Michael S. Hamden - Attorney, Counselor at Law & Corrections Consultant

Curriculum Vitae

Michael S. Hamden

Attorney at Law, Counselor, & Corrections Consultant

1612 Homestead Road

Chapel Hill, NC 27514 

Phone: (919) 605-2622

Email: Michael.Hamden@HamdenConsulting.com

 

Table of Contents

 

Summary:  Licensed attorney with 20+ years’ experience, 12 of which spent as executive director of nonprofit that employees more than 40 people serving prisoners.
 

  • More than 10 years’ experience as a prisoner advocate on three Institutional Review Boards at Research Triangle Institute, International
  • Consultant to the National Academies of Science, Institute of Medicine

 

  • Active in professional organizations, including:
    • The American Bar Association (committee chair and Criminal Justice Section Council Member)
    • The American Correctional Association (member, Standards Committee; Commission on Accreditation for Corrections)
    • The North Carolina Bar Association (Council chair, Constitutional Law Section; Law Practice Management Section, etc.)
    • The North Carolina Academy of Trial Lawyers (Constitutional Law Section, Law Practice Management Section)

 

  • Lectures/Presentations
    • Guest Lecturer, Duke University School of Law (2008)
    • “Re-Entry & Collateral Consequences of Conviction,” Beyond Community: 1st Advocacy for Ex-Offenders Re-Entry Conference, North Carolina Re-Entry Advocacy Project & Duke University Office for Institutional Equity (2008)
    • “Prisoners, Biomedical Research, & Ethics,” Board of Delegates, American Medical Association Annual Meeting, Chicago, Illinois (2007

 

 

Employment

 

Consultant
  • 2008 - Present: Attorney < Counselor at Law, and Corrections Consultant
  • 1995 – Present < Consultant, Research Triangle Institute, Institutional Review Board.
    Review proposals for and monitor human research projects involving prisoners under controlling State and Federal laws and regulations governing the protection of human subjects.
  • 2005 - 2006 National Academies of Science, Institute of Medicine Member, Committee on Ethical Considerations for Protection of Prisoners Involved in Research

 

  • 1995 – 2007 < Executive Director, North Carolina Prisoner Legal Services, Inc.
    2007 – April 2008, Interim Director
    Chief executive officer of public service, non-profit law firm.  Supervisory responsibility over staff of 18 attorneys, 14 paralegals, and 7 supporting staff members; public relations, fund-raising, coordination and direction of statewide litigation.  Accountable to Board of Directors concerning agency activities, financial standing, and development and implementation of program policy as adopted by the Board.

 

  • 1985 – 1995 < Staff Attorney, North Carolina Prisoner Legal Services, Inc.
    Development and coordination of statewide jail litigation program with supervisory and direct responsibility for all litigation, including numerous class action lawsuits challenging conditions of confinement and related enforcement actions, resulting in extensive relief for thousands of class members and recovery of substantial attorney fees.  Other litigation in federal and state courts included case of first impression in North Carolina Supreme Court establishing right of prisoner to sue for unlawfully extended incarceration.

 

Associations

  • 2005 - 2006 < National Academies of Science, Institute of Medicine
    • Member, Committee on Ethical Considerations for Protection of Prisoners Involved in Research

 

  • 1983 - Present <  American Bar Association
    • 1990 - Present < Criminal Justice Section
    • 2006 - Present < Member, Section Council
    • 2005 - 2006 < Co-Chair, Sentencing & Corrections Committee
    • 1998 - 2006 <   Liaison to the American Correctional Association
    • 1998- Present  <  Law Practice Management Section

 

  • 1998 - Present < American Correctional Association  (A national, multi-disciplinary organization of professionals representing all levels and facets of corrections and criminal justice.  ACA establishes standards governing corrections practices and operations, and accredits institutions that comply with those standards.)
    • 2008 - Present < ACA Certified Accreditation Auditor (Participate as part of a team that visits facilities to ensure compliance with ACA policies, practices, and procedures)
    • 1998 -  2006 < ACA Commission on Accreditation (The body that rules on applications for ACA accreditation and enforces operational standards nationwide.)
    • 2002 - 2006 < Member, Executive Committee, Commission on Accreditation
    • 1998 - 2002 and 2004 - 2006  < ACA Standards Committee (The body that promulgates standards which reflect “best practices” for all types of   correctional facilities.)

 

  • 1985 - Present < North Carolina Bar Association
      • 2003 - Present < Constitutional Rights and Responsibilities Section
      • 2005 - 2006 < Chair, Section Council
      • Earlier Activities:
    • Communications Committee
    • Race Relations Implementation Committee
    • Law Practice Management Section
    • Professionalism Committee               
    • North Carolina Commission on the Delivery of Civil Legal Services To the Poor (Chair, “Special Providers” Sub-committee)
    • Alternatives to Present Punishment Systems Task Force
    • Young Lawyers’ Division Prison Issues Committee
    • Prison Litigation Study Task Force

 

  • 1997 - Present < North Carolina Academy of Trial Lawyers
    • 1998 - Present < Constitutional Law Section
    • 2001 - 2008 < Law Office Management Section

 

  • 1999 - 2008 < North Carolina Legal Services Planning Council (Comprised of leaders within the Legal Services community, the Council plans and coordinates the delivery of civil legal services to people living in poverty in North Carolina.)
    • 2001 - 2003 < Chair, NC Legal Services Planning Council

 

  • 2002 - 2006 < Women’s Prison Writing & Performance Project - Founding Member, Board of Advisors

 

 

Books, Articles & Publications

  • 2006

  • 2005

  • 2004

    • “Improving Conditions of Confinement Through ACA Accreditation,” Corrections Today (an official publication of the American Correctional Association), p. 106, December 2004.
    • “North Carolina Prisoner Legal Services: A Model for Other States?,” Criminal Law Bulletin, Vol. 40, No. 2.

