Press Release

Public Relations Contact: Bruce Buchanan, (336) 728-7027

Maryland Daily Record article on the Leadership in Law Award (PDF)

BALTIMORE—Womble Carlyle attorney Sky Woodward has been awarded the 2008 Leadership in the Law Award.

The Leadership in the Law Award, given annually by the Maryland Daily Record, honors Maryland attorneys and judges for their professional excellence, mentoring service and dedication to community service. The twenty-four winners are selected by an independent panel of legal professionals from across the state and were recognized at a ceremony in downtown Baltimore.

In her complex civil litigation practice, Sky defends real estate clients in indoor environmental quality litigation; manufacturing clients in mass tort product liability and toxic tort matters; and other businesses in environmental and land use regulatory and litigation matters. She is listed in "Best Lawyers" for Product Liability law, is AV rated by Martindale-Hubbell, was the recipient of the Baltimore Business Journal’s "40 Under 40" Award in 2004, and has been inducted into the Maryland and Baltimore City Bar Foundations.

Away from her practice, Sky has devoted a great deal of time to early childhood education. She served as one of Governor Robert L. Ehrlich, Jr.’s, appointees to the Maryland State Task Force on Universal Preschool Education. That task force conceived a plan to increase access to high quality early childhood education and support the professional development of early childhood education teachers. From 2001 to 2007, she served on the Board of Directors of Downtown Baltimore Child Care, Inc. (DBCC), one of the few downtown child care and early education centers supporting working parents in Baltimore. While President of DBCC’s Board, Sky was instrumental in gaining approval for DBCC’s collaboration with the Baltimore City Public School System to provide nationally accredited, high quality pre-Kindergarten services to Baltimore City children. She also serves as a member of the State Advisory Council for Early Care and Education, which is tasked with developing a multi-year strategic plan for Maryland’s early childhood care and education initiatives.

Sky also has taken a leadership role in the legal profession. She served as President of the Maryland Defense Counsel, Inc., in 2005-06, and spearheaded MDC’s involvement in the Maryland Judiciary’s Advanced Science & Technology Adjudication Resources (ASTAR) training. As a result of Sky’s leadership on the ASTAR front, MDC was named “State and Local Defense Organization of the Year” by its affiliated organization, the Defense Research Institute (DRI), the Voice of the Defense Bar. Within DRI, Sky holds leadership positions in the Toxic Tort & Environmental Law and Product Liability Law Committees, has organized and spoken at numerous national seminars, and was recently appointed to DRI’s Public Policy Committee. She received DRI’s “Exceptional Performance Citation” in 2006.

She currently serves on Womble Carlyle's Diversity Committee, on the Development Committee for the Finding Justice/Women in the Law Project, and is a member of Commercial Real Estate Women (CREW)-Baltimore.

"I am honored to be recognized with this prestigious award. It is particularly meaningful coming from my peers in the legal profession,” Sky said. “Beyond that, I appreciate the role of the Leadership in the Law Award in recognizing the many positive things that Maryland attorneys and judges do every day to improve the legal profession and our communities."

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.

The firm also is the first law firm to be awarded the Employer Support of the Guard and Reserve Freedom Award, which is the highest recognition given by the U.S. government to employers for their support of employees who serve in the National Guard and Reserve.

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.