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Public: Recent News

Elizabeth L. “Betty” Quick of Winston-Salem, who served as president of the North Carolina Bar Association in 1997-98, has been selected as the 2007 recipient of the N.C. Chief Justice’s Commission on Professionalism Award.

Betty Quick

Quick, managing member of the Winston-Salem office of Womble Carlyle Sandridge & Rice, is the seventh recipient of this award. She will be recognized Wednesday night in conjunction with the 74th annual meeting of the N.C. State Bar in Raleigh.

The Chief Justice’s Commission on Professionalism Award, like the commission, was established by former N.C. Supreme Court Chief Justice Burley Mitchell.

“If you want to define professionalism, you just need a picture of Betty Quick,” said Mel Wright, executive director of the Chief Justice’s Commission on Professionalism. “She has risen to the top of every organization in which she has participated.

“She is an exemplary leader; an expert in her area of practice; a role model and mentor for new lawyers; a well-respected member of her community; a person of strong character and integrity; and finally, a wife, mother and friend in whom to be proud.

“The Chief Justice's Professionalism Award was created to highlight the work and lives of outstanding lawyers like Betty Quick.”

“In an era when lawyers’ dedication to the public good is too-often questioned,” states the commission Web site, “the North Carolina Chief Justice's Professionalism Award has been created to summon to the spotlight individuals whose career commitments in areas such as legal ethics, disciplinary enforcements and lawyer professionalism demonstrate the high calling and higher achievement of lawyers in modern society.

“This award is presented annually to an individual or organization whose contributions have demonstrated the highest commitment to genuine professionalism and the highest standards of legal ethics. Entries are sought from those eligible that have demonstrated the good that can be accomplished by turning intellectual honesty, compassion, and practical skills in the practice of law.”

In regard to individual nominees such as Quick, the following criteria are considered:

• Overall quality of performance in profession.
• Pro bono service.
• Community service.
• Service to local, state or national bar associations.
• Demonstrated respect toward judges, legal scholars, professors, and other lawyers.
• Demonstrated respect toward clients, family, and friends.
• Involvement with charitable, religious, civic and volunteer activities.
• Contributions to legal publications.

All of which is to say that Quick is an extremely deserving recipient of this award.

A 1970 graduate of Duke University, she received her law degree from the University of North Carolina School of Law in 1974, after which she was admitted to the bar and joined the Womble Carlyle firm at the age of 26.

She was the second female elected to serve as president of the NCBA, during which time she created the 12-member Advisory Committee on Government and Public Sector Attorneys that led to the formation of the Government and Public Sector Section.

In addition, she served as co-author and principal editor of The North Carolina Estate Administration Manual which was published by the NCBA Foundation in 1984, and as a member of the section counsel of the NCBA Estate Planning & Fiduciary Law Section.

Quick’s resume of community service and other bar-related activities is extensive. She previously served on the N.C. Board of Law Examiners and as president of the Winston-Salem Estate Planning Council. She is a fellow and past state chair of the American College of Trust and Estate Counsel.

Current and previous leadership roles include service on the boards of directors for the Cannon Foundation, Inc., Reynolda House, Inc., the UNC School of Law Alumni Association, Forsyth Country Day School, Salem Academy & College, Senior Services, Inc., the UNC School of Government, the Wake Forest University Medical Center (Board of Visitors) and the Kate B. Reynolds Charitable Trust (Health Care Committee).

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Additional source material provided by Womble Carlyle