Isaac Beverly Lake Jr. (January 30, 1934 – September 12, 2019) was an American jurist and politician, who served as chief justice of the North Carolina Supreme Court.

[citation needed] A conservative, in his last session in the legislature he convinced the body to remove segregation academies from state oversight.

[4] In October 1979 Lake announced his intention to seek the Republican nomination in the upcoming 1980 North Carolina gubernatorial election.

[6] Lake ran for the North Carolina Supreme Court in 1990 but lost to incumbent John Webb, who he had attacked as being "soft on crime".

Lake authored the majority opinion, writing that "Enforcement of the [whole counties provision] will, in all likelihood, foster improved voter morale, voter turnout, and public respect for state government, and specifically, the General Assembly, as an institution.

"[9] While serving as chief justice, a series of high-profile wrongful convictions in North Carolina came to his attention.

In 2002, he convened a commission including defense attorneys, prosecutors, law enforcement officers to review how innocent people were convicted and how to exonerate them.