Alumni Awards

The Lifetime Achievement Award

The Lifetime Achievement Award recognizes an alumnus whose lifetime career has been highly distinguished, and whose achievements and contributions are widely recognized as significant and outstanding in his or her field. The recipient should be a graduate whose professional career has spanned a substantial period of time and whose accomplishments reflect admirably on and bring honor to the individual, the Bar and the School of Law.

 

The Distinguished Alumni Award

The Distinguished Alumni Award is an annual award given by the Carolina Law Alumni Association to a UNC School of Law graduate whose accomplishments and contributions have enhanced the school and the profession of law at the local, state, national or international level. The recipient should demonstrate one or more of the following:

• Excellence in the practice of law
• Excellence in public service as members of the judiciary or other elected / appointed office
  The high ideals of the legal profession
  

The Outstanding Recent Graduate Award

The UNC Law Alumni Association established the Outstanding Recent Graduate Award in 2002 to annually recognize a recent graduate for achievements that have brought credit to the school, the legal profession or society. The recipient must be a graduate of UNC School of Law within the past 10 years and must demonstrate one or more of the following: 

• Accomplishments within the legal profession
• High level of community involvement          
  

Professor S. Elizabeth Gibson Award for Faculty Excellence

The Professor S. Elizabeth Gibson Award for Faculty Excellence is presented by the UNC Law Alumni Association to honor a tenured faculty member who typifies the outstanding qualities of integrity, legal scholarship, exemplary teaching and commitment to service to UNC School of Law and the University. The award is named for S. Elizabeth Gibson ’76, Burton Craige Professor of Law, to honor the qualities that she exemplified in her more than thirty years as a much loved and respected educator.   

2018 Distinguished Alumni Award Recipients

M. Ann Reed ’71

Ann Reed, of Raleigh, N.C., is a double Tar Heel, having graduated from UNC in 1969 and from the School of Law in 1971. She began her work as an attorney at the North Carolina Department of Justice upon graduation and spent a distinguished career in that office. In 1988 she was named as the first female senior deputy attorney general for the Administrative Law Division of the Department of Justice and continued in that capacity until she retired in September 2010. She was responsible for the management of the largest legal division in the Department of Justice. In this role, Reed essentially served as the “managing partner” of an 80 member law firm in representing and advising the diverse set of State agencies responsible for regulating and administering health and human services programs, investing and managing the State’s monies, conducting the State’s elections and resolving the tort claims of injured citizens. In 2001 Reed was the named the first woman president of the North Carolina State Bar. In that capacity, as well as in her position with the Department of Justice, she was a great mentor to many women.

Reed continues to be active in the North Carolina State Bar. While on the North Carolina State Bar Board of Trustees she was highly involved in the acquisition of a collection of North Carolina art for the State Bar building. This collection, paid for by private funds, is described by many as one of the finest examples of North Carolina art in the State. Reed currently serves as a docent and a tour guide of the State Bar building and its art collection.

In 2003 Reed received the Wake County Bar Association’s highest award, the Joseph Branch Professionalism Award. She has also been awarded the Order of the Longleaf Pine by Governors Hunt, Easley and Purdue.

Reed and her husband H. Glenn Dunn '76 (JD/MRP) are the proud parents of two Tar Heel daughters, Nancy Dunn Hardison (BA 2000, JD 2003), assistant attorney general at N.C. Department of Justice and Helen Dunn (BA 2002), assistant director of global programs at UVA's McIntire School of Commerce. 

Jay M. Goffman '83

Jay Goffman, of New York, partner and global co-head of Skadden’s corporate restructuring group, is recognized as one of the leading restructuring lawyers in the world. Often referred to as "The Godfather of Prepacks", he was named among “The Decade’s Most Influential Lawyers” by The National Law Journal in March 2010 and was recognized as one of The American Lawyer’s “Dealmakers of the Year” in April 2011 for his work in restructuring Metro-Goldwyn-Mayer, Inc. (MGM), the largest prepackaged bankruptcy ever completed in under 33 days. In the 2011 Financial Times’ U.S. “Innovative Lawyers” report, Goffman was named as one of the 10 most innovative lawyers in the U.S. and recognized as a “pioneer” and a leader in out-of-court and prepackaged restructurings. He was named one of Law360’s MVPs of 2011, 2012, 2013, 2016 and 2017 in the bankruptcy category, which recognizes those who have raised the bar in corporate law throughout the year, and was profiled in Turnarounds & Workouts Trends as a “Pioneer of the Pre-Pack” (November 2011). In August 2013, The Deal published an article chronicling Goffman’s career titled “Jay Be Nimble, Jay Be Quick,” summarizing many of his career achievements with a particular focus on his innovation and creativity in leading out-of-court restructurings and prepacks. In January 2017, The Deal also published an article detailing Goffman’s six-day prepack of Roust, Inc., the quickest billion-dollar prepack in history. In addition, he led the first prepack ever of an operating business, the first prepack ever of an international business and the fastest prepack ever completed—the 32 hour Prepack of BlueBird Bus Corporation. .

