Attorney Jessica Edwards Dew was sworn in to the Sampson County Bar at the Sampson County Courthouse Monday afternoon at 2 p.m. by District Court Judge Robert H. Gilmore. Dew will continue to work with Howard and Carr PLLC, Attorneys at Law, where she has previously worked for the past six years.
“This girl is part of our family,” attorney Alison G. Carr attested during the ceremony.
Howard and Carr specialize in real estate, estate planning, estate administration, business matters, and special proceedings. Dew works alongside Carr and attorney Tim W. Howard.
“Jessica has been with us for six years, joining us in 2020 right as Covid hit. It was a leap of faith for her … We put out the call for a new assistant, and she answered the call, not knowing exactly what she was getting into. Very quickly, she realized she liked being a dirt lawyer,” Carr recalled during the ceremony.
Carr remembered how she encouraged Dew to take the LSAT; Dew was then accepted to, and attended, Campbell University’s School of Law for four years — where she graduated as valedictorian – — all while she continued to work for Howard and Carr and also raise her daughter.
“Tim and I both present a fine young lawyer who we hope will be with us for many years to come, ” Carr said to Gilmore, “and who already is coming into the practice with an incredible education through the actual practical practice of law over the last six years.”
Dew was accompanied by her daughter, Avery, and parents, Cindy and Jimmy Edwards, as she was sworn in.
“Thank you to all of you for the part you have played in getting me here,” Dew said to to her family, friends, and colleagues after the swearing-in ceremony.
“It certainly has taken a village,” Dew attested. “It’s not just on my own, at all.”
Dew grew up in Sampson County between Roseboro and Garland.
She reminisced after the ceremony about going into law with no prior legal experience.
“I began working at Howard and Carr, and just realized that I loved real estate law and administration…I was a psychology and neuroscience minor, so it was a random sort of shift, but I found out that I love it,” Dew attested.