Estate Planning Honors Holding

The award was presented on Thursday, July 26, in conjunction with the section’s annual meeting and CLE at Kiawah Island, S.C.

Holding has practiced with Robinson Bradshaw for 29 years. He is a graduate of the University of North Carolina at Chapel Hill and the University of Virginia School of Law.

The section also announced the establishment of a North Carolina Bar Foundation Endowment Justice Fund in honor of Holding. The Justice Fund will be dedicated at a later date.

“As it was the first Distinguished Service Award, it obviously meant a great deal to me,” Holding said. “I was overwhelmed with that award in addition to the Justice Fund in my honor.”

Holding has been a member of the Estate Planning & Fiduciary Law Section since its inception in 1979, devoting a great deal of his involvement to the section’s Legislative Committee.

“I have enjoyed working with other attorneys as a team drafting legislation,” Holding added. “The contributions of those on the teams should not be overlooked. Working with other people and sharing ideas – that is the part I have enjoyed the most in our efforts to achieve our goal of providing the best trust and estate legislation in North Carolina.”

Holding, notes the firm’s website, is co-author of two popular resources for North Carolina attorneys, the BB&T Estate Planning Forms Manual and the document assembly software program, MenuForms for North Carolina Estate Planners. He is also a frequent lecturer on estate planning, administration and tax topics.

In establishing this new award, the Estate Planning & Fiduciary Law Section set forth the following criteria:

1. Be a member in good standing for 25 or more years of the NC Bar Association and Estate Planning & Fiduciary Law Section.

2. Be a currently licensed member in good standing of the North Carolina State Bar or otherwise be retired to “inactive status” by said State Bar under “honorable” conditions.

3. Be a person of high character and reputation in her/his community and in the bar.

4. Have served on council, one or more committees or as an officer of the Estate Planning & Fiduciary Law Section.

5. Have provided CLE services to the section as speaker, panelist, organizer and/or facilitator.

6. Have received prior public recognition by her/his peers for expertise in the area of estate planning and fiduciary law, such as being a fellow in ACTEC; being recognized by Best Lawyers, The Legal Elite or Super Lawyers; being a Board Certified Specialist in Estate Planning and Probate Law by the NC State Bar Board of Legal Specialization; or a similar recognition.

7. Have exhibited the utmost professionalism in the practice of law consonant with the NC Bar Association’s “Purposes” as defined in Article 1.2 of said Association’s bylaws and in Article 1, Section 2 of the Estate Planning & Fiduciary Law bylaws.

8. Have provided exemplary, outstanding and distinguished service to the Section, the North Carolina Bar, its practitioners and the public which has made a significant impact for betterment of legal practice in the area of estate planning and fiduciary law. (By way of example, and not limitation, such distinguished service may include such matters as pro-bono activities, publications, educational programs, special expertise, mentoring, public service, philanthropic activities and all other activities which reflect favorably on the highest standards of integrity, service and professionalism to be exhibited by members of the NC Bar Association.)