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Citizen Lawyer Profile: Alan Hicks
Article Date: Tuesday, June 01, 2010
ALAN S. HICKS
Residence: Roxboro
Education: University of North Carolina at Chapel Hill (B.A.), University of North Carolina School of Law (J.D.)
Firm: Alan S. Hicks, P.A.
Practice areas: Real estate, estate planning and business
On being a Citizen Lawyer: “While I suppose that as a young lawyer, I viewed community involvement as a tool for building a practice, I soon realized that with the respect that accompanied my professional status came responsibility to be engaged in civic affairs in a positive way. By acting upon that realization, I have received the priceless reward of knowing that I have helped improve the place where I live.”
STORY
Driving north from Durham along U.S. 15-501, at about 12 miles outside the city limits, you’ll notice the landscape smoothly transition to one of rolling hills, farmlands and forest. Welcome to Person County.
“It’s quite a pretty drive,” said Alan S. Hicks, who first soaked in that scenery 37 years ago as a recent UNC law school grad, going to work at his first job at a small Roxboro law firm.
Hicks said he instantly fell in love not only with that landscape but the people of Person County. As one of its few local lawyers, he soon felt a duty to contribute his professional skills to helping the community grow and prosper in any way he could.
“It has always seemed to me that the skill set that one acquires as a lawyer provides one with a privileged status in the community,” said Hicks, a 2010 recipient of the N.C. Bar Association’s Citizen Lawyer award, “and that creates a sense of responsibility to use that position wisely and well to help to improve your community.”
Hicks is perhaps best known for his service on the Person County Economic Development Commission, which has helped to attract jobs in the automotive, timber and solar energy industries to replace jobs that have been lost in the waning textile and tobacco industries. He also has served as a board member and past president of the Roxboro Development Group, which has worked to ensure that Roxboro’s uptown area remains a thriving economic and social center of the city.
However, he said his most rewarding and challenging service has been his work as a member of the Person County Board of Education. Hicks chaired the board’s “Project ACCESS” campaign to raise $800,000 to equip the county’s elementary schools with computer labs.
He also helped to implement a community service requirement for graduating high school seniors and to establish graduation standards in science and math that were higher than what the state’s curriculum required.
“I’ve always seen the educational component of community life as joining in lockstep with development efforts,” said Hicks, who also serves on the Board of Trustees of the N.C. School of Science & Mathematics. “Education affects quality of life.”
He also has served in a variety of other leadership positions in the Jaycees, Kiwanis Club and YMCA — groups that have added to the community everything from a hospital waiting room to a ranger cabin at the Mayo Lake recreational area.
“It requires some work ethic,” said Hicks, who balances his civic work with a civil law practice that focuses on real estate, estate planning and business law. “You have to be committed to more than a 40-hour work week. But there is something to the concept of civic obligation. I think those of us who are fortunate enough to be in positions in our community where we are looked to for leadership, we need to respond in kind.”
About the Citizen Lawyer Award
The NCBA Citizen Lawyer Award was established in 2007 to recognize lawyers who provide exemplary public service to their communities. Honorees include elected and appointed government officials, coaches, mentors and voluntary leaders of non-profit, civic and community organizations. Since 2007, there have 64 recipients of the award.
About the N.C. Bar Association
The North Carolina Bar Association, founded in 1899, is a voluntary organization of lawyers, paralegals and law students dedicated to serving the public and the legal profession. The N.C. Bar Center in Cary serves as headquarters for the NCBA and the NCBA Foundation, Inc. Though similar, the NCBA (www.ncbar.org) and the mandatory North Carolina State Bar (www.ncbar.gov) are not affiliated.
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