NCBA Bankruptcy Section 2022 Lifetime Achievement Award Presented to Richard Sparkman
By the NCBA Bankruptcy Section
On November 11, 2022, during the 45th Annual Bankruptcy Institute in Greensboro, North Carolina, the NCBA Bankruptcy Section presented Richard Sparkman with the 2022 Lifetime Achievement Award.
Andrew W.J. Tarr, the Bankruptcy Section Awards Committee Chair, delivered the below remarks during the awards presentation:
It is an honor to be with you today to share the good news with you of the selection of the 2022 Lifetime Achievement Committee’s Award recipient. I want to thank our committee members for their thoughtful consideration of all the nominees. We had a tough task with so many exceptional practitioners in the Bankruptcy Section. The Bankruptcy Section is one of the oldest sections of our Bar, founded in 1979. We have many attorneys among us who started this section and remain strong active members more than 40 years later.
The purpose of the Lifetime Achievement Award is to recognize a bankruptcy practitioner who has contributed to the betterment of the Bankruptcy Section, the profession, and who has set an aspiring example for those who follow.
The written factors and qualifications carefully considered by the Committee when evaluating each nominee are:
- Highest ethical standards,
- Demonstrated knowledge of bankruptcy law and practice, consistently producing the very best work product,
- Zealous, but respectful representation of clients,
- Held in highest esteem by the bench and the NCBA,
- A demonstrated commitment to serve the NCBA Bankruptcy Section, the Bankruptcy Council and their community,
- Past or present section member, and
- Licensed for not less than 25 years
Our award winner without question fulfills each of the criteria.
Our prior Lifetime Achievement Award Winners are:
2011 Trawick H. Stubbs
2012 Richard M. Hutson, II
2013 John A. Northen
2014 William E. Brewer, Jr.
2015 Christine L. Myatt
2016 Albert F. Durham
2017 David R. Badger
2018 Wrennie Pitt
2019 Kenny Greene
2020 Ben Hawfield
2021 Terri Gardner
Our award recipient received an undergraduate degree from Mars Hill College and a law degree from Wake Forest University School of Law.
After law school he — like our 2021 Award winner — served as Chief Law Clerk to the Hon. Rufus Reynolds, U.S. Bankruptcy Judge for the Middle District of North Carolina.
Our Award recipient has been in the private practice of law since 1979, working on literally thousands of consumer and business bankruptcy cases. He became board certified as a bankruptcy law specialist by the North Carolina State Bar in the charter class of 1987. Later, he became nationally certified as a business bankruptcy law specialist in 1994 by the American Board of Certification.
He has served as a trustee under every Chapter of the Code — 7, 11, 12, and 13. He has been a certified Superior Court mediator for over a decade. Our award winner is a Fellow of the Litigation Counsel of America, and he has been recognized over the years as a leader in the field of bankruptcy by Martindale Hubbell, Legal Elite, Super Lawyers, Best Lawyers in America, U.S. News & World Report, and National Law Journal, with honors and recognitions too numerous to name here.
In addition to a successful career in private practice, our 2022 Lifetime Achievement Award Honoree has been a servant to our profession and the bar in word and deed. He is the author of “A Comprehensive Look at North Carolina Exemption Issues” and “I Don’t Even Know How To Spell Bankruptcy,” both published by the North Carolina Bar Association. He frequently teaches at the Annual Bankruptcy Institute as well as the Eastern Bankruptcy Law Institute.
He has served our Bankruptcy Section on its Council, as Secretary, as Vice Chair, and as Chair. He has served as a member of the Bankruptcy Specialization Examination Committee, and he has served on the editorial staff of the North Carolina Bar Association Bankruptcy Practice Manual.
Given the many accolades I’ve already described, it will not surprise you that our recipient works zealously and efficiently for his clients and bankruptcy estate constituents. Yet, he maintains a kind and humble demeanor with opposing counsel that is a model for each of us. He is a mentor to younger lawyers, treating them fairly and as equals, despite his experience and often superior knowledge.
And as we’ve all just witnessed, he’s an amazing entertainer. He has been sharing his talent with the Bankruptcy Section for decades, playing at Grove Park Inn, Pinehurst Hotel and other resort locations.
The Committee is pleased to present the 2022 Lifetime Achievement Award to Richard Sparkman.