Floyd Bixler McKissick Jr. (born November 21, 1952) is an American attorney who served as a Democratic member of the

North Carolina Senate The North Carolina Senate is the upper chamber of the North Carolina General Assembly, which along with the North Carolina House of Representatives—the lower chamber—comprises the state legislature of North Carolina. The term of office for e ...

. He was appointed to the Senate by Governor

Mike Easley Michael Francis Easley (born March 23, 1950) is an American lawyer and politician who served as the 72nd governor of North Carolina from 2001 to 2009. He is the first governor of North Carolina to have been convicted of a felony. A member of ...

on April 18, 2007 to replace the late

Jeanne Hopkins Lucas Jeanne Hopkins Lucas (December 25, 1935 - March 9, 2007) was the first African-American woman elected to serve in North Carolina's state Senate. Lucas was born in Durham, North Carolina to Robert Hopkins and Bertha Holman Hopkins. She attended E ...

and was later elected and re-elected in his own right. In 2011, he became Deputy Minority Leader in the Senate and chairman of the North Carolina Legislative Black Caucus. He resigned in 2020 after having been appointed by Gov.

Roy Cooper Roy Asberry Cooper III (born June 13, 1957) is an American attorney and politician, serving as the 75th governor of North Carolina since 2017. A member of the Democratic Party, he served as the 49th attorney general of North Carolina from 20 ...

to the state Utilities Commission. McKissick is the son of the late civil rights activist

Floyd McKissick Floyd Bixler McKissick (March 9, 1922 – April 28, 1991) was an American lawyer and civil rights activist. He became the first African-American student at the University of North Carolina School of Law. In 1966 he became leader of CORE, the Congr ...

Education and career

McKissick works in

civil litigation Civil law is a major branch of the law.Glanville Williams. ''Learning the Law''. Eleventh Edition. Stevens. 1982. p. 2. In common law legal systems such as England and Wales and the law of the United States, United States, the term refers to non ...

. He practices business law,

criminal defense In the field of criminal law, there are a variety of conditions that will tend to negate elements of a crime (particularly the ''intent'' element), known as defenses. The label may be apt in jurisdictions where the ''accused'' may be assigned some ...

family law Family law (also called matrimonial law or the law of domestic relations) is an area of the law that deals with family matters and domestic relations. Overview Subjects that commonly fall under a nation's body of family law include: * Marriage, ...

, and

administrative law Administrative law is the division of law that governs the activities of government agency, executive branch agencies of Forms of government, government. Administrative law concerns executive branch rule making (executive branch rules are gener ...

. McKissick received an

A.B. Degree A bachelor's degree (from Middle Latin ''baccalaureus'') or baccalaureate (from Modern Latin ''baccalaureatus'') is an undergraduate academic degree awarded by colleges and universities upon completion of a course of study lasting three to six ye ...

in Geography, from

Clark University Clark University is a private research university in Worcester, Massachusetts. Founded in 1887 with a large endowment from its namesake Jonas Gilman Clark, a prominent businessman, Clark was one of the first modern research universities in the ...

Worcester, Massachusetts Worcester ( , ) is a city and county seat of Worcester County, Massachusetts, United States. Named after Worcester, England, the city's population was 206,518 at the 2020 United States census, 2020 census, making it the second-List of cities i ...

. He received a master's degree in Regional Planning from UNC-Chapel Hill, and a master's degree in Public Administration, from

Harvard University Harvard University is a private Ivy League research university in Cambridge, Massachusetts. Founded in 1636 as Harvard College and named for its first benefactor, the Puritan clergyman John Harvard, it is the oldest institution of higher le ...

. McKissick received a

Juris Doctor The Juris Doctor (J.D. or JD), also known as Doctor of Jurisprudence (J.D., JD, D.Jur., or DJur), is a graduate-entry professional degree in law and one of several Doctor of Law degrees. The J.D. is the standard degree obtained to practice law ...

Degree from the

Duke University Duke University is a private research university in Durham, North Carolina. Founded by Methodists and Quakers in the present-day city of Trinity in 1838, the school moved to Durham in 1892. In 1924, tobacco and electric power industrialist James ...

