The 117th North Carolina Bar Association Annual Meeting was held in Wilmington, June 18-21, 2015.
Richard Wiggins '58 Inducted into N.C. General Practice Hall of Fame
Richard Wiggins ’58 of Fayetteville was inducted into the General Practice Hall of Fame at the NCBA 117th Annual Meeting in June. The Hall of Fame Award signifies recognition of a lifetime of exemplary service and high ethical and professional standards as a general practitioner of the law and for serving as a role model for all lawyers in North Carolina. Wiggins has served the Sanford, Phillips, and Weaver law firm since his time clerking there as a student at UNC School of Law and has worked at the firm, now McCoy Wiggins Cleveland & O'Connor PLLC, for more than 50 years. Mentored by former Carolina Law dean J. Dickson Phillips Jr. ’48 and a former colleague of 1960 North Carolina Governor Terry Sanford ’48, Wiggins’ work in defense for insurance companies inspired John Grisham’s “The Rainmaker.” However, he would tell you that his proudest accomplishments have come from serving on the capital appointment list – none of his clients have ever received the death penalty.
Four UNC Alumni Named as 2015 Citizen Lawyer Award Honorees
The North Carolina Bar Association, in conjunction with the Citizen Lawyer Committee, honored four Carolina Law graduates among 13 recipients of the 2015 Citizen Lawyer Award. The award was established in 2007 to recognize lawyers who provide exemplary public service to their communities. The Carolina Law alumni recipients this year are:
- Frank Laney ’82 of the Fourth Circuit U.S. Court of Appeals from Cary. Frank Laney has served as circuit mediator for the U.S. Court of Appeals for the Fourth Circuit for more than 15 years, where he has mediated more than 3,000 cases. A member of the NC Bar Association Dispute Resolution Committee/Section since its inception, Laney co-chaired the committees that developed the Family Financial Settlement and Clerk Mediation Programs. Now an adjunct professor at Campbell School of Law, Laney is certified as a Superior Court, Family Financial and Clerk Program mediator by the NC Dispute Resolution Commission and as a practitioner member of the Academy of Family Mediators. He has been involved in a wide range of community service activities, including more than 30 years as a Boy Scouts of America scoutmaster.
- Sharon Lee Parker ’87 of Sharon L. Parker, P.A in Marion. Sharon Lee Parker started her own law firm after 24 years at Dameron and Burgin, but before she practiced law, she was a consumer protection specialist with the Consumer Protection Division of the North Carolina Attorney General's Office. She has taken that skill for consumer needs and incorporated it into her law, specializing in corporate law and estate planning. A pillar to the Marion community, Parker was recognized for outstanding service to the McDowell County Health Coalition in 2014 and leading efforts by the board recruitment and development committee of the McDowell County Non-Profit and Service Organization Group.
- Donald D. Sayers ’68 of the Woodson Law Firm in Salisbury. Donald Sayers practices law at Woodson, Sayers, Lawther, Short, Parrot and Abramson, LLP in Salisbury, where he focuses on banking law, education law and real estate. His extensive record of civic involvement includes service as president of the Salisbury Rotary Club and the Salisbury Kiwanis Club. Sayers has also served on the Margaret C. Woodson Foundation Board of Directors, as president and board member of the Rowan County YMCA and as president of the Historic Salisbury Foundation. After graduating from UNC, Sayers clerked for U.S. District Court Judge Algernon Butler of the Eastern District of North Carolina, and then joined the Woodson firm in 1969. He is currently on the board of directors for the UNC School of Law Alumni Association.
- John Willardson ’72 of John S. Willardson in Wilkesboro. In more than 35 years of practicing law, John Willardson has been an attorney in more than 175 cases ranging from personal injury to corporate practice. He has served the town of Wilkesboro, where he and his family have lived for 40 years, for most of his career. Repeatedly named as one of North Carolina’s “Super Lawyers” by Charlotte Magazine, Willardson has served on multiple notable councils and commissions including the Chief Justice's Commission on Professionalism and NC Bar Association's Dispute Resolution Council. He was also the former president of past president of North Carolina Association of Defense Attorneys, the UNC School of Law Alumni Association and the Wilkes County Bar Association. Willardson chairs the Wilkes Family YMCA Board of Directors.
Wade M. Smith ’63 Receives Judge John J. Parker Award
One of the state’s highest legal honors, the Judge John J. Parker Award, was presented to Wade M. Smith ’63 of Tharrington Smith in Raleigh. The award was established in 1959 by the NCBA Board of Governors to honor the memory and the accomplishments of Judge Parker and to encourage the emulation of his deep devotion and enduring contribution to the law and to the administration of justice. Smith certainly fits in this category – recognized in 2004 as North Carolina’s number one criminal lawyer by Business North Carolina magazine and the recipient of the H. Brent McKnight Renaissance Lawyer Award in 2004, Smith is one of the foremost criminal lawyers in North Carolina. Smith was appointed by the North Carolina Chief Justice in 2006 as one of the eight original commissioners on the North Carolina Innocence Inquiry Commission and served until 2014. To commemorate the body of work Smith has completed, the NCBA established the annual Wade M. Smith award in 2008 for a “Criminal Defense Attorney Who Exemplifies the Highest Ideals of the Profession.”
Bryant Webster ’94 Receives William Thorp Pro Bono Service Award
Bryant Webster, a partner at Stone & Christy PA in Black Mountain, received the William Thorp Pro Bono Service Award, an award that commends his commitment to public service in North Carolina. Webster has assisted multiple pro bono clients through the attorney hotline with Pisgah Legal Services’ Mountain Area Volunteer Lawyer Program, where he has served monthly since 1997. Over the past 17 years, he has provided more than 1,300 hours of pro bono service in 605 cases, with 228 hours in 2014 alone. He is also on multiple boards of charitable organizations including his position on the Executive Board of the Daniel Boone Council of the Boy Scouts of America and is in line to become Grand Master of Masons in North Carolina. Webster is admitted to practice before all three of the Western, Middle and Eastern District Courts.
Kearns Davis '95 Will Serve as NCBA President-Elect
Kearns Davis '95, a partner with Brooks, Pierce, McLendon, Humphrey & Leonard LLP in Greensboro, was announced as president-elect of the North Carolina Bar Association at the annual NCBA meeting. Davis will serve as the organization’s 122nd president in 2016-17 following a year as president-elect. Davis previously served as chair of the NCBA’s Young Lawyers Division from 2004-05, as chair of its Criminal Justice Section from 2007-08, and as a member of the NCBA Board of Governors from 2011-14. He was the first recipient of the Young Lawyers Division’s Robinson O. Everett Professionalism Award. Davis joined Brooks Pierce in 1996. He left in 2003 to serve as an assistant U.S. attorney for the Middle District of North Carolina, then returned in 2007 launch the firm's white-collar criminal defense group.
-June 30, 2015