  • 2002

    • “The Safe & Humane Jails Project,” Clearinghouse Review, Vol. 35, Nos. 11-12, p. 785 (March-April 2002)(a publication of the National Center on Poverty Law)

  • 2000

    • “The Safe & Humane Jails Project,” first-prize in a nationwide writing competition sponsored the Brennan Center for Justice at NYU School of Law.
    • “A Legal Assistant’s Guide to Assisting Inmates,”  Facts & Findings (Journal for Legal Assistants - National Association of Legal Assistants), Vol. XXVII August 2000, p. 21
    • “An Overview of the Law Governing the Rights of Prisoners,” Facts & Findings (Journal for Legal Assistants - National Association of Legal Assistants), Vol. XXVII May 2000, p. 15

  • 1999   

    • “An Opportunity to Employ the Full Range of Your Skills: Assisting Inmate-Clients,” Forum  (North Carolina Paralegal Association), Winter 1999, p. 14.

  • 1998

    • “‘Special Providers’ Offer Assistance to the Poor,” The North Carolina State  Bar Journal, Summer 1998, p.19 (editor and contributing author).
    • Lawyers of the Present, Vol. III., p.18.  University of Tennessee College of Law (career profiles of selected graduates). 

  • 1990

    • Tort Claims Before the North Carolina Industrial Commission (a self-help manual for pro se prisoner litigants published in cooperation with the Young Lawyers Division of the North Carolina Bar Association)

 

 

Presentations

  • 2008

    • When Conditions of Incarceration Attract the Attention of the Media and Congress Sentencing Advocacy, Practice & Reform Institute, American Bar Association 2008 Fall Conference (October 2008)
    • Re-Entry & Collateral Consequences of Conviction, “Beyond Community: 1st Advocacy for Ex-Offenders Re-Entry Conference,” North Carolina Re-Entry Advocacy Project & Duke University Office for Institutional Equity (Mar. 2008)

    • 2007  

      • Prisoners, Biomedical Research, & Ethics, Board of Delegates, American Medical Association Annual Meeting, Chicago, Illinois
      • Ethical Considerations for Research Involving Prisoners, Board of Directors, International CURE (Citizens United for the Rehabilitation of Errants), Leavenworth, Kansas (May 2007)

    • 2006

      • Disaster Preparedness and the Criminal Justice System, ABA Criminal Justice Section CLE, New Orleans, Louisiana (November 2006)

    • 2005

      • The Value & Limitations of Accreditation in Corrections, National Commission on Safety & Abuse in America’s Prisons, St. Louis, Missouri Hearings (November 2005)
      • Writing Meaningful Audit Reports, American Correctional Association Auditor Training, 2005 Congress of Correction, Phoenix, Arizona

    • 2003

      • Prisoner Concerns About Health Care, American Correction Health Service Association, NC Chapter; NC Justice Academy (Salemburg, North Carolina)
      • Jail Safety Summit: Liability & Conditions of Confinement, Western Carolina University (Cullowhee, North Carolina)
        Successful Section 1983 Litigation: The Practitioner’s Perspective, NC Bar Association Foundation, March 2003
      • American Correctional Association Auditor Training, 2003 Winter Conference, Charlotte, North Carolina

    • 2002

      • A System-Wide Approach to Jail Operations (North Carolina Jail Administrators Association, High Point, North Carolina)

    • 1999

      • American Correctional Association Auditor Training, 1999 Congress of Correction, Denver, Colorado

    • 1999

      • Impact of the Prison Litigation Reform Act on Correctional Health Care (Annual Meeting, Society of Correctional Physicians, Atlanta, GA).

    • 1998

      • Prisoner Litigation in North Carolina (a series of round-table meetings involving representatives of the Federal Courts, the U.S. Marshal’s Service, the Office of the Attorney General, the Department of Correction, and others involved in or affected by prisoner litigation, organized and hosted by NC Prisoner Legal Services, Raleigh, North Carolina).

    • 1994

      • Discovery in Federal Proceedings  (Legal Services of North Carolina Continuing        Legal Educational Seminar, Winston-Salem, North Carolina).

    • 1993

      • Jail Liability and Lawsuits (NC Association of County Commissioners, NC Sheriffs’ Association, and Sedgwick James of the Carolinas Insurance Company)(presentations in Asheville, Greensboro, Raleigh, and Wilmington, North Carolina).

    • 1993

      • Perspectives on Jail Liability (NC County Attorneys’ Conference, Atlantic Beach, North Carolina).

    • 1991

      • School for Sheriffs, Deputies and Jailers (North Carolina Institute of Government, Chapel Hill, North Carolina).

    • 1990

      • Complex Litigation in Federal and State Courts (Legal Services of North Carolina Continuing Legal Educational Seminar, Winston-Salem, North Carolina)
      • School for Sheriffs, Deputies and Jailers (North Carolina Institute of Government, Chapel Hill, North Carolina)

 

 

Licensure

  • North Carolina: Licensed March 1985
  • Tennessee: Bar Exam passed February 1984

 

 

Education

  • Managerial

    • Certificate of Nonprofit Management 2001, Duke University Program in Nonprofit Management, Durham, North Carolina

  • Legal

    • J.D. 1983, University of Tennessee College of Law, Knoxville, Tennessee
      Honors:  Tennessee Law Review, Assistant Editor; two merit scholarships

  • Musical

    • Bachelor of Music 1981, Berklee College of Music, Boston,     Massachusetts Honors:  Magna Cum Laude