Jun., 2010 - Mecklenburg County Bar
Jun., 2010 - Mecklenburg County Bar
Jun., 2010 - Mecklenburg County Bar
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2009-10 Summary<br />
McMillan Fund Committee<br />
By Randel E. Phillips, Chair<br />
The <strong>Mecklenburg</strong> <strong>Bar</strong> Foundation’s<br />
McMillan Fund Committee administers and<br />
raises money for the McMillan Fellowships.<br />
The Fellowships are awarded each year to<br />
promising law school students to do public<br />
service work in not-for-profit and government<br />
agencies in <strong>Mecklenburg</strong> <strong>County</strong>.<br />
Established in 1995 as a separate fund of<br />
the <strong>Mecklenburg</strong> <strong>Bar</strong> Foundation, the McMillan<br />
Fund seeks to support justice and innovation<br />
within our local legal system and to encourage<br />
law students who might be interested in a career<br />
in public interest law in <strong>Mecklenburg</strong> <strong>County</strong>.<br />
To date, 44 Fellows have worked at such<br />
agencies as Legal Services of Southern<br />
Piedmont, the U.S. Equal Employment<br />
Opportunity Commission, the U.S. District<br />
Court, International House, Office of the<br />
Public Defender, Council for Children’s<br />
Rights, the U.S. Attorney’s Office, the District<br />
Attorney’s Office, and the <strong>Mecklenburg</strong> Trial<br />
Court Administrator’s Office.<br />
The Fellowships are primarily funded<br />
through the annual McMillan Fund Dinner,<br />
held on April 22, <strong>2010</strong>, at Byron’s South End.<br />
This Dinner marked the third year of our<br />
Committee’s fruitful collaboration with the<br />
<strong>Mecklenburg</strong> <strong>County</strong> <strong>Bar</strong>’s Special Committee<br />
on Diversity. The combined efforts of the two<br />
Committees helped make this year’s Dinner one<br />
of the most successful in its 13-year history.<br />
The event raised approximately $14,000, after<br />
expenses, for summer Fellowships. There<br />
were 148 registrants for the event, including<br />
26 Individual Sponsorships ($300). There<br />
were nine Corporate/Firm Sponsors who<br />
supported the Dinner and our Fellows through<br />
$1,200 table sponsorships (an increase from<br />
five corporate sponsors the previous year). The<br />
McMillan Fund Committee and the Special<br />
Committee on Diversity would like to thank<br />
Bank of America Legal Department; Charlotte<br />
School of Law; Duke Energy Legal Department;<br />
Hunton & Williams; McGuireWoods; Moore<br />
& Van Allen; Nelson, Mullins, Riley &<br />
Scarborough; Robinson, Bradshaw & Hinson;<br />
and Wells Fargo Legal Department for their<br />
generous support of the <strong>2010</strong> McMillan Dinner.<br />
The Dinner was the setting for the third<br />
annual presentation of the Special Committee<br />
on Diversity’s Julius L. Chambers Diversity<br />
Champion Award. The Award was presented<br />
posthumously to Judge Clifton E. Johnson for<br />
his years of selfless service to the State and<br />
people of North Carolina, his promotion of<br />
equal opportunity, and his own path-breaking<br />
career (culminating in his service on the<br />
North Carolina Court of Appeals) – as the first<br />
African American assistant state prosecutor<br />
since the 19th Century; his judicial service as<br />
<strong>Mecklenburg</strong> <strong>County</strong>’s first African American<br />
District Court Judge; and the first African<br />
American Chief District Judge, Resident<br />
Superior Court Judge, and Chair of the<br />
Judicial Standards Commission.<br />
The after-dinner program was headlined by<br />
Ed Williams, former editorial page editor for<br />
the Charlotte Observer and friend of Judge<br />
McMillan. Mr. Williams offered a moving<br />
multi-media presentation about the life and<br />
times of Judge McMillan and his lasting legacy<br />
to the community. The program continued with<br />
the presentation of the Diversity Champion<br />
Award by Judge Linwood Foust, and concluding<br />
remarks from the family of Judge Johnson,<br />
who accepted the award on his behalf.<br />
Thanks largely to the fundraising dinner and<br />
applications from a number of local agencies,<br />
the McMillan Fund Committee was able to<br />
make four fellowship grants of $3,000 each.<br />
These grants will help support six law students<br />
working at International House, Legal Services<br />
of Southern Piedmont, the <strong>Mecklenburg</strong><br />
<strong>County</strong> District Attorney’s Office and Federal<br />
Defenders of Western North Carolina.<br />
McMillan Committee members for 2009–<br />
10 include Ozzie Ayscue, Maria Long, George<br />
Daly, John Gresham, Ray Owens, Marion<br />
Cowell, Katie Holliday, Amy Johnson and<br />
Randy Phillips. The Committee thanks <strong>Bar</strong><br />
staffers Leah Reed and Stephanie Marella for<br />
their able administrative support for the<br />
Dinner and this year’s activities.<br />
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