NCBA Legal Practice Hall of Fame Inducts Eight New Members
The 2024 induction class of the NCBA Legal Practice Hall of Fame was honored on Friday, September 20, at the Benton Convention Center in Winston-Salem. The ceremony coincided with the fall meeting of the Senior Lawyers Division, which has solicited nominations and selected the inductees since the General Practice Hall of Fame was renamed in 2019.
Judge Robert C. (Bob) Hunter of Marion, immediate past chair of the Senior Lawyers Division, served as emcee of the induction ceremony. Hunter began his comments by encouraging NCBA members age 65 and over who comprise the Senior Lawyers Division to engage in division activities as he has enjoyed doing in recent years.
Hunter also praised the work of the selection committee, chaired by Linda McGee, retired Chief Judge of the N.C. Court of Appeals. Joining McGee and Hunter in selecting the 2024 induction class were Dan Hartzog, Ed Gaskins, Larry McDevitt, Susan Olive, Jane Gray, Nancy Norelli, Sharon Parker, and Marshall Gallop.
The committee reviewed 13 nominations prior to selecting the induction class, which brings to 194 the total number of distinguished attorneys inducted since the Hall of Fame was established by the General Practice Section in 1989.
Hall of Fame induction class, seated from left, Linda Stephens, Ed Hinson, Bob Long and Betty Quick. Standing, Charles Ellis, Joe Williams, Bill Pope and Eddie Speas.
An audience of some 125 colleagues, friends and family members attended the ceremony, including presenters who provided personalized introductions of each inductee. Biographical sketches which were provided for each of the inductees and edited for publication are provided below.
The inductees are:
Charles Ellis, Ward and Smith, Greenville
Charles Ellis is a distinguished litigator from Greenville, whose practice is rooted in a deep commitment to justice and advocacy for his clients. With a wealth of experience spanning federal and state court litigation, he focuses his practice on cases involving wrongful death, plaintiff’s personal injury, insurance coverage disputes, product liability, and recently, the Camp Lejeune Water Contamination litigation.
Charles finished Campbell Law School in 1983, and obtained an A.B. from the University of North Carolina at Chapel Hill in 1980. He practices at Ward and Smith, P.A., where he formerly served as the firm’s co-managing director. He is also a member of the Eastern North Carolina Inn of Court and the American Board of Trial Advocates (ABOTA).
Charles Ellis was introduced by law partner Steve Stephenson of Ward and Smith.
Edward T. Hinson Jr., James, McElroy and Diehl, Charlotte
Ed Hinson was admitted to practice in 1977 and joined the 26th District Attorney’s Office as an assistant district attorney. After a stint of handling misdemeanors in District Court, he was promoted to the felony trials division where he represented the State in serious felonies including capital murder cases. In 1981, he joined James, McElroy & Diehl, P.A. in Charlotte, where he continues to practice as a trial lawyer handling a wide range of matters in both State and Federal courts and before regulatory and licensing agencies.
His practice has ranged widely over the years including defense of capital murder and other serious state felony charges, federal grand jury investigations and defense of federal criminal charges, SEC investigations, representations of lawyers, physicians, accountants and other professionals in regulatory investigations and proceedings, and complex civil business litigation in both State and Federal courts.
He served as an N.C. State Bar councilor representing the 26th District for nine years, during which time he served as chairman of the Ethics Committee, chairman of the Board of the Lawyers Assistance Program and the State Bar Executive Committee. He was a member of the N.C. Judicial Standards Commission for nine years. He was an ABA Delegate, representing the Mecklenburg County Bar, and has been elected to the American College of Trial Lawyers and the American Board of Trial Advocates.
He is a graduate of Wofford College and Duke University Law School.
Ed Hinson was introduced by former law partner Judge John Arrowood of the N.C. Court of Appeals.
Robert B. (Bob) Long Jr., The Van Winkle Law Firm, Asheville
Bob Long grew up in Asheville and finished high school there. He received a pre-law degree from the University of North Carolina at Chapel Hill in 1963 and then an LL.B. degree with honors from the UNC School of Law in 1965. While attending law school, Bob was an associate editor of the North Carolina Law Review and inducted into the Order of the Coif. After passing the bar examination, Bob says he was very fortunate to secure employment back in Asheville with a most accomplished attorney with whom he practiced for a number of years. The less-specialized practice of law at that time allowed him the opportunity to learn about many different areas of the practice. Later his law practice became more court-oriented in both civil and criminal matters until he limited it to civil matters in 2000.
Bob is a longtime Fellow of the American College of Trial Lawyers and has been named in the “Best Lawyers” publication in multiple areas of practice for over 25 years. Bob credits much of his success in the practice to the attorneys with whom he has worked over the years. “Working with good lawyers makes the practice of law a fun and rewarding learning experience,” Bob says. After being the senior partner in a small law firm for many years, Bob is now a senior attorney at the much larger Van Winkle Law Firm in Asheville, where he continues after nearly 59 years to enjoy the practice of law today. Bob is married to Judy Long. Bob has two sons, a stepson, and three grandchildren. Outside his law practice, Bob maintains an interest in local and state Republican politics and a cattle farm he has had for a number of years.
