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Home › About › Communications › NCBA News › 2010 News Articles › Criminal Justice Section Honors Bill Kenerly, Jim Cooney

Prosecutor William Kenerly of Salisbury and defense lawyer James Cooney of Charlotte were honored Thursday night by the Criminal Justice Section of the North Carolina Bar Association. The event was held in Greensboro at the Grandover Resort and Conference Center in conjunction with the section’s annual meeting.

The section presents awards annually to a prosecutor and a defense attorney that are named for the initial recipients, District Attorney Peter Gilchrist of Mecklenburg County and attorney Wade Smith of Raleigh.

Hurley, left and Kenerly

 Kenerly, the recipient of the Peter S. Gilchrist III Award, serves as district attorney for Prosecutorial District 19C (Rowan County). Cooney, the recipient of the Wade M. Smith Award, practices with Womble Carlyle Sandridge & Rice.

The event marked the third year that the awards have been presented. Following the initial presentation ceremony, prosecutor Edward W. Grannis Jr. of Fayetteville and defense attorney Locke T. Clifford of Greensboro were honored last year.

Lisa Costner, immediate past chair of the Criminal Justice Section, read the Gilchrist Award citation in recognition of Bill Kenerly, who was introduced by capital defender Robert Hurley of Durham.
A native of Salisbury who attended public schools there, Kenerly is a 1967 graduate of Duke University. Upon graduation, he served in the U.S. Marine Corps until 1970, earning numerous honors and a Purple Heart in Vietnam.

Kenerly graduated from the University of North Carolina School of Law in 1973. Following service as a research assistant to Justice Susie Sharp of the N.C. Supreme Court, he returned to Salisbury in 1974 and served as an assistant district attorney for Rowan, Cabarrus, Randolph and Montgomery counties until 1978.

Kenerly engaged in private practice from 1978-90 and served on the Salisbury City School Board during this time, from 1979-87 as a board member and from 1982-87 as vice chair. He was elected district attorney in 1990 and has served in that capacity ever since.

He is past president of the Rowan County Bar Association and the Judicial District 19-A Bar.
“Bill Kenerly has set a standard for professionalism among both fellow district attorneys and prosecutors alike,” stated nominators Peg Dorer, director, and Kimberly Overton, chief resource prosecutor, of the N.C. Conference of District Attorneys. “Not only does he lead by example, but he continues to train and promote high ethical standards among all prosecutors.”

Kenerly served as president of the Conference of District Attorneys for 2000-01.

" It has been a pleasure," said Kenerly who is retiring next month. "I am happy as a small-town lawyer to accept this award."

"The work is the same -- the only difference is it takes me five minutes to get to work." 

 

Costner also read the Smith Award in recognition of Jim Cooney, who was introduced by Joseph Cheshire V.

Cheshire, left, and Cooney

Cooney is forever linked with Smith and Cheshire as members of the team which defended the falsely accused Duke lacrosse players, with Cooney defending Reade Seligmann. He also defended convicted death row inmate Alan Gell, first by earning a reversal of Gell’s wrongful conviction and subsequently by obtaining a non guilty verdict.

Cooney was awarded the NCBA’s 2004 William L. Thorp Pro Bono Award as the pro bono attorney of the year for his defense of Gell.

"I believe Jim Cooney is the most talented trial lawyer in all disciplines that I have ever seen," Cheshire said. "He is certainly the finest trial lawyer in all disciplines in North Carolina." 

 

A 1979 graduate of Duke University, Cooney received his law degree from the University of Virginia School of Law in 1982. He served one year as a law clerk to Judge John Butzner Jr. of the 4th U.S. Circuit Court of Appeals before entering private practice in Charlotte with Kennedy Covington Lobdell & Hickman, where he worked from 1983-2000.

Cooney has since practiced with Womble Carlyle. He is a past president of the N.C. Association of Defense Attorneys and past chair of the Civil Litigation and Court committees of the Mecklenburg County Bar, and previously chaired the NCBA’s AIDS Task Force.