ATTORNEYS

Preston O. Odom, III
Practice Focus--Appellate Practice & Litigation Support

Preston hails from Tallahassee, Florida, and completed his first year of undergraduate studies at the United States Air Force Academy in 1990. He subsequently transferred to the Florida State University, where he graduated in 1993 with a Bachelor of Arts degree in History.

Preston attended law school at the Florida State University College of Law, where he was a member of the Law Review and The Order of the Coif. He received his Juris Doctor degree, magna cum laude, from that institution in 1997.

Preston began his legal career with the Supreme Court of Florida in August 1997 as a part of the Court’s Central Staff. He later served as a law clerk to the Honorable Chief Justice Gerald Kogan, and concluded his service at the Court in May 2000 as a law clerk to the Honorable Justice R. Fred Lewis.

Preston and his wife, Mandie, moved to the Charlotte, North Carolina area in April 2000, where they and their children continue to reside. Preston joined James, McElroy & Diehl in September 2000, and he became a shareholder at the firm in June 2005.

Preston specializes in appellate practice and trial-level litigation support in numerous areas of the law, both civil and criminal. He is admitted to practice law before Florida state courts, North Carolina state courts, the United States Court of Appeals for the Fourth Circuit, the United States District Court for the Western District of North Carolina, and the United States District Court for the Middle District of North Carolina. In addition, he, along with Charles M. "Casey" Viser, co-authored an article entitled "The Need for Speed: New Rule 702(i) of the North Carolina Rules of Evidence," which was published in the February 2007 edition of The True Bill, the newsletter of the North Carolina Bar Association's Criminal Justice Section.