organization of Bar Counsel in February 1981. I went to two a year thereafter. Some of the Bar Counsel from other states have become part of my family.  We visit when one is sick, and have attended funerals and memorial services. I received the NOBC President's Award in 2011 "in recognition of lifetime achievement in the field of lawyer regulation and service to NOBC." I attended my 80th consecutive meeting of NOBC a week before my retirement, although virtually.

I also was one of the original members of the National Client Protection Organization that is made up of administrators, counsel, or trustees of client protection funds like the Client Security Fund. I became its President from 2004 to 2006.

End of story.

If that's not enough, here's the State Bar resolution about Mr. Edmonson's service>

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