News Article

The Freedom Award is the nation’s highest honor for employer support of the Reserve and National Guard; Womble Carlyle is the first law firm to receive this honor

• Link to Recipient List
• President Bush Proclamation of National ESGR Week
• NC Governor Easley Proclamation of National ESGR Week
• Acceptance Event - slideshow (right) 

Womble Carlyle Sandridge & Rice, PLLC, is honored to announce that the firm has been selected to receive the 2008 Employer Support of the Guard and Reserve (ESGR) Freedom Award. Womble Carlyle is the first law firm to receive the Freedom Award in its 12-year history.

The Freedom Award is given by the U.S. Department of Defense to employers that exhibit exemplary support for the Reserve and National Guard, without whom the military could not function. This national award is the country’s highest honor for employer support of the Guard and Reserve.

"This is a tremendous honor and we are grateful to receive it," said Keith Vaughan, the firm’s Managing Member. "However, we are even more honored to be of service to our men and women in the military. We can never thank them enough for their sacrifices on our behalf."

The competition for the 2008 Freedom Award was extremely fierce—out of 2,200 employers nominated nationwide, only 15 award winners were selected. Womble Carlyle is the first law firm to receive the Freedom Award in its 12-year history.

The firm’s Military Leave Policy specifies that the firm will make up the difference between the employee’s average monthly pay and the base monthly salary he/she receives in the military if called to active duty. Womble Carlyle also continues to provide health care and insurance benefits for the families of employees on active military duty. These policies go far beyond the minimum legal requirements.

"These employers have provided exceptional support to the men and women serving in our National Guard and Reserve and now, more than ever, we appreciate and thank them for doing much more for these employees than the law requires," said Dr. L. Gordon Sumner Jr., Executive Director of the ESGR’s National Committee.

In addition, attorneys and staff members of the firm have shown their support for men and women in the military in a variety of other ways. A number of the firm’s offices have held "When Duty Calls" pro bono clinics that have helped veterans receive the disability benefits to which they are entitled. Various offices have organized blood drives, sent care packages and taken other steps to support those in the military.

Chris Geis, a Womble Carlyle attorney and U.S. Navy Reservist who recently returned from active duty service in the Middle East, nominated the firm for the Freedom Award. Keith Tedrow, the firm’s recently retired Winston-Salem Office Manager and a former Air Force General, and Womble Carlyle’s Marketing Department prepared the nomination. Johnny Dwiggins of the North Carolina Committee for Employer Support for the Guard and Reserves was instrumental in championing the firm’s nomination for the Freedom Award.

"On my birthday, the firm mailed me a card shaped like a giant American Flag with dozens of signatures," Geis said. "I could not ask for a better place to work—Womble Carlyle, its attorneys and its employees truly value our military personnel."

The Freedom Award is the biggest honor Womble Carlyle has received for its support of the military, but it is not the first. In January 2007, the firm received the Above and Beyond Award, which is awarded by the North Carolina Committee for Employer Support of the Guard and Reserve. The firm also has been recognized with the 2006 ESGR Patriot Award for its commitment to men and women in the military.

Firm leaders will accept the 2008 Freedom Award in Washington, D.C. on Sept. 18th. President Bush and Secretary of Defense Robert Gates are expected to meet with the award winners.

Womble Carlyle - Innovators at Law
A full-service business law firm, Womble Carlyle ranks among American Lawyer magazine’s list of the 100 leading firms in the country and is a top law firm for companies doing business in the Southeast and Mid-Atlantic states. The firm is a recipient of the Thurgood Marshall College Fund Corporate Leadership Award, making Womble Carlyle the first law firm ever to receive the highest honor given to a business organization in recognition of its support of the Fund and its 45 member educational institutions.

Founded in 1876, Womble Carlyle operates in six states and the District of Columbia with more than 500 attorneys in eleven offices located in Atlanta, GA; Greenville, SC; Charlotte, Greensboro, Raleigh, Research Triangle Park, and Winston-Salem, NC; Washington, DC; Tysons Corner, VA; Baltimore, MD; and Wilmington, DE. Womble Carlyle is located in the Southeast and mid-Atlantic regions, and serves clients nationally and globally.