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2012 News Articles › Young Lawyers Division Presents Awards
Young Lawyers Division Presents Awards
Article Date: Saturday, June 23, 2012
Jillian Brevorka accepts award from Clark Walton.
Sherry Everett accepts award from Bryan Scott.
Patti Ramseur accepts award from Meredith Priestley
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The Young Lawyers Division of the North Carolina Bar Association elected officers for 2012-13 and presented three awards during its recent annual meeting, held Saturday, June 23, in conjunction with the NCBA Annual Meeting in Wilmington.
No election was needed, however, for the office of chair, which is assumed by John Buford of Greensboro who served as chair-elect in 2011-12. Buford practices with Brooks Pierce McLendon Humphrey & Leonard LLP in Greensboro. He succeeds Brad Williams of Raleigh who assumes the role of immediate past chair.
Clark Walton of Charlotte was elected chair-elect and Meredith Priestley of Claremont was elected secretary. Walton serves in the N.C. Attorney General’s Office while Priestley practices with CT Management, Inc.
The Charles F. Blanchard Young Lawyer of the Year Award was presented to Jillian Brevorka of Greensboro; the NCBA Younger Lawyer Pro Bono Award was presented to Sherry Honeycutt Everett of Durham; and the Robinson O. Everett Professionalism Award was presented to Patti Ramseur of Greensboro.
“Jillian Brevorka is being honored for her selfless commitment to the Wills for Heroes program virtually since its first year as a YLD committee in 2008-09,” stated Clark Walton in presenting the Blanchard Award, which is named for the first chair of the YLD who served in 1953-55.
“Her work as a committee member, and then as the committee's co-chair beginning in 2010 through this year, has helped bring free estate planning services to thousands of North Carolina first responders and their spouses. I have worked personally with Jillian at a number of these events, including one Saturday in Winston-Salem where our event collectively served over 425 individuals, and she is absolutely deserving of this honor.”
Indeed, Brevorka has been a mainstay in a program that has provided immeasurable public service to some of North Carolina’s bravest and most unselfish citizens. Over the past five years, 1,370 volunteers (lawyers, law students, paralegals and notaries public) have provided 9,956 free estate planning documents for 3,392 first responders and their spouses through the Wills for Heroes program.
Bryan Scott presented the Younger Lawyer Pro Bono Award to Everett, who just completed a two-year stint as chair of the NCBA’s Solo, Small Firm & General Practice Section.
“We selected Sherry primarily for her work in conceiving, founding, and operating the Butner Federal Prison Reentry Assistance Program nonprofit organization since 2008,” Scott said. “Sherry’s nonprofit assists the former Butner federal inmates with resolving outstanding state criminal charges upon their release that would otherwise prevent their taking part in reentry assistance programs like halfway houses and other social services.
“As a result of Sherry’s work, approximately 20 inmates each year since 2008 have been able to receive assistance where they otherwise would not have. In addition to Sherry’s work on the reentry assistance program, she is a tireless volunteer attorney on domestic violence cases for Durham Legal Aid, she has participated in the 4ALL campaign each year since joining the bar, and she frequently takes calls through the Call 4ALL program.”
Meredith Priestley presented the Robinson O. Everett Professionalism Award, created and named in honor of Judge Everett, a Duke law professor and former Chief Judge of the U.S. Court of Appeals for the Armed Forces, following his death in 2009.
“I cannot think of a more deserving person to receive this award,” Priestly said in regard to Ramseur, a past chair of the YLD. “I met Patti through my involvement with the YLD, and her charisma and enthusiasm is electric. When Patti walks into a room, you can feel her energy and it spreads to others.
“Under her leadership, the YLD expanded the Wills for Heroes clinics, created and implemented a mentoring program to pair young lawyers with foster children, spearheaded a “Feeding Frenzy” food drive where more than 10,000 pounds of food were donated to the North Carolina Food Bank, and provided pro bono legal assistance to hundreds of disabled military veterans through its When Duty Calls pro bono program.
Ramseur has been involved in a number of NCBA activities, most recently serving as chair of the Young Lawyer Initiatives Task Force.