Whitney is a government relations attorney who represents clients before the North Carolina General Assembly, where for ten legislative sessions she has monitored, evaluated, drafted, supported, amended, and opposed legislation in accordance with client needs. She serves as the Raleigh office's Geographic Team Co-Leader and heads the firm's state legislative efforts.
Whitney has experience advocating on behalf of large technology companies, professional associations, manufacturers, restaurants and lodging properties, environmental mitigation providers, military and education nonprofits, and local governments. Whitney has successfully secured state budget provisions and has had legislation introduced and enacted pertaining to business liability, internet privacy, and security laws, state and local pension system reforms, vehicle registration, special elections, alcoholic beverage laws, state procurement of information technology, local government purchasing requirements, and 911 dispatch center redundancy. She also counsels and represents clients before government bodies in economic development matters.
As a member for the firm's Hemp Law practice group, Whitney advises state government on the development of hemp laws and regulations. Additionally, she helps hemp and CBD industry clients navigate the complexity of state and federal laws.
Whitney also is licensed to practice patent law before the United States Patent and Trademark Office and has assisted clients with trademark searches and trademark application preparation. She has experience reviewing and drafting intellectual property agreements and privacy policies and also often assists with litigation matters.
Representation of clients seeking professional licenses from state boards
Unusually enough, I became an attorney out of my interest in science when I did not feel like a career in the medical, dental, or other science-based fields were a good fit for me. My plan was to apply my science degree to a career in patent law to help inventors, like my father, protect their ideas and share them with the world. I enrolled in law school and applied to take the USPTO Patent Bar, which I passed in 2010. During my first summer of law school while working for a local law firm, I was fortunate enough to spend time at the General Assembly where I quickly fell in love with the legislative process and all of the characters that walk our Legislature's halls. Life doesn't always take you where you thought you were going, but I feel strongly that everyone ends up exactly where they are supposed to be.
