Henderson County Celebrates MAVL
The Henderson County Bar came together at a reception on May 9, 2008, to celebrate all MAVL volunteers and, in particular, Ms. Sharon Alexander of Prince, Youngblood and Massagee, upon on her nomination for the 2008 William L. Thorp Pro Bono Service Award, bestowed by the North Carolina Bar Association. With more than twenty local attorneys in attendance, the Henderson County Bar acknowledged all MAVL volunteers, who in 2007, represented low-income clients in 60 cases for a total of 156 hours of service. District Court Judge Athena Brooks gave the keynote address. Pictured here: The Honorable Athena Brooks, Ms. Sharon Alexander, Ms. Jennifer Foster, and Ms. Shelly Pew Brown.
In 2007, Mrs. Alexander volunteered a total of 50 hours in eight cases. The majority of these cases helped low-income residents of Henderson County obtain urgently needed Medicaid coverage for essential medical treatment and services. Another case involved seeking unemployment benefits for an applicant whose employer had not paid into the system, where Mrs. Alexander expended over twenty hours pro bono time.
Sharon Alexander is a long-standing bedrock member of the MAVL program, having first signed on more than twenty years ago in March of 1986. At its inception, Sharon served on the Board of the Mountain Area Volunteer Lawyers’ Program. Since the eighties, Ms. Alexander has volunteered a total of 239 pro bono hours to low income clients, primarily in the fields of unemployment compensation and Medicaid benefits, serving on the Benefits TEAM.
Sharon received her Bachelor of Arts degree from Carson –Newman College summa cum laude in 1978, followed by her Juris Doctor from the University of Tennessee in 1981, where she graduated Order of the Coif.
Sharon is a member of the North Carolina Bar Association sections on Bankruptcy and Health Law, as well as the Disciplinary Hearing Commission of the North Carolina State Bar. In years past, Ms. Alexander has served as Councilor of the North Carolina State Bar Council, and Board Member for the Henderson County YMCA, The Healing Place, The Mill center, Hospice of Henderson county, and The Salvation Army of Henderson County.
Mr. Jason Blackwell, Henderson County Bar President, opened the program and welcomed members of the bar in attendance. Henderson County District Court Judge Athena Brooks gave the keynote address, praising Sharon Alexander and other local attorneys who regularly perform pro bono work to help low-income people who have no other resource for the legal assistance they need to address urgent issues. Attorney Jennifer Foster, Administrator of the Mountain Area Volunteer Lawyer Program, presented the award to Ms. Alexander, noting that her service inspired other volunteer lawyers in her law firm and throughout the county.
The event was sponsored by First Citizens Bank, Browning Title, the Henderson County Bar Association and Pisgah Legal Services.
