Candidate Biography (submitted by candidate):

Judge John M. Tyson currently serves as a Recall Judge for the North Carolina Court of Appeals and as an Emergency Judge for the North Carolina Superior Court. Judge Tyson served an eight-year elected term on the North Carolina Court of Appeals from 2001 until 2009. 

Judge Tyson's more than thirty years of professional experience includes the private practice of law, specializing in landlord-tenant law, land use law, and real property law, and senior level corporate real estate development and counsel positions with three national corporations.  Judge Tyson is a North Carolina State Bar Board of Legal Specialization Board Certified Specialist in Real Property Law, Business, Commercial, and Industrial Transactions, and is the only North Carolina judge so certified.

Judge Tyson is a member of the North Carolina and Virginia State Bars, a Certified Mediator and Arbitrator, a past member of the North Carolina Property Tax Commission, and past elected Chairman of both the Cumberland County Joint Planning Board and the Cumberland Soil and Water Conservation District.  Judge Tyson earned his B.A. at the University of North Carolina-Wilmington; his J.D., cum laude, at Campbell University School of Law, where he is currently serving as an Adjunct Professor of Law since 1987; his M.B.A. from Duke University; and his LL.M. in Judicial Process from the University of Virginia, School of Law. Judge Tyson is a frequent continuing legal education author and presenter.

My name is Judge John Marsh Tyson, candidate for Superior Court Judge in Cumberland County District 12-C.

My wife, Kirby, our children and I are natives of Cumberland County. Kirby and I have been married for thirty-five years and parents of four children and one grandchild.

Throughout childhood, I worked on my family's farm, attended Gray's Creek High School, and graduated from Terry Sanford Senior High School.  In 1974, I graduated from the University of North Carolina at Wilmington, with degrees in English & Secondary Education. From 1974 - 1976, I worked as a public schoolteacher and as a State Probation/Parole Officer, and later served as a special Deputy Sheriff under Cumberland Sheriffs Bedsole & Butler. After being accepted into the Charter Class of the Campbell Law School, I graduated with honors in 1979. I have taught for twenty-three years as Professor of Law at the Campbell Law School. In 1988, I earned a Masters in Business Administration (MBA) from Duke University and later earned a Masters of Law in Judicial Process (LL.M.) from the University of Virginia School of Law in 2004. I currently serve as an emergency Superior Court Judge.

The mission and goals of the North Carolina Court System requires Judges: "To protect and preserve the rights and liberties of all the people, as guaranteed by the Constitutions and laws of the United States and North Carolina, by providing a fair, independent and accessible forum for the just, timely and economical resolution of their legal affairs."

A free and independent judiciary is essential to fair trials and the proper administration of justice. I believe that judicial independence and efficiency demands a life-long commitment to continuing education, training, and experience.

To be elected to serve as a Judge in Cumberland County is a high honor and carries great responsibility. I respectfully ask and Thank You for your vote and support in the Primary and General Elections.