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The North Carolina Bar Association, in conjunction with the NCBA Foundation’s Public Service Advisory Committee, will present the 2007 Pro Bono Service Awards during the 109th NCBA Annual Meeting in Asheville.

The awards will be presented Friday, June 22, at the President’s Luncheon hosted by outgoing NCBA President Clark Smith of Lexington. The event will take place at the Grove Park Inn Resort & Spa, headquarters of the 2007 NCBA Annual Meeting.

In addition to presentation of the 2007 Pro Bono Awards, the luncheon will also include presentation of the H. Brent McKnight Renaissance Lawyer Award and the Willis Smith and Willis Smith Jr. Professionalism and Ethics Speech.

Dean Taylor Reveley of the William & Mary School of Law will present this year’s professionalism address. NCBA Past-President E. Osborne “Ozzie” Ayscue Jr. of Charlotte is the second recipient of the H. Brent McKnight Renaissance Lawyer Award.

Reid “Cal” Adams of Womble, Carlyle, Sandridge & Rice in Winston-Salem is the 2007 recipient of the William L. Thorp Award, presented annually since 1984 by the NCBA. The award recognizes the Pro Bono Attorney of the Year and was named in memory of Bill Thorp, a founder of Legal Services of North Carolina, in 2002.

The 2007 recipient of the Deborah Greenblatt Outstanding Legal Services Attorney Award is Susan W. Gottsegen of the Legal Society of Northwest North Carolina, Inc.

Womble, Carlyle, Sandridge & Rice, with North Carolina offices in Charlotte, Raleigh, Winston-Salem, Greensboro and the Research Triangle Park, will receive the Large Law Firm Award.

The Public Interest and Pro Bono Board of the Duke University School of Law will receive the Law Students Pro Bono Project Award, while the Chief Justice Award will be presented to Mountain Area Volunteer Lawyer Program.

Additional information as provided by the nominators follows:

William Thorp Pro Bono Service Award
Reid “Cal” Adams
As an attorney for Womble, Carlyle, Sandridge & Rice, Adams has provided pro bono representation to clients who could not afford his services, as well as 9/11 victims before the federal Victim Compensation Fund.  He has also spent several hours serving as a member and chair on the boards of Legal Aid of North Carolina and Legal Aid Society of Northwest North Carolina. Adams has recently been elected as the vice chair of the N.C. Equal Access to Justice Commission.

Deborah Greenblatt Outstanding Legal Services Attorney Award
Susan W. Gottsegen
Gottsegen has worked as a volunteer attorney for Central Carolina Legal Service, and now as a staff attorney for the Legal Society of Northwest North Carolina, Inc., handles cases ranging from consumer law to foreclosure law. Gottsegen taught third-year law students in the Wake Forest University School of Law’s clinical program, supervising 4-5 students each semester.  In October 2001, Gottsegen accepted the position as the Executive Director for LASNNC. She has since returned to her practice and clients in the Fair Lending and Home Defense Program.

Large Law Firm Pro Bono Award
Womble Carlyle Sandridge & Rice
In 2006, Womble Carlyle Sandridge & Rice developed and implemented a pro bono response to the Hurricane Katrina disaster. Many within the firm participated in trips to triage and clean-up of certain towns in the affected region of the Gulf Coast. After teleconferences with the Louisiana legal service providers for which out-of-state lawyers could work under the Louisiana Rule, they found a good fit with New Orleans Legal Assistance/Southeast Louisiana Legal Services in New Orleans (“SLLS”). Womble Carlyle Sandridge & Rice provided assistance to New Orleans homeowners whose family homes were destroyed or damaged by Katrina. The firm is also a signatory to the ABA’s Pro Bono Challenge. They continue to have a pro bono presence in North Carolina through the various legal services providers.

Chief Justice Award
Mountain Area Volunteer Lawyer Program (MAVLP)
MAVLP serves Buncombe County’s 216,000 residents, as well as the surrounding counties in western North Carolina. Accepted 743 cases in 2006 compared to 605 in 2005. These cases included 231 Hotline cases. The number of pro bono hours contributed in cases closed in 2006 rose to 2,250 valued at $337,500 when conservatively calculated at $150 an hour.

Law Student Group Award
Public Interest and Pro Bono Board (Duke University School of Law)
This board consists of 50 student leaders that work with the Office of Public Interest and Pro Bono on a wide assortment of pro bono and public interest activities. Their efforts result in forming a very visible public interest community that attracts the vast majority of the Duke Law student body to participate in public service while in law school, and to prepare them for incorporating public service into their lives as lawyers.