Craven Community College has announced plans to honor longtime College attorney David L. Ward, Jr. by naming the Boardroom in the Brock Administration Building in his honor. Mr. Ward, a New Bern native, has served as the College's lead attorney since it was founded in 1965.
In announcing this honor, the College stated: "For more than four decades, [Mr. Ward] and members of his firm, Ward and Smith, P.A., have provided legal counsel and guidance to the College's presidents and Boards of Trustees."
"He's the only attorney we've had," said Dr. Thurman Brock, who served as the College's first president. "He's done a lot of good things for the College."
"We are very fortunate to have an attorney of David Ward's caliber," said College President Dr. Catherine Chew. "He has been invaluable to the College and has provided wise counsel to the Board and all of my predecessors at Craven. The Board and I consider it a privilege to recognize his many contributions by naming our College's Boardroom in his honor."
The Boardroom, where David has attended hundreds of meetings over the years, is being renovated in 2011 to better serve the College's needs. College leaders say they plan a dedication ceremony in the fall when the renovations are complete.
David earned his Bachelor's degree in accounting from The University of North Carolina at Chapel Hill in 1957. After completing a two-year stint in the U.S. Navy, he enrolled in Duke University School of Law and earned his law degree in 1962.
David was admitted to the North Carolina Bar that year and returned to New Bern, where both his father and his grandfather practiced law. His career has focused largely on corporate work, banking, estate planning, corporations, and mergers and acquisitions
Over the course of his career, David has been recognized as one of North Carolina's most accomplished attorneys. He is a member of the North Carolina Bar Association Hall of Fame and has been listed for many years among the Best Lawyers in America.1
David also has been recognized in "Legal Elite,"2 a list of the best attorneys in North Carolina by Business North Carolina magazine, and is a member of the "Legal Elite Hall of Fame" in the field of Corporate Counsel.
He is admitted to practice in all North Carolina courts, as well as the United States Supreme Court, the United States Court of Appeals for the Fourth Circuit, and the United States District Court for the Eastern District of North Carolina.
1 Please see http://www.bestlawyers.com for an explanation of the standards of membership.
2 Please see businessnc.com/special-sections/legal-elite/ for an explanation of the standards of membership.
