James Ennis Street

North Carolina Attorney
Employment, Complex Disputes, and Institutional Strategy

I advise executives, organizations, and institutions on employment matters, complex disputes, governance, and reputational risk.

About

My work in private practice, government, in-house legal departments, and civil-rights advocacy informs how I assess legal exposure, institutional pressure, and clients’ options.
Drawing on experience in litigation, employment counseling, government, and institutional leadership, I assess legal merits alongside procedural posture, decision-makers, incentives, and institutional risk.
My approach is strategy-first. I clarify the record, identify leverage, and prepare deliberate options for negotiation, resolution, or selective escalation.

Duke Law School, J.D., cum laude, 2023; Executive Editor, Duke Journal of Comparative & International Law; Content Editor, Duke Law & Technology Review.
University of North Carolina at Chapel Hill, B.A., with honors, 2018.
Published scholarship advocating federal recognition of the Lumbee Tribe: Federal Recognition of Native American Tribes in the United States and the International Right to Self-Determination, 33 Duke J. Comp. & Int’l L. 121–49 (2023); the Lumbee Tribe received full federal recognition in December 2025.
Developed a policy brief with a national civil-rights organization and major North American airlines concerning racial discrimination in flight.
Institutional and organizational leadership spanning senior-advisor work with university and nonprofit leaders, an eight-event annual recruitment portfolio, and three summers directing Project Uplift with an 80-person staff and more than 1,200 participants.
Ronald E. McNair Scholar, selected for 2016 research on substance abuse and mental-health issues in North Carolina Native American populations.
Licensed in North Carolina. Admitted to the U.S. District Courts for the Eastern and Western Districts of North Carolina.