Ms. Schmidt is the Legislative Director of the North Carolina Justice Center, a privately funded, non-profit that conducts advocacy, public education, research and litigation with the goal of helping low-income North Carolinians escape poverty.   Since 1994, Ms. Schmidt has done lobbying, policy analysis, research, and media relations for the Justice Center regarding living wages, welfare reform and other health and human services issues.  She is the author of several Justice Center reports and newsletters including co-author of Working Hard is Not Enough in 2001 and its 2003 update Working Hard is Still Not Enough, which found that nearly 60% of North Carolina families with minor children do not earn the 214% of federal poverty level they require to meet their basic needs.  Before working at the Justice Center, Ms. Schmidt practiced law for six years at Central Carolina Legal Services, a non-profit poverty law firm in Greensboro, and attended the University of North Carolina at Chapel Hill School of Law.  In 2001, Legal Services of North Carolina awarded Ms. Schmidt the Julian T. Pierce Award for outstanding advocacy ensuring equal justice for all.  She is the chair and a founding member of the Covenant with North Carolina’s Children, a coalition of over 150 services providers, professional groups and advocacy organizations working for better policy and law for North Carolina’s children.  She is a board member of the North Carolina Child Advocacy Institute and has served on the boards of Raleigh’s Artsplosure Inc. and of the North Carolina Association of Women Attorneys.  Ms. Schmidt and her husband Kurt Brenneman have two sons, five year-old Sam and Ethan who is eight.

JUDGE OF THE YEAR AWARD

Judge Joyce (Joy) Hamilton graduated magna cum laude  from UNC Greensboro in 1972 with a B.S. in Economics and Business Administration and from UNC Chapel Hill School of Law in 1975.  Her career began as an Assistant District Attorney in Wake County and progressed through the positions of Executive Director, NCATL; Staff Attorney, North Carolina Court of Appeals; Partner, Hafer, Hall, Schiller, Mobley & Hamilton; before becoming District Court Judge in Wake County in September 1986 and Chief District Court Judge in December 2000, a position which she currently holds.  Judge Hamilton has participated in many professional and civic organizations through the years.  Some of her current activities include member of the Bench Bar Committee for the Wake County Bar Association, N.C. Judicial Standards Commission Member,  Social Services Chair of the Raleigh Business and Professional Women’s Club, member of the Advisory Council “Time Together” Supervised Visitation/Exchange Program, and Wake County Domestic Violence Council Member.  She is also currently a member of the N.C. State Bar, N.C. State Employees Association and the N.C. Association of Women Attorneys.  Judge Hamilton and her husband, Joe Hodges, have one daughter, Theresa Hamilton.

DISTINGUISHED ATTORNEY AWARD

In 1996, Secretary of State Elaine F. Marshall became the first woman ever elected to a statewide, executive branch office in North Carolina. Secretary Marshall was a former member of the N.C. State Senate before rising to statewide office. Prior to entering politics, she taught in North Carolina’s public schools and community colleges systems.  She also ran her own business and earned a Law Degree from Campbell University. While living in Harnett County, Secretary Marshall became active in civic organizations there working with women and children in crisis. She then served on many state boards such as the 4-H Foundation, the Meredith College Board of Trustees, and the N.C. Institute of Political Leadership. The NCAWA honored her with its Gwyneth B. Davis Award in 1996 and more recently; she received three national technology awards recognizing her work to modernize her department. Business Leader magazine recently named her as one of its 10 “Women Extraordinaire.”