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Public: Recent News

Jim Maxwell, center, accepts award from Clark Smith, left, and former Chief Justice I. Beverly Lake Jr.

NCBA Past-President James B. “Jim” Maxwell is the third recipient of the North Carolina Bar Association Foundation’s Dr. I. Beverly Lake Sr. Public Service Award.

The award was presented on Saturday morning, June 23, during the General Session of the 2007 NCBA Annual Meeting in Asheville. Outgoing NCBA President Clark Smith made the presentation.

Maxwell, who served as president in 2000-01, has committed decades of volunteer service to his community and is recognized nationally for his involvement in high school athletics.

CLICK HERE TO ACCESS AWARD PRESENTATION

In 1974, Maxwell volunteered to establish a swim team at Jordan High School. He subsequently coached that team for 29 years, entirely in a voluntary capacity, capturing five N.C. High School Athletic Association state championships and 15 regional titles.

More importantly to the recipient, Maxwell also coached 20 high school academic All-Americans. Held in highest esteem by members and leadership of the NCHSAA, Maxwell also served nine years as a member and ultimately as chair of the National Federation of High School Athletic Associations in Kansas City, Mo.  

Additionally, Maxwell served on the board of directors and as president of the Durham Arts Council, as board chair for the Durham Community Shelter for H.O.P.E., as president of the Durham YMCA and on the board of the American Cancer Society, the Durham Chamber of Commerce, the Child Advocacy Commission and Wachovia Bank.

Maxwell has received numerous honors throughout his career, including the Order of the Long Leaf Pine from Gov. Easley and the Josephine Clement Award for Excellence in Education from the Durham Public Education Network.

In addition to serving as president of the NCBA, Maxwell served as president of the N.C. Academy of Trial Lawyers in 1986 and as board chair of Legal Aid of North Carolina in 2003-04. Maxwell is a 1966 graduate of the Duke University School of Law, where he has coached the national moot court team and served on the Board of Law Visitors since 2002.

A native of Hampton, Va., Maxwell and his wife, Elizabeth, have three children, sons Jonathan and Scott and a daughter, Tracey Maxwell Davis.

Paralegal Lori D. Rosemond submitted Maxwell’s impressive nomination packet, which included letters of support from outgoing Duke Law School Dean Katharine Bartlett, NCHSAA Executive Director Charlie Adams, Jordan High School Principal Delia Robinson and Mary and Haywood Holderness of Westminster Presbyterian Church in Durham.

Creation of the Lake Service Award, which annually recognizes an outstanding lawyer in North Carolina who has performed exemplary public service in his or her community, accompanied the establishment of the I. Beverly Lake Sr. Justice Fund in 2004.

Murray Greason of Winston-Salem received the initial award in 2005, followed by Jim Morgan of High Point in 2006.

The voluntary service rendered by the recipient of the Lake Public Service Award may have occurred with a single non-profit organization or with a number of groups in the community as well as through public service in elective or appointive office.

Nominations are sought from all judicial districts and voluntary bars statewide and reviewed by the NCBA Past Presidents’ Council. Recipients will have their names inscribed on the Lake Public Service Award plaque that will remain on permanent display at the N.C. Bar Center. They also receive an honorarium that will be designated to the non-profit organization of their choosing, subject to the concurrence of the NCBA.

Maxwell has designated Big Brothers Big Sisters of the Triangle to receive this year’s honorarium in the amount of $4,000.