YLD Awards Presented at NCBA Annual Meeting

The Young Lawyers Division of the North Carolina Bar Association honored three of its members with individual awards at the 2023 Annual Meeting in Wilmington.

Outgoing Chair Lisa Williford presented the Charles F. Blanchard Young Lawyer of the Year Award and the Robinson O. Everett Professionalism Award during the Presidential Installation and Awards Dinner to Kayla Britt and Collins Saint, respectively.

Coverage of these two presentations follows. In addition, Troy Shelton received the Younger Lawyer Pro Bono Service Award, which is included in coverage of this year’s NCBA Pro Bono Awards.

Trey, a man with dark hair, wears a white shirt, grey tie, and grey suit. Collins, a person with brown hair and glasses, wears a white shirt and navy suit, and Kayla, a woman with auburn hair, wears a pink dress.

YLD Award winners, front from left: Troy Shelton (see Pro Bono Awards article), Collins Saint and Kayla Britt; joined, from left, by Executive Director Jason Hensley, YLD Chair Lisa Williford, and President Clayton Morgan.

Young Lawyer of the Year Award

The Charles F. Blanchard Young Lawyer of the Year Award is named for Charles F. Blanchard, who served as the founding chair of the Young Lawyers Division from 1953-1955. This award was established to recognize young lawyers for their distinguished and meritorious service. This award is selected by the YLD Chair in consultation with current and former YLD leadership.

“This year,” Lisa Williford began, “the YLD Leadership has selected Kayla Britt for the Young Lawyer of the Year Award. To be honest, when I was considering who to select for this award out of the many outstanding young lawyers that we have on leadership, I was surprised to learn that Kayla had not won this award already.

“Kayla is YLD’s biggest supporter, master planner of events, creative thinker, and overall No. 1 teammate. She works so hard to make our organization its best, and has done that for many years. Kayla’s true passion, however, is the Law Student Division.”

In this role, Williford continued, Britt led the YLD and law students in the following events and initiatives:

  • YLD’s wildly successful Grab-A-Coffee program
  • Tabling at the NC Bar Exam for law students taking the bar exam
  • Updating the Out-of-State Law Student Manual
  • Encouraging law students to write blog posts
  • Writing an article for our D&I initiative about her struggle with Lupus
  • Working with our Law Student Reps to plan a number of events on their campuses
  • Coordinating videos for our clerkship series
  • Working with authors on our “put it into practice” series
  • Creating and promoting our “out of office” series
  • Organizing a panel discussion for law students about the fees you will incur as a new lawyer

“Do you see what I mean?” Williford asked. “The above is just a small sample of all the work that Kayla does with the help and admiration of her Law Student Division team. But of course, I saved the best for last. Because one of my favorite things that Kayla has done this year is her LinkedIn profile, where she has branded the hashtag #fairylawmother and uses the platform to share tips and tricks with law students.

“As a Disney lover myself, the #fairylawmother hashtag is a personal favorite. So Kayla, thank you for sharing your magic (and a little bit of pixie dust) with our group. Your leadership really does make all of our dreams come true.”

In the essence of time, the award recipients do not respond to the richly deserved recognition they receive at the Annual Meeting. But it is interesting to know what it means to the honorees to receive these awards, and in this particular instance, what it means to be involved in the Young Lawyers Division.

“The world was shut down due to COVID-19 nine months after I began practicing law,” Kayla Britt responded. “I was bored, eager to use my time to build my legal network, and to participate in events. That is how I found a home in the North Carolina Bar Association as a co-chair for the Law Student Outreach Committee. The virtual format allowed us to continue programming and reaching our audience, and with our extra time, we were able excel in ways that set precedent for the future. I served in that position for two years before I became the Law Student Division Director.

“It is no secret that I have a passion for serving law students and young lawyers. My path to success has not been easy, and I am committed to making life a little easier for those who come after me. The NCBA and especially the YLD have provided me this platform where I have access to law students and law schools both inside and outside of North Carolina. Sometimes I have more ideas than the NCBA can realistically put together, so I created my own platform on LinkedIn to promote an unlimited amount of resources to law students and young lawyers, and of course, to promote the importance of the NCBA and the YLD.”

The Young Lawyer of the Year Award, Britt concluded, serves as an added bonus for doing work that is truly a labor of love.

“To receive this award validates that the work I am doing is of value to our profession,” Britt said. “While I spend a significant amount of time searching for job, internship, scholarship, and networking opportunities for law students and young lawyers, it never feels like a burden because I enjoy doing it.

“To be recognized for doing something that brings me joy is really the icing on the cake. I appreciate the NCBA, and specifically Lisa Williford, for acknowledging my hard work and dedication to the NCBA.”

