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Public: Recent News

The General Practice Hall of Fame of the North Carolina Bar Association enshrined six North Carolina lawyers on Thursday evening, June 15, at the outset of the 2006 NCBA Annual Meeting in Atlantic Beach.

The ceremony was held at The Dunes Club.

Attorneys comprising the 2006 induction class are: Robinson O. “Robbie” Everett of Durham; Clifton L. “Clif” Moore Jr. of Burgaw; William G. “Bill” Pfefferkorn of Winston-Salem; Rudolph G. “Rudy” Singleton Jr. of Fayetteville; Sen. Robert Charles “RC” Soles Jr. of Tabor City; and E. Murray Tate Jr. of Hickory.

The Hall of Fame, sponsored by the NCBA’s GP, Small Firm and Solo Section, was established in 1989. Membership is granted in recognition of a lifetime of exemplary service and high ethical and professional standards and for serving as a role model for all lawyers in North Carolina.

To be eligible, lawyers must have practiced law for at least 25 years, a significant portion of that time having been devoted to the general practice of law, and be members in good standing of the N.C. State Bar.

Inductees have exhibited throughout their practice the highest standards of ethics and professional competency, and have rendered a high level of service to the legal profession and their communities.

Section Chair Carlton Williamson and Past Chair Dawn T. Battiste who chaired the Hall of Fame Committee this year participated in the program. NCBA President Mike Colombo presented plaques to the inductees, who bring membership in the Hall of Fame to 100 attorneys.

Robinson Everett
Robinson O. Everett was born in Durham on March 18, 1928, to a family of lawyers: his grandfather and both of his parents being noted North Carolina attorneys. His father, Reuben Oscar Everett, was one of the first five law students at Duke and practiced law for 66 years until his death, in his law office, at age 92. His mother was one of the first women to graduate from the University of North Carolina Law School, where she ranked at the head of her class, and was the first woman to argue and win a case before the North Carolina Supreme Court. She practiced for 70 years, retiring at the age of 97. In 1954, the Everetts were the first family of lawyers sworn in together to the Bar of the United States Supreme Court.

Robinson O. Everett graduated magna cum laude in 1947 from Harvard University, at age 19. At Harvard Law School he was on the Law Review, graduating magna cum laude in 1950. He was admitted to the North Carolina bar and joined the Duke Law faculty that same year at age 22 and still holds the record as the youngest faculty member in Duke’s history. He earned a master of laws degree from Duke Law School in 1959. In his 50 years of teaching at Duke (as well as UNC and Wake Forest law schools), Everett has regularly taught courses in criminal law, criminal procedure and military justice.

During the Korean War, Everett joined the Air Force, where he was assigned to the Judge Advocate General’s Corps. He served our country as a senior judge for the Court of Appeals for the Armed Services and as a Commissioner and then Chief Judge for the United States Court of Military Appeals (now the Court of Appeals for the Armed Forces) from 1980 until 1990. He is the author of the textbook Military Justice in the Armed Forces of the United States and of numerous articles on military law, criminal procedure, evidence and other legal topics.

During 1961 to 1964, Everett served part-time as counsel to the Subcommittee on Constitutional Rights of the Senate Judiciary Committee, which led to the enactment of the Military Justice Act of 1968. He is the founder of the Center on Law, Ethics and National Security at the Duke Law School.

In his work as a private practitioner, Everett concentrates in the following areas of law: administrative law, civil and criminal appeals, commercial real property, commercial litigation, construction litigation and zoning and land use regulation. Everett also has been actively involved in redistricting litigation. As both counsel and plaintiff, he has twice successfully challenged in the U.S. Supreme Court congressional districts drawn by the General Assembly which violated the constitutional principle of racial neutrality.

He is active in bar and professional associations, having served as president of the Durham County Bar Association; as a member of the State Bar Council; as both a member and chair of the American Bar Association’s Standing Committee on Military Law; and as a member of the Advisory Committee on the Federal Rules of Criminal Procedure and Evidence. He is affiliated with the National Conference of Commissioners on Uniform Laws and American Law Institute as a life member and also serves as a Fellow of the American Bar Foundation and director of the American Judicature Society.

