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2007 ANNUAL CONFERENCE --  Awards

Stella Boswell is currently a Career Counselor at Duke University School of Law  where she advises students and alumni and assists with programming, including a series of workshops on Leadership and Professionalism. Stella received her undergraduate degree from Duke University and her law degree at the University of North Carolina at Chapel Hill School of Law.   After law school, Stella was in a litigation practice in Durham. She then served as the Legal Affairs Counsel for the North Carolina Academy of Trial Lawyers where she ran the amicus curiae program and worked as a lobbyist. Stella was a long-time board member and is a Past President of the NCAWA.  She has been the Chair of the organization’s Judicial Endorsement Committee, it’s registered PAC, since 2005.  Most recently, Stella has served as Chair for the NCAWA Strategic Planning Task Force which is exploring a variety of issues to insure the continued vitality and meaningfulness of the organization.

Judge Joyce (Joy) Hamilton graduated magna cum laude from UNC Greensboro in 1972 and from UNC Chapel Hill School of Law in 1975. She began her career as an Assistant District Attorney in Wake County and progressed through the positions of Executive Director, NC Academy of Trial Lawyers; Staff Attorney, North Carolina Court of Appeals; and 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 serving as a member of the Wake County Bar Association Bench Bar Committee, Advisory Council member for Triangle Family Services, Domestic Violence Task Force member for N.C. Division of Community Corrections, Advisory Council member for "Time Together" Supervised Visitation/Exchange Program, and Wake County Domestic Violence Council Member. She is a long-standing member of the N.C. Association of Women Attorneys and the Raleigh Business and Professional Women’s Club. Judge Hamilton is a former foster parent who has a daughter, a stepson, and four grandchildren. She resides in Raleigh with her husband, Joe Hodges.

Sally H. Scherer was born in Richmond, Virginia, January 11, 1940; admitted to the NC bar in 1981, the Eastern District of NC in 1984, the U.S. Supreme Court and Fourth Circuit Court of Appeals in 1986. She graduated from Sweet Briar College (B.A. 1962), University of Virginia School of Medicine (Med. Tech. 1964), and Franklin Pierce Law Center (J.D. 1981). After living in Virginia, France, Germany, Texas, Missouri, and New Hampshire, she settled in Raleigh in 1981 and has practiced primarily in criminal defense and family law, now only family law. She has been president of the Tenth Judicial District Bar, the Wake County Academy of Criminal Trial Lawyers, the North Carolina Conference of Bar Presidents, and has chaired the NCBA Committee on Women in the Legal Profession, the Tenth Judicial District Grievance Committee, the NCBA Public Service Committee, the Tenth Judicial District Committee on Indigent Appointments, and has served on numerous boards and committees, mostly involving women and children. She has three children: a son living in Texas with his wife and three children, a daughter living in Maryland with her husband, and a daughter in Canada with her husband and two children.

Judge of the Year Award

Judge Shelly Holt has been a District Court Judge since 1992 during which time she has been active in the NC Association of District Court Judges serving on the education committee, the Board of Directors, and as President in 1998-99. She was the District Court representative on the N. C. Judicial Council for two terms, presents at trainings for judges and attorneys, has participated in training new volunteer guardians ad litem and magistrates and was President of the New Hanover County Bar Association in 1996-97. She participated in the establishment of Family Court, has served as a Family Court Judge since 2000 and currently serves on the Juvenile Justice Planning Committee of the Governor’s Crime Commission and the State Advisory Council on Juvenile Justice and Delinquency Prevention. She began her legal career in 1981, following her graduation from T.C. Williams School of Law at the University of Richmond. She served as an Assistant District Attorney for 10 1/2 years with responsiblity for the prosecution of child abuse cases. Judge Holt was born and raised in Akron, Ohio and graduated from Kent State University in 1978. She is married and has two children and is involved in numerous community activities including PTA President, President of the local YWCA Board of Directors and a Sunday School teacher. While working with the YWCA, she helped implement "Take Your Daughters to Work" Day and planned, organized and presented at a Teen Leadership Camp in the summers for middle school girls. She also organized the sponsorship of a Teen Leader scholarship by the local women attorneys through the YWCA Women of Achievement dinner and the New Hanover County women attorneys have presented a $1,500 college scholarship to a high school senior girl each year for the past 11 years.

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