Judge A. Todd Brown has announced he will retire from the Business Court effective March 3, 2026. In a February 19, 2026 press release, Chief Justice Paul Newby announced that Special Superior Court Judge Graham Shirley will replace Judge Brown on the Business Court. Judge Shirley served as a Resident Superior Court Judge in the Wake County Superior Court from September 2015 to January 2025, and was designated to his current role by the General Assembly in February 2025. Before his judicial service, Judge Shirley was in private practice in Wake County for 22 years with a trial practice focusing on complex commercial and construction cases. He had also previously served as a trial lawyer in the Army, as well as in providing counsel on law and policy issues with the Office of the Judge Advocate General.

Judge Brown was nominated to the Business Court bench in April 2024 by Governor Roy Cooper, and then confirmed by the General Assembly. At the time, Judge Brown was the managing partner of Hunton Andrews Kurth’s Charlotte office, and had previously served as co-head of the firm’s commercial litigation practice. At his appointment, Judge Brown also was president of the North Carolina State Bar and had previously been the president of the North Carolina Association of Defense Attorneys and the Mecklenburg County Bar.

“Judge Todd Brown has had a distinguished legal career and has served the people of North Carolina with integrity and distinction,” Chief Justice Newby said in the announcement. “We are grateful for his dedicated service. With his years of relevant experience in private practice and on the Superior Court bench, I am confident that Judge Graham Shirley will continue the Business Court’s tradition of excellence.”