In 1993, he received the Charles S. Murphy Award for public service from the Duke Law Alumni Association. In 2000 he received the ABA’s Morris I. Liebman Award. He has received the Professionalism Award from the Chief Justice’s Committee on Professionalism. He was the first recipient of the Judge Advocates Association’s Distinguished Life Service Award, which was named after him following its initially having been presented to him. He received the John J. Parker Memorial Award from the North Carolina Bar Association in 2004.

Everett is married to Lynn McGregor Everett. They have three sons, Rob Jr., Greg and Luke, and two grandchildren. At age 78, Everett continues to practice law and teach it at Duke. The family legal tradition will not abate any time soon as two of his three sons and one of his daughters-in-law are currently enrolled at the University of North Carolina School of Law.

He was presented for induction by Gary D. Gaddy.

Clifton L. Moore Jr.
Clifton L. Moore Jr. was born June 9, 1936, at James Walker Memorial Hospital in Wilmington. As soon as he was able to travel, he immediately went home to Burgaw, the county seat of Pender County. He attended the Pender County public schools and graduated from high school in 1955. Clifton attended the University of North Carolina at Chapel Hill and received an A.B. degree in 1959. Upon completion of his first year at the University of North Carolina School of Law he obtained his law degree in 1961.

While in law school, as the chief judge of the Law School Honor Court, he presided over the first public Honor Code hearing. Upon graduation, Clif passed the bar in 1961 and clerked for Associate Justice Caryle Higgins of the N.C. Supreme Court. After completing his clerkship, he returned to Burgaw and began his law practice.

Clif’s practice in a small rural county in eastern North Carolina was, by necessity, a broad and general practice. Clif did everything from a general office practice to a complete trial practice, both civil and criminal. He has tried everything from worthless checks to first degree murder cases and, on the civil side, from boundary line dispositions through complex litigation. Most, if not all, of the families who have resided in Pender County since Clif began practicing have at least one member whom he has represented or counseled. This would not include the recent influx of the folks from “up North” who have begun to populate the eastern beachfront area of Pender County.

Clifton has also served as a certified mediator and arbitrator in the courts of this state. Clif was elected solicitor of the Pender County Records Court and worked in that capacity until the position was replaced with the establishment of the General Court of Justice in 1968.

Clif’s philosophy in representing his clients has always been to try to bring about a correct solution to their problems. He considers it the duty of an attorney to be a problem solver, not one creating obstacles to a resolution. He has always been an example to others for his ethical behavior. He treats all parties, including the opposition, with the utmost courtesy and respect. He is professional in his approach to the practice of law and freely gives of his time and advice to other attorneys.

In addition to his normal law practice, he has been involved in a number of public and governmental endeavors. He served as county attorney for Pender County from 1963 until 1989. He has represented the Pender Memorial Hospital and the Pender County Welfare Department (now the Pender County Department of Social Services).

Clif represented numerous municipalities in Pender County including Burgaw, Atkinson and Watha. He was involved in the original incorporation of the town of Topsail Beach and represented the town for approximately 10 years. He has served on the board of directors of First Citizens Bank and Trust, the board of trustees for the University of North Carolina at Wilmington and the board of directors of Pender Memorial Hospital, Inc. He also has served with distinction on the Senior Citizens Board of Pender County.

Clif was elected and served as mayor for the town of Burgaw in the 1970s. During that same period, the presiding judge moved the trial of the “Wilmington 10” to Pender County, causing a severe strain, emotionally and financially, on Burgaw. Clif was awarded the Junior Chamber of Commerce Distinguished Service Award in 1971 and was named Southeastern North Carolina citizen of the month by the Wilmington Star News in 1973. Before he resigned as the county attorney, the commissioners named the Pender County Public Library the “Clifton L. Moore, Jr. Pender County Library.”

Clifton married Catherine Paddison Haynes in 1960. They have three daughters, Catherine Haynes Thomas (Kattie), Mary Campbell Winn (Cam) and Margarite Murray Moore, and two wonderful grandchildren, Drew and Elisha Thomas.

