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JoAnne P. Smith Receives Distinguished Paralegal Award

JoAnne P. Smith is the recipient of the Distinguished Paralegal Award. Smith received this accolade at the Paralegal Division Annual Meeting & Distinguished Paralegal Award Presentation on Wednesday, June 10. Alice Johnson, Immediate Past Chair and Awards Committee Co-Chair, presented the award.

Smith was also recognized during the Awards Dinner at the NCBA Annual Meeting in Charlotte on Friday, June 26. Stephanie C. Crosby announced the award.

JoAnne, a white woman with brown hair, wears a blue blouse and black blazer. She is standing outside and holding her award.

JoAnne P. Smith

Smith is a paralegal with Nash County Department of Social Services, where she has served since 2020. In this role, she focuses on juvenile matters, adult protective services and guardianships. She is a North Carolina Certified Paralegal with eighteen years of experience. Before assuming her role with Nash County, she worked with Craft & Levin, LLP, where she handled cases in bankruptcy and family law.

Outside her current role, she has contributed to the profession and to her community through both teaching and service. She is an instructor at Edgecombe Community College, where she teaches Introduction to Paralegal Studies. In 2024, she was a participant in the Building Leaders Together Program, offered through Nash County’s Department of Social Services. As part of her work, she helped to spearhead the installation of a communication board at Nash County Miracle Park at Coopers.

The communication board serves as an informational tool and is helpful for individuals with limited language abilities.

She received her bachelor’s degree in paralegal studies from Peirce College and her associate degree from Pitt Community College. She is pursuing her master’s degree in paralegal studies at George Washington University and anticipates graduating in 2027.

Jason, a white man with brown hair, wears a white shirt, blue tie and black suit. Smith, a white woman with brown hair and glasses, wears a black blouse and red blazer.

Smith was honored at the NCBA Annual Meeting Awards Dinner on Friday, June 26. Left to right are NCBA Executive Director Jason Hensley, Smith and NCBA Immediate Past President Rob Harrington.

The Distinguished Paralegal Award recognizes outstanding achievements, professionalism and contributions by a North Carolina paralegal, both in the profession and within the recipient’s community.

Smith’s nominators wrote about her commitment to service and excellence in the profession.

“Not only is Ms. Smith a tremendous help to the attorneys and staff in her office, but she has truly been a blessing to others outside the agency,” said one nominator.

Another nominator said, “JoAnne Parrish Smith represents the very best qualities of the paralegal profession: leadership, service, mentorship and dedication to both the legal field and the broader community.”

We spoke with Smith about what it means to her to receive this recognition. Read our interview with her below.

What does it mean to you to receive this recognition?

It is such an honor to receive this award and be recognized by my peers. To me, it means that my hard work and determination have paid off and I am grateful to everyone who has supported and mentored me along the way.

How did you initially become interested in pursuing the role of a paralegal?

I was taking some continuing education classes at Edgecombe Community College while I was deciding what career to pursue.  While attending ECC, I moved to Greenville, North Carolina and decided that I would see what Pitt Community College had to offer. While researching their academic programs, I found they offered a paralegal technology program. I didn’t even know what a paralegal was, but when I read about the type of work that paralegals completed, it appealed to my meticulous nature and I immediately signed up.

Alice, a Black woman with black hair, wears a cream colored sweater and stands at a podium.

Johnson, left, presented Smith, right, with the Distinguished Paralegal Award on June 10, 2026.

What do you find most rewarding about your paralegal role at Nash County Department of Social Services?

Working at the Nash County Department of Social Services allows me to advocate for children and the elderly. Although I do not get to help directly like a social worker, I am an essential part of the process as we all work together to help people in the community overcome barriers and achieve stability. My hope is to see the community empowered by the support they can receive at the Agency.

How has your membership in the Paralegal Division contributed to your professional growth?

The Paralegal Division has opened doors to new opportunities, offered a platform for collaboration and has expanded my network.  I have met so many different people and they have been wonderful. It is great to have conversations with other paralegals to share ideas and experiences. Everyone within the division has the same goal, and that is to promote the paralegal profession and foster community amongst paralegals across North Carolina.

Smith, a white woman with brown hair and glasses wears light blouse and black blazer. She is standing at a podium.

Smith accepting her award at the Paralegal Division Annual Meeting on June 10.

Could you tell us more about your involvement with the 2024 Building Leaders Together Project? I’d love to hear about the communication board you helped install in a Nash County Park.

When my youngest son was two years old, he was diagnosed as being on the autism spectrum. That diagnosis was hard to hear because I did not know how to navigate it. My son could not talk at that time, and we could not communicate with each other in a substantial way, so I learned some sign language while he was in speech therapy. As the years went by, my son learned how to talk, but I often thought of other parents who were navigating the same diagnosis and what I could do to help that process be easier for them.

I was doing some research one day and found an article about communication boards. I knew that I wanted to get a communication board in a park or somewhere that had a central location within my community, but I realized I needed help. By the time I began working at Nash DSS, my son was almost grown, but the idea of the communication board was still in the back of my mind.

In 2024, I participated in the Building Leaders Together Program that is offered at Nash DSS. In this program, we had to complete a Capstone project, and we were placed in groups. All the people in my group worked in some form of communications at Nash County. I suggested to the group we make a communication board and explained what a communication board was, and we all agreed it was a great idea. It took teamwork to get the board completed, and we had to reach out to stakeholders in the community to sponsor the board. This was a dream realized so that individuals with communication issues in Nash County know we see them and they are important to us.

What experiences have inspired your passion for serving others?

One of the best gifts I ever received was time. In late 1987, my grandfather was diagnosed with a brain tumor. When conventional methods did not work to alleviate the tumor, he was encouraged to finalize his personal matters. I remember coming home from school in June of 1988, and my dad told us we were all going to stay with my grandparents for the summer. That was the best and saddest summer of my life. I am so thankful that my parents made the decision to move in and help my grandmother navigate this as a family. When times are hard, people need to lean on each other and that alleviates stress and it plants seeds of hope. Growing up and seeing the adults around me give freely of their time and energy made an impact.

Smith, a white woman with brown hair, is wearing a blue blouse and black blazer. She is pictured holding the award. Her sister, a white woman with brown hair stands to her right, her brother, a white man with a shaved head and glasses, stands behind her, and her father, a white man with grey hair, stands to her left.

Pictured in the front row left to right are Smith’s sister, Lois Parrish, and Smith. In the back are Smith’s brother, Henry Donald Parrish Jr., and her father, Henry Donald Parrish Sr.

Who are some of the mentors who have influenced you?

Susan Brown, NCCP, helped me transition into a professional office environment when I was entirely new to the field. Although I did not work with her long, her kindness made an impact. Dietrich Graves, NCCP, taught me how important attention to detail is, and she answered every question I  had with patience. I have also worked with some really great attorneys who challenged me to elevate my potential and pursue professional excellence.

You have 18 years of experience as a paralegal, and you also teach Introduction to Paralegal Studies at Edgecombe Community College. Why is it important to you to mentor and teach others who will become paralegals?

When I teach the Intro to Paralegal Studies class, I tell my students that I do not gatekeep. This honesty helps me offer advice on how they may improve their skills and give them the confidence to overcome any challenge they may face in their career. I can share my experiences and knowledge with the students in the hopes they learn from any challenge that I have faced, and it helps them foster critical thinking and resilience. It is also a way to bridge the gap between the curriculum and how it practically applies once the student begins working in the field.