Lawyers Mutual Names New Chair and Two Board Members
Two Directors Retire, Including Last Founder of Country's First Mutual Insurance Company for Attorneys
High Point attorney Kenneth McAllister will become the new Chair of the Board of Directors for Lawyers Mutual Liability Insurance Company of North Carolina effective May 1, 2012.
A former United States Attorney and General Counsel for Wachovia Corporation, McAllister brings both public service and private sector experience to the post. He practices at The McAllister Firm, PLLC and has served on the Lawyers Mutual Board since 2003.
Says Lawyers Mutual President Dan Zureich, “We are delighted and honored to welcome Ken McAllister as the next chair of our board. He has a unique background of private practice and public service and a keen grasp of the issues facing companies like ours. Our policyholders will definitely benefit from his legal and business experience.”
John Babcock of Winston-Salem and Ron Gibson of Charlotte have been named to the Lawyers Mutual Board. Their terms will also begin May 1, 2012.
Babcock is a partner at Wall Esleeck Babcock, LLP. He has an LL.M. in Taxation from New York University and serves as an adjunct faculty member at Wake Forest University School of Law where he has taught courses in Business Planning, Partnership Tax and Corporate Tax. Gibson is a partner with the law firm of Ruff, Bond, Cobb, Wade & Bethune, LLP. His practice involves general civil litigation and construction. He represents Mecklenburg County as a State Bar Councilor and serves as Chair of the Administrative and Legislative Committees.
Incoming board chair Ken McAllister says, “Our two new board members will add energy and fresh perspectives. John Babcock is a recognized leader in tax, business and securities law. Ron Gibson has experience in private practice and as corporate counsel, and his service with the State Bar gives him a valuable insight into ethical and professional issues.”
Babcock and Gibson replace two longtime Lawyers Mutual directors – including the last of the original founders – who are retiring after a combined 65 years of service to Lawyers Mutual and North Carolina lawyers.
Charlotte attorney Glen Hardymon began his association with Lawyers Mutual in 1977 as a founding director and currently serves as Chair of the Board. Greensboro attorney Doris R. Bray joined the Lawyers Mutual Board in 1983, most recently serving as Chair of the Finance Committee.
According to Zureich, “This is the passing of an era. Glen Hardymon represents the final link to the team selected by the North Carolina Bar Association that had a vision for Lawyers Mutual and set about turning that vision into reality. Doris Bray has been not only a leader in our profession, but a pioneer as well. The success of Lawyers Mutual is due to the talent and dedication of these two board members, as well as those who have preceded them and those currently serving. It is not possible to put down in words the number or magnitude of the contributions Glen and Doris have made.”
Chartered in 1977, Lawyers Mutual is the country’s first and oldest mutual insurance company established to insure attorneys. It has become a model for other state bars across the country. Since its creation, Lawyers Mutual has grown and expanded. In 2011, it declared a policyholder dividend of $1 million. Lawyers Mutual is the only insurance carrier that has continuously provided professional liability insurance coverage to the members of the North Carolina Bar during its 35 years of existence.
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If you’d like more information, or to schedule an interview, please call Camille Stell at 919.677.8900 / 1.800.662.8843 or email camille@lawyersmutualnc.com.
Additional Bio Info
Kenneth McAllister was born in High Point and graduated Phi Beta Kappa from the University of North Carolina at Chapel Hill, where he was a Morehead Scholar. He received his law degree from Duke University and serves as an honorary Life Member of the Board of Visitors at Duke Law School. At The McAllister Firm PLLC he practices in the areas of business and civil litigation, business and corporate law, personal injury, white collar criminal law and mediation.
He was appointed by President Ronald Reagan as U.S. Attorney for the Middle District of North Carolina and served from 1981-1986. He joined Wachovia Corporation in 1988 as General Counsel and became an Executive Vice President and head of the Administrative Division in 1994. He retired from Wachovia in 2001. He is a Permanent Member of the Fourth Circuit Judicial Conference and was selected as a Fellow of the American Bar Foundation. He has twice been listed in Business North Carolina magazine as one of the “Legal Elite” in North Carolina in the area of Corporate Counsel. He has been a member of the North Carolina Bar since 1974.
John Babcock represents clients in all aspects of entity formation, taxation, debt and private equity financing, corporate governance, mergers and acquisitions, joint ventures and commercial business transactions. He has taught courses in business planning and partnership taxation as an adjunct professor of law at Wake Forest University. He graduated from the University of Michigan-Dearborn in 1982 and Wake Forest University School of Law in 1985. He was listed in Business North Carolina as one of the “Legal Elite,”and was included in the 2006 and 2007 editions of Best Lawyers in America.
Ron Gibson is a 1974 graduate of Davidson College and earned his law degree in 1978 from the University of North Carolina School of Law. His experience includes Law Clerk to U.S. District Court Judge James B. McMillan, private law practice with Chambers, Stein, Ferguson & Becton, Associate General Counsel and Vice President of Marketing with Duke Power Company, and principal with Scott, Madden & Associates, a management consulting firm. He also owned an insurance and financial services agency.
Glen Hardymon practices complex real estate development law in Charlotte as a partner with K&L Gates. He is a graduate of Duke University and the University of North Carolina Law School, where he was Editor in Chief of the Law Review. He has been recognized as one of the Best Lawyers in America and one of North Carolina’s Super Lawyers. An avid sports fan, Mr. Hardymon represented the City of Charlotte in transactions surrounding the construction of a new basketball arena in downtown Charlotte. He also serves as a founding director of Lawyers Reinsurance, a Vermont reinsurance entity partially owned by Lawyers Mutual.
Doris R. Bray practices corporate law in Greensboro with Schell, Bray, Aycock, Abel & Livingston, where she concentrates in securities regulation, mergers and acquisitions, venture capital financing and corporate governance. She holds an undergraduate degree from Lake Erie College, a masters degree from Yale University, and a law degree from the University of North Carolina (with high honors), where she was Editor in Chief of the Law Review. She has served as Chair of the North Carolina General Statutes Commission, Chair of the Business Law Section of the North Carolina Bar Association, and President of the Greensboro Bar Association. She has been named to Business North Carolina’s “Legal Elite Hall of Fame” in Business Law. She is a member of the Order of the Long Leaf Pine and has been listed in Best Lawyers of America for more than 20 years.
