Ernie is a Nash County native who has practiced law in Rocky Mount and Nashville for more than thirty years. He graduated from the University of North Carolina in 1974 and from the Wake Forest School of Law in 1980. He was Managing Editor of the Wake Forest Law Review in 1980 and served as a law clerk to the Chief Justice of the North Carolina Supreme Court in 1982.
Ernie concentrates his practice in the field of civil litigation including personal injury lawsuits, contract and land disputes, will contests, and business cases. He is licensed in the state courts and all federal courts having jurisdiction over North Carolina citizens including the United States Supreme Court.
Ernie has served as Chairman of the Nash-Rocky Mount Board of Education, as trustee of the Braswell Memorial Library and of the North Carolina School of Science and Mathematics, and as deacon of the First Presbyterian Church of Rocky Mount.
He and his wife Becky live in Rocky Mount and are the parents of an adult son, Andrew.