Noel L. Allen - President, Founding and Managing Partner

Noel Allen, a native of Burlington, NC, is a founding partner of Allen, Pinnix & Nichols, P.A. . He is president and managing partner of the firm, established in 1977. His practice centers on public policy, occupational licensing, administrative, antitrust, and trade regulation law and currently is legal counsel for the National Association of State Boards of Accountancy (CPAs). Mr. Allen is legal counsel for several North Carolina professional licensing boards including the Board of CPA Examiners (since 1980) and the Board of Architecture (since 1989). He has taught antitrust, trade regulation, consumer protection law, and international law as an adjunct professor at Campbell University School of Law and serves on the Elon University Board of Trustees of which he was chair, 2001-2003. He is author of North Carolina Unfair Business Practice (Lexis-Nexis, 1995, 2000, 2004) and he is the U.S. editor of Competition Laws of Western Europe and The United States (Kluwer). Mr. Allen has been recognized in Best Lawyers in America and by Business North Carolina magazine as one of the state’s “Legal Elite” as well as by North Carolina’s Super Lawyers. He also received the International Service Award from the North Carolina Bar Association’s International Law and Practice Section.

Practice

Occupational Licensing, Administrative, Antitrust and Trade Regulation

Focus

Public Policy, Trade Regulation, Antitrust, Occupational Licensing, Administrative Law

Education

University of Amsterdam, Netherlands, Graduate Law Degree, International Competition Law, 1974
UNC Chapel Hill School of Law, JD, 1973
Elon University, BA, 1969

State Admissions

North Carolina Bar, 1974

Court Admissions

District of Columbia Bar
Fourth Circuit, U.S. Court of Appeals
U.S. Supreme Court

Selected Experience

Represents National Association of State Boards of Accountancy, N.C. Board of Architecture, N.C. Board of Certified Public Accountant Examiners, N.C. Board of Examiners of Nursing Home Administrators, N.C. Board of Examiners for Refrigeration Contractors, and Southern Conference National Council of Architectural Registration Boards.
Tried numerous cases in state and federal courts and prevailed in complex, precedent setting litigation.
Represented the purchaser in negotiating a $1 billion, 12-year computerized licensing exam contract.
Served as legal counsel for a national association of state regulators in a comprehensive nationwide state legislative effort on professional mobility and enforcement.
Published and lectured on legal topics such as “Ethics for Administrative Lawyers,” “Use of Expert Witnesses,” and “Legal Challenges for Regulating Internet Practice.”
Consultant, antitrust law for U.S. Senator Robert Morgan.

Background

Elon University Board of Trustees, member 1985-present, chair 2001-2003.
Elon Law School Board of Advisors, current.
N.C. Tax Review Board, 1995-2007.
N.C. State Board of Ethics, 1981-1983.
Chair, N.C. Bar Association Section of International Law and Practice, 1992-94.
Chair, N.C. Bar Association Antitrust Section, 1998-1999.
Chair, N.C. Bar Association Administrative Law Section, 2006-2007.
Fellow, Center for International Legal Studies, Salzburg, Austria.
Director, Center for the Public Trust (NASBA), current.
Rated AV® by Martindale-Hubbell.*

* CV, BV and AV are registered certification marks of Reed Elsevier Properties Inc., used in accordance with the Martindale- Hubbell certification procedure’s standards and policies.