Member Spotlight: April Giancola
What motivates April to engage so actively with the North Carolina Bar Association? “What I love most is the collegiality,” she says. “Everyone I have met along the way seems to have a shared mission and purpose that starts with helping each other.”
Doing something impactful and making a difference have been on April’s mind since she was a very young girl. By the time she was a pre-teen she had lost both her adoptive parents. She knew food insecurity and the pain of watching her Mom die. When extended family members rallied to keep April and her sister together and raise them, April says it cemented her thinking about a life of service.
Not surprisingly, April joined the Pro Bono Committee early in her tenure with NCBA. Being of service, acting in the community and sharing in that commitment has been a rewarding part of April’s journey. Over the years she has also witnessed the growth of the North Carolina Bar Foundation and sees that as evidence of how “giving back” is such an entrenched part of the culture at NCBA.
April’s path to NCBA wasn’t a direct one. As an undergrad, she studied Communications at Emerson College in Boston, earned a paralegal certificate from Georgetown University, and then secured her J.D. from New England Law in Boston. She says she is grateful she didn’t go to law school right away, and that once she began to work in the field, her experiences have been varied. “Every job I have ever had was exactly what I needed at the time,” adds April.
While April makes each step sound almost serendipitous, it’s clear that this single mom of one has been guided by her open heart and deeply compassionate nature. When she first came to North Carolina, she worked for NC Prisoner Legal Services. As a post-conviction attorney, she recognized the gravity of her work and was drawn to the role of “being a counselor” in its very truest sense. “It was transformative work,” she said of her service at that time. “People putting their trust in me when they were at their most vulnerable was a deeply humanizing experience.”
Today, April continues to counsel but in a different way. As Assistant Dean of Career and Professional Development at Campbell University Norman A. Wiggins School of Law, she lends her ear and shares her wisdom with aspiring attorneys. When she talks to students, she is quick to encourage them to join the NCBA right away. She says, “the Young Lawyers Division does a very intentional job of supporting new attorneys as they start their careers.” And from her perspective, she adds, “no lawyer coming out of law school today should be an unhappy lawyer, as there are just so many ways to practice with purpose and to be fulfilled.”
April enjoys seeing young students engaged in NCBA activities, commenting on how important “multi-generational sharing” is for all members. The importance of building and maintaining relationships is another drum that April beats with her students, and this is something she emphasizes can come naturally through connecting with fellow NCBA members.
Additionally, she is buoyed by her work with the Minorities in the Profession Committee and loves how more and more attorneys from eclectic backgrounds such as her own can see themselves in leadership roles by virtue of her example. Her commitment to leadership has also resulted in April’s work at the section level, where she was appointed to the Government & Public Sector Section Council last year.
“The Bar Association is the perfect place to put yourself out there at any point in your career,” says April. She adds that she is heartened by the number of law students she interacts with who are driven to make a difference – an aspiration that of course continues to guide April in all that she does.