Bob Long was introduced by law partner Ronald Payne of The Van Winkle Law Firm.
William P. Pope, Pope McMillan, Statesville
Bill Pope is known for his quick wit, honesty, and dedication to his clients throughout more than 50 years of practicing law in North Carolina. After graduating from the University of North Carolina School of Law in 1968, he began his career with the firm of Adams and Dearman in Statesville. Upon attaining partnership status, the firm name changed to Adams, Dearman and Pope, and later became known as Pope McMillan. Pope McMillan continues to serve the Iredell County community with a wide range of services. Bill’s practice has been diverse in every way, representing companies big and small, government entities, banks, and individuals from all walks of life in civil litigation, business law and estate planning.
Bill’s strong work ethic was cultivated throughout his childhood on the family farm in Dunn. He served as county attorney for Iredell County for 32 years, gracefully maintaining neutrality and continuity through different political administrations. Bill was also the attorney representing Mitchell Community College for over 40 years. He was involved in numerous other civic and charitable organizations, and he was one of the drivers behind the reconstruction of Fort Dobbs State Historic Site.
Bill was honored to serve on the State Ethics Commission, an eight-member bipartisan team that ensures elected and appointed officials exercise their authority honestly and fairly. As a lifelong Republican, Bill’s appointment to the State Ethics Commission by a Democrat governor speaks volumes about Bill’s character. He also served on the State Banking Commission for many years. He has served on the boards of several banks and is currently vice chairman of Blue Harbor Bank. In his spare time, Bill has written hundreds of poems and short stories, and he published a compendium of short stories in 2021 called “These You Know.” Although he officially retired from the practice of law on his 80th birthday, Bill continues to make his community better through close relationships with former clients and colleagues.
Elizabeth L. (Betty) Quick, Womble Bond Dickinson, Winston-Salem
Betty Quick received her A.B. degree from Duke University, and a J.D., with honors, from the University of North Carolina School of Law. She is a partner (soon to be retired) in the firm of Womble Bond Dickinson (US) LLP where she specialized in wills, trusts, estate planning, charitable trusts and exempt organizations. She is a past president of the North Carolina Bar Association and Foundation, current chair of the NCBA Senior Lawyers Division, and past chair of the NC IOLTA Board of Trustees. Betty authored and edited the North Carolina Estate Administration Manual, which was published by the North Carolina Bar Association and is still one of the Association’s premier resource manuals. Betty is a Fellow in the American College of Trust and Estate Counsel (ACTEC), a past member of the N.C. Board of Law Examiners, and serves on the boards of several foundations and nonprofit organizations.
Betty has lectured frequently on estate planning subjects, including charitable giving and nonprofit organizations, and works pro bono for many nonprofit organizations. Betty continues to serve on committees of the North Carolina Bar Association. She chaired the search committee that hired Jason Hensley as the Executive Director of the North Carolina Bar Association after the retirement of Allan Head. Betty was appointed by the Chief Justice of the North Carolina Supreme Court to serve on the first Chief Justice’s Commission on Professionalism, and she received the Chief Justice’s Professionalism Award in 2008. Betty has been named as one of North Carolina’s “Legal Elite” in Business North Carolina. Her husband, Bob, also a lawyer, died in 2012. She has two children, Robert Quick and Sara Loebner, and five grandchildren. She is a member at Mount Tabor Methodist Church.
Betty Quick was introduced by law partner Kim Stogner of Womble Bond Dickinson.
Edwin M. Speas Jr., Poyner Spruill, Raleigh
Eddie Speas’ legal career has been divided between the public and private sectors. From 1971 to 2003, he was a member of the staff of the North Carolina Attorney General, working in various roles including head of the special litigation group and chief deputy attorney general. From 2009-11, he served as general counsel for Governor Beverly Perdue. From 2003-09, and again from 2011 to the present, he has been a partner at Poyner Spruill in Raleigh.
Over all those years, it has been his great fortune to work beside talented colleagues representing great clients from the public and private sectors in interesting and consequential lawsuits in state and federal courts. Some of those lawsuits involved disputes about educational policies, like testing, private school regulation, vouchers and the scope of the state constitutional right “to the privilege of education.” Others involved gerrymandering of congressional and legislative districts, in all its forms. In 1990, Eddie was the first recipient of the Distinguished Service Award from the Education Section of the North Carolina Bar Association, and in 2001 he was made a Fellow of the American College of Trial Lawyers. He is honored and humbled by selection to the Bar Association’s Hall of Fame.
Eddie grew up in Boonville in Yadlin County and is a proud “Double Deacon.” He and his wife Debra Stewart have two great kids and four amazing grandchildren.
Eddie Speas was introduced by law partner Steve Epstein of Poyner Spruill.
