Litigation Section Presents Advocate’s Award to Gray Wilson
The Litigation Section of the North Carolina Bar Association recently honored G. Gray Wilson as the 16th recipient of The Advocate’s Award. Section Chair Donald Pocock presented the award on May 23 at Truist Stadium in Winston-Salem.
Gray Wilson, left, accepts award from Don Pocock.
“The Advocate’s Award is designed to recognize the superstars of our profession, and no one embodies that more than Gray Wilson,” Pocock said. “His contributions cannot be overstated. Gray’s scholarship, expertise, and service have impacted the development of our state’s legal practice from the mountains to the sea.”
Wilson is a partner with Nelson Mullins in Winston-Salem and a past president of the NCBA and N.C. State Bar. He is a 1973 graduate of Davidson College, where he was inducted into Phi Beta Kappa, and a 1976 graduate of Duke University School of Law, where he served as editor of the Legal Research Board and was a Hart Cup Moot Court finalist.
He is the author of North Carolina Civil Procedure, which was originally published in 1989 and is now in its Fourth Edition. The two-volume treatise has long been considered the authoritative source on civil procedure in North Carolina.
Wilson is a veteran of the U.S. Army, where he earned the rank of lieutenant. He has been an active member of the NCBA and the Litigation Section throughout his distinguished career.
“I sat on the Litigation Section council almost before we had electricity,” Wilson said, “but from that time I have always regarded it as the beacon for first-rate trial lawyers in this state. This is where one meets the best of the best and attempts to emulate those traits that invariably carry the day with judges and juries in county after county, urban, rural and sometimes just a little bit scary.”
“The NCBA was my first love in this profession, as a young lawyer and aging fossil,” Wilson added. “The Army taught me how to keep my mouth shut, but the NCBA showed me how to be an effective advocate while maintaining the highest standards of ethical behavior and cogent, persuasive reasoning to a just and fair conclusion.”
Wilson is a fellow of the American College of Trial Lawyers and has taught trial advocacy at Wake Forest University School of Law. He was previously honored by the N.C. Association of Defense Attorneys as the recipient of the J. Robert Elster Award for Professional Excellence. Wilson recently concluded his service on the Lawyers Mutual Board of Directors, where he served from 2006-24 and as chair from 2016-21.
Within the Winston-Salem community, he has been active with the Old Hickory Council of Boy Scouts of America and has chaired the boards of trustees at First Christian Church, Centenary United Methodist Church and Messiah Moravian Church.
Wilson was appointed to the Forsyth County Board of Commissioners earlier this year and is seeking election to a full four-year term in November.
Previous recipients of The Advocate’s Award are:
- Mark Merritt (2023)
- Walter Brock (2022)
- John R. Wester (2021)
- Catharine Biggs Arrowood (2020)
- Ted Fillette (2018)
- Janet Ward Black (2017)
- Bill Womble Jr. (2016)
- James E. Ferguson II (2015)
- Ward McKeithen (2013)
- Charles F. Blanchard (2012)
- Alan W. Duncan (2011)
- James T. Williams Jr. (2010)
- Grady Barnhill Jr. (2009)
- Donald Cowan Jr. (2007)
- Charles L. Becton (2006)
Russell Rawlings is director of external affairs and communications for the North Carolina Bar Association.