Paul A. Meggett Receives John B. McMillan Distinguished Service Award

Paul A. Meggett received the John B. McMillan Distinguished Service Award on October 23, 2023, at the University of North Carolina System Attorneys’ Conference in Boone, North Carolina. Past North Carolina State Bar President Darrin D. Jordan presented the award. Anthony di Santi, a previous recipient of the award and a past-president of the Bar, also participated in the award presentation.

Mr. Meggett is a graduate of the sixth class of the North Carolina School of Science and Math. He earned his bachelor of science from North Carolina State University and his juris doctor from UNC School of Law. After graduating from law school, Mr. Meggett clerked for Chief Justice Burley B. Mitchell Jr. of the North Carolina Supreme Court. Mr. Meggett was one of the first African American law graduates to clerk on the North Carolina Supreme Court and helped lay the foundation for increasing opportunities for minorities.

During his legal career, Mr. Meggett has served in various in-house counsel roles for the University of North Carolina, the UNC Health Care System, and Appalachian State University, where he currently serves as general counsel.

Mr. Meggett has devoted a substantial portion of his career working to help new members of the legal profession. He has taught law as an adjunct professor at the University of North Carolina School of Law and as an associate professor and interim dean for the Charlotte School of Law. He has worked to increase diversity and inclusion in the North Carolina Bar. He is a cornerstone member of the North Carolina Minority Executive Roundtable and a regular participant in the State Bar’s Minority Outreach Conference.

Mr. Meggett has served on the North Carolina State Bar’s Diversity Task Force and was an advisory member of the Demographics and Outreach Subcommittees of the North Carolina State Bar’s Issues Committee. Mr. Meggett has spent over two decades serving on committees and boards of the North Carolina Bar Association including the Judicial Independence and Integrity Committee, the Legislative Advisory Committee, the Law School Liaison Committee, the Joint Diversity Task Force, the Minorities in the Profession Committee, the Effectiveness and Quality of Life Committee, and the Board of Governors. He was presented with the Citizen Lawyer Award in 2009 by the NCBA.

Mr. Meggett has been involved in public service and nonprofit work in the places where he lives. He has served as a hearing officer for the Charlotte Housing Authority, served and chaired the Town of Waxhaw Parks, Culture, and Recreation Advisory Board, and served on the boards of the Justice Initiatives, the Orange Congregations in Mission, and the Union Symphony Society, among others. He has served as a committee member of North Carolina State University’s Park Scholarship Regional Selection Committee since 2001.