School of Law in Durham, North Carolina. McKissick has practiced law since 1983 with a number of law firms, including

Dickstein Shapiro Dickstein Shapiro LLP (formerly Dickstein, Shapiro, Morin & Oshinsky) was a large U.S. law firm and lobbying group based in Washington, D.C., with five offices across the United States. According to the National Law Journal's 2012 rankings, it wa ...

in Washington, D.C., and Faison, Brown & Brough in Durham, N.C. McKissick has practiced with McKissick & McKissick since 1990. For a time McKissick owned a convenience store in

Warren County, North Carolina Warren County is a county located in the northeastern Piedmont region of the U.S. state of North Carolina, on the northern border with Virginia, made famous for a landfill and birthplace of the environmental justice movement. As of the 2020 cen ...

. On December 27, 1985 two armed men robbed the store. After taking cash from the register, they shot McKissick in the left arm with a shotgun, nearly detaching it from his body. The two men were later arrested and incarcerated. McKissick's arm healed, though it lost some of its mobility. He co-authored a guide book for the

International Trade Administration : The International Trade Administration (ITA) is an agency in the United States Department of Commerce that promotes United States exports of nonagricultural U.S. services and goods. Duties The ITA's stated goals are to # Provide practical info ...

in the

U.S. Department of Commerce The United States Department of Commerce is an United States federal executive departments, executive department of the Federal government of the United States, U.S. federal government concerned with creating the conditions for economic growth ...

on Attracting Foreign Direct Investment to the United States (1981). He authored an article for the Construction Law Advisor on ''When An Owner Can Terminate a Construction Contract Due to Delay'' (1984). McKissick was disciplined by the N.C. State Bar for professional misconduct involving a

conflict of interest A conflict of interest (COI) is a situation in which a person or organization is involved in multiple interests, financial or otherwise, and serving one interest could involve working against another. Typically, this relates to situations i ...

. The bar found that McKissick improperly represented both sides in a 2000 dispute involving the estate decisions of an elderly Durham man. In 1995, McKissick's former wife said he physically abused her, and in 2001 a former employee of his law firm said he hit her with a telephone. He was acquitted in both cases.

In 1999 ''In 1999'' is a 1912 one-act comedic short play by William C. deMille, originally produced by Jesse L. Lasky, that was popular upon its release. Its gags are based on a future where gender roles are reversed. Production The piece debuted at th ...

, McKissick unsuccessfully ran for mayor of Durham.

Appointment to Senate

At the time of his selection by the Durham Democratic Party to fill the vacancy (due to the death of

Jeanne Lucas Jeanne Hopkins Lucas (December 25, 1935 - March 9, 2007) was the first African-American woman elected to serve in North Carolina's state Senate. Lucas was born in Durham, North Carolina to Robert Hopkins and Bertha Holman Hopkins. She attended Ea ...

from

breast cancer Breast cancer is cancer that develops from breast tissue. Signs of breast cancer may include a lump in the breast, a change in breast shape, dimpling of the skin, milk rejection, fluid coming from the nipple, a newly inverted nipple, or a re ...

) in District 20 in the state senate, McKissick was the chairman of the Durham County

Democratic Party Democratic Party most often refers to: *Democratic Party (United States) Democratic Party and similar terms may also refer to: Active parties Africa *Botswana Democratic Party *Democratic Party of Equatorial Guinea *Gabonese Democratic Party *Demo ...

, which raised questions of a conflict of interest in the selection process.

References

External links

NC Senate websiteProject Vote Smart - Senator Floyd McKissick, Jr. (NC)
profile *''Follow the Money'' - Floyd McKissick Jr.
2008
campaign contributions
Mckissick & Mckissick
law practice website * {{DEFAULTSORT:McKissick, Floyd Jr. Democratic Party North Carolina state senators Living people North Carolina lawyers Clark University alumni University of North Carolina at Chapel Hill alumni Harvard Kennedy School alumni Duke University School of Law alumni 1952 births African-American state legislators in North Carolina 21st-century American politicians 21st-century African-American politicians 20th-century African-American people