We are happy to share with you that the Criminal Justice Section and Education Law Section of the North Carolina Bar Association have granted awards named in honor of two Tharrington Smith attorneys in 2019. The Criminal Justice Section’s annual award is the Wade M. Smith Award. The Education Law Section’s award is the Ann L. Majestic Distinguished Service Award. In late January, the Wade M. Smith Award was bestowed upon Claire J. Rauscher of the multijurisdictional, 1,000 plus member law firm of Womble Bond Dickinson. The Ann L. Majestic Distinguished Service Award was bestowed on Janine Murphy of the North Carolina School Board Association this month.

Established in 2008, the Criminal Justice Section issues two meritorious awards annually. Directed to the prosecutorial side of criminal justice is an award named for Peter S. Gilchrist III, Mecklenburg’s infamous 20th-century veteran District Attorney. The Wade M. Smith Award is bestowed upon a criminal defense attorney who exemplifies the highest ideals of the profession and is named for Tharrington Smith’s co-founding partner. Now in its 11th year, Ms. Rauscher is the first woman attorney to receive the award.

The Education Law Section posthumously renamed its merit award for a long time Tharrington Smith partner following her untimely death in 2014 and is now known as the Ann L. Majestic Distinguished Service Award. The 2019 honoree of the Ann L. Majestic Distinguished Service Award is Janine Murphy, Assistant General Counsel to the North Carolina School Board Association. This service award is not given annually. It was previously granted in 2017.