New NCBA Board Members, Vice Presidents Announced
The North Carolina Bar Association elected seven new members to the Board of Governors during the 2021 NCBA Annual Meeting, held Friday, June 18, at the N.C. Bar Center in Cary. The new board members, who will serve three-year terms, are:
Alison Ashe-Card
Alison Ashe-Card serves as Associate Director, Diversity & Inclusion in the Office of Career & Professional Development at Wake Forest University School of Law in Winston-Salem. She practiced with Womble Carlyle (Womble Bond Dickinson (US) LLP) from 1999-2013 and as an attorney for the Legal Assistance Foundation of Chicago from 1992-97.
Ashe-Card is licensed in Illinois and North Carolina. She is a graduate of Spelman College (1989) and American University Washington College of Law (1992). Ashe-Card is a past president of the N.C. Association of Black Lawyers and current member of the NALP Board of Directors. She serves on the boards of Piedmont Federal Savings Bank, the Novant Health Community Medical Center Foundation, the Winston-Salem Foundation Committee and the Downtown Winston-Salem Partnership Board of Directors, and is a founding member and past chair of the Forsyth Medical Center Foundation Women’s Council. Ashe-Card is a member of the NCBA’s Minorities in the Profession Committee and Pro Bono Activities Committee, where she served as co-chair in 2020-21.
Clara Cottrell
Clara Cottrell serves as Senior Counsel for Compliance & Privacy at BASF Corp. in the Research Triangle Park. She previously served as a law clerk to Judge Ben F. Tennille of the N.C. Business Court (2007-08) and as an associate with Smith Moore Leatherwood (now Fox Rothschild) from 2008-13. Cottrell focuses her practice on data privacy and security and is licensed to practice in New Jersey (in-house) and North Carolina.
Cottrell is a graduate of North Carolina State University (2002) and Wake Forest University School of Law (2007). She has served on the council and as program committee co-chair for the ABA Section of Science and Technology Law and was recognized in 2015 as a Fellow of the American Bar Foundation. Cottrell has also been honored by the Triad Business Journal as one of 40 Leaders Under Forty (2012), by Super Lawyers as a North Carolina Rising Stars (2013), and by the North Carolina Business Journal as a Legal Elite Young Guns Best Under 40 (2013), and previously served on the Staff-Parish Relations Committee of Union Grove United Methodist Church in Hillsborough. Within the NCBA she has served as chair of the CLE Committee and as a member of the Membership Committee, and has provided leadership within the Young Lawyers Division as co-chair of the Legislative Committee and Law in Education Committee and as chair of the YLD Lobbying Activities Task Force.
Brooks Jaffa
Brooks Jaffa is a partner with Cranford, Buckley, Schultze, Tomchin, Allen & Buie, P.A., in Charlotte, and focuses his practice on trusts and estates, and business. He previously served as a law clerk to Chief Judge Frank Whitney of the U.S. District Court for the Western District of N.C. Jaffa is a graduate of the University of North Carolina at Chapel Hill (2009) and UNC School of Law (2012). He serves on the boards for Jewish Family Services of Greater Charlotte and Loaves and Fishes.
Jaffa has received the Pro Bono Award for Outstanding Collaborative Project from the Mecklenburg County Bar and NCBA Younger Lawyer Pro Bono Attorney of the Year Award. These awards were presented in recognition of his leadership efforts in the aftermath of Hurricane Matthew, at which time he was serving the ABA District 9 Representative to the ABA YLD. Jaffa has also served as chair of the YLD Standing Committee on Disaster Legal Services and is active in the NCBA Estate Planning & Fiduciary Law Section, where he has chaired the Pro Bono Committee and helped draft the North Carolina Uniform Power of Attorney Act.
Camille Payton
Camille Payton practices with Hunter & Everage in Charlotte, and focuses her practice on workers’ compensation and auto accidents. She is a graduate of the University of North Carolina at Chapel Hill (1984) and the University of Texas at Austin School of Law (1993). She is an inductee of the College of Workers’ Compensation Lawyers and member of N.C. Advocates for Justice and the Workers’ Injury Law & Advocacy Group (WILG).
