Janet Ward Black

• Member, C12 Christian CEO and Owners Group, Greensboro, 2005 to present
• Member, Women Presidents’ Organization, Greensboro, 2008 to present
• Board Member and Chair of Advancement Committee, International Cooperating Ministries, 2010 to present
• Board of Advisors, First Citizens Bank, Greensboro, 2009 to present
• Master of the Bench, Joseph Branch Inn of Court, 1995 to present
• Trustee Emeritus, Hood Theological Seminary, Salisbury
• Legislative Advisory Committee Member, North Carolina Bar Association
• Women to Women Advisory Council, Community Foundation of Greater Greensboro, 2016 to present
• Board Member, Legal Aid of North Carolina, 2022 to present
• Member, Plaintiffs’ Steering Committee, National Camp Lejeune Water Contamination Litigation, 2023 to present

• Named one of the “Top 50 Most Influential Women” by North Carolina Lawyers Weekly and the Mecklenburg Times, 2024
• Named to the North Carolina Lawyers Weekly Personal Injury Law The Power List, 2023, 2024
• Voted the Readers’ Choice – Personal Injury Attorney in the Greensboro News & Record, 2023 
• Named “Icon” by North Carolina Lawyers Weekly, 2023 
• Recipient of the Thurgood Marshall Award, NC Advocates for Justice, 2021 
• Recipient of C12 Hero Award by C12 Christian CEOs and Business Owners Group, 2021.  
• Recipient of the NCBA (North Carolina Bar Association) Litigation Section’s Advocate’s Award, 2018 
• Named Personal Injury “Lawyer of the Year” in the Triad in 2013 and 2020 by US News & World Report 

• Named Greensboro’s Woman of the Year in 2018 by the Community Foundation of Greater Greensboro.  
• Recipient of the Ebbie Award by North Carolina Advocates for Justice, 2019 
• Awarded the Order of the Long Leaf Pine by NC Governor Pat McCrory, 2016 
• Awarded the Kellie Crabtree Award by NC Advocates for Justice, 2015 
• Awarded the Citizen Lawyer Award by North Carolina Bar Association, 2013 
• Recipient of Woman of Justice Award, North Carolina Lawyers Weekly, 2012 
• Recipient of the Athena Award, Partnership Greensboro 2012 
• Recipient of Duke Law School Distinguished Alumni Award for Public Service 2010 
• Recipient of the North Carolina Bar Distinguished Service Award 2010 
• Recipient of “Women in Business” Award, The Business Journal, 2009 
• Named a “Woman of Achievement” by General Federation of Women’s Clubs of North Carolina 2007 
• Named in North Carolina “Super Lawyers” by Law & Politics Magazine 2006, 2007, 2008, 2009, 2010, 2011, 2012, 2013, 2014, 2015, 2016, 2017, 2018, 2019, 2020, 2021, 2022, 2023, 2024 including one of the top 50 women attorneys in North Carolina 2006-2015, 2018 
• Listed in Martindale-Hubbell Bar Register of Preeminent Women Lawyers 2010, 2011 
• Rated with a AV Preeminent Rating in Martindale-Hubbell’s American Registry of Lawyers (20 years) 
• Named in “North Carolina Legal Elite” by Business North Carolina 2007, 2010 
• Named in “Best Lawyers in America” 2007, 2008, 2009, 2010, 2011, 2012, 2013, 2014, 2015, 2016, 2017, 2018, 2019, 2020, 2021, 2022, 2023, 2024 
• Named a “2008 Impact Law Leader” by Triad Business Leader Magazine 
• Named a “Woman Extraordinaire” by BizLife Magazine 2007 
• 1980 Miss North Carolina and recipient of Grand Talent Award at 1981 Miss America Pageant 
• Recipient of N.C. Jaycees Award of Excellence, 1980 