In his career, Clifton had numerous opportunities to serve in the legislature or to go upon the Superior Court bench; however, he was reluctant to leave Pender County. He knew that the people in the area depended on him for his guidance and advice. Clifton is an extremely modest man and might be uncomfortable with this statement, although true: one is hard-pressed to find an attorney who has represented a broader facet of society. He handles each case with the same compassion and resolve to protect his client’s interest regardless of that client’s position in society or the client’s ability to pay.

As with most attorneys who practice in a small town, there is probably more money owed to Clifton that he has not made an effort to collect than has ever been paid. Pender County and the rest of southeastern North Carolina have been blessed to have a man of such integrity willing to serve the people in whatever capacity called upon, so long as he could stay in Pender County.

He was presented for induction by Stephen E. Culbreth who was inducted last year.

William G. “Bill” Pfefferkorn
William G. “Bill” Pfefferkorn was born in 1937 in Winston-Salem to Lawrence and Eleanor Pfefferkorn. He grew up during the war years and he and his older brother delivered papers throughout the Buena Vista section of Winston-Salem. He became an Eagle Scout and co-captain of the Reynolds High School football team. He received a football scholarship to Davidson College. He was designated a Washington Semester Scholar to American University to study government where he wrote a paper on the Civil Rights Bill of 1957.

Bill graduated from the University of North Carolina at Chapel Hill with an A.B. in history. He received a National Honor Scholarship to the University of Chicago Law School where he received a J.D. degree and was active in the Mandel Legal Aid Clinic and Moot Court. He received the American Jurisprudence Award for excellence in Constitutional Law. He returned to North Carolina and passed the bar in l962.

He entered the general practice of law in September of 1962. His first fee was $35 for checking the title on a vacant lot. He was fortunate to inherit an automobile case that he argued in the Supreme Court of North Carolina in his first year. He checked the history of hundreds of real estate parcels in Forsyth County. He defended countless criminal defendants and he worked through many and various domestic disputes. Bill discovered that folks in Forsyth County had the same legal problems as people on the South Side of Chicago, rarely finding a simple answer or a clear case to ease the work. By representing a vast mixture of people, he found that difficulties usually grew from the failure of most people to have early or constant legal advice.

Bill was influenced by President Ralph Scales and Dean Carroll Weathers of Wake Forest University. From Dr. Scales, he learned that lawyers had a special obligation to be deeply versed in the intellectual issues of the past and present. Dean Weathers believed that the ideal lawyer was the one who could represent the mill owner and the mill hand with the same understanding and zeal.

During the next 40 years, Bill represented employees and employers, unions, corporations, defendants and plaintiffs in consultations, negotiations, hearings and trials. He argued before school boards, city councils and college trustees long into the night on behalf of teachers, professors, citizens, police officers, neighborhood groups, developers, land owners and religious groups.

His former partners note with amazement Mr. Pfefferkorn’s relish in taking on a difficult and uphill case when the client was an outspoken teacher, irate citizen or union organizer brave enough to challenge the powerful in a community. He loved to meet around clients’ kitchen tables and absorb their passion.

Bill was lead counsel for National Guardsmen killed and injured in an armory explosion which led to an exception to the sovereign immunity rule; for landowners who successfully contested the construction of a nuclear plant; and for groups in successful efforts to preserve and restore their historic neighborhoods. His representation of education workers from the janitorial staff to the highest administrators resulted in precedent-setting decisions.

He spent many years as a partner in White, Crumpler, Powell and Pfefferkorn and in Pfefferkorn, Cooley, Pishko and Elliot and many years in solo practice. He has written texts and lectured for CLE seminars. He has been active on community boards, in church music and arts organizations and by teaching law classes at Wake Forest, Salem College, N.C. A&T State University and in the Winston-Salem/Forsyth County schools. He ran for mayor. He has given speeches, written newspaper articles and a law review article, and engaged in public debates on environmental, zoning, discrimination, public employee unionism, constitutional law and foreign policy issues.

Bill is an independent thinker who loves to ride his horse, sing in the choir and tweak the pompous. He enjoyed cases with Jim White, Harrell Powell, Jim Cooley and Lewis Alexander at his side. Arguing against Irving Carlyle, Grady Barnhill, Ralph Stockton, John Minor, Ed Speas and Doug Punger was always an educational adventure. Judges Allen Gywn, Jim Exum, Peter Hairston, Abner Alexander and Rhoda Billings offered kind advice and kept him and the courtroom on an even keel through rough and muddy waters.

