Government/Public Sector Attorneys Honor Grainger Barrett

Article Date: Friday, February 05, 2010

Written By: Russell Rawlings

Sharon Barrett accepts award on behalf of Grainger Barrett.

The Government and Public Sector Section of the North Carolina Bar Association honored the late Grainger R. Barrett on Friday as the 2010 recipient of its Outstanding Government and Public Sector Attorney Award.

But the award will no longer be known as such, having now been renamed by the section as the Grainger Barrett Award for Excellence in honor of the longtime county attorney for Cumberland County who died last year.

The award was presented in conjunction with the section’s annual meeting at the N.C. Bar Center in Cary by Mark Payne, immediate past chair of the section. Sharon Barrett accepted the award on behalf of her husband.

Reared in a military family, Barrett graduated from Torrejon Air Force Base High School in Madrid, Spain, in 1966, and later served in the U.S. Air Force from 1970-72, attaining the rank of lieutenant. He returned stateside to begin his undergraduate studies at Elon University, which he attended for one year, and graduated from the University of North Carolina at Chapel Hill in 1970.

Following service in the Air Force, Barrett graduated from the UNC School of Law in 1974.

Barrett began his legal career in New York City where he served as an associate with Nickerson, Kramer, Lowenstein, Nessen, Kamin & Soll. He later served as corporate staff attorney with the Liggett Group, Inc.

He returned to Chapel Hill in 1978 as an assistant professor of public law and government at UNC’s Institute of Government. He served as deputy town attorney and town attorney for Chapel Hill from 1981-85 before spending 10 years in private practice.

Barrett served three years as county attorney for Person County from 1995-98 before moving to Fayetteville, where he served one year as assistant county attorney before assuming duties as county attorney for Cumberland County.

“Grainger modeled an excellent lawyer in his daily practice and was willing to take time and explain the nuances of local government legal practice to me,” said Assistant Cumberland County Attorney Phyllis P. Jones wrote in support of Barrett’s nomination.

“It seems he was aware at all times of the competing interests involved in the legal matters before him. He valued diversity and recognized how diverse participation enhances local government decision-making.”

Four previous recipients of the award -- Ann Reed Dunn, JoAnn Sanford, Dan McLawhorn and Jeff Gray – signed on as co-nominators for Barrett, who was nominated by Fayetteville attorney Harvey W. Raynor III.

The purpose of this award is to honor an outstanding government or public sector attorney as an exemplar of the excellence, dedication and passion for justice of North Carolina’s government and public sector attorneys.

The recipient of this annual award shall be selected from among nominated active, practicing government or public sector attorneys, and must meet the following criteria:

1. The attorney must have at least five years of recent, continuous practice in public sector law.
2. The attorney must have an exemplary record and reputation in the legal community, and must follow the highest ethical standards.
3. The attorney must have an exemplary record of community service.
4. The attorney must be an exemplar of the quiet excellence of North Carolina’s government and public sector attorneys.