• Recipient of “Outstanding Community Leaders of America” – 1987 
• Named “Business Associate of the Year” by the American Business Women’s Association, Reidsville Chapter, 1994 
• Ward Black Law listed in “Best Law Firms in America” by U.S. News & World Report 2011, 2012, 2013, 2014, 2015, 2016, 2017, 2018, 2019, 2020, 2021, 2022, and 2023 
• Ward Black Law named “Professional Advisor of the Year” by Business Leader Magazine 2010 
• Motivational speaker to over fifty civic, community and youth organizations since 1985 
• Girls’ State Speaker on the Judiciary and Law as a Profession for Women since 1989 
• Continuing Legal Education speaker since 1989 for North Carolina Bar Association, Wake Forest University, and North Carolina Academy of Trial Lawyers 

• American Association for Justice
• Christian Trial Lawyers Association
• North Carolina Bar Association
• North Carolina Advocates for Justice
• North Carolina Association of Women Attorneys
• Women’s Professional Forum, Greensboro

• President, North Carolina Bar Association 2007 – 2008(16,000 members)
• President-Elect, North Carolina Bar Association 2006-2007
• Chair, Strategic Planning Committee, North Carolina Bar Association, 2001-2002
• Chair, Litigation Section of the North Carolina Bar Association (1900 members)
• Member, Long Range Planning Committee, North Caroline Bar Association
• Chair, Subcommittee on Image and Leadership, North Carolina Bar Association 2000-2001
• Board of Governors and Executive Committee Member, North Carolina Bar Association 1998-2001
• Co-Chairman, Ethics Committee, Litigation Section, North Carolina Bar Association
• Member, Task Force on Women in the Profession, North Carolina Bar Association
• Appointed by NC Supreme Court Chief Justice Mark Martin to the NC Commission on the Administration of Law and Justice, 2015 to 2017
• President, North Carolina Academy of Trial Lawyers (now North Carolina Advocates for Justice) 2002-2003 (3900 members)
• President-Elect, North Carolina Academy of Trial Lawyers, 2001-2002
• Chair, North Carolina Academy of Trial Lawyers Political Action Committee 2004-2006
• Legislative Vice President, North Carolina Academy of Trial Lawyers, 2000-2001
• Vice-President of Membership, North Carolina Academy of Trial Lawyers 1998-2000
• Board of Governors and Executive Committee Member, North Carolina Advocates for Justice 2017-2018
• Board of Governors Member, NC Academy of Trial Lawyers 1995-1998
• Co-Chair, Access to Justice Campaign Statewide, Legal Aid of North Carolina– Triad Division 2006-2010
• Advisory Panel Member, Legal Aid of North Carolina, Greensboro 2002-2009
• Member (2002-2005) and Co-Chair (2005), Z. Smith Reynolds Foundation Advisory Panel
• CEO Selection Committee Member for North Carolina Advocates for Justice 2015-2017, 2022
• Board of Governors Member, American Association for Justice 2005 – 2008
• Trustee, Roscoe Pound Foundation 2006- 2007
• Board of Directors, Mercy Mission Teams, Greensboro 2000 – 2010
• Trustee, Hood Theological Seminary, Salisbury, NC 2000-2008
• Board of Directors Member, Volunteer Center of Greensboro 2001-2005
• Board of Directors Member, Women’s Resource Center of Greensboro
• CEO Selection Committee Member, NC Advocates for Justice 2015-2017
• Steering Committee Member, NC Institute of Government Judicial Education Fund
• Co-Chair, PAC Task Force, Association of Trial Lawyers of America 1998-1999
• Member, Rules Committee, NC Business Court
• Chair, Vice-Chair, Board Member, Presbyterian Counseling Center, 1993-1997
• President, Rowan County Bar Association, 1992
• President Elect, Rowan County Bar Association 1990 – 1991
• President, Rowan County Democratic Women, 1991-92
• Stewardship Campaign Co-Chairman, Fellowship Presbyterian Church
• Elder and Co-Chair of Building Committee, Fellowship Presbyterian Church
• Piedmont Players Board of Governors, Rowan County
• Member, North Carolina Democratic Party Judicial Nominating Committee
• Crisis Council Shelter Board of Directors, Rowan County
• First Vice-Chairman 1989 – 1991, Rowan County Democratic Party
• First Woman Member, Salisbury Rotary Club
• Board of Trustees, Rotary Foundation, Paul Harris Fellow
• Subcommittee for Legal Profession- Member, Hobbie Center for Values and Ethics, Catawba College
• Board Member, NC Center for Entrepreneurship, 2010 to 2014, University of North Carolina at Greensboro
• Volunteer, Habitat for Humanity to Honduras
• Board of Advisors, First Citizens Bank, Greensboro, 2009 to 2020
• National Advisory Committee, Win-Win Resolutions, Inc., Greensboro
• Liaison Counsel for the State of North Carolina for Federal Court Breast Implant Litigation
• Member, Plaintiffs Steering Committee, Asbestos Multidistrict Litigation, appointed by Hon. James Giles, US District Judge, Eastern District Pennsylvania 2007-2015
• Elder, Church on 68, Greensboro, 2010 to 2022

