print
	email
	translate

Public: Recent News

Curtis Venable, left, accepts award from Jeff Gray.

The Government and Public Sector Section of the North Carolina Bar Association has selected Curtis Venable as the 2008 recipient of its Outstanding Government and Public Sector Attorney Award.

The award was presented Saturday in conjunction with the section’s annual meeting in Asheville by Jeff Gray, former chair of the Government and Public Sector Section who nominated Venable.

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.

A 1980 graduate of the University of North Carolina at Chapel Hill, Venable proceeded to the North Carolina Central University School of Law, graduating in 1983.

Venable began his career in Wilmington with Legal Services of the Lower Cape Fear and has remained in legal services ever since, carving a lasting niche with Pisgah Legal Services of Asheville where he has served since 1986.

He specializes in administrative, health and public benefits law.

Venable possesses a sterling record of service within the NCBA, where he has chaired the Administrative Law Section (1993-94) and the Health Law Section (2001-02). Additionally, he has chaired Western N.C. Community Health Services and the Buncombe Emergency Assistance Coordinating Network.

He is also a member of Health Partners, a community coalition of health-care providers, and Access II Care of Western N.C., a non-profit coalition of Medicaid providers that pursues preventative measures in the areas of asthma and hypertension.

“Curtis Venable . . . has devoted his life and career to helping those who could not otherwise afford legal services and has been an advocate for the poor and those in need of health care,” writes Gray. “He untiringly has spent all 25 years of his professional career pursuing these endeavors and while doing so, has continued to contribute professionally through active participation in the NCBA and other community groups.”

The timing of Venable’s selection, Gray noted, as it relates to NCBA President Janet Ward Black’s commitment to the provision of civil legal aid to the poor through the 4ALL initiative, could not be more appropriate.

“I believe this award is representative of the goals of the NCBA, its current president and the Government and Public Sector Section,” Gray stated, “and is a positive step toward gaining much deserved recognition for those attorneys in this state who continue to fight for the rights of the dispossessed.”