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Wake County Bar Association raises $10,000 for Legal Aid of NC
July 2, 2009 Media Release
(Raleigh, NC) – At its annual Wake Bar Awards and fundraising
event, the Wake County Bar Association (WCBA) raised $10,000 for
Legal Aid of North Carolina.
"Everyone – not only the performers but the awardees and the
audience – had a blast,” said
John I. Mabe, a partner and attorney
with the Raleigh office of the
Williams Mullen law firm and the master of ceremonies for the
June 3rd event.
“It was a great way to get together for a very important cause and
to have fun seeing what mischief lawyers can get up to in front of a
microphone,” noted Mabe.. “It turned out to be a good way to
introduce summer law clerks to the camaraderie of the Wake County
Bar.”
As WCBA’s president in 2008, Mabe had formed a committee to initiate
an annual fundraiser to provide support for free legal services in
civil matters for low-income people in Wake County. The committee
came up with a fake awards show format to recognize and gently
satirize actual achievements by Bar members and legally-related
organizations. Last year's event raised around $5000 for Legal Aid;
this year event raised $10,000 through ticket sales as well as
sponsorships from local law firms.
The 2009 fundraiser, entitled “The VERY SERIOUS Bar Awards,” was
held on June 3 in the Daniels Auditorium of the NC Museum of History
in Raleigh. The show was written, produced and performed by Wake
County Bar members. The award itself was called the
"Golden Limine" along with a fake legal history story that
explained the name to go along with it. Each award was accompanied
by a musical tribute to the "winner."
“In addition to a ceremony for the awards themselves, the show was
also a theatrical parody,” said Superior Court Special Judge Ripley
E Rand, who master-minded the script and most of the humor in the
show. “The pool of talent was both broad and deep.” Rand wrote the
lyrics for the music ranging from Black Sabbath to the Carpenters,
and including the Beatles, R.E.M., Sinatra, and even Wayne Newton.
The 2009 awards presented included:
● Court of the Year (Wake District
Court, accepted by District Court Judge Robert B. Rader)
● Best Legal Reporting (The
Slammer, awarded in absentia and accepted by Bryan Collins)
● The Civil Procedure Award (Campbell
Law School's change of venue, accepted by Melissa Essary)
● Lawyer of the Year (Joseph B. "Joe"
Cheshire V, of
Cheshire
Parker Schneider Bryan & Vitale)
● Judge of the Year (Cressie Thigpen, of
Blue, Stephens
and Fellers)
● The John Adams Award (to Justice
Robert F. “Bob” Orr, for “finding new claims in the Constitution”)
● Breakthrough Performance (Shannon
Joseph for soloing as female Superior Court Judge)
● State Bar Ethics Opinion of the Year
(the
"Super Lawyer" opinion, accepted for the State Bar by John
McMillan)
● Legal Event of the Year
(ground-breaking on the new courthouse, accepted by Superior Court
Judge Donald W. Stephens)
At the end of the awards show, the title of "Wake County's Best
Lawyer," was – in good fun –randomly selected from entrants in a $5
raffle.
The show also included video shorts written by Superior Court
Special Judge Ripley Rand and performed by lawyers, including Ed
Gaskins (of Everett,
Gaskins, Hancock & Stevens, LLP and 2009 president of the WCBA),
and filmed and produced by Robby Merritt of Merritt Videoworks.
Performers for the 2009 Wake County Awards included: Asa Bell (Becton
Slifkin & Bell PA); Seth Blum (Kurtz
& Blum, PLLC); Martin Brinkley (Smith
Anderson); Walter Brock (Young
Moore & Henderson, PA); Gina Cammarano (Jernigan
Law Firm); Anna Baird Choi (Allen
& Pinnix, PA); Sean Cole (Law
Offices of James Scott Farrin); Mike Connell (Cranfill
Sumner & Hartzog LLP); Ben Davis (Brooks,
Pierce, McLendon, Humphrey & Leonard, LLP); Ben Fisher (Troutman
Sanders, LLP); Debbie Hildebran-Bachofen (Manning
Fulton & Skinner, PA); Rick Hunter (Law
Offices of Richard S. Hunter Jr.); Laura Jenkins (Laura
S. Jenkins, PC); Charles Marshall (Brooks, Pierce, McLendon,
Humphrey & Leonard, LLP); Charles Putterman (The Law Offices of
Charles M. Putterman); Rhonda Raney (NC Department of Crime Control
& Public Safety); and Jay Trehy (Twiggs, Beskind, Strickland and
Rabenau).
Prior to the show, money was raised with a cash bar reception
sponsored by
Lexis/Nexis,
Lawyers Mutual/Lawyers Insurance Agency,
SunTrust Bank,
Michelob Light and
Horizon Cellars. A number of law
firms provided sponsorships:
Bailey & Dixon;
Manning Fulton;
Womble
Carlyle;
Williams Mullen;
Yates McLamb;
Ellis & Winters;
Graebe
Hanna & Welborn,
Hunton & Williams;
Jernigan Law Office;
Nicholls Crampton;
Smith Anderson;
Wyrick Robbins Yates & Ponton;
Zaytoun Law
Office;
Brooks, Pierce, McLendon, Humphrey & Leonard, LLP;
Johnson,
Hearn, Vinegar, Gee & Glass and
Tharrington Smith. Regular ticket
prices were $30.
At the conclusion of the event, President Gaskins announced that the
show raised about $10,000 for
Legal Aid of NC.
Victor Boone of the
LANC-Raleigh Office thanked the audience, reminding them that the
statewide recession has had a terrible impact on funding for legal
aid.
“There have been calls for another performance next year,” said Mabe.
“We hope the WCBA's Professionalism Task Force will smile on those
entreaties."
The Wake County Bar Association (WCBA) is a voluntary bar
association with a membership of more than 2,000 lawyers. The WCBA
exists to promote a closer union and fellowship among the lawyers
and the judiciary of Wake County, North Carolina; to maintain and
promote high standards of professionalism; to further the
administration and delivery of justice; and to promote
professionalism and public interest in the law.
Legal Aid of North Carolina (LANC) is a statewide, nonprofit law
firm that provides free legal services in civil matters to eligible,
low-income people in all 100 counties in North Carolina through 24,
geographically located offices in North Carolina. LANC’s clients
typically have an annual income of 125% or less of the federally
established poverty levels. In 2007, LANC closed approximately
23,000 cases across North Carolina. For additional information on
LANC and its Board of Directors, visit the LANC website at
www.legalaidnc.org.
# # #
CONTACTS:
John I. Mabe, Jr. (Attorney/Partner, Williams Mullen, LLP),
Raleigh, NC,
919-981-4036
Alice G. Roman (Executive Director, Wake County Bar Association),
Cary, NC,
919-657-1572
Victor Boone (Senior Managing Attorney, LANC-Raleigh Office),
Raleigh, NC,
919-863-1442
Dock Kornegay (Director, Public Relations & Development, Legal
Aid of NC), Raleigh, NC; 919-856-2564
___________
Also see article:
"Professionalism Task Force Considers Fate of Bar Awards Show, "
pp. 20-22, Wake Bar Flier, July 2009.
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are for information and educational purposes only and do not
constitute legal advice.
Also please note that Legal Aid of North Carolina does not
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to an attorney regarding your particular situation.
See our
complete disclaimer.
Mission Statement
Legal Aid of North Carolina is a statewide, nonprofit law firm that
provides free legal services in civil matters to low-income people in
order to ensure equal access to justice and to remove legal barriers
to economic opportunity.