• Preach Where You Reach
  • Season 2 Ep 88
• Law Talk with Bill Powers
• Theology of Business with Darren Shearer

As you visit our website and learn more about Ward Black Law, I hope that you see a team of people who “seek justice, give generously, and love lavishly.” Seeking justice and fighting for the rights of everyday people is our life’s work. But we are more than just that.

Ward Black Law embodies the values and beliefs I strive to attain every day. It’s a reflection of who I am. To understand the values and beliefs of the firm, you need to understand more about me as a person.

My parents came from humble beginnings. My mother taught high school English at Concord High School, which I attended. Mother was born on a tobacco farm in Mount Olive, North Carolina (the home of Mt. Olive Pickles).

My father was an entrepreneur. Dad was born in Marshville, North Carolina, the son of the owner of the general store. When the Depression hit in 1929, my father and his sisters moved to Washington, DC, because there were no jobs in the little town in which they lived. My dad got a job at People’s Drugs as a stock boy and clerk. That experience shaped him and eventually me. My father returned to North Carolina in the 1940s where he and a brother started a pharmacy in Kannapolis. From there, he developed a small chain of pharmacies called Baxter’s, and would eventually open additional pharmacies in Concord, Kannapolis, and Hickory.

I am a product of my upbringing. I was born in Kannapolis, a North Carolina textile mill town, where my father started his first pharmacy.

He didn’t believe in borrowing money. He taught me to save money. In fact, for years, he would drive the first day of every month to deposit $100 in the Landis Savings and Loan for my college fund. He never missed a month from the time I was born until my first day at Davidson College. I still have the “passbooks” in which his deposits were logged. He never got a chance to go to college, so it was really important to him that I did.

I am the child of an entrepreneur. That, I think, has allowed me to embrace, albeit somewhat reluctantly, the role of a business owner and employer. I have been a small business owner with about two dozen employees for more than 15 years– the business just happens to be a law firm.

While my entrepreneurial spirit came from my father, my mother’s background in English taught me discipline. Most of my mother’s relatives were teachers or school principals in eastern North Carolina. That heritage taught me to be a critical proofreader of almost everything I see, and, I hope, to be a decent public speaker and teacher. I have had spoken to audiences totaling thousands of people- including students, lawyers, and business owners. The last thing I wanted to do when I attended Duke Law School was to be a person who tries cases in court or speaks in public, but God had other plans. It is now one of the great joys of my life.

I was raised in church. If the doors were open, I was there! When I was about 40 years old, I attended a three-day spiritual retreat called Presbyterian Pilgrimage and started taking international mission trips. Serving God through missions work changed my perspective of “church.”

I started serving on medical missions in Nicaragua and El Salvador with Mercy Mission teams (a Greensboro-based organization). I have served for several years on construction teams building houses with Habitat for Humanity in Honduras. Almost every year since that retreat, I have traveled to another country on a mission trip.

My most recent mission trips have been to China, India, Nepal, Thailand, Rwanda, Burundi, South Africa, Lesotho, and Vietnam with International Cooperating Ministries.

