NCBA Criminal Justice Section Presents Gilchrist/Smith Awards
The NCBA Criminal Justice Section recently presented the 14th Annual Peter S. Gilchrist III & Wade M. Smith Awards to Randolph County District Attorney Andrew M. Gregson (Gilchrist Award) and Chief Pitt County Public Defender Robert Carl (Bert) Kemp III (Smith Award).
The awards are named for their initial recipients, former Mecklenburg County District Attorney Peter Gilchrist and renowned defense attorney Wade Smith of Raleigh.
The awards were presented on January 19 at the Embassy Suites in Cary in advance of the section’s annual meeting and CLE on January 20 at the N.C. Bar Center. Section Chair Kathleen A. Gleason presided over the ceremony and Gilchrist/Smith Awards Committee Chair Kimberly Overton Spahos presented the awards.
Bert Kemp, left, and Andrew Gregson display awards.
Andrew Gregson, as denoted on his official website, is a native of Randolph County and grew up in Randleman. He attended The Citadel on a U.S. Air Force scholarship and graduated in 1985. Gregson proceeded to Campbell Law School, then located in Buies Creek, and graduated in 1988. He was admitted to the N.C. Bar and served active duty as a member of the JAG Corps until 1992.
Gregson previously served as police attorney for the High Point Police Department and as an Assistant District Attorney for Prosecutorial District 19B. He earned the title of Chief Assistant District Attorney under District Attorney Garland Yates and was elected district attorney in 2016.
Gregson was introduced by Senior Pastor Boyd Byerly of Sunset Avenue Church of God in Asheboro.
“Thank you to the Bar Association for this honor,” Gregson began in accepting the award, after which he congratulated Kemp and thanked members of his family, friends and colleagues who were in attendance. “I’m really struggling a little bit with the emotion of how many people came to support me. It is just incredible.”
“I don’t want to hurt my fellow DA’s feelings, but I’ve got the best DA’s office in the state,” Gregson proclaimed. “I’ve got the best attorneys and the best legal assistants. They are professional. They’re ethical. They work hard. They make me look good, and I just want to thank you all so much for being able to be here tonight. I appreciate you guys so much.”
Gregson added his appreciation for all of the state’s assistant district attorneys.
“I don’t know if you know this, but there are 683 Assistant DAs in the state,” Gregson said, “and only 84 of them who have 20 years or more experience for the ninth most populous state in the nation. This award is incredibly humbling and it has been a little bit difficult for me to accept this. I prefer to kind of be in the background. Elected DAs get the best award there is every four years when our people that we represent day in and day out vote on us and hand us tremendous power and tremendous responsibility. That’s the highest award and the one I’m most proud of.
“But this is an incredible honor, and I do thank the Bar Association, but I thank you more that you would take the opportunity to honor prosecutors because those 683 Assistant DAs go to court almost every day. Most days nobody says thank you, even the victims most days. Some days the judges are easy to deal with. Some days they’re not. Some days your witnesses show up, some days they don’t. And most days, nobody really gives you any recognition.
“And you toil and do that, so few make it to 20 years, because you don’t get rich doing it. You do it for the love of your community and the camaraderie with the law enforcement and the feeling that you’re doing good. You’re making a difference, and so I’m very humbled by this award. I thank you for it, but if it’s OK with you, I’m going to accept it on behalf of the assistant DAs in the state who work like that.”
Previous recipients joined this year’s honorees for a group photo that included, front from left, Gerald Beaver, Sandra Hairston, Bert Kemp, Andrew Gregson, Howard Cummings and Joe Cheshire. Back from left, Sean Devereux, Tommy Manning, Colon Willoughby, Clark Everett and Kim Overton Spahos.
Bert Kemp, as denoted on his webpage at Campbell Law School – where he serves as an adjunct law professor – is a native of Henderson and grew up in Oxford. He graduated as the valedictorian of Oxford Webb High School and received a B.A. in Economics in 1993 from the University of North Carolina at Chapel Hill and a J.D. in 1996 from Wake Forest University School of Law. He joined the Pitt County Public Defender’s Office in 2001 as an Assistant Public Defender and became Chief Pitt County Public Defender in June 2007.
Kemp is past president of the Pitt County Bar Association and Judicial District 3A Bar, a past chair of the NCBA Criminal Justice Section, a former member of the NCBA Board of Governors, and a past president of the North Carolina Public Defender Association. He serves in the North Carolina National Guard, where he holds the rank of Lieutenant Colonel in the JAG Corps, and he completed two tours in Iraq in support of Operation Iraqi Freedom.
Kemp, who was honored just one night earlier as a recipient of the Chief Justice’s Professionalism Award, was introduced by former Pitt County District Attorney W. Clark Everett, a previous recipient of the Gilchrist Award. Kemp asked Everett to present him, he said, to underscore the importance of collaboration.
“I think collaboration is absolutely important in this great polarization world that we’re living in.”
Kemp thanked everyone who was on hand to see him receive the award, prosecutors and fellow defense attorneys alike, and paid homage to the previous recipients who were in attendance.
“The list of people on the Wade Smith Award to me are the titans,” Kemp said. “And what do I bring to that table of titans? I dare say that what I bring is a renewed emphasis on collaboration between the offices. I think collaboration is key because this job is hard. The district attorney’s job is hard. We don’t need to make it personal.
“I’m very excited and I think the Chief Justice is supportive of having a Public Defenders Office expansion in North Carolina. I think that’s going to be a wonderful thing over the next few years, and I hope it becomes a reality.”
Kemp closed his remarks with a toast, derived from William’s Shakespeare’s “Taming of the Shrew,” regarding adversaries.
“And when it comes to adversaries,” Kemp stated in presenting his toast, “strive mightily against your adversaries, but eat and drink as friends.”
Previous recipients of Gilchrist/Smith awards are:
Gilchrist Award Recipients
2021 – Pansy D. Glanton, Winston-Salem
2020 – David Saacks, Raleigh
2019 – Kimberly Overton Spahos, Raleigh
2018 – Howard P. Neumann, Greensboro
2017 – W. Clark Everett, Greenville
2016 – Howard J. Cummings, Raleigh
2015 – Barton Menser, Charlotte
2014 – Sandra J. Hairston, Greensboro
2013 – James J. Coman, Raleigh
2012 – Calvin W. Colyer, Fayetteville
2011 – C. Colon Willoughby Jr., Raleigh
2010 – William D. Kenerly, Salisbury
2009 – Edward W. Grannis Jr., Fayetteville
2008 – Peter S. Gilchrist III, Charlotte
Smith Award Recipients
2021 – David Freedman, Winston-Salem
2020 – H. Gerald Beaver, Fayetteville
2019 – John P. (Jack) O’Hale, Smithfield
2018 – Claire J. Rauscher, Charlotte
2017 – Michael A. Grace, Winston-Salem
2016 – Sean P. Devereux, Asheville
2015 – Thomas C. Manning, Raleigh
2014 – Mark W. Owens Jr., Greenville
2013 – Fredrick G. Lind, Greensboro
2012 – James E. Ferguson, Charlotte
2011 – Joseph B. Cheshire V, Raleigh
2010 – James P. Cooney III, Charlotte
2009 – Locke T. Clifford, Greensboro
2008 – Wade M. Smith, Raleigh
Russell Rawlings is director of external affairs and communications for the North Carolina Bar Association.