BURLINGTON – C. Thomas Steele Jr. accepted one of only two Distinguished Service Awards for 2008-09 from the North Carolina Bar Association at its annual meeting earlier this month.

The Real Property Section of the bar association honored Steele, who is a board-certified specialist in real property law – residential, business, commercial and industrial transactions – with the Burlington office of Wishart Norris Henninger & Pittman. He is an equity member of the firm he joined in 1987 and serves its board as a director.

Meeting at the Homestead Resort in Hot Springs, VA, the bar association cited Steele’s “extraordinary service” as chair of the Partition subcommittee of the Real Property Section’s Legislative Committee and his assistance with other legislative matters.

“This award means a great deal to me because I take seriously my responsibilities to the Real Property Section, to the North Carolina Bar Association and to my profession,” Steele said. Steele is immediate past chair of the Real Property Section and was also recognized for his service in that capacity. Additionally, he is a member of the bar association’s Strategic Planning & Emerging Trends Committee.

The other winner of a Distinguished Service Award for 2008-09 was Katherine Britt Wilkerson of Lynch & Eatman, LLP, in Raleigh.

A Certified Public Accountant, Steele also practices in estate planning and estate administration as well as business and commercial law.

Earlier this year, he was named to Business North Carolina magazine’s 2009 Legal Elite, a list of the best lawyers – as voted by their peers – in various categories. Steele’s category was real estate law.

Steele is the son of Mr. and Mrs. Tommy Steele of Burlington. He and wife Kim Hindman Steele are the parents of William and John Charles Steele.

He is a graduate of Burlington’s Walter M. Williams High School and a 1984 graduate of the University of North Carolina at Asheville with a bachelor’s with distinction in Accounting. He earned his Juris Doctor degree from the University of North Carolina School of Law.

Steele is a member of the Love School of Business Accounting and Finance Advisory Board at Elon University. He is a board member and treasurer of the Alamance-Caswell Home Builders Association.

He is a board member of the Hospice & Palliative Care Center of Alamance-Caswell, LLC, and is a former treasurer, vice chair and chair of the group. He serves on the board of Hospice of Alamance-Caswell Foundation, Inc., and is a past vice chair and chair.

Steele is a member of Front Street United Methodist Church in Burlington, where he serves as a Sunday School teacher, member of the Staff Parish Relations Ministry Team, member of the Administrative Board and the Long Range Planning Committee. He chairs the Eagle Board of the Boy Scouts of America-Alamance County and is also a merit badge counselor. Further, he is a member of the Troop Committee for BSA Troop 142 at Shiloh United Methodist Church.

He is a member of the Alamance Battleground Chapter of the Sons of the Revolution and a member of the board of Alamance Battleground Friends, Inc.

With offices in Burlington and Charlotte, Wishart Norris Henninger & Pittman concentrates on serving the needs of closely held businesses as well as individuals in the areas of business, litigation, taxation, estate planning, real estate and land use, and family law.