Janice Cole

Janice McKenzie Cole was the first black woman elected judge in the 1st Judicial District of North Carolina and former United States Attorney for the Eastern District of North Carolina. She was the first to serve as attorney for the northeast's Guardian Ad Litem program and during her tenure as U.S. Attorney; she helped introduce five communities to the Department of Justice's Weed and Seed crime-prevention program. Mrs. Cole has been honored as Woman of the Year by the East Carolina University Branch of the Association of University Women and Tarheel of the Week by The News and Observer.

She received her bachelor of science degree with highest honors from John Jay College of Criminal Justice, part of the City University of New York. She also has a masters degree in public administration from John Jay. She received her law degree from Fordham University in 1979.

Ms. Cole, a native New Yorker, is a former New York City police officer, and was in one of the first groups of female police officers assigned to patrol the streets in high crime areas. Upon her completion of law school, Ms. Cole served as an Assistant United States Attorney in the Eastern District of New York.

In 1983 she moved to Hertford, North Carolina, a rural community in North Carolina and started a private practice. Seven years later she was elected to serve as a state District Court Judge. She was the first black and first woman to serve as a judge in that district. She held that position until she was sworn in as the United States Attorney in February, 1994.

Mrs. Cole is married to J. Carlton Cole, a District Court Judge for North Carolina's First Judicial District. They reside in Hertford, North Carolina.