Honors and Awards: In 2006, the North Carolina Bar Association established the Howard L. Gum Service Award for excellence shown by Board of Legal Specialization committee members. The recipient of the Howard Gum award must be highly dedicated to legal specialization, donate his/her time to committee responsibilities, and respond to the needs of the State Bar staff and the Board, in exemplary fashion. Howard Gum served as chair of the Family Law Specialty Committee of the board from 1988 until 1995. He organized and oversaw the preparation and administration of the first examination in family law, and, during his six years as chair of the committee, established the highest standards of organization and fairness, in the administration and grading of the specialty examinations and the peer review process. He helped to organize the informal association of family law specialists known as the "Family Law Roundtable" which still meets annually for professional development and camaraderie. As a member of the Board of Legal Specialization from 1995 to 2001, Howard gave unselfishly of his time and talent, chaired numerous committees and review panels, helped to implement the board's Professional Development Plan, heard complex appeals from denials of certification and re-certification, and encouraged the creation of advanced CLE courses. Howard also served as chair of the board from 1999 to 2001. He utilized his organizational skills, his enthusiasm for specialization, and his great humor to lead and inspire the members of the board, to take the creation of the web site for specialization from an idea to a reality, and to weather the vicissitudes of shepherding the new specialty of workers compensation law through a two-year approval process, thus honestly earning the nickname "Hired Gum"; Howard's ability to be tactful while getting straight to the point, to disagree without being disagreeable, to bring intellectual insight to problems while maintaining a common-sense approach, to treat everyone with courtesy and generosity regardless of station, and his impassioned support for and dedication to the specialization program led the North Carolina Bar Association to establish this award in his honor., Howard L. Gum Service Award, North Carolina Bar Association, 2006

Special Licenses/Certifications: I am Board Certified as a Specialist in Family Law by the North Carolina Board of Legal Specialization. I became certified as a Family Law Specialist in 1989, the first year that the North Carolina Board of Legal Specialization offered certification in Family Law., 1989

Bar/Professional Activity: I have been active for many years in the Family Law Section of the North Carolina Bar Association having served several terms as a councilor, Committee Member, and two terms as Chair of the Family Law Section.In 1987, the North Carolina Board of Legal Specialization formed the Family Law Specialty Committee for the purpose of establishing a Specialty Certification in Family Law. I was Chair of the initial committee and continued to serve as Chair for a period of six years during which time the standards for certification of family law were developed.In 1996, I was appointed to the North Carolina Board of Legal Specialization which oversees the administration of all specialty certifications permitted in North Carolina. I served as both Vice Chair and Chair of the Board of Legal Specialization through June of 2001. In addition to continuing to serve on the North Carolina Bar Association's Lawyer Effectiveness and Quality of Life Committee, I served on the Board of Directors of North Carolina BarCARES, Inc. I have served on committees of the Administrative Office of Courts in North Carolina, as appointed by the Chief Justice of the North Carolina Supreme Court. I am one of only two attorneys in private practice serving on the Family Courts Advisory Committee of the Administrative Office of Courts. In 2006, the attorneys of the 28th Judicial District Bar elected me to the seat State Bar Councilor, a position that liases between the state bar and the 28th Judicial District Bar, in Buncombe County. I am a Fellow in the American Academy of Matrimonial Lawyers, having been elected to Fellowship in 1992 and was one of the Charter members of the North Carolina Chapter of the AAML. I am President of the North Carolina Chapter of the American Academy of Matrimonial Lawyers and have served in other offices in that organization.

Other Outstanding Achievements: For over ten years, I have been listed in the Best Lawyers in America published by Woodard White in the field of Family Law.

Educational Background: Bradley University, Cum Laude, 1969