Amy Wang Named to North Carolina Lawyers Weekly’s 50 Most Influential Women

Ward and Smith environmental attorney Amy Wang has been named to North Carolina Lawyers Weekly‘s 50 Most Influential Women list for 2026.

The recognition honors women whose leadership shapes the state’s legal, business, and nonprofit communities.

The honor reflects the statewide impact of Amy’s work. As leader of Ward and Smith’s Environmental practice, she advises clients on permitting and regulatory matters, business and commercial real estate transactions, and environmental litigation. She works with individuals, businesses, and local governments in agriculture, coastal development, municipal infrastructure, and commercial real estate, translating complex federal and North Carolina regulations into practical guidance.

Amy’s influence also extends well beyond her daily caseload. After serving several years on Council for the North Carolina Bar Association’s Environment, Energy and Natural Resources Law Section, she served four years of successive officer roles culminating in Chair during 2021-2022.  The Section brings together governmental, nonprofit, and private environmental law practitioners from across the state. Previously, she served as co-Chair of the Section Council’s CLE Committee that created and hosted the first Tri-State Environment and Natural Resources Conference in 2018, a biennial gathering of environmental attorneys and consultants from North Carolina, South Carolina, and Georgia, for substantive CLE programming with speakers from both the federal and state levels, including from the NC Department of Environmental Quality (NCDEQ) and the US Environmental Protection Agency’s Region 4.

Amy regularly shares her knowledge with audiences outside the legal community. At the North Carolina Chamber’s 2024 Environmental Compliance Conference, she led a fireside chat with the Director of the NCDEQ Division of Energy, Mineral, and Land Resources on topics including stormwater, erosion control, mining, and dam safety permitting. She has also spoken to the Eastern Carolina Chapter of the Professional Engineers of North Carolina about WOTUS regulations and moderated a wetlands panel at North Carolina Sea Grant’s 2024 Coastal Conference, where she served on the Symposium Planning Committee.  Amy’s leadership extends to the built environment as well where she is co-Chair of the Triangle ULI (Urban Land Institute) Coastal Committee. Her work has earned broad professional recognition, including selection to The Best Lawyers in America from 2019 through 2026, Chambers USA rankings in Environment for 2025 and 2026, and membership in Business North Carolina’s Legal Elite Hall of Fame for Environmental Law since 2020.

North Carolina Lawyers Weekly will honor the 2026 class of 50 Most Influential Women at a ceremony on October 29, 2026, at 5:30 p.m. at Project 658 in Charlotte, NC.