Litigation Section Honors Grady Barnhill

Article Date: Tuesday, October 13, 2009

Allison Van Laningham presents award to Grady Barnhill.

H. Grady Barnhill Jr. of Winston-Salem was honored Monday night as the third recipient of The Advocate’s Award. Presented by the Litigation Section of the North Carolina Bar Association, the award recognizes “superstars” of the section and the legal profession.

Charles Becton and Don Cowan, both of whom have served as president of the NCBA, are the other two recipients of this honor.

Allison Van Laningham, section chair, presented the award at the outset of a meeting of the Joseph Branch American Inn of Court at the Wake Forest University School of Law.

Grady Barnhill provides acceptance remarks.

The setting was most appropriate for honoring Barnhill, who was unaware that he was receiving the award. One of five founding directors of the Branch Inn of Court, he held true to form in taking a seat near the front, enabling his wife, Carolyn, and other members of the family to enter the rear of the law school courtroom to witness the presentation.

Flanked by fellow section members Gary Jackson, Doug Maynard, Dixie Wells, Cliff Britt, Judge Cheri Beasley of the N.C. Court of Appeals and Justice Paul Newby of the N.C. Supreme Court, Van Laningham described Barnhill as a prime example of why honors such as The Advocate’s Award are created.

“He is widely known and readily recognized as a trial lawyer, advisor, mentor and friend,” Van Laningham said. “Nominated by his law partners, his nomination was supported by many letters from distinguished jurists, colleagues and friends.”

One such letter was provided by Keith Vaughan, managing member of Womble Carlyle Sandridge and Rice, where Barnhill has practiced since 1958.

“More important than his service to our firm has been his service to our profession,” Vaughan writes. “His considerable advocacy skills have always been available to defend any judge wrongly criticized and to demand respect for judiciary and adverse counsel alike.”

Letters of support were also provided by Cowan, retired Superior Court Judge William Freeman, former WFU Law School Dean Bob Walsh, and three former Chief Justices of the N.C. Supreme Court: Rhoda Billings, Burley Mitchell and I. Beverly Lake Jr.

“Among his fellow members of the bar,” Billings writes, “Grady is one of the best known and most respected lawyers in the state. If he is in attendance at a gathering of lawyers, he almost always is singled out for recognition by the presiding individual, usually by some quip or put-down directed at Grady.

“He is so fondly regarded, and so consistently engages in friendly banter with all who know him well, that the good-humored jab at Grady is standard fare. But when he is advocating on behalf of a client or for a cause in which he believes, he does so with an unmistakable seriousness of purpose.”

A Georgia native, Barnhill grew up in the eastern North Carolina community of Whitakers. He attended Atlantic Christian College (now Barton College) for two years before transferring to Wake Forest College. After serving in the U.S. Air Force from 1951-55, Barnhill returned to Wake Forest and completed law school in 1958.

Upon passing the bar exam in September 1958, he joined Womble Carlyle, where he had clerked in the summer of 1957. He became a partner in 1962. A charter member of the N.C. Association of Defense Attorneys, he was inducted into the American College of Trial Lawyers in 1977.

Asked once who had influenced his career, Barnhill responded, “Irving Carlyle, Pendleton ‘Pen’ Sandridge Sr., Bill and Calder Womble. All four were partners when I joined the firm. I got the job by doing a research project for Leon Rice while I was in law school.”

Throughout his career, Barnhill has remained true to that law school, from which he graduated first in his class. He is a life member of the board of visitors for the Wake Forest University School of Law and served as president and executive committee member of the law alumni association.

“This was a true surprise,” Barnhill stated in accepting the award. “In a long career, you will have many memorable moments, but some of those tend to fade as time goes by.

“This moment will not fade.”

Flanked by members of the Litigation Section, Grady Barnhill accepts award. From left, Dixie Wells, Cliff Britt, Barnhill, Allison Van Laningham, Judge Cheri Beasley, Justice Paul Newby, Gary Jackson and Doug Maynard.