In May 2013, Goffman was a recipient of the prestigious “Blue Cloud Award,” bestowed upon him in recognition of his many years of service promoting stronger relationships and cultural exchange between the United States and China. In June 2014, the AJC bestowed upon Goffman its National Human Relations Award recognizing his efforts to build a society that rejects hatred and bigotry and embraces human bridges of mutual respect and cooperation. In June 2015, the New York Institute of Credit bestowed upon Goffman its 42nd Leadership in Credit Education Award recognizing his demonstrated dedication and commitment to the New York Institute of Credit and Credit Industry. In May 2016, Goffman was presented with the Restructuring Leadership Achievement award at the 8th Annual Turnaround Atlas Awards recognizing his leadership in guiding the turnaround and growth of many companies around the world and his numerous contributions to the broader restructuring community over the course of more than three decades. In June 2016, The American Lawyer bestowed upon Goffman its Transatlantic Finance Dealmaker: Restructuring (U.S.) award recognizing his extraordinary contributions to the field of international restructuring.

Goffman frequently lectures and writes on a variety of restructuring topics. He assisted the National Bankruptcy Review Commission with respect to legislative amendments regarding prepacks and co-chaired a committee of premier restructuring lawyers addressing potential bankruptcy legislation leading to certain congressional amendments to the Bankruptcy Code regarding prepacks. He was the Keynote Speaker at the 2012 Harvard Business School Turnaround Conference focusing on international restructuring, one of the lead speakers at the 2013 Quadrennial INSOL Conference in The Hague, co-chair of the 2015 INSOL Annual Conference in San Francisco, co-chair of the 2014 and 2016 ABI Valcon Conferences, and co-chair of the 2016 TMA Distressed Investing Conference. 

Goffman is a fellow of the American College of Bankruptcy as well as a member of the International Insolvency Institute and a member of INSOL and its G36 Organization. He serves on the Board of Directors and the International Restructuring Committee of the American Bankruptcy Institute. For many years, he was vice chairman and a member of the Board of Trustees of the China Institute, and he currently is a member of the Board of Directors and treasurer of the Cerebral Palsy Alliance Research Foundation. Goffman was the co-chair of the ABI Commission’s Plan Process Committee, whose mandate was to evaluate all aspects of the plan of reorganization process in conjunction with a study of proposed revisions to the Bankruptcy Code and co-chaired the Turnaround Management Association Futures Task Force.

2018 Outstanding Recent Graduate Award Recipient

Mary L. Irvine '12

Mary Irvine earned her Juris Doctor degree with honors from Carolina Law in December 2011 – graduating a semester earlier than her peers, and her Bachelor of Arts degree with distinction in Spanish and sociology from UNC Chapel Hill in May 2007. After finishing her undergraduate studies, Irvine worked as program associate for the N.C. Network of Grantmakers, introducing her to the philanthropic community of North Carolina and building relationships with funder staff that she continues to maintain. She began her legal career as a program associate with the UNC Center on Poverty, Work and Opportunity and as contract law clerk with the Irwin Law Firm handling family law matters. With the Center on Poverty, she produced a report on the statewide economic impact of civil legal aid providers that continues to be referenced today. In 2014, Mary became the Access to Justice coordinator for the NC Equal Access to Justice Commission and the North Carolina State Bar Plan for Interest on Lawyers' Trust Accounts (IOLTA). In January 2015, she was named executive director of the Equal Justice Alliance. In August 2017, Irvine was named as executive director of the N.C. IOLTA program, coordinating a statewide funding process to provide legal assistance for at-risk children, the elderly, the disabled, and the poor in need of basic necessities.

Beginning as a student, Irvine's passion for pro bono was evident in how she used her legal skills. A constant presence in the UNC School of Law's pro bono program, she has been an active member for the alumni pro bono board since graduation. In 2017 she coordinated a continuing legal education course that trained volunteer attorneys to supervise student pro bono work, participated in UNC Cancer Project clinics as an attorney supervisor, and represented the program as a member of the UNC Law Alumni Association board. She served as committee chair for the 2016-17 academic year and was asked to participate on the search committee for the UNC School of Law director of pro bono initiatives.

Irvine is a member of the North Carolina Bar Association’s foundation oversight committee and pro bono activities committee. She has served as North Carolina’s representative to the national Voices for Civil Justice “A-Team” Initiative, working to proactively pursue media opportunities to spotlight the critical role of civil legal aid in the justice system. She also served three years as a board member of the Orange County Rape Crisis Center.

Irvine and her husband Nick Byrne (BA 2007, JD/MPA 2015) live in Cary with their one year old son.