James Wynn Jr. is making history this month.

The N.C. Appeals Court judge began his tenure as chairman of the Judicial Division of the American Bar Association — making him the first ever African-American elected to the position, Titan Barksdale reports.

Association officials say the division, which has more than 4,000 members, is designed to help make the judicial system more understandable, accessible and affordable. As chairman, Wynn will have to help develop programs and initiatives for the division and manage a staff and a budget.

Wynn has nearly 20 years experience as an appellate judge in North Carolina,  joining the N.C. Supreme Court in 1998 to fill a vacancy. He returned to the N.C. Court of Appeals the next year, and remains on the bench as a senior associate judge.

Wynn’s tenure as chairman ends in August.

A House judiciary committee moved a bill that would prevent most public entities from shielding an employee's total compensation package, but not before excluding public hospitals from the proposal.

That's an interesting twist to legislation that came as a result of The Charlotte Observer's failed efforts at learning the total compensation paid to administrators at the Carolinas HealthCare System, Dan Kane reports.

Often, top officials receive substantial additional compensation through bonuses, take-home cars and other perks.

The newspaper unsuccessfully sued after the system would only provide salaries. The state Court of Appeals ruled that state law gives public hospitals special protections so they can better compete with private hospitals.

More after the jump.

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It's rare that a lawyer publicly criticizes any judge, let alone one with the N.C. Court of Appeals.

So it was noteworthy when Raleigh lawyer Marvin Schiller took umbrage in a recent court filing with what Court of Appeals Judge Barbara Jackson wrote about him in a March 20 ruling.

The three-judge panel, which included Jackson, ruled against Schiller's client. In the ruling, Jackson stated that Schiller failed to asked for a speedy review of an appeal — a slight that Schiller apparently couldn't let stand, Andrea Weigl reports.

And so Schiller decided to make it clear that he did ask for an expedited review. He wrote in his petition for rehearing that Jackson "falsely and wrongly accused the undersigned counsel of not doing what he in demonstrable fact did do."

Schiller then asked Jackson to recuse herself from considering his petition. He notes that he and Jackson ran against each other for the court in 2004. Jackson declined to comment or to recuse herself, citing judicial ethics rules.