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Public: Recent News

The Government and Public Sector Section of the North Carolina Bar Association has named Ann B. Wall, general counsel for the N.C. Department of State, as the 2007 recipient of the Outstanding Government and Public Sector Attorney Award.

Section Chair Ralph Karpinos, left, and Chief Deputy Secretary of State Rodney Maddox present award to Ann Wall.

The award was presented Thursday, May 3, in conjunction with the section’s annual meeting at the N.C. Bar Center in Cary.

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.

“Over nearly 30 years of public services in North Carolina, Ann Wall has demonstrated the highest level of professionalism and civility,” noted Assistant U.S. Attorney Gill Beck, the 2005 recipient, in nominating Wall.

Wall began her career in 1978 after receiving her law degree from the University of North Carolina School of Law and has been a member of the NCBA ever since. She served as a field attorney for the National Labor Relations Board from 1978-87, then began a lengthy tenure with the N.C. Department of Labor.

She worked from 1987-92 as director of the Department of Labor’s Right to Know Division. She served as the director of the Workplace Retaliatory Discrimination Division from 1992-97, as manager of the Review, Youth Employment and Education unit from 1997-98, and from 1998-2001 as agency legal specialist in the Office of General Counsel.

Wall served as assistant attorney general in the N.C. Department of Justice from 2001-06, then assumed her current duties with the Secretary of State.

“Additionally, throughout her career, Ms. Wall has demonstrated a commitment to the legal profession in North Carolina,” Beck stated, “spending much time training and developing legal interns so that they will be able to conduct themselves in keeping with the high standards of the North Carolina legal profession.”

Wall has participated as a member of nine NCBA sections: Labor and Employment Law, Administrative Law, Government and Public Sector, Constitutional Rights and Responsibilities, Litigation, Business Law, Antitrust and Trade Regulation Law, Intellectual Property and Real Property.

She currently serves as secretary of the Government and Public Sector Section and as treasurer of the Administrative Law Section. She previously served as treasurer of the Government and Public Sector Section and chaired that body under committee status prior to its elevation to a section in 2002.

“In all that she has done, she has demonstrated commitment to the law and the public interest,” Beck concluded. “She has demonstrated a high level of competence, professionalism and concern for the nurturing and development of North Carolina government and public sector attorneys.

“By her example, Ann Wall has inspired and encouraged others to strive to improve themselves and to make the law serve the public interest.”