University of Miami School of Law, J.D. 2014 magna cum laude
Order of the Coif
University of North Carolina at Chapel Hill, B.A. 2008
University of Mississippi, Masters in Curriculum and Instruction 2010
University of Miami School of Law, J.D. 2014 magna cum laude
Order of the Coif
University of North Carolina at Chapel Hill, B.A. 2008
University of Mississippi, Masters in Curriculum and Instruction 2010
New York State:
Southern District of New York
Eastern District of New York
Court of Appeals for the Second Circuit
North Carolina:
Western District of North Carolina
Middle District of North Carolina
Eastern District of North Carolina
Civil Rights including:
Wrongful conviction, excessive force, and systemic challenges to unconstitutional state, city and police conduct
Personal injury
Business Litigation
Eminent Domain
Abe also represents clients in protest, voting, and freedom of information litigation
Best Lawyers: Rising Star Awards
Abe joined Tin Fulton Walker & Owen in 2020, after moving from New York back to his home state of North Carolina. In New York, Abe co-founded a civil rights firm, Lord & Schewel PLLC, clerked for the Honorable Jack B. Weinstein in the EDNY, and served as a public defender at the Legal Aid Society in Manhattan.
Abe specializes in complex litigation in state and federal court, including commercial and employment disputes, personal injury, mass torts, and civil rights litigation.
Abe’s civil rights practice includes cases involving wrongful conviction, excessive force, and systemic challenges to unconstitutional state, city and police conduct. Abe also represents clients in protest, voting, and freedom of information litigation. Some of Abe’s current and past civil rights cases include Douglas v. City of New York, a suit on behalf of two young black men wrongfully held for a combined 5.5 years on Rikers Island before they were exonerated by GPS data; Washington v. City of Raleigh/ Irving v. City of Raleigh, in which Abe represented 28 individuals wrongfully arrested or victimized by illegal SWAT-style raids because of a fake heroin scheme involving a Raleigh detective; and, Natoo v. City of New York, in which Abe’s client was awarded a $650,000 jury verdict after being falsely arrested and held in jail for one night. Abe is co-counsel in NAACP v. City of Charlotte, a mass tort suit brought after police trapped and tear gassed 350 people protesting the murder of George Floyd, and in Chaplin v. Rowe, a class action brought on behalf of individuals harmed by the rollout of the eCourts system.
Abe has also represented clients in state and federal criminal matters. In 2018-2019, he represented three clients in federal criminal jury trials including a client found not guilty of racketeering murder and a client charged with providing material support to ISIS.
Abe graduated magna cum laude from the University of Miami School of Law. Prior to law school, Abe was a teacher in Jackson, Mississippi, and received a Masters in Education from the University of Mississippi. Abe received his undergraduate degree from the University of North Carolina at Chapel-Hill.
Abe lives in Durham with his wife Lauren Lee Pettiette Schewel and their dog Lucy.
© Tin Fulton Walker & Owen. All Rights Reserved. Web Design & Internet Marketing by Studio III