Greensboro's African American Community Newspaper since 1967
The North Carolina Bar Association recently honored Judge Patrice A. Hinnant (Ret.) as a 2024 Legal Legend of Color (LLOC) on Thursday, June 20, at the Embassy Suites by Hilton Charlotte Uptown. The ninth LLOC Awards Celebration was a featured event of the NCBA Annual Meeting.
The LLOC Awards “honor attorneys and other legal professionals of color whose legacies represent ceilings broken for all attorneys who follow in their footsteps and whose impacts on the legal profession are undeniable.”
Hinnant was also honored during the North Carolina Central University (NCCU) School of Law’s reception, where she was presented an award by NCCU Law School Dean Patricia Timmons-Goodson for outstanding judicial service.
Hinnant is an attorney who serves as a State Bar Councilor following twenty-two years of judicial service, including nine years as a Guilford County Resident Superior Court Judge and thirteen years on the Guilford County District Court. She began her career as an Assistant Public Defender in Greensboro. She graduated from Spelman College, North Carolina Central University School of Law and has done additional study at the National Judicial College, the North Carolina School of Government and Shaw University Divinity School.
Hinnant served the legal profession as a board member and secretary of the North Carolina Conference of Superior Court Judges for seven years; board member and Vice President of the North Carolina Bar Association; board member and Vice President of the North Carolina Association of Black Lawyers; President of the Greensboro Bar Association; National Bar Association, past Board member and Judicial Council Chair; American Bar Association Judicial Division and Commission on Youth at Risk; and, Guilford Inn of Court Master. She is currently affiliated with the American Bar Association; National Bar Association; North Carolina Bar Association; North Carolina Association of Black Lawyers: Guilford County Association of Black Lawyers; and Greensboro Bar Association. She is a graduate of Leadership Greensboro and is a Fellow of the N.C. Institute of Political Leadership.
She has a pioneering presence in the Guilford County legal community as the first Black woman Assistant Public Defender, the first woman elected District Court Judge from the Democratic Party, the first Black woman and first sitting judge elected President of the Greensboro Bar Association, first Black woman Resident Superior Court Judge, and first Black woman elected State Bar Councilor. Her presence in each position opened the door for others to soon follow.
Hinnant is a member of the Greensboro Club of Rotary International for which she is a board member, President-Elect Nominee (2025-26) and Paul Harris Fellow; The Links, Incorporated, past Vice President of Programs of the Greensboro Chapter and past Chair of the Ethics and Standards Committee of the National Executive Council; The Junior League of Greensboro, Past President and Sustainer board member; and the Greensboro Alumnae Chapter of Delta Sigma Theta Sorority, Incorporated, having served as chapter President and on the National Executive Board as Co-chair of the Social Action Commission among other sorority regional and national positions.
Similarly in the civic arena, she pioneered as the first Black Chair of the United Arts Council of Greensboro (now Arts Greensboro), the first Black President of the Junior League of Greensboro and the first Black Chair of Youth Services Bureau (renamed Youth Focus) and upcoming first Black female president of the Greensboro Rotary Club.
The Honorable Hinnant, a native and resident of Greensboro, enjoys travel, college and professional sports, old movies, reading, spending time with friends, family genealogy, pet care and ‘piddling in the yard’.
2024 Legal Legends of Color (LLOC) honorees, in addition to Hinnant, are Judge James Andrew Wynn, Charles L. Becton, Cindy Marie Patton and the late Karl Adkins.
