Woody Connette Receives McKnight Award

Article Date: Friday, June 25, 2010

Written By: Russell Rawlings

From left, Woody Connette accepts McKnight Award from Ken Butler and John Wester.

Edward G. “Woody” Connette of Charlotte has been selected by the North Carolina Bar Association as the 2010 recipient of the H. Brent McKnight Renaissance Lawyer Award. Presentation of the award took place during the President’s Luncheon at the NCBA Annual Meeting on Friday, June 25, at the Hilton Wilmington Riverside.

A graduate of Davidson College and the University of North Carolina School of Law, Connette served with Legal Services of Southern Piedmont prior to the formation of Lesesne and Connette in 1986.

The firm, which merged into Essex Richards in 2005, was honored three times for its pro bono efforts, twice by the North Carolina Bar Association and once by the Mecklenburg County Bar.

“I am thrilled to be receiving this award,” Connette said. “North Carolina attorneys have a long history of ethical practice and professionalism that has that has served the public well. Most of us work hard to live up to the standards integrity and professionalism of our colleagues. In the process, I believe that we are continually raising our own standards of practice and thereby improving our service to the public.”

Connette is the son of Liza and Ed Connette of Wilmington and is married to Judge Jane Harper, who served on the District Court bench in Mecklenburg County from 1990-2007.

Connette becomes the fifth recipient of the H. Brent McKnight Renaissance Lawyer Award, preceded by Peter Gilchrist (2006), E. Osborne Ayscue Jr. (2007), Wade Smith (2008) and Mark Bernstein (2009).

He was nominated by his longtime law partner, Louis L. Lesesne Jr., and Robin L. Ames of Legal Aid of North Carolina. Ken Butler, chair of the NCBA’s Professionalism Committee, presented the award.

The award was proposed by the NCBA Professionalism Committee in 2006 and adopted by the NCBA Board of Governors to recognize attorneys who demonstrate the “Renaissance Lawyer” qualities embodied by Judge McKnight, who died in 2004 while serving on the U.S. District Court for the Western District of N.C.

“In a large bar filled with great leaders, Judge McKnight was a role model for us all,” Connette said. “He was a humble, soft-spoken man who loved justice and pursued it with passion. As a young prosecutor he was always courteous to victims of crime and to those accused of crime.

“Later, as a judge, he showed respect to all parties who appeared before him in his courtroom. He had a burning intellectual curiosity and a wide range of interests that always kept him sharp and bright. To be honored with an award given in his memory is overwhelming to me.”

Erna A.P. Womble and Bill Womble Jr., who currently serve as co-chairs of the McKnight Award Subcommittee, spearheaded the establishment of the award in memory of the former committee chair in an effort to recognize those North Carolina attorneys whose trustworthiness, respectful and courteous treatment of all people, enthusiasm for intellectual achievement and commitment to excellence in work, and service to the profession and community, inspire others.