Payton is a past president of the Guilford County Association of Black Lawyers and past secretary of the North Carolina Association of Black Lawyers. She is a past chair of the Shiloh Baptist Church Board of Trustees, the YWCA-Greensboro Board of Directors and the Legal Aid of N.C. Board of Directors. Within the NCBA she has served as chair of the Membership Committee and Diversity Committee, and currently chairs the Awards and Recognitions Committee. She is also a past chair of the NCBA Workers’ Compensation Section.
Scott A. Schaaf
Scott A. Schaaf is a partner with Womble Bond Dickinson (US) LLP in Winston-Salem, where he concentrates his practice on real estate, real estate finance, commercial finance and regulatory law. He joined the firm in 2007 and previously practiced with Tuggle Duggins PA. Schaaf is a graduate of the University of North Carolina at Chapel Hill (1999) and UNC School of Law (2002).
Schaaf is a past chair of the NCBA Real Property Section, where he has also served as legislative chair. He is a member of the UNC Center for Banking and Finance Board of Advisors, the ABA Real Property, Trust and Estate Law Section and the Forsyth County Bar Association. He has been recognized by The Best Lawyers in America, Super Lawyers and in Business North Carolina’s Legal Elite.
Rebecca Smitherman
Rebecca Smitherman is a partner with Craige Jenkins Liipfert & Walker LLP in Winston-Salem, where she concentrates her practice on estate planning, estate administration and corporate law. She joined the firm in 2003, and previously practiced with Wallace & Graham. Smitherman is a graduate of the University of North Carolina at Chapel Hill (1998) and Wake Forest University School of Law (2002).
Smitherman is a Fellow of the American College of Trust and Estate Counsel and has served as an officer of the Winston-Salem Estate Planning Council. She is a member of the Reynolda Rotary Club and president of the board of directors of Riverwood Therapeutic Riding Center. Within the NCBA, she has served as chair of the Estate Planning & Fiduciary Law Section and been a member of the Elder & Special Needs Law, Tax and Business Law Sections, and the Future of Law and Legislative Advisory Committees.
Patrick B. Weede
Patrick B. Weede operates Weede Law, PLLC in Raleigh. He established his solo practice in 2017 and previously served as a Special Assistant U.S. Attorney for the Eastern District of North Carolina and Assistant District Attorney in Forsyth County. Weede is a 2004 graduate of the University of North Carolina at Chapel Hill and 2007 graduate of the UNC School of Law. He has served on the N.C. Sentencing and Policy Advisory Commission since 2019 and served on the Judicial Branch COVID-19 Task Force in 2020-21.
Weede is a member of the Wake County Bar Association/10th Judicial District Bench Bar Committee and the Susie Sharp Inn of Court. He has served on the Insight Human Services Board of Directors since 2011. Within the NCBA, he served on the Criminal Justice Section Council from 2013-19 and held the position of section chair in 2018-19. He also co-planned the section’s annual CLE program in 2020 and 2021.
New vice presidents, who were elected to one-year terms in April, will also join the NCBA Board of Governors in 2021-22. They are:
Chief Judge Donna Stroud
Chief Judge Donna Stroud was sworn in as chief judge of the North Carolina Court of Appeals on Jan. 1, 2021. She is a graduate of Campbell University (1985), Campbell Law School (J.D., 1988) and Duke University School of Law (LL.M., 2014). After 16 years in private practice, she was elected to serve as a District Court judge in Wake County in 2004. Chief Judge Stroud was elected to the Court of Appeals in 2006 and re-elected without opposition in 2014.
Within the legal profession, Chief Judge Stroud is a member of the N.C. Association of Women Attorneys and former chair of its Judicial Division, a member and vice president of the Craven-Everett Inn of Court, and chair of the Chief Justice’s Rules Advisory Commission. She is also a member of the Wake County Bar Association and 10th Judicial District Bar, the ABA Judicial Division, the North Carolina Courts Commission, the Chief Justice’s Commission on Professionalism, and the Family Court Advisory Commission. She has also served on the Dispute Resolution Commission and the Governor’s Task Force on Mental Health and Substance Use.
Chief Judge Stroud is a member of the Sir Walter Cabinet and past president of the Wendell Chamber of Commerce and the Zebulon Junior Woman’s Club. She is a member of The Shepherd’s Church in Cary.
Judge Eric Cole Morgan
Judge Eric Morgan of Kernersville serves as a Superior Court judge in Judicial District 21C. He was appointed to the bench in 2014 and elected to an eight-year term in 2016. Judge Morgan is a graduate of the University of Virginia and the University of Texas School of Law.