ICM is a Christian non-profit that funds church buildings and discipleship material in over 100 countries for indigenous pastors who have sizable congregations, but no building in which to worship (www.icm.org). I’ve been exposed to the beauty of people and places across the globe. Being placed in the circumstances and surroundings of many different cultures opened my eyes to a world I didn’t know existed. Serving those unique communities altered my worldview and elevated missions to a high priority in my life.

My walk with God has strengthened over the years. While I considered myself a Christian my whole life, I don’t think I really “got it” until more recently. In 2006, I joined C12, a national organization for Christian CEOs and business owners (www.c12group.com). I invest one day each month in meetings with C12. Over the years, a number of our lawyers and our leadership staff have become members of their own C12 group, called “Key Players.” We each dedicate that one day a month, as a unified force, to making Ward Black Law a better business and a better ministry.

My beliefs not only shape how I represent clients, but how I manage our law firm. I believe that representing clients, each a unique creation of God, is a true honor and responsibility. To take advantage of a client, mislead a client, or fail to use our very best efforts to represent our clients is wrong. Honor and integrity in our business dealings are fundamental to our practice.

Taking care of our employees is taking care of our clients. Our employees are entrusted to us by God – the more we care for them, the more love they can share with the clients we serve. By bettering our employees, we better the business of serving others. We strive to provide continuing education, to challenge them with responsibility, and to provide a flexible, comfortable and nurturing workplace that includes a robust paid benefits and time off package. Many have worked for us for more than 20 years. I would like to think their length of service is evidence of the environment we have created at Ward Black Law.

Not only do we invest in staff training, but we also invest in our staff’s spiritual growth. We offer to fund an international mission trip to any staff or lawyer wishing to participate. Members of our staff have worked on medical missions in Nicaragua and many have built houses with Habitat for Humanity in Honduras. We want our staff to understand how vast the world is and to see the beauty in other people and places. A staff that understands cultures different from their own is a staff that can empathize with others.

Our staff and lawyers give back to our community. We love our “neighbors,” both near and far. For over 10 years, we have partnered with the Marine Corps to collect toys for needy children in the Triad. We have a prayer team that prays for our employees, our clients, our work, and our philanthropy for 6 hours the first Thursday of each month.

In 2013 we started setting aside 10% of all we earn – our gross revenue – which we donate to best-in-class nonprofits, locally, regionally, nationally, and internationally. That “dime on every dollar” has been donated to more than 150 non-profits that serve the hungry, thirsty, sick, jailed, naked, strangers of Matthew 25:36-40 and the widows and orphans of Deuteronomy 24:19. We don’t allow the non-profits to publicize that donation. We ask that they keep it anonymous. We want God to get the glory, not our firm. Originally, we thought we would be blessing others, but we quickly learned that we are the ones blessed by our giving.

Claiming to be a “Christian-led law firm” is a sacred responsibility. I can’t conduct myself in a way that is an affront to God. I have to encourage our staff to always do the right thing, even when it hurts. As a Christian business owner, I have to be willing to sacrifice and fight for our staff and our clients.

I know that all the honors I’ve received are not the result of my deserving them or being the best and brightest, but because God has a plan for my life. I try to be faithful in following God’s plan. It takes service to our fellow man, including clients, and sacrifice of time, talent, and money. It takes courage and faith. It is full of challenges and disappointments, but it is also blessed with victories.

As long as I serve as a good steward of all that God has entrusted to me – clients, employees, talents, time, money, family, friends – with His help, I will accomplish what He wants me to do for our clients and our staff. He is the source of my hope, my peace, and my purpose.

Justice is God’s idea and that’s what we seek. Our mission statement: “seek justice, give generously, love lavishly” summarizes what we strive to do for ourselves, our clients, and our community whether they are next door or on the other side of the world.

Isaiah 41:10 is my favorite verse: “Fear not, for I am with you. Be not afraid for I am your God. I will strengthen you; I will uphold you with the right hand of my righteousness.” We, God’s people, are called to seek justice and be fearless because He is with us. He holds us up. He will not leave us or forsake us. He loves us – and that means me, and you. He loves the whole world.

Owning and operating Ward Black Law is God’s plan for me. The firm is just a reflection of His plan.