He has been encouraged and supported by his wife, Jane, during their 48 years of marriage; his three children, Kate, Karl and Paul; and his grandchildren, Joachim, Eva and William Jackson. Jane typed his law school papers and his first real property dispute research brief the night before he opened his office. His father drove him to many of his out-of-town cases and many times his mother answered his solo office phone when his secretary was at lunch.

Bill’s office has always been within sight and walking distance of the courthouse. His office on the first floor of the Pfefferkorn Building had big windows and some suggested that curtains should cover them. Bill insisted that his shop had to be open so that he could see out and so that the public could see that seeking justice was not a secret enterprise. His staff always remarked how well-behaved, gracious and friendly all types of people became when sitting in such an open lobby with rich and poor, black and white, young and old.

He was introduced for induction by Robert G. Spaugh, president of the Forsyth County Bar Association.

Rudolph G. Singleton Jr.
Rudolph G. Singleton Jr. was born on May 24, 1930, in Lexington, Ky. His parents and he moved to North Carolina in 1933. He grew up in Fayetteville where he was an Eagle Scout and graduated from high school in 1948. Rudolph graduated from Mars Hill Junior College in 1950 and from Wake Forest University on a combined degree in 1952. He graduated from Wake Forest School of Law in 1954 and returned to Fayetteville to practice law as an associate of Nance and Barrington.

In 1955, Singleton was appointed assistant solicitor of Superior Court. He entered the U.S. Army in 1956 and served in France with Military Intelligence as a Counter Intelligence Corps agent through 1957. 

In 1958, he became an associate of Nance, Barrington and Collier and became partner with the firm in 1961. He participated with the defense in the six-week “Burch-Brewer” highway design prosecution in 1962 and spent four weeks as a pro bono attorney in a U.S. District Court murder case in 1964.

In the late 1960s, he reduced his criminal practice and concentrated more on personal injury representation, both plaintiff and defendant. In 1970, Singleton began representing Fayetteville, Cumberland County and other communities as intervenor defendants in a six-year span of litigation in federal court regarding an environmental fight to stop impoundment of the Jordan Dam.

Finally, after three appearances in the Court of Appeals for the Fourth Circuit, they successfully, with the Corps of Engineers, tried the lawsuit in late 1976 and secured flood control, as well as additional water supply, for the downstream basin area of the Cape Fear River. During this time, he served two years as city attorney for Fayetteville, a part-time position.

In 1980, the firm of Nance, Collier, Singleton, Kirkman and Herndon dissolved and he practiced litigation with what became Singleton, Murray, Craven and Inman until 1997, when he joined Singleton, Hutchens and Senter. He became of counsel to that firm, now Hutchens, Senter & Britton in 2000 and remains active in that position today. He has participated in more than 40 appeals (N.C. Court of Appeals, N.C. Supreme Court and the U.S. Court of Appeals for the Fourth Circuit). Singleton has been an American Arbitration Association panel member since 1970 and a certified mediator since 1995.

Perhaps Singleton’s proudest moment as a lawyer was following an unpaid defense of an attorney friend who endured a week long trial in 1982, in the U. S. District Court in Raleigh, where he was charged with subornation of perjury arising out of his representation of defendant “Ike” Atkinson in a lengthy drug-related trial. The defense attorney, who was indicted after the lapse of four years and 11 months, under an applicable five-year statute of limitations, was acquitted following a one-hour jury deliberation. Co-counsel Jimmy Little rendered invaluable assistance.

Rudolph Singleton’s law practice has, indeed, been the general practice of law, with an emphasis on litigation. He has tried murder cases, a great number of civil cases (for both plaintiffs and defendants) and represented a psychiatric hospital over a five-year period in weekly adolescent hearings. He has successfully defended the members of the Fayetteville Housing Authority and successfully represented the City of Fayetteville in the “massage parlor” cases of the early 1970s, filing as appellee a brief with the U.S. Supreme Court. More recently, he has represented, through Lawyers Mutual Insurance Company, a number of attorneys in lawsuits involving malpractice allegations. He has handled environmental and sedimentation matters, many zoning cases, and a major medical group’s dissolution lawsuits. At the present time, he is primarily involved in estate work, eminent domain condemnations, mediation and arbitration.