Professionalism Award

The Robinson O. Everett Professionalism Award was established in 2010 in honor of Judge Robinson Everett, a Duke law professor and former Chief Judge of the U.S. Court of Appeals for the Armed Forces. The award recognizes young lawyers who embody the spirit of legal professionalism and service.

“I selected Collins Saint to win this award back in April, and the decision was easy for me to make at the time,” Williford began. “But what has happened since I made that decision in April has made it abundantly clear that I chose correctly. Collins, formerly known as Sarah to many of you, has been a trailblazer for the YLD. They have served as our secretary this past year and will be our chair-elect this coming bar year. Collins is very active in the ABA YLD on behalf of the YLD as well. And perhaps the NCBA role that Collins is most recognized for is their creation of the Sexual Orientation and Gender Identity Committee (known as SOGI).

“Collins, who is currently transitioning, is passionate about inclusivity and education on LQBTQ+ issues, including what it means to be a trans attorney in this world that we live in. Collins doesn’t just lead in this new space for our organization, they take it one step further: Collins is courageous enough to be vulnerable about their experiences.”

Last November, Williford continued, she asked Saint to write a blog post in celebration of Transgender Awareness Week, which was part of the YLD’s Diversity and Inclusion Committee’s Diversity Awareness Campaign initiative.

“In that blog post,” Williford said, “Collins, along with their SOGI co-founder Drew Culler, discussed how important it was for there to be a committee like SOGI because there was not a home for LGBTQ+ attorneys in this state. Collins explained that the group wanted connection, networking, CLE opportunities focusing on legal issues impacting the LGBTQ+ community, and, perhaps most importantly, allyship. The committee wanted a home – a community – and the NCBA stepped up to be that home for SOGI at that time.

“Fast-forward to May of 2023, Collins showed true leadership and professionalism in leading the entire SOGI community and its allies in responding to the NCBA’s decision to cancel a drag trivia event planned by SOGI. For an award that seeks to recognize an attorney who embodies the spirit of legal professionalism and service, Collins’ response to the NCBA’s decision did just that. I personally watched Collins explain through very difficult, honest, and vulnerable conversations how the NCBA’s decision deeply hurt the SOGI community. But most importantly, I watched Collins lead others in standing up for what is right.

“It would have been very easy for Collins at any point during the past two months to quit, to be unprofessional, or to take SOGI to another home. But at every opportunity, Collins has remained committed to being a change agent. My hope is that Collins will be the change agent that our organization needs to evaluate and address this developing situation with our SOGI community and partner with SOGI to create an environment that is truly inclusive for all. I know if Collins is here, there will be a way because Collins gives me hope for the future.”

Williford closed with a quote from the November 2022 blog post.

“They write, ‘if you look around and do not see people doing what needs to be done, hold up a mirror and make it happen. When you make a path others will follow.’ So thank you, Collins, for holding up that mirror, for leading even when you didn’t want to, for showing up even when it was difficult, for pushing us to be better, and for being the embodiment of the professionalism that this award was created to recognize.

“You are a friend, our YLD chair-elect, and an inspiration. Thank you for all that you have done for our organization, but most importantly, thank you for being the beautiful, diverse professional that you are.”

Responding to the request to share what it means to receive this award and what it means to be involved in the Young Lawyers Division, Collins Saint began, “When I was a college student in Alabama, I found myself running my finger down lists of notable alums, leaders in Alabama, successful professionals, important professors, yearning for someone who stood out to me as LGBTQ+ that I could call on and say, ‘How did you do it? How did you face all the bias against you and succeed?’ I did not find that person in Alabama to mentor me. I sought counsel from another important mentor of mine, asking what to do, and she told me if I couldn’t find it, I had to be it . . . for me and for someone else.”

The response, Saint continued, “stuck with me as I have navigated what it means to be openly and proudly LGBTQ+ and a lawyer.

“Many people think it’s impossible, some find it too controversial, still others think it’s repulsive. In the face of this landscape, I have worked on building a career that shows others, ‘You can do both. You can be true to yourself, and you can thrive in success and happiness.’ The work I do for the NCBA and the ABA has always and continues to be focused on that goal: We can be both; watch.

“Receiving this award marks a milestone in that endeavor: a public recognition that standing up, speaking out, and being your whole self, especially when your identity is the focus of so much scrutiny and prejudice, is not only worth it, but laudable, recognizable, important, and an embodiment of the spirit of professionalism.

“It’s an honor to be recognized for this work, but this work could not happen without decades of LGBTQ+ lawyer-trailblazers ahead of me. I benefit from the foes they have slain and the fights they have waged on my behalf, and I thank them. I also thank the innumerable comrades and allies who ensured that the SOGI Committee was first created and then was positioned to make real change when needed most. This is not work that any of us can do alone.”

Russell Rawlings is director of external affairs and communications for the North Carolina Bar Association.