Originally from Michigan, Carolyn Murchison moved to North Carolina after obtaining her undergraduate degree from the University of California, Berkeley. She received her law degree with honors from the University of North Carolina, where she was an editor of the North Carolina Journal of International Law and Commercial Regulation, a Daniel H. Pollitt Fellow and a member of the James E. and Carolyn B. Davis Society.  Prior to joining Tharrington Smith in 2000, Ms. Murchison was a policy analyst for the North Carolina Center for Public Policy Research, where she examined the history of the University of North Carolina system. She is a fully credentialed member of the National Association of Parliamentarians, earning the designation of Registered Parliamentarian in 2025. 

For more than two decades, Ms. Murchison has cultivated a practice focused on special education.  She has represented over 50 school districts on special education matters, is a popular and frequent speaker on all matters related to students and students with disabilities, and continues to oversee the expansion of Tharrington Smith’s distinguished special education practice.  In addition, she has continuously served as board attorney for multiple boards throughout her tenure, and has advised clients in the full range of legal issues that arise in the public school setting. 

Ms. Murchison is a long-standing member of the North Carolina Council of School Attorneys and previously served on its executive committee.  She is a member of the National Council of School Attorneys, the Education, Labor and Employment, and Constitutional Rights and Responsibilities sections of the North Carolina Bar Association, and is admitted to practice before all state and federal courts in North Carolina as well as the Fourth Circuit Court of Appeals.  Currently, she is the Board attorney for the Rowan-Salisbury Schools Board of Education and the parliamentarian for the North Carolina Schools Boards Association delegate assembly, a life-long fan of the University of California, Berkeley, and the proud parent of three amazing young adults, all products of the North Carolina public schools.