State Bar award recognizes Dorsett’s long service

The North Carolina State Bar recently honored a veteran Raleigh lawyer for his longtime service to the institution and his profession.

James K. Dorsett III was presented the John B. McMillan Distinguished Service Award at a May 8 ceremony and reception at the North Carolina State Bar Building in Raleigh, a news release says. The presentation was made by A. Todd Brown Sr., the bar’s president, and Walter Brock, a bar councilor. Byron Kirkland and Kimberly J. Korando, Dorsett’s colleagues at the Smith Anderson law firm, also participated.

“Mr. Dorsett’s dedication to the profession and his exemplary reputation makes him a most worthy recipient of the John B. McMillan Distinguished Service Award,” the release says.

Dorsett has practiced law at Smith Anderson for more than 45 years. His focus includes business, trusts, estates, and insurance litigation in claims such as will caveats, legal malpractice, contract lawsuits, and product liability in state and federal courts. He also is a certified mediator.

His record of service to the bar is lengthy. In addition to being the agency’s former president, he has worked on most of its committees, including the Grievance, Publications, Professional Corporations, Professional Organizations, Policies and Procedures, Paralegal, Appointments, Consumer Protection, Executive, and Administrative panels. His bar service continues today as a member of the board of directors for the Client Security Fund.

Dorsett also has served as president and chair of the North Carolina State Bar Foundation and as director of the Wake County Bar Association and chair of its Endowment Committee, the release says.

In the community, he has served as president of Food Runners Collaborative, on the boards of other charitable organizations, including Legal Services of North Carolina and the Board of Visitors at Davidson College, and as president of the Rotary Club of Raleigh.

Dorsett’s efforts have earned him a lengthy list of honors, including the Federal Bar Association‘s Judge David Daniel Award for Excellence in the Legal Community and the North Carolina Bar Association’s Citizen Lawyer Award and election to membership in the American Board of Trial Advocates, the American Counsel Association and the International Society of Barristers.

As a student at Davidson College, he majored in history and played on the varsity tennis team before graduating in 1974, the release says. He earned his Juris Doctor from the Wake Forest University School of Law in 1977.