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Public: Recent News

The Government and Public Sector Section of the North Carolina Bar Association recently honored Dan McLawhorn, founding section chair, as the 2006 recipient of the Outstanding Government and Public Sector Attorney Award.

From left, Andy Vanore, Dan McLawhorn and Jeff Gray at the N.C. Bar Center.

The award was presented at the N.C. Bar Center during the section’s annual meeting and CLE, held jointly with the NCBA Administrative Law Section.

The purpose of the award is to honor an outstanding government attorney as an exemplar of the excellence, dedication and passion for justice of North Carolina’s government and public sector attorneys. The NCBA set the following guidelines that recipients must meet in order to qualify:

• Five years of recent, continuous practice in public sector law;
• Exemplary record reputation in the legal community with the highest ethical standards;
• Exemplary record of community service; and
• Exemplar of the quiet excellence of North Carolina’s government/public sector attorneys.

McLawhorn has devoted most of his career to public service. An associate city attorney for the City of Raleigh since 2003, McLawhorn received his law degree from the University of North Carolina in 1974.

Following a brief stint in private practice, he served as an assistant district attorney for the 4th Judicial District in Jacksonville in 1976. He chaired the legal department of the N.C. Justice Academy from 1977-79 before entering into a lengthy tenure with the N.C. Attorney General’s Office.

McLawhorn served as an assistant attorney general from 1979-85 and as special deputy attorney general from 1985-98 and 2001-03. In between, he served as general counsel for the N.C. Department of Environment and Natural Resources (DENR).

Longtime colleague Andy Vanore, retired chief deputy attorney general, presented the award. Jeff Gray, chair of the Government and Public Sector Section, also provided remarks.

Throughout his career, McLawhorn has been actively involved in the NCBA, serving as chair of three sections: Environmental and Nature Resources, Administrative Law and the Government and Public Sector Section which he helped organize in 2002. He has also served on the CLE Committee since 1993 and as vice chair since 2004.

“Dan has devoted countless hours of his personal time to enhancing the legal profession through his involvement in the NCBA,” his nominator noted. “He was an active and enthusiastic member of the formation committee for the Government and Public Sector Section, and his knowledge of the NCBA and government attorneys was invaluable.”

In his acceptance address (click on title) – “Public Service is the Right Career for Me: How About You?” – McLawhorn discussed why public service had been his career choice.

“As a child of the ’60s, I felt that I should help shape the future,” McLawhorn said. “I cannot imagine better opportunities to do so than I have had as a lawyer in public service.

“I had the chance to help write environmental law both by legislation and court decision for over 25 years. It was a role I never dreamt could be mine until I joined the Attorney General’s environmental section.”

McLawhorn credited his “inner voice” for steering him in that direction.

“I spent my formative years in the small Carteret County community of Harlowe,” McLawhorn said. “Environmental law didn’t exist when I left for college.

“Its emergence as a practice area showed me that I could combine my coastal heritage with my steering principle that my legal education should be used to serve the public. I am grateful to my friend, (former) Attorney General Rufus Edmisten, for providing me just that opportunity when he selected me as counsel to the Coastal Resources Commission in 1980.”

McLawhorn also cited former Attorney General Lacy Thornburg, former Chief Deputy Attorney General Eddie Speas, DENR Secretaries Wayne McDevitt and Bill Holman and Raleigh City Attorney Tom McCormick as positive contributors to his career.