Outstanding Paralegal Pro Bono Service Award: SM Kernodle-Hodges
SM Kernodle-Hodges is a Legal Project Manager for Tolliver, Richardson & Kernodle, LLC in Raleigh. The firm specializes in the areas of project management, compliance, regulatory reform, advocacy, mediation, law enforcement dialogue facilitation, and community engagement. Currently, she is the Program Coordinator and Clerk for Wake County’s Legal Support Center.
Before that time, she worked for ten years as a Criminal Justice Official. She holds an Associate of Science Degree in Administrative Justice from Patrick Henry Community College and a Bachelor of Science in Criminal Justice and Sociology from Averett University. She also graduated from Duke University’s Law Studies Paralegal Program and obtained her North Carolina Certified Paralegal credential (NCCP) from the North Carolina State Bar. Some of her noteworthy accomplishments include being a (NCCMC) North Carolina Certified Municipal Clerk, a FINRA Arbitrator, a Superior Court Mediator and Federal Court Mediator for Western District of North Carolina, a Nationally Credentialed Advocate (CA) and a (VSP)Victim Services Practitioner.
As a graduate of the University of South Florida’s DEI program, Kernodle strives to create a more diverse workplace, address equity issues, and foster inclusivity. She is a dedicated North Carolina Guardian ad Litem (child advocate) for Wake County’s 10th Judicial District. She serves the legal community as Co-Chair for the Utilization Committee with the North Carolina Bar Association, as Co-Chair for the (SOGI) Sexual Orientation and Gender Identification Pro Bono Committee, and as Co-Chair for the Paralegal Division’s Pro Bono Committee with the North Carolina Bar Foundation, Director for the Pauli Murray LGBTQ+ Bar of North Carolina board. She is a Board Member of the North Carolina State Bar Board of Paralegal Certification. She is also the Co-Founder of the (NCJFAP) Justice for All Project in North Carolina. Kernodle-Hodges was appointed to the North Carolina State Bar’s Subcommittee Studying Regulatory Change. The subcommittee was created to study regulatory reform and present recommendations and initiatives the State Bar should pursue, including ideas such as creating a limited license for paraprofessionals, initiating a court navigators program, and liberalizing the rules on the (UPL) unauthorized practice of law.
She has also worked for the North Carolina Department of Justice Office of the Attorney General in the Consumer Protection Division, where she oversaw high-level mediation and settlement of consumer complaints. Her areas of specialization were utilities, health care, financial fraud, and antitrust matters.