The North Carolina Bar Association (NCBA), in conjunction with the Citizen Lawyer Task Force, honored five UNC Law alumni out of 12 recipients of the 2009 Citizen Lawyer Award. The awards were presented June 26 during the General Session of the NCBA Annual Meeting in Asheville.
The NCBA Citizen Lawyer Award was established in 2007 to recognize lawyers who provide exemplary public service to their communities. Honorees include elected and appointed government officials, coaches, mentors and voluntary leaders of non-profit, civic and community organizations.
UNC Law alumni recipients this year are:
Philip Baddour Jr. '67, Goldsboro
J. Wade Harrison '79, Burlington
W. Paul Holt Jr. '57, Sylva
Paul Meggett '98, Hillsborough
Kristi Kessler Walters '99, Charlotte
Other recipients include Lisa Angel of Raleigh, Carole Bruce of Greensboro, Sen. Dan Clodfelter, Shirley Fulton and Robert E. Harrington of Charlotte, James Narron of Smithfield, and Kim Stogner of Winston-Salem. Gene Pridgen of Charlotte chairs the Citizen Lawyer Task Force for 2008-09 and joined NCBA president Charles Becton in presenting the awards.
Philip A. Baddour Jr. '67
Philip A. Baddour Jr. served four terms in the N.C. House of Representatives including two terms as House majority leader. He is past president of the Institute of Government Foundation, the Goldsboro Area Chamber of Commerce and the Goldsboro Rotary Club, and has provided board leadership to the Clean Water Management Trust Fund, the UNC General Alumni Association, the N.C. Board of Transportation, the N.C. Board of Economic Development, Wayne Community College and the Wayne County Economic Development Commission. Baddour serves on the UNC Law Alumni Association Board of Directors and practices with Baddour, Parker & Hine. He earned his bachelor's degree from UNC.
J. Wade Harrison '79
J. Wade Harrison, past chair of the NCBA Family Law Section and past president of the Alamance Bar Association, has provided extensive community leadership and service to Alamance County. He served as chair of the Alamance County Strategic Planning Task Force, the Alamance County United Way, the March of Dimes Steering Committee for Alamance County, and the Professional Division of the Alamance County Arts Council. He has served as an assistant scoutmaster for Troop 9 of the Boy Scouts of America for more than 15 years. Harrison practices with Wishart, Norris, Henninger & Pittman. He earned his bachelor's degree from UNC.
W. Paul Holt Jr. '57
W. Paul Holt Jr. has been an integral part of Southwestern Community College. Holt is one of the institution's founding fathers. The library bears his name in recognition of more than 40 years of dedicated service as a member of its board of trustees, during which time he founded the SCC Foundation and served as its first chair. Holt's loyalty is also evident at the Jackson County Board of Education, where he served as board attorney for 50 years. He is also past president of the Sylva Rotary Club, Jackson Savings and Loan and the Jackson County Chamber of Commerce. He earned his bachelor's degree from UNC.
Paul Meggett '98
Paul Meggett serves on the NCBA Board of Governors and provides volunteer leadership to the organization through leadership of the Diversity Task Force and its Pathways to Inclusion initiative which he co-chairs. He also serves on the board of the Threshold Clubhouse targeting mental health issues in Durham and N.C. Prisoner Legal Services. He serves on the regional selection committee for the Park Scholarship at N.C. State University and previously served on the statewide advisory board of the N.C. Child Welfare Education Collaborative. Meggett serves as associate general counsel for UNC. He received his bachelor's degree from NCSU.
Kristi Kessler Walters '99
Kristi Kessler Walters provides volunteer leadership to the Charlotte Housing Authority Scholarship Fund, where she has served as a member of the board and the executive committee and chair of the Governance Task Force, and the Community School of the Arts where she has served as a board member, vice chair, committee chair and task force chair. She has also provided volunteer service to Davidson College, the National Association of College and University Attorneys and the UNC School of Law, where she serves as a co-chair of the UNC Law Alumni Association Student Affairs Committee. Walters practices with Parker Poe Adams & Bernstein. She earned her bachelor's degree from Davidson College.
-July 14, 2009