The North Carolina Bar Association, in conjunction with the NCBA Foundation's Public Service Advisory Committee, presented the 2009 Pro Bono Service Awards during the 111th NCBA Annual Meeting at the Grove Park Inn Resort & Spa in Asheville. Presentation of the awards transpired during the President's Luncheon on Friday, June 26.

The Deborah Greenblatt Outstanding Legal Services Attorney Award, originally established in 1991 as the Outstanding Legal Services Attorney Award, is presented to an attorney employed by a legal services organization who provides exemplary legal service through an agency or other non-profit entity that serves low-income citizens. This award was renamed in 2005 in memory of Deborah Greenblatt, an outstanding lifelong legal services attorney.

Since 1978, Christine Trottier has represented clients with mental illness and developmental disabilities. Christine has represented individuals and their families in a variety of contexts over the years. Christine, like Deborah Greenblatt (or Debbie) this award's namesake, has worked tirelessly to advance the issues of her clients and to mentor younger lawyers, bringing to the problem a body of knowledge and a perspective that only one so experienced could offer. Christine worked with Deborah Greenblatt for many, many years with the former Carolina Legal Assistance (CLA).

Some may consider Christine a "legal services lifer" for having dedicated her entire legal career to representing the underrepresented indigent people with mental illness and developmental disabilities. She's worked for the same organization, Disability Rights North Carolina (formerly Carolina Legal Assistance), since graduation from law school. She began as a Reginald Heber Community Law Fellowship Attorney, a "Reggie." This fellowship program began in the Office of Economic Opportunity, President Johnson's War on Poverty, and was continued by the Legal Services Corporation. Reginald Heber Smith is known as the father of modern legal aid in the United States.

Christine has always seen the big picture and has taken the time and put her wealth of knowledge to work for the greater good by participating in impact litigation, public policy advocacy, community education and the training of her colleagues. She also sees the individual client's big picture. She spends hours on the phone with mental health service providers in an effort to obtain needed treatment.

Not only has Christine worked on behalf of individual clients, she also assumed leadership of CLA when its then executive director Deborah Greenblatt was ill. She filled the void and steered CLA through some difficult times. All the while, Christine remained dedicated to her clients and the community she served.

Christine received her juris doctor from Hofstra University School of Law and her bachelor of arts from Syracuse University. She is married to Richard Trottier, an attorney with Legal Aid of North Carolina, and lives in Raleigh. She has one son.