Rudolph Singleton’s interests are wide-ranging. He has been president of the Fayetteville Exchange Club and chair for 25 years of the Scholarship Committee; chair of the Mayor’s Public Relations Committee; president of the Fayetteville Area Chamber of Commerce; a member of the Board of Governors of the N.C. Academy of Trial Lawyers, president of the Cumberland County Bar Association, a member of the North Carolina Bar Association Legal Services Delivery Committee and a local board member and past chairman of First Union/Wachovia Banks.

Additionally, he has served on numerous civic boards including Boy Scouts, YMCA, United Way, Red Cross and Food Bank. He is a member and Sunday school teacher of Snyder Memorial Baptist Church. He enjoys golf, hunting and fishing and until recently, scuba diving.

Singleton’s life, apart from the law, is blessed by a family which consists of his wife Jenny, his daughter Scott, his son Grant and wife Sebrell, and his three grandchildren. He and Jenny have traveled quite a bit and recently returned from an NCBA trip to Galapagos.

He was presented for induction by Richard T. Craven.

Robert Charles (“R.C.”) Soles Jr.
Robert Charles (“R.C.”) Soles Jr. was born in Tabor City on Dec. 17, 1934, to Robert C. and Myrtle Norris Soles. He was graduated from Tabor City High School in 1952. Except for his years in college, he has been a lifelong resident of Tabor City and Columbus County.

Upon graduation from high school, he enrolled in Wake Forest University and graduated with a B.S. degree in chemistry in 1956. Immediately upon graduation, he enlisted in the U.S. Army Reserve, where he served from 1957 until 1967, achieving the rank of captain. Following his enlistment, he was admitted to law school at the University of North Carolina at Chapel Hill, where he received his law degree in 1959. He was admitted to the N.C. State Bar the same year and began the practice of law as a sole practitioner by returning to his hometown of Tabor City. He is the founding and senior partner of the law firm of Soles, Phipps, Ray & Prince. He served as the attorney for the Town of Tabor City and for Columbus County prior to beginning his legislative career.

He began his distinguished legislative career in 1969 by winning the first of four consecutive terms to the N.C. House of Representatives. In 1977, he was elected to the state Senate and has served 15 consecutive terms in that elective position. Overall, his legislative career extends an amazing 38 years and he is currently running for his 20th consecutive election to public office. He served as the deputy president pro tempore of the Senate from 1993 until 1997. In addition, he has served as the Senate majority chairman from 1997 to the present. In the past, he has chaired the Committee on Local Government, the Committee on State Government and the Judiciary Committee and he now serves as the chair of the Senate Commerce and as vice chair of Judiciary I and Appropriations on the Department of Transportation. In the most recent session of the legislature, he was honored by being declared an “institution” as he is currently the longest consecutively elected legislator in North Carolina.

In his community, he has been a member and past president of the Tabor City Rotary Club since 1959. He has served as the president of the Tabor City Chamber of Commerce and has served on the executive committee of the Columbus County and Tabor City Committees of 100. He is the founding president of the Southeastern Community College Foundation and has served as a former trustee of the Consolidated University of North Carolina and the University of North Carolina at Wilmington. He is a lifetime member of the Tabor City Baptist Church.

R.C. was the founding chair of First Investors Savings Bank, SSB; and now serves as a member of the board of directors of First Citizens BancShares, Inc., and First Citizens Bank. He has been active in economic development activities in southeastern N.C. and currently is a director in LandBank, a development-related company in the Myrtle Beach, S.C. area.

In the practice of law, R.C. is a member of the North Carolina Bar Association, the N.C. State Bar, the American Bar Association, the Association of Trial Lawyers of America and the N.C. Academy of Trial Lawyers. He has served as the president of the Columbus County Bar and as secretary and president of the Thirteenth Judicial Bar Association. R.C. is admitted to practice in the N.C. Supreme Court, the U.S. Supreme Court, the U.S. Court of Appeals for the Fourth Circuit and the U.S. District Court.

R.C. has handled almost every type of legal case but he is best known as an advocate for the poor, the downtrodden and the oppressed. The late Everett L. Henry once said of R.C.: “ . . . imagine how much money he could have made, if only he had learned to say ‘No.’”

