Hanna Honored As Recipient Of Lake Award

Article Date: Friday, June 25, 2010

George Hanna, center, accepts Lake Award from John Wester and Janet Ward Black.

George V. Hanna III of Charlotte was honored by the North Carolina Bar Association on Friday, June 25, as the 2010 recipient of the Dr. I. Beverly Lake Public Service Award. Presentation of the award took place during the first General Session of the NCBA Annual Meeting in Wilmington.

NCBA Past-President Janet Ward Black presented the award.

Hanna is a past president of the Mecklenburg County Bar and the Mecklenburg Bar Foundation and past chair of Legal Services of Southern Piedmont. He has been involved in a multitude of civic and community endeavors throughout his career and has devoted more than 30 years of service and volunteer leadership to the YMCA of Greater Charlotte.

He has also provided board service to the Council for Children’s Rights (formerly the Children’s Law Center) and the UNC Law Alumni Association.
Hanna served on the NCBA Board of Governors from 1998-2001 and previously chaired the Pro Bono Planning Committee. He also represented the NCBA on the N.C. Chief Justice’s Commission on Equal Access to Justice.

A longstanding proponent for diversity and inclusion, Hanna was honored in 2007 as the recipient of the YMCA of Greater Charlotte’s Diversity Award. It was an honor that transcends his involvement with the YMCA and stretches into ever facet of his professional life.

Hanna founded the Diversity Committee at Moore & Van Allen, where he has practiced since 1969, and co-founded the Mecklenburg County Bar’s Diversity Committee.

“I have always thought that lawyers had a special obligation to give back that is ably captured in the Preamble of the Rules of Professional Conduct, and continued in newly adopted Rule 6.1,” Hanna said. “Section 8 of the Preamble to the Rules talks about ‘the legal profession (a)s a group of people united in a learned calling for the public good’ and refers to the ‘basic responsibility of each lawyer to provide community service, community leadership, and public interest legal services ...’

“Knowing that the Lake Award recognizes exemplary public service and knowing all of the great things that so many lawyers do for our state and for its various communities, it is very humbling to be selected by the  NCBA's Past Presidents’ Council for this award.”

A 1965 graduate of the University of North Carolina and 1968 graduate of the UNC School of Law, Hanna clerked for Chief Justice Joseph Branch of the N.C. Supreme Court for one year following law school.

“I got to know Dr Lake slightly when I clerked for Justice Branch,” Hanna said. “Since both Justice Branch and Justice Lake had very strong Wake Forest ties, and maybe because I was a UNC-CH Tar Heel for both undergrad and law school, I remember hearing a lot about Justice Lake from Justice Branch.

“It’s a real honor to receive an award named after Dr Lake.”

Former Chief Justice I. Beverly Lake Jr. right, extends his congratulations to George Hanna.

Creation of the Lake Service Award, which annually recognizes an outstanding lawyer in North Carolina who has performed exemplary public service in his or her community, accompanied the establishment of the I. Beverly Lake Sr. Justice Fund in 2004.

Previous recipients of the Lake Award are Murray Greason of Winston-Salem (2005), Jim Morgan of High Point (2006), Jim Maxwell of Durham (2007), Parks Helms of Charlotte (2008) and Ed Adams of Sparta (2009).

The voluntary service rendered by the recipient of the Lake Public Service Award may have occurred with a single non-profit organization or with a number of groups in the community as well as through public service in elective or appointive office.

Nominations are sought from all judicial districts and voluntary bars statewide and reviewed by the NCBA Past Presidents’ Council. Recipients will have their names inscribed on the Lake Public Service Award plaque that will remain on permanent display at the N.C. Bar Center. They also receive an honorarium that will be designated to the non-profit organization of their choosing, subject to the concurrence of the NCBA.