Leadership Academy Class Selected

The North Carolina Bar Association’s Leadership Academy Class of 2020 has been selected. Seventeen young lawyers will participate in the 10th installment of the leadership training program.

The mission of the Leadership Academy is to help young lawyers become effective leaders in their communities, including the legal profession, their firms, legal departments or other workplaces, other organizations with which they are associated, their local, state, national or even international communities, and any other environments where lawyers regularly have calls or opportunities for leadership.

The Leadership Academy was implemented in 2011 during the tenure of President Gene Pridgen under the direction of Past-President Norfleet Pruden. NCBA Past- President Shelby Benton and Jon Heyl, former chair of the Antitrust and Complex Business Disputes Law Section, serve as co-chairs of the NCBA Leadership Academy initiative. 

The NCBA is again partnering with Level Up Leadership of Raleigh to provide this year’s training.

Members of the NCBA Leadership Academy Class of 2020 are:

  • Andre Board, Charlotte, Compass Group, USA
  • Aviance Brown, Raleigh, Law Office of Aviance D. Brown, PLLC
  • Doug Colvard, Apex, Fourscore Business Law
  • Claire Dickerhoff, Fayetteville, Hutchens Law Firm
  • Meisha Evans, Raleigh, Disability Rights North Carolina
  • Allison Garren, Rutherfordton, Teddy, Meekins & Talbert, PLLC
  • Betsy Gold, Durham, Moore & Alphin, PLLC
  • Matthew Lenora, Chapel Hill, Robinson, Bradshaw & Hinson PA
  • Jessica Marie Major, Durham, The Law Firm of Jessica M. Major, PLLC
  • Ramona McGee, Chapel Hill, Southern Environmental Law Center
  • Nate Pencook, Raleigh, Shanahan Law Group
  • Tyler Russell, Raleigh, Ward and Smith, P.A.
  • Anderson Shackelford, Raleigh, Williams Mullen
  • Patrick Spaugh, Charlotte, Womble Bond Dickinson LLP
  • Leann Walsh, Cary, K L Gates, LLP
  • Gray Wilson, Raleigh, Smith, Anderson, Blount, Dorsett, Mitchell & Jernigan, LLP
  • Whitney Young, Elizabeth City, The Law Firm of Whitney A. Young PLLC

The Leadership Academy provides an intensely interactive and participatory leadership training program. The 17-lawyer class size is designed to facilitate interaction and an intimate learning environment. Unlike some other bar-sponsored leadership programs, this does not emphasize substantive information about the profession or the justice system.

Instead, the goals of the program are to help young lawyers to:

  • Increase personal self-awareness, including strengths and areas for development;
  • Develop and refine leadership skills, including inspiring confidence, creating a clear and compelling vision, building trust, communicating effectively, and enhancing team performance;
  • Improve their ability to influence others; and
  • Use the leadership skills they learn in order to “make a difference.”

It is expected that graduates of the program will not only become better leaders, but also become better lawyers.

The course of training will be in five sessions beginning on Friday and Saturday, March 6-7, at the N.C. Bar Center in Cary. Participants will also volunteer in the 4ALL Statewide Service Day at WRAL-TV in Raleigh.

Sessions will also be held April 9 and May 7 at the N.C. Bar Center, June 2 at various downtown Raleigh locations, and June 25-28 at the NCBA Annual Meeting in Charlotte.