Prior to his service on the bench, Morgan was a partner in Wells Jenkins Lucas & Jenkins and an associate at Womble Carlyle Sandridge & Rice (now Womble Bond Dickinson (US) LLP). He is a lifelong resident of Forsyth County and graduate of R.J. Reynolds High School in Winston-Salem. Judge Morgan is married to Kernersville Mayor Dawn Morgan and they have three children. Morgan is a member of First Baptist Church of Kernersville.
Judge Susan “Smitty” Dotson-Smith
Judge Susan “Smitty” Dotson-Smith of Weaverville is a District Court judge for the 28th Judicial District (Buncombe County). She was appointed to the bench in 2012 and elected to four-year terms in 2014 and 2018. Judge Dotson-Smith is a graduate of Duke University and Wake Forest University School of Law. She spent 20 years in private practice including mediation prior to becoming the primary hearing clerk for the Clerk of Superior Court in 2011.
Judge Dotson-Smith has been recognized for outstanding service by the 28th Judicial District Bar (now Buncombe County Bar) and Pisgah Legal Services. She is also a recipient of the NCAWA Award for Public Service. Within the NCBA and North Carolina Bar Foundation, she has provided leadership to the 4ALL Statewide Service Day and the Modest Means Access Committee. She is currently a member of the Chief Justice’s Commission on Fairness and Equity, the Board of Governors for the NC Association of District Court Judges, the Buncombe County Pro Bono committee, the Buncombe County Juvenile Crime Prevention Council, the coordinating committee for the proposed NC Chapter for the Association of Family and Conciliation, and the North Carolina Association of Women Attorneys.
Dean Marsetta Lee
Dean Marsetta Lee serves as Associate Dean of Administration and External Relations at North Carolina Central University School of Law in Durham. She previously served as the Criminal Justice Coordinator and as an adjunct professor at Wilmington University in Delaware. Prior to entering academia, Dean Lee had an exemplary 27-year legal career in the State of New Jersey Office of the Attorney General, from which she retired in 2017 as an Assistant Attorney General and the Executive Director of the Victims of Crime Compensation Office.
Dean Lee has held additional management positions, serving as legal counsel to the State Office of Medical Examiners and Deputy Attorney General in the Appellate Division, where she appeared before all levels of state courts including the New Jersey Supreme Court. She has served on numerous statewide boards and councils, and multiple task forces, boards, and committees. She serves on the Wilmington University Criminal Justice Program Advisory Council and the Paralegal Advisory Board, and is a past president of the Association of Black Women Lawyers of New Jersey. Dean Lee is a member of Zeta Phi Beta Sorority, Inc., and Macedonia Baptist Church.
Judge Joe L. Webster
Judge Joe L. Webster was elected to a two-year term as vice president. He serves as Magistrate Judge for the U.S. District Court for the Middle District of North Carolina, a position he has held since 2012, and served as an administrative law judge for the North Carolina Office of Administrative Hearings from 2006-12. He began his legal career with Legal Services of Southern Piedmont (now Charlotte Center for Legal Advocacy) before returning to Madison, where he became the town’s first African American attorney. Judge Webster has also served as general counsel of the Mid-Eastern Athletic Conference, town attorney, and as deputy director of Legal Services of N.C. (now Legal Aid of North Carolina).
Judge Webster is a graduate of Howard University (1976) and Howard University School of Law (1979), and also holds an LL.M. from Duke University School of Law (2016). He served on the North Carolina Board of Law Examiners from 1989-2002 and chaired the board from 1998-2000. He is also a past chair of the NCBA Minorities in the Profession Committee and in 1984 became the second recipient of the NCBA’s Pro Bono Service Award (now William Thorp Pro Bono Service Award). Judge Webster is the author of “The Making and Measure of a Judge: Biography of the Honorable Sammie Chess Jr.,” who was North Carolina’s first African American Superior Court judge. Judge Webster was inducted into the Howard University Alumni Club of the Research Triangle Park Bison Hall of Fame in 2018. He is a member of the Rotary Club of Durham and Oberlin Baptist Church of Raleigh, where he serves as associate minister. He is the founder of the CourtCares Program, wich is conducted in collaboration with the Durham Public Schools.
Russell Rawlings is director of external affairs and communications for the North Carolina Bar Association.