Judge Linda Stephens, Hedrick Gardner (retired), Raleigh
Linda Stephens, for the last seven years prior to her retirement this summer, has been of counsel to Hedrick Gardner Kincheloe and Garofalo. She focused on appellate practice, researching and writing briefs at all levels of the trial courts and administrative agencies, but primarily in the North Carolina Court of Appeals and Supreme Court. Before joining Hedrick Gardner, she was an Associate Judge on the Court of Appeals for eleven years. She practiced as a civil litigator for 22 years with Teague Campbell Dennis & Gorham before joining the court, served as a deputy commissioner with the North Carolina Industrial Commission for four years, and clerked on the Court of Appeals her first year after graduating law school from the UNC School of Law. Her undergraduate degree is from the University of South Carolina, where she majored in journalism and English, and, in 2023, received the USC Honors College Distinguished Alumni Award.
Judge Stephens’s career includes many impressive firsts. She was the first person in her family to graduate high school and became the first female law clerk to Court of Appeals Judge Fred Hedrick. She became the first female associate and then the first female partner at Teague Campbell. She served as the first female president of the N.C. Association of Defense Attorneys and was the first person to receive the highest awards from both the Association of Defense Attorneys and the N.C. Advocates for Justice. During her years on the Court of Appeals, Judge Stephens earned a reputation of applying the law fairly to everyone and, in her last campaign for the court, she earned the endorsements of both the Association of Defense Attorneys and the Advocates for Justice. In 2022, she received the Gwyneth B. Davis Award, the highest award given by the N.C. Association of Women Attorneys, and in 2020 she was the recipient of the North Carolina Bar Association’s H. Brent McKnight Renaissance Lawyer Award.
Linda Stephens was introduced by Christopher Brook, with whom she served on the N.C. Court of Appeals.
Joseph A. Williams, Joseph A. Williams, P.A. (retired), Greensboro
Joe Williams is a retired trial lawyer. A Vietnam War veteran, he graduated from North Carolina Agricultural and Technical State University and North Carolina Central University School of Law. Upon graduation he served as an assistant district attorney in Guilford County until Governor James Hunt appointed him the first black male District Court judge in the history of Guilford County. In 1980, he entered into the practice of law with his lifelong friend and fellow member of Dudley High School Class 1963, Mike Lee. Williams subsequently founded his own law firm in 1982. He has served on numerous boards of directors including North Carolina Agricultural and Technical State University, National Conference for Community and Justice, Eastern Music Festival, Branch Bank and Trust (local board), First Citizens Bank (local board), Greensboro National Bank, Greensboro Chamber of Commerce (legal advisor to the executive committee), Greensboro Bar Association (first African American president in its history), North Carolina Association of Trial Lawyers, the American Board of Trial Advocates.
Over the years, he has been a member of numerous social, professional and fraternal associations, including The Guardsmen (past president), Beta Epsilon Boule (charter member), CW Lawrence Masonic Lodge (founding member), United Supreme Council D.C. (33rd Mason, charter member and Grand Chancellor), Greensboro Men’s Club (past president), Omega Psi Phi Fraternity, Simkins PAC, the North Carolina Bar Association, the 4th Circuit Judicial Conference (member since the 1980s), Trial Lawyers Million Dollar Roundtable and National Trial Lawyers top 100. He, along with Don Vaughn, Paul Coates and Kenneth Johnson, successfully represented thousands in a class action lawsuit. He has received many honors including Order of the Long Leaf Pine, NAACP Man of the Year (Greensboro Chapter), the North Carolina Association of Black Lawyers Community Service Award, Greensboro Bar Association Distinguished Service Award (2019). He, along with many of the Class of 1963, was arrested in May of 1963 for blocking the entrance to the S&W Cafeteria. Fourteen years later, he was a District Court judge. While serving as a District Court judge, he and his mentor, the late Judge Elrita Alexander (the first African American judge in Guilford County history) were accused of unlawfully dismissing cases involving young people who were charged with minor offences. The two were “hauled” before the North Carolina Supreme Court on a Writ of Mandamus to explain what “monkey shines” they were engaging in. Many members of the country club set whose children were beneficiaries of the contested dismissals, along with numbers of disadvantaged children, were in court. When the justices found out that the parents were there to support Alexander and Williams, they called a recess and never resumed court. The General Assembly subsequently passed legislation that mirrored the “Judgement Day” process.
Williams has travelled in 30 countries and as a child lived with his parents in Indonesia. He is married to the former Georgia Guest of Greensboro (president of the Guest-Williams Scholarship Foundation) and they have two children: Joseph (CEO of IAM Health Cloud) and Andria Williams Patterson (senior vice president and associate general counsel of Bank America). It should be noted that Andria W. Patterson clerked at both the North Carolina Court of Appeals and the North Carolina Supreme Court. They have three granddaughters.
Joe Williams was introduced by longtime colleague Robert Edmunds, former associate justice of the N.C. Supreme Court.
The call for nominations for the 2025 induction class of the Legal Practice Hall of Fame will be issued early next year. Access updated criteria and previous recipients.
Russell Rawlings is director of external affairs and communications for the North Carolina Bar Association.