Judge Flood received B.S. and M.S. degrees in Animal Science from the University of Florida; an M.P.A. from the University of Maine; a J.D. from the University New Hampshire Franklin Pierce School of Law; and a Ph.D. from the University of Tennessee, specializing in higher education law and policy. Her scholarship includes a book on risk management in higher education faculty hiring, a doctoral dissertation on faculty tenure and the courts, and academic publications on issues such as higher education accreditation, state action, free speech protection, and consumer protection.
During and following law school, Judge Flood served nine appellate jurists in state and federal courts in Maine, New Hampshire, Tennessee, and North Carolina. At the North Carolina Court of Appeals, she served as a judicial law clerk for Judge Robert N. Hunter, Jr., Judge Chris Brook, Chief Judge Linda McGee, and Judge Jeffery Carpenter. Working in appellate courts, she researched and drafted hundreds of judicial opinions spanning a wide variety of criminal and civil issues.
Judge Flood taught as an adjunct at the University of Tennessee College of Law and College of Education, an adjunct at Duke University’s Paralegal Program, and full time at Elon University’s College of Law. As a judge, she continues to welcome law student interns and enjoys fostering skills in legal research, analysis, and writing.
