Split Tickets and Some More of the Same: A 2024 North Carolina Election Recap
November 7, 2024
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Whitney Campbell Christensen
Government Relations Attorney
wcchristensen@wardandsmith.com
919.277.9213 919.277.9177
Post Office Box 33009, Raleigh, NC 27636-3009
Whitney has consistently been recognized as one of North Carolina's top government relations attorneys by Super Lawyers Magazine, Best Lawyers, and through her work as President of the North Carolina Professional Lobbyists Association. She represents clients before the North Carolina General Assembly, where for nearly 15 years she has drafted, enacted, amended, and opposed legislation in accordance with client needs. She serves as Ward and Smith's Raleigh office Geographic Team Co-Leader and heads the firm's state legislative efforts. In 2017, Whitney was named to the Triangle Business Journal's 40 Under 40 list and was invited to represent the state of North Carolina in the National League of Women Lobbyists in 2022. In 2024, she served as President of the North Carolina Professional Lobbyists Association.
Whitney has experience advocating on behalf of Fortune 100 companies, statewide professional associations, manufacturers, the hospitality industry, environmental service providers, financial institutions, nonprofits and local governments from the mountains to the coast. She has a knack for the state budget appropriations process and a long track record of securing appropriations for clients. She enjoys shaping state policy and has had legislation introduced and enacted pertaining to a wide range of issues, including business liability, internet privacy and security laws, virtual currency, higher education, criminal justice, state and local pension system reforms, vehicle registration, transportation funding, special elections, alcoholic beverage laws, state procurement of information technology, local government purchasing requirements and 911 dispatch center redundancy. She also counsels and represents clients before government bodies in economic development matters.
Whitney is licensed to practice patent law before the United States Patent and Trademark Office, developing a love for science and intellectual property at a young age as she watched her father accumulate nearly forty U.S. and international patents in immunodiagnostics and other pharmaceutical technologies. She is also a member of the firm's Economic Development Practice Group and Name Image Likeness Practice Group.
Education
- J.D., South Texas College of Law, December 2011. Phi Delta Phi Legal Honors Fraternity.
- B.A., Biology, with honors, The University of North Carolina at Chapel Hill, 2008. Distinguished Scholarship recipient, Beta Beta Beta Biological Sciences Honor Society.
Representative Experience
- Representation of a large social media company drafting and enacting state legislation governing the access of fiduciaries to an individual's digital assets
- Representation of one of North Carolina's largest technology vendors in expanding the state's data breach liability statutes
- Representation of a brewery in a response to an Office Action from the United States Patent and Trademark Office
- Representation of a hospitality trade association enacting state legislation to guard restaurants against tort claims stemming from food and drink consumption
- Representation of a client before the North Carolina Department of Commerce, the North Carolina Economic Development Partnership and the North Carolina General Assembly in seeking incentives for a $200 million expansion project in the state
- Representation of a municipal client resulting in drafting and enacting changes to the state's special election laws
- Representation of a client in drafting a privacy policy for a company website
- Representation of a client in drafting and enacting legislation that resulted in the requirement that all North Carolina mopeds be registered with the Department of Motor Vehicles
- Representation of a large bank in performing trademark searches
- Representation of a professional association at the North Carolina General Assembly, successfully opposing legislation that would have suspended the profession's authority for state licensure
- Representation of a political party in matters before the State Board of Elections and Ethics Enforcement
- Representation of clients seeking professional licenses from state boards
- Representation of a national hemp advocacy organization in amending and advancing hemp legislation in North Carolina
Honors and Distinctions*
- "Rising Star," Government Relations, Super Lawyers, 2018-2024
- "Ones to Watch," Best Lawyers, 2023
- 40 Under 40 Leadership Award - Triangle Business Journal
![](/<a%20href="https:/www.bestlawyers.com/firms/ward-and-smith/17871/US"> <img src="https:/www.bestlawyers.com/OTWLogos/ListedFirm/17871/US/3/O.png" title="Ones To Watch - Firm Logo" alt="Ones To Watch - Firm Logo" /> </a>)
Professional and Community Affiliations
- National League of Women Lobbyists – NC Delegate
- North Carolina Bar Association — Division: Young Lawyers
- North Carolina Bar Association — Sections: Government & Public Sector; Intellectual Property Law
- North Carolina Economic Developers Association
- North Carolina General Statutes Commission (member, Committee on Publication of the General Statutes)
- North Carolina Professional Lobbyists Association: President, present; Board of Directors, present; Vice President, 2021-2023; Secretary/Treasurer, 2021-2022
- Tarheel Swimming Association, Hasentree Chapter President, 2013-2014
Admitted to Practice
- North Carolina, 2012
- United States Patent and Trademark Office, 2010
About Me
Whitney is an eighth-generation North Carolinian and proud descendant of several of the founding families of Wake County. She is passionate about North Carolina's history, life sciences, travel, running, swimming, and holiday decorating. In 2023, Whitney won first place in the North Carolina State Fair's Christmas tree decorating competition. She enjoys cheering on her children at baseball tournaments, and swim meets and is thankful that they inherited her love of reading and not her lack of athleticism. Whitney lives in Raleigh with her husband, three children,n and pug, Dolly.
* Please see the following websites for an explanation of the membership standards for the following recognitions: www.bestlawyers.com; businessnc.com/special-sections/legal-elite/; and www.superlawyers.com/north-carolina.
