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2023 NCBA Annual Meeting Awards and Recognitions

The 2023 Annual Meeting of the North Carolina Bar Association was held June 22-24 in Wilmington. The event featured presentation of numerous awards traditionally bestowed during the annual meeting in addition to recognition of the initial North Carolina Bar Foundation Open Door Fellows and announcement of the 2023 class of the Legal Practice (formerly General Practice) Hall of Fame which will be inducted in the fall.

A complete listing of this year’s honorees is below. Additional coverage of the award winners and Open Door Fellows will be provided in the August edition of North Carolina Lawyer, with the exception of the Hall of Fame inductees who will be featured in the November edition.

The recipients of this year’s NCBA Annual Meeting awards and recognitions are:

LEGAL LEGENDS OF COLOR
Judge Joe L. Webster
Judge Addie M. Harris Rawls (Ret.)
Former Rep. Annie Brown Kennedy (posthumous)
Secretary Pamela B. Cashwell
Brenda Ford Harding

OPEN DOOR FELLOWS
Tavaria Smith
Zi Zhou

PRO BONO AWARDS

  • Greenblatt Outstanding Lawyer Award: Carlene McNulty
  • Thorp Pro Bono Service Award: Erik Zimmerman
  • Younger Lawyer Pro Bono Service Award: Troy Shelton
  • Outstanding Paralegal Pro Bono Service Award: S.M. Kernodle-Hodges
  • Outstanding Collaborative Pro Bono Award: Afghan Asylum Project – Parker Poe Adams & Bernstein and Pisgah Legal Services
  • Filling the Justice Gap Award: Charlotte Legal Initiative to Mobilize Businesses
  • Law Firm Pro Bono Award: Parker Poe Adams & Bernstein
  • Law School Pro Bono Service Award: North Carolina Central University School of Law Elder Law Project

LEGAL PRACTICE HALL OF FAME
Stephen L. Beaman
Joseph B. Cheshire V
William M. Claytor
Fenton T. Erwin Jr.
Troy C. Homesley Jr.
Ronald P. Johnson
Larry S. McDevitt
Claud R. Wheatley III

CITIZEN LAWYER AWARDS
Stanley Abrams
Stephen R. Berlin
Marvin V. Horton Jr.
Paul L. Jones
John T. Kilby
Robert G. McIntosh
Ronald K. Payne
Blaine Sanders
Robert H. Wall

YLD AWARDS

  • Charles F. Blanchard Young Lawyer of the Year Award: Kayla Daniell Britt
  • Robinson O. Everett Professionalism Award: S. Collins Saint

DISTINGUISHED PARALEGAL AWARD
Katie Riddle

BRENT MCKNIGHT RENAISSANCE LAWYER AWARD
David Gantt