2020 Hall of Fame Inductees Announced
This article has been updated from its original version.
The NCBA Senior Lawyers Division has announced its selections for induction into the Legal Practice Hall of Fame for 2020.
The inductees are:
-
Marshall A. Gallop Jr., Rocky Mount
-
Robert C. Hunter, Marion
-
Glenn E. Ketner Jr., Salisbury
-
Pender R. McElroy, Charlotte
-
Kenneth A. Moser, Winston-Salem
The honorees will be inducted at a later date due to the coronavirus restrictions.
This is the second induction class for the recently renamed General Practice Hall of Fame, which was established in 1989 by the General Practice Section and will now total 169 members, including:
Marshall A. Gallop Jr. grew up in Elizabeth City and graduated from Elizabeth City High School in 1963. He entered Duke University where he earned degrees in electrical engineering (B.S., 1967), (M.S., 1969) and (Ph.D., 1971).
A member of the Air Force ROTC, he served a five-year tour on active duty in the U.S. Air Force at a research lab near Boston from 1972-77, attaining the rank of Captain. While there, Gallop attended night law school, obtaining his juris doctor from Suffolk Law, magna cum laude (1976), and LL.M. from Boston University (1977).
He has practiced law in Rocky Mount with Battle, Winslow Scott & Wiley, P.A. since 1977, and presently serves as president of the firm. Gallop is a former member of the NCBA Board of Governors and NCBF Board of Directors, and a past chair of the Litigation Section.
He has also served as chair of the Civil Practice, Procedure and Evidence Committee, as a member of the Dispute Resolution Section Council, and as a member of the N.C. Association of Defense Attorneys Board of Directors. Gallop is a past president of the Eastern N.C. Inn of Court and a former member of the Supreme Court Dispute Resolution Committee and the Civil Procedure Study Committee.
Throughout his career, Gallop has maintained a varied and multifaceted practice, which at present includes representation of Nash General Hospital in Rocky Mount. He also serves as an arbitrator and mediator, and is recognized within the legal community as an outstanding lawyer and role model.
Judge Robert C. “Bob” Hunter of Marion has had three distinguished careers: as a practicing lawyer for 34 years; as a member of the N.C. House of Representatives for almost 18 years; and as a member of the judiciary for 21 years.
Educated in the McDowell County Public schools, he received his undergraduate (1966) and law (1969) degrees from the University of North Carolina at Chapel Hill. Hunter served as an assistant district attorney in McDowell County before starting Hunter & Evans Inc. in Marion, where he practiced for 29 years. He served as McDowell County Attorney for 24 of those years and was named Outstanding County Attorney by the N.C. Association of County Commissioners, and is a former president of the association.
Hunter served in the N.C. House of Representatives from 1980 until 1998, when he was appointed to the N.C. Court of Appeals. He is a former chairman of the Council of State Governments, the Southern Legislative Conference, the N.C. Courts Commission and the N.C. House Judiciary Committee.
Hunter served on the Court of Appeals for 16 years, retiring in 2014, and since 2015 has served on the Supreme Court of the Eastern Band of the Cherokee. He has received numerous honors, including the NCBA Citizen Lawyer Award, The Order of the Long Leaf Pine, McDowell County Citizen of the Year, and the Outstanding Public Official Award from the National Association of County and Recreational Park Officials. Most recently the UNC School of Law honored him as the recipient of the 2020 Distinguished Alumni Award.
Glenn E. Ketner Jr. is a native of Salisbury. He graduated from Duke University in 1960 and Duke University School of Law in 1963. Ketner served from 1964-67 in the U.S. Air Force, 1001st Air Base Wing, Headquarters, where he was a judge advocate and earned the rank of Captain.
After clerking for Judges L. Richardson Preyer and Edwin S. Stanley of the U.S. District Court for the Middle District of N.C., he entered private practice in Salisbury. From 1969-72, Ketner served as counsel for the U.S. Senate Constitutional Rights Subcommittee.
Ketner opened Ketner & Associates in Salisbury in 1972, where he continues to practice. Ketner also serves as director and chairman of the board of the Ketner Center, Inc. and Rowan Investment Company, Inc., and as trustee and president of the Ketner Foundation, Inc.
He is a former member of the NCBA Board of Governors and NCBF Board of Directors, and a past chair of the Senior Lawyers Division. Ketner received the NCBA Citizen Lawyer Award in 2012 and the Charles S. Rhyne Award from the Duke Law Alumni Association in 2008.
His extensive list of volunteer leadership service includes the Catawba College Board of Trustees, the N.C. Citizens for Business and Industry Board of Directors, the Duke University Law School Board of Visitors, and service on the boards of trustees of Rowan-Cabarrus Community College and its Foundation, Novant Health, Inc., and Rowan Regional Medical Center and its Foundation.
Pender R. McElroy is a graduate of the University of North Carolina at Chapel Hill (1962) and UNC School of Law (1968). Following his undergraduate studies, McElroy served in the U.S. Army. He clerked for N.C. Supreme Court Justice William H. Bobbitt before joining James, McElroy & Diehl, P.A., where he has practiced since 1969, including more than 30 years as managing partner. He is now of counsel with the firm.
Throughout his career he has been an advocate for mental health causes, serving as chair of Mental Health America. He served 13 years as a member of the N.C. Commission for Mental Health, Developmental Disabilities and Substance Abuse Services, including seven years as chair. McElroy has also served as a board member and chair of the Presbyterian Home at Charlotte, the Presbyterian Samaritan Counseling Center, the Charlotte-Mecklenburg Senior Centers and Community Health Services, and Crisis Ministry Assistance.
McElroy is also a past president of the Mecklenburg County Bar and recipient of the Distinguished Pro Bono Award, presented by Charlotte’s largest pro bono agencies – Council for Children’s Rights, Legal Aid of North Carolina, and Legal Services of Southern Piedmont (now Charlotte Center for Legal Advocacy). He received the Mecklenburg County Bar Foundation’s Ayscue Professionalism Award in 2019, and in 2002 received the William L. Thorp Pro Bono Award from the North Carolina Bar Association. He is a past chair of Legal Aid of North Carolina and former board member of Legal Services of Southern Piedmont.
Kenneth A. Moser is a native of Rowan County and graduate of Wake Forest University (1965) and Wake Forest University School of Law (1968). He practiced with Womble Carlyle Sandridge and Rice (now Womble Bond Dickinson) for 43 years, retiring in 2012. He was a member of the Firm Management Committee and Executive Committee, serving as vice chair of both, and managing partner of the firm’s Winston-Salem office for seven years. Moser also led the firm’s Capital Markets Practice Group for several years, and was a member of the Winston-Salem Board of Advisors of Wells Fargo Bank, N.A. He received the WP Sandridge Award for outstanding lifetime service to the firm in 2004.
Moser also served as general counsel to Piedmont Federal Savings Bank in Winston-Salem and currently serves on the bank’s Board of Directors and Audit Committee. He is a fellow of the American College of Real Estate Lawyers and the American College of Mortgage Attorneys. Moser was also a frequent speaker at NCBA CLE programs, and co-author of two forms books: North Carolina Real Estate Forms – Practice and North Carolina Commercial Finance Forms.
Moser has provided volunteer leadership and service to numerous community organizations, including the Winston-Salem Downtown Development Corporation, where he was a founding board member, and the Winston-Salem Downtown Development Foundation. He is also a past president of the Wake Forest University Law Alumni Council and past chair of the Board of Directors of Big Brothers Big Sisters of Winston-Salem, Inc.
This article is part of the August 2020 issue of North Carolina Lawyer. Access a curated view of NC Lawyer or view the table of contents.