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2006 News Articles › Clark Smith Installed As NCBA President
Clark Smith Installed As NCBA President
Article Date: Wednesday, May 16, 2012
Clark Smith, right, accepts gavel from Mike Colombo. |
D. Clark Smith Jr. of Lexington was installed Saturday night as the 112th president of the North Carolina Bar Association, highlighting the 2006 NCBA Annual Meeting in Atlantic Beach.
While his wife Pat held the Bible, Smith was sworn in by Senior Resident Superior Court Judge Mark Klass of the 22nd District (Alexander, Davidson, Davie and Iredell counties). He then accepted the ceremonial presidential gavel from outgoing NCBA President Mike Colombo of Greenville.
Elected to the position of president-elect during the 2005 NCBA Annual Meeting in Asheville, Smith has served in that capacity and as chair of the Finance Committee in 2005-06.
“I am proud to be a lawyer,” Smith stated in his inaugural address. “I am proud to be a member of the bar in North Carolina and to be a part of the tradition of integrity and leadership and competency and civility that has prevailed in North Carolina. I am proud that the North Carolina Bar Association serves as the umbrella organization under which lawyers of diverse ranks can come together and provide the voice of reason by building consensus on what is good for both the public and the profession.
“The law is a noble profession. The profession is changing and we must acknowledge and embrace that change in order to preserve our profession and the rule of law in an ever changing society. With your help, this Association can maintain the traditions of this profession and can establish innovations in accordance with those traditions so that the nobleness of this profession and the rule of law will still be in existence and will still be strong for generations to come.”
Smith cited the newly adopted NCBA strategic plan, “Momentum 2010,” throughout his address, and will initiate its implementation during his term as president. The strategic plan will provide the centerpiece for a two-day Board of Governors retreat on Sept. 7-8.
Playing on his affinity for lighthouses, Smith has established “North Carolina Bar Association – Beacon to the Profession,” as his theme for 2006-07.
“Their appeal comes from the symbolism they reflect,” Smith said to a standing-room only audience Saturday night. “For centuries lighthouses have been a symbol of security. Those at sea saw a beacon of light and felt assurance that they were not alone.
“Lighthouses provided warning from shifting inlets, shoals, reefs, and other dangers. They provided guidance for safe passage into harbors. They provided notice for one adrift at sea that the security of land was near. The lighthouse was often a symbol of safe return. Lighthouses assisted navigators in verifying their positions and safe courses and warned of dangers and obstructions to certain routes.
“A lighthouse is a beacon to all within its scope of influence, day and night, on land and on sea, in weather good and bad.”
The Annual Meeting’s coastal setting and its proximity to the Cape Lookout Lighthouse provided additional inspiration to the lighthouse theme.
“As a beacon to the profession,” Smith said, “this Association can stand tall, by being visible to the profession and the public, by helping to safely navigate the shifting sands of change, by providing the guiding light toward professionalism and competency, by providing comfort and safe passage in perilous times, and by standing as a symbol of respect and reliability amidst the rough waters of transition and change.”
Smith is member-manager of Brinkley Walser, PLLC, where law partners include his uncle, Walter F. Brinkley, the only other Lexington attorney ever elected to lead the NCBA. He joined the firm in 1978 following three years with the Lexington firm of DeLapp, Hedrick, Harp & Smith.
A 1975 graduate of the Wake Forest University School of Law, Smith also earned a bachelor’s degree in business administration from Wake Forest in 1972. A Lexington native and 1968 Lexington High School graduate, he is the son of Dr. David and Margaret Smith of Thomasville.
Smith is a past president of the N.C. Association of Defense Attorneys and founding vice chair of the NCBA Health Benefit Trust Board of Trustees. He served on the NCBA Board of Governors from 1994-97 and on the Executive Committee in 1996-97, and previously chaired the Development, Endowment and Medico-Legal Liaison committees.
Clark and Pat Smith have five children: sons David, Alden, Robert and Jason, and a daughter, Jodi Burkholder.