He has represented clients in civil and criminal matters in both state and federal courts. He is a true student of the law and has used his skills, which were honed and sharpened as a legislator, to represent his clients’ interests. He is probably best known for his personal injury practice and his knowledge of insurance law. His dedication, work ethic and ability to resolve complex problems and negotiate settlements are unmatched. He has a unique ability to be spontaneous but he never speaks before he thinks of what he intends to say. R.C. is one of the few remaining “gentlemen lawyers” who is always there to assist and advise young attorneys and never seeks to take unfair advantage of his fellow practitioner.

With all the time he commits to the legislature, his law firm and the community, R.C. still remembers one of his most important roles, that of caretaker. Despite his busy schedule he manages to assist with the care of his parents, Mr. Rob and Ms. Myrtle, ages 94 and 95 respectively, who have been married for 75 years.

He was presented for induction by William W. Phipps.

Murray Tate
Murray Tate began his more than 50-year practice of law in 1949, having returned to Wake Forest after serving in World War II. Today, at the age of 80, he continues to practice every day; odds are Mr. Tate will be practicing law until his last moment on earth (and then, perhaps, carrying on a heated discourse with St. Peter over some technical point). For him, the practice of law is not just a way to make a living - it is and always has been an all-consuming passion.

Murray Tate has served as a solicitor (1951-1953), a judge (1956-1959), and as city attorney for the City of Hickory (1969-1995). In earlier years, when he was an active litigator, he tried a number of major capital cases, as well as more than his share of litigation dealing with business problems. He is currently with the firm of Anthony and Tate, L.L.P., and the focus of his practice at this point in his career is on estate planning, probate administration and corporate law.

Murray Tate has a love of teaching, and over the years has lent his experience and insight to any number of young people considering law as a profession. He has always made room in his office for interns from the local college, not only affording them the opportunity to be a “runner” for the firm, but also sharing his philosophy of the practice of law with them. A number of those persons have gone on to become well-respected attorneys and leaders.

Community and church involvement have been paramount in Murray Tate’s career. He is often heard to comment that lawyers have been blessed in many ways, and that to whom much is given, much is expected in return. Hence, his involvement in such varied activities as serving for twenty years as a counselor for the Boy Scout Citizenship Merit Badge, co-founding the Family Guidance Center in Hickory to serve battered women and children, working diligently for the SALT Block Foundation whose thrust is to preserve and enlarge cultural opportunities in the community, serving as a member of the Board of Directors of Palliative CareCenter & Hospice of Catawba Valley, filling the position of Chairman of Deacons at First Baptist Church in Hickory any number of times, and always taking an active part in his church’s life.

Murray Tate is well respected in the local community, both legal and otherwise. His high ethical standards have set him apart and made him a worthy role model for aspiring lawyers. He is always available to discuss any issue, be it personal or professional, and to render an honest opinion (even when that opinion might be unpopular).

His service to the Greater Hickory community is known to all, as there is probably no aspect of community development in which he has not been involved. He served on the State Highway Commission from 1961 until 1965, and Tate Boulevard in Hickory is named in his honor. During his tenure as city attorney, he was president of the N.C. Municipal Attorneys’ Association and a member of numerous committees of the North Carolina League of Municipalities. In 1965, Murray was presented the “Distinguished Citizen Award” by Gov. Terry Sanford.

On a national level, he served on the Bicentennial of the Constitution Committee. He also served as a member of Governor Hodges’ “Commission of One Hundred for Better Schools” and was active during his three children’s school careers in all facets of local education. He has often been a volunteer lecturer at Lenoir-Rhyne College on constitutional law, constitutional history, and the development of the United States’ legal system.

Twice during his career, he has been singled out by the “People to People” Program to travel to China and then to Cuba to exchange views with members of the legal profession in those countries.

He has also served as president of the Catawba County Bar Association and is active at the district bar level.

Murray Tate was married to Helen Moore Tate for 55 years prior to her death in 2000. He has three children, Philip Tate of Framingham, Mass.; Steven Tate of Statesville; and Harriet T. Holland of Decatur, Ga.

He was presented for induction by Shirley H. Anthony.