James Barrett Receives Distinguished Service Award

James A. “Jim” Barrett received the John B. McMillan Distinguished Service Award on August 28, 2025, at a ceremony at the Asheville, N.C. office of nonprofit Pisgah Legal Services. State Bar Vice President Kevin G. Williams presented the award. 

A native of Laurinburg, Mr. Barrett attended the public schools of Scotland County before graduating summa cum laude and Phi Beta Kappa from Wofford College in 1979, where he also received the Algernon Sydney Sullivan Award for Service. He earned his Juris Doctor from the University of North Carolina School of Law in 1983, where he first gained experience with legal aid clients and work at the civil law clinic. 

Following law school, Mr. Barrett joined Pisgah Legal Services in Asheville as a staff attorney focusing on housing law and community economic development. Over the next decade, he represented hundreds of clients in securing shelter, income, and essential legal rights. His early achievements included co-counseling to secure North Carolina’s first housing discrimination judgment under the state fair housing law on behalf of people with mental handicaps, a judgment that protected a $1 million federal grant that paid for multifamily housing, persuading the City of Asheville to allocate Community Block Grant funds annually for affordable housing preservation and development, and helping establish the HOME Consortium to bring federal funds for long-term affordable housing solutions in four counties. He also helped strengthen the Asheville rental housing code and advocated for the first county rental housing code in the mountains of North Carolina after a tragic fire in Buncombe County showed the dangers of unsafe housing conditions, ensuring safer housing for vulnerable residents. 

In 1993, Mr. Barrett became Executive Director of Pisgah Legal Services, a role he held until his retirement in 2024. Under his leadership, Pisgah grew from a small nonprofit law firm serving six counties from one office in Asheville into a nationally recognized public interest law firm serving 18 counties with 14 offices in the mountains of Western North Carolina. The staff expanded from 15 to more than 130, and the budget grew to more than $10 million annually. In just the past decade, Pisgah Legal Services has helped more than 128,000 individuals and generated over $202 million in measurable benefits for clients. Pisgah Legal combines civil legal services, social services, and health advocacy to address the causes of poverty and avoid its harms. 

Mr. Barrett’s vision extended far beyond individual representation because there were never enough resources to meet the civil legal needs of a high percentage of people who were income eligible for free legal services. He championed systemic reforms that reduced chronic homelessness in Buncombe County by 82% since 2005, expanded access to affordable healthcare and insurance, advocated for collaborative partnerships between nonprofits and local governments, and launched innovative programs including the Children’s Law Project, the Elder Law Project, the Mountain Violence Prevention Project, and the HEALS medical-legal partnership. He also strengthened pro bono engagement through the Mountain Area Volunteer Lawyer Program, recruiting and supporting hundreds of private attorneys to advance justice in their communities. 

In his community development work at Pisgah Legal Services, Mr. Barrett played a pivotal role in creating more than a dozen nonprofits that continue to serve low-income communities today, including Mountain Housing Opportunities and Homeward Bound. Under his leadership Pisgah Legal sustained its impactful community development work with and without dedicated funding for that program. He and the staff organized community forums, CLE programs, and civic initiatives to increase public understanding of issues such as Medicaid expansion, affordable housing, and poverty reduction. His service has been recognized with numerous honors, including the Order of the Long Leaf Pine, the North Carolina Bar Association’s Deborah Greenblatt Outstanding Legal Services Attorney Award, and the NC Justice Center’s Lifetime Champion of Justice Award. 

Throughout his forty-one-year career, Jim Barrett has been praised for his compassion, civility, and unwavering commitment to justice. His leadership transformed Pisgah Legal Services into one of the nation’s most effective and respected legal aid organizations, expanded equal access to justice for countless North Carolinians, and inspired a generation of lawyers and advocates. His lifelong dedication to service and to the ideals of the legal profession make him a most deserving recipient of the John B. McMillan Distinguished Service Award.