Becton to head bar association

RALEIGH -- Charles L. Becton, a Raleigh lawyer and former state Court of Appeals judge, will be sworn in Saturday as president of the N.C. Bar Association during the group's annual meeting.

Becton said that he hopes to raise the profile of the law profession during his presidency, a profession that he said has been wrongly painted as unethical because of the behavior of a small percentage of lawyers.

"Lawyers and judges are demonized and vilified unfairly," Becton said.

Becton, who lives in Durham , was born in Morehead City and grew up in Ayden before leaving to attend Howard University. He then went on to Duke, where he received his law degree in 1969.

He is a partner with Becton, Slifkin and Bell, a firm specializing in person injury law.

He will be sworn in as the 114th president of the Bar Association during its meeting in Atlantic Beach. He will succeed Janet Ward Black of Greensboro who launched a widely-praised campaign to have more lawyers donate time to help the indigent with legal problems.

Becton's presidency will mark the second time the organization of 13,500 lawyers has had a black leader and the first time a black man has led the group. The first black president was Judge Allyson K. Duncan of the 4th U.S. Circuit Court of Appeals, who served from 2003 to 2004.

The N.C. Bar Association is separate from the N.C. State Bar, a state agency responsible for licensing and regulating law practice in North Carolina.

Becton's legal career has been spent mostly in the field of civil rights and as a plaintiff's attorney. He's has taught trial advocacy at both Duke since 1980 and UNC-Chapel HIll since 1976.

He spent much of his early legal career in North Carolina with Julius Chambers' law firm in Charlotte and Chapel Hill, representing clients whom local lawyers wouldn't take because of mounting racial tension as protests, sit-ins and boycotts challenged the segregation in the state.

In 1981, he was appointed to the state Court of Appeals and served there until 1990.

Becton and his wife, Brenda, a retired lawyer and former state administrative law judge, have three grown children.

A fuller report on Becton will be published Saturday in The News & Observer.