Legal Affairs Team

As the Senior Vice President for Legal Affairs and General Counsel in the Office of Legal Affairs, Mr. Tripp provides strategic counsel to the University of North Carolina, the Board of Governors, and President Peter Hans. He leads a team of talented professionals serving the diverse legal needs of a nationally acclaimed university system. In addition, he directly supports the operations of the Board of Governors and staffs the Committee on University Governance.

Mr. Tripp brings to the University a decade of experience in public service from his tenure at the North Carolina Senate, where he served as counsel to the Senate Rules Chairman and later as general counsel and then Chief of Staff to the President Pro Tempore. His practice areas include public law, litigation, administrative procedure, and regulatory compliance. Before entering the public sphere, Mr. Tripp worked in private practice in both Raleigh and Atlanta, Georgia. Mr. Tripp began his legal career serving under and learning from the Honorable United States District Judge Terrence W. Boyle as his law clerk at Elizabeth City.

Mr. Tripp graduated with honors from the Duke University School of Law and obtained his B.A. in history and political science from the University of North Carolina at Chapel Hill. He and his wife are raising their two boys and a girl in Raleigh.

Practice Areas: Litigation, Finance & Administration, Academic Affairs, Strategy & Policy, Employment & HR, Free Expression & First Amendment

Ms. Brill provides executive administrative support for the Senior Vice President for Legal Affairs & General Counsel and several associate and assistant general counsels for Legal Affairs.
  
Ms. Brill originally came to the UNC System Office in June 2003 as the assistant to the assistant to the Senior Vice President for Academic Affairs. In 2005, she moved to Human Resources, and in 2008, she was promoted to the Division of Legal Affairs. Prior to joining the UNC System Office, Ms. Brill worked for almost ten years at Bromma, Inc., a manufacturing company in Roxboro, North Carolina. Her other experience includes working at Yanni-Bilkey Investment Consulting, an investment firm, for two years, and Mine Safety Appliances Company, a safety equipment manufacturing company, for eleven years.  
 
Ms. Brill received her Associate Degree in Secretarial Science in 1981. In 2010, she also attended the University of North Carolina at Chapel Hill’s Accelerated Paralegal Program at the Friday Center to earn her Paralegal Certificate and designation as a North Carolina Certified Paralegal (NCCP). She also serves as a Notary Public.

Mr. Trahan is a general practitioner, providing strategic legal advice and counsel to the UNC Board of Governors, the officers and departments of the UNC System Office, the UNC constituent institutions, and UNC affiliated entities.

Mr. Trahan provides primary support to the Divisions of Finance and Administration, Operations, and Academic & Student Affairs. This includes handling transactional and policy matters within these divisions. He also represents and supports the University’s associated entities, including Project Kitty Hawk, the UNC Foundation, UNC Press, and
PBS NC. 

While maintaining his System Office role, Mr. Trahan was appointed to serve as the interim General Counsel for Appalachian State University for the 2024-2025 academic year. During this time, he assisted App State in hiring its permanent Chancellor and helping her establish the Senior Leadership Team. In addition to leadership transition support,
Mr. Trahan provided day-to-day strategic, decisive, and actionable legal and risk management advice to the Chancellor, the Board of Trustees, and campus administrators to advance the University’s priorities. 

Mr. Trahan brings over a decade of experience representing institutions of higher education, including working in-house at UNC Charlotte and NC State. He supported many of these universities’ units, including but not limited to their business and finance divisions, advancement offices, offices for research and technology transfer, safety and security divisions, and athletics.

Mr. Trahan received his J.D. from Campbell University and B.A. in Public & Interpersonal Communication from NC State.

Practice Areas: Finance and Administration, Strategy and Policy, Academic and Student Affairs, Information Technology, Internal Audit, Regulatory Compliance, and Associated Entities. 

Ms. Bishop provides legal counsel to the constituent institutions on U.S. immigration law matters and operates a shared services pilot program through which she provides direct representation of participating constituent institutions regarding employment-based immigration nonimmigrant and immigrant sponsorship. 

Ms. Bishop joined UNC System Office in 2010 after working for six years in private practice at a boutique immigration law firm.  Prior to private practice, Ms. Bishop served as a law clerk for the Honorable Linda McGee on the North Carolina Court of Appeals.

Ms. Bishop received her J.D. from the University of North Carolina at Chapel Hill and her B.A. from the University of Virginia.

Practice Areas: Immigration

Ms. Inscoe serves as an Associate General Counsel for the UNC System Office. Ms. Inscoe advises and collaborates with the University of North Carolina’s 17 constituent institutions on various legal, risk, and governance matters. Her practice areas focus primarily on government relations and legislative affairs, regulatory compliance, employment and HR law, and litigation.

Prior to coming to the UNC System Office, Ms. Inscoe served as a clerk for the Honorable Robert N. Hunter Jr. at the North Carolina Court of Appeals. In 2019, Ms. Inscoe came to the UNC System, where she served as the higher education legal fellow in the Division of Legal Affairs. Ms. Inscoe then served as a University Attorney for East Carolina University prior to her return to the Division of Legal Affairs.

Ms. Inscoe received a B.A. in Spanish and a B.A. in Political Science from the University of Georgia. Ms. Inscoe also received her J.D. in Athens, at the University of Georgia School of Law.

Practice Areas: Litigation, Strategy and Policy, Employment and Human Resources, Government Relations

Ms. Gutzmer serves as a Legal Support Specialist for the UNC System Office.

Ms. Woodberry serves as a Legal Support Associate for the UNC System Office.