OFFICE OF PARENT REPRESENTATION
Indigent Defense Services
123 West Main Street, Suite 308
Durham, N.C. 27701

Telephone: (919) 354-7230
Facsimile: (919) 354-7231 

Welcome to the Office of Parent Representation! 

Our office was created to assist attorneys representing indigent parents in abuse, neglect, dependency (A/N/D) and termination of parental rights (TPR) proceedings. We accomplish this goal through training programs and resources, providing consultation to attorneys and maintaining listservs. Our office is also responsible for evaluating and assigning A/N/D and TPR appeals to qualified appellate attorneys including assistant appellate defenders within the Office of Parent Representation. 

Wendy C. Sotolongo received her JD from the UNC School of Law in 1987.  She was a staff attorney with Pisgah Legal Services in Asheville, NC from 1987 to 1990.  From 1990 to 2006, she practiced almost exclusively in A/N/D court as a DSS attorney, a solo practitioner and as a GAL Attorney Advocate.  In December 2006, she began working in the Office of the Appellate Defender in the newly created position of Parent Representation Coordinator.
Wendy.C.Sotolongo@nccourts.org  

 Annick Lenoir-Peek received her JD from the Columbus School of Law at Catholic University of America in Washington, D.C., in 1994.  She began representing parents in A/N/D and TPR cases in 1999 in South Carolina prior to moving to North Carolina.  She has practiced in this area of law exclusively since 2002.  Ms. Lenoir-Peek was a Department of Social Services attorney for two years and has concentrated on representing parents at the appellate level since 2002.  In June 2008, she began working in the Office of Parent Representation as the Assistant Parent Representation Coordinator/Assistant Appellate Defender.
Annick.Lenoir-Peek@nccourts.org

 Lee Gilliam received his JD from the UNC School of Law in 2006. He clerked for the Honorable Donna S. Stroud at the North Carolina Court of Appeals from January 2007 to August 2009. In December 2009, he began working in the Office of Parent Representation as an Assistant Appellate Defender.
Joseph.L.Gilliam@nccourts.org

Denise French is our administrative assistant extraordinaire.  Prior to joining the Office of Parent Representation, for six years she served as an administrative assistant for the section of the Durham County Attorney's Office that handled DSS cases, making her very familiar with this area of law.
Denise.J.French@nccourts.org

Additionally, the Office of Indigent Defense Services and the School of Government collaborate to create quality, cost-effective indigent defense education, including innovative training programs, manuals, and online resources, to ensure that indigent defenders have the qualifications, training, and support they need to be effective.  

Whitney Fairbanks joined the School of Government in 2008 as the civil defender educator. Prior to that, Ms. Fairbanks worked for three years as an assistant public defender in Durham County where she represented respondent parents in A/N/D and TPR proceedings; and juveniles in delinquency proceedings. She was in private practice in both Raleigh and Greenville before joining the public defender's office. Ms. Fairbanks earned a BA from the University of Tennessee, and a JD with honors from Gonzaga University in Spokane.
fairbanks@sog.unc.edu
919-962-9594