Legal Legends of Color Honored at Annual Meeting

August 21, 2024

The North Carolina Bar Association honored the 2024 Legal Legends of Color (LLOC) on Thursday, June 20, at the Embassy Suites by Hilton Charlotte Uptown. The ninth LLOC Awards Celebration was a featured event of the NCBA Annual Meeting.

Presented by the Legal Legends of Color Subcommittee of the NCBA Minorities in the Profession Committee, the LLOC Awards “honor attorneys and other legal professionals of color whose legacies represent ceilings broken for all attorneys who follow in their footsteps and whose impacts on the legal profession are undeniable.”

This year’s honorees are Judge James Andrew Wynn, Charles L. Becton, Judge Patrice A. Hinnant (Ret.), Cindy Marie Patton and the late Karl Adkins. Brief biographical sketches of the honorees and selected comments follow below. Additional information on this year’s recipients and a complete listing of previous LLOC honorees is posted on the Minorities in the Profession web page.

Judge James Andrew Wynn

Judge James Andrew Wynn has served on the U.S. Court of Appeals for the Fourth Circuit since 2010, and previously served on the N.C. Court of Appeals and N.C. Supreme Court. He served four years of active duty in the U.S. Navy JAG Corps and 26 years in the U.S. Naval Reserve, including service as a military judge, and retired in 2009 with the rank of captain. He is a graduate of the University of North Carolina at Chapel Hill (B.A.), Marquette University School of Law (J.D.), and the University of Virginia School of Law (L.L.M.), and practiced law with Fitch, Butterfield and Wynn in Wilson and Greenville before becoming a judge.

Wynn is a past president of the ABA Judicial Division and serves on the Marquette University Board of Trustees. He regretfully missed the LLOC Awards Celebration to attend the funeral of Marquette University President Michael R. Lovell. Judge Karlene Turrentine accepted the award from Sidney Thomas on behalf of Judge Wynn and provided the following remarks:

I have known Judge Wynn for 28 or 29 years, and on his behalf, I want to first say thank you to Judge Diaz of the Fourth Circuit. Chief Judge Diaz was the one who nominated Judge Wynn. I met Judge Wynn when I went to clerk for him, and it was an interesting time because back then at the North Carolina Court of Appeals, he had a chalkboard. And every single morning, without fail, his clerks would go into that room with him and he would teach us the law – teach us what we didn’t learn in law school and the things we needed to know to help him do his job.

I remember being so intimidated, but I look back and I realize that he taught me what I needed to know today. And now that I’m an ALJ – an administrative law judge – I owe a lot of that to him because he started me on the right track – looking, listening, paying attention.

Judge Wynn has been a man of integrity and a man who never misses a beat. If you know him, he’s paying attention all the time, whether he’s saying anything or not. I see his friend, Justice Timmons-Goodson, and she’s smiling because she knows this is true. Another thing I’ll tell you about him is he’s a man of faith. He loves God, and he loves his country. He served in the Navy and is very, very proud of that service.

The last thing I want to share with you is he absolutely loves the law. He has just retired from the Fourth Circuit – he’s in the process – and I don’t know what he’s going to do with his time. He can’t sit still, so I don’t know what that’s going to really look like. But he loves justice. He loves the law and he loves justice. If he were here, he would tell you as attorneys, young and old, to pay attention, keep your eyes open, and keep your ears open. Recognize that everybody isn’t like you, but everybody deserves to be heard, to be respected, to be honored as they are putting their stories forth. Attorneys, listen to your clients; judges, listen to the litigants.

And the last thing I think he would say – no doubt differently than I do – he would say thank you.

