Thomas C. Grella
McGuire, Wood & Bissette, P.A. of Asheville, NC is pleased to announce that Thomas C. Grella, a shareholder in the firm, and former Chair of its Management Committee, was recently elected to the position of North Carolina State Delegate to the ABA House of Delegates for a three year term commencing immediately after the close of the ABA Annual Meeting in San Francisco in August 2019.
As the ABA’s policymaking body, the House of Delegates considers and adopts new policy resolutions on a broad range of issues related to the legal profession. Action taken by the House of Delegates on specific issues becomes the official policy of the ABA. The House’s 560 delegates represent state and local bar associations, substantive legal sections and divisions of the ABA, and affiliated organizations and conferences of the ABA Judicial Division, as well as former ABA officers, members of the Board of Governors, at-large delegates and state delegates.
As State Delegate, Mr. Grella will lead the ABA North Carolina Delegation in the ABA House of Delegates and will serve as the North Carolina’s sole representative on the ABA Nominating Committee. Prior to his election as State Delegate, Grella served for twelve consecutive years as one of two ABA Law Practice Division Delegates to the ABA House of Delegates. He has served as Chair of the ABA Law Practice Division, including sitting on its Executive Committee for the past 16 years. Within the ABA, he has served in many other capacities, and presently serves as a member of the ABA Journal Board of Editors.
Grella is a frequent writer and speaker on topics regarding the business of law practice. He co-authored The Lawyer’s Guide to Strategic Planning in 2005, and was author of the 2013 released Lessons in Leadership: Essential Skills for Lawyers, both publications of the ABA Law Practice Division. He also authors the Managing Column in Division’s bi-monthly Law Practice Magazine.
Mr. Grella was the 2012 recipient of the Sam Smith Award, presented annually by the ABA Law Practice Division to one individual who has demonstrated a lifetime of excellence in the field of law practice management. He was also awarded the 2017 Robert P. Wilkins Award for outstanding achievement with regard to the Division’s periodical publication Law Practice Magazine. He is a fellow, and serves on the Board of Trustees of the College of Law Practice Management, a Fellow of the National Institute for the Teaching of Ethics and Professionalism, and a Fellow of the American Bar Foundation.