Charles L. Becton

Charles L. Becton is a renowned litigator and professor of trial advocacy who has also served as a judge, university president and president of three bar organizations. He received his B.A. from Howard University in 1966, his J.D. from Duke University School of Law in 1969, and his L.L.M. from the University of Virginia School of Law in 1986. Becton served on the N.C. Court of Appeals from 1981-90 and practiced with Becton, Slifkin & Bell from 1990-2008. He is a past president of the North Carolina Bar Association and N.C. Black Lawyers Association, and was the first African American to serve as president of the North Carolina Academy of Trial Lawyers (now N.C. Advocates for Justice). Becton also served as interim chancellor of North Carolina Central University and Elizabeth City State University.

Gwendolyn Lewis presented the award to Charles Becton, who provided the following remarks:

You must know how honored I am. No honor is greater than one bestowed by peers, colleagues and friends who have labored in the diversity, equity and inclusion field. This honor, then, is accepted with love and gratitude, not only on behalf of all the worthy, skilled, and well-credentialed lawyers of color who historically were excluded from full participation in the profession, but also on behalf of those lawyers who were included –

they were allowed to come to the party, but not to dance. They knew token diversity, but not inclusiveness. I accept on behalf of those lawyers too.

I applaud the work of the Minorities in the Profession Committee and NCBA for embracing diversity and inclusion. Diversity and inclusion are necessities if we are to survive in this country, for soon no racial or ethnic group will comprise an absolute majority. Diversity and inclusion allow new ideas, views and energy to flourish in our marketplaces, in our communities, and in the legal profession. Look around you. We are all pilgrims, multi-cultured and differently hued. But this mosaic rainbow – my, my – is a blessing. Tolerance for differences is the key. We should show respect for the inherent worth of everyone and embrace those who differ. Nothing about our different social, cultural, religious or political beliefs, about our gender or preferences, about our skin color or our station in life, should cause anyone to discount our worth.

The LLOC ceremonies here tonight, and since 2016, highlight the remarkable and undeniable impact lawyers of color have had on the bar, the bench and the public’s perception of lawyers of color. The past honorees broke racial ceilings for us and those who follow in their footsteps. They put us on their broad shoulders so no one could discount our worth.

This year’s honorees – those who are with us, Judge Wynn, and my former law partner Karl Adkins – have impacted the legal profession, the judiciary, and the advancement of civil rights proudly. We, like our predecessors, have increased access to justice and changed the negative perception many held about the worth and abilities of lawyers of color. It pleases me to say four of my former partners are LLOC honorees, and I know or have worked with 30 of the 34 past recipients. I am honored now to be listed on the LLOC scroll of honorees. They paid it forward. I pledge to pay it forward. Thank you.

Judge Patrice A. Hinnant

Judge Patrice A. Hinnant (Ret.) served for 22 years as a Superior Court and District Court judge in Guilford County. She is a graduate of Spelman College and North Carolina Central University School of Law, and a former vice president of the NCBA Board of Governors who currently serves as an N.C. State Bar councilor. Judge Hinnant holds numerous distinctions in the Guilford County legal community as the first Black female assistant public defender, the first female elected District Court judge from the Democratic Party, the first Black female and first sitting judge elected president of the Greensboro Bar Association, first Black female resident Superior Court judge, and first Black female elected State Bar councilor.

Fenita Morris-Shepard presented the award to Judge Hinnant, who provided the following remarks:

For decades – for decades I tell you – since the ’70s, I’ve come to these meetings of the North Carolina Bar Association, and never could I have imagined this occasion. Hopefully, the camaraderie and respect within our ranks will inspire everyone here to continue to participate and to serve the profession beyond the walls of the office and the courthouse. It has been a long journey to this moment, but who’s counting? But I can tell you, when I first came, I could count the Black folks on my hand and have fingers left over.

It comes on the heels of my 50th reunion from Spelman College last month. My heart smiled from ear to ear the entire time, and it still has a grin. I didn’t hear you gasp – 50 years ago! I know, it’s hard to believe, but I went to college straight out of kindergarten. That’s the age I claim! Seriously, though, I skipped a grade and graduated from high school at age 16 and then headed to Atlanta, decked out in my Mickey Mouse sweatshirt and jeans, and graduated at age 20.

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