Janet Ward was a founding leader whose faith, generosity, and unwavering commitment to justice helped shape the values and culture of Ward Black Law. Although Janet has passed away, we are honored to share the following reflections, written in her own words, as part of her enduring legacy. Her life, leadership, and servant’s heart continue to inspire our attorneys and staff as we carry forward the firm’s mission to “seek justice, give generously, and love lavishly.”
As you visit our website and learn more about Ward Black Law, I hope that you see a team of people who “seek justice, give generously, and love lavishly.” Seeking justice and fighting for the rights of everyday people was my life’s work. But we are more than just that.
Ward Black Law embodies the values and beliefs I strived to live out every day. It’s a reflection of who I was. To understand the values and beliefs of the firm, you need to understand more about me as a person.
My parents came from humble beginnings. My mother taught high school English at Concord High School, which I attended. Mother was born on a tobacco farm in Mount Olive, North Carolina (the home of Mt. Olive Pickles).
My father was an entrepreneur. Dad was born in Marshville, North Carolina, the son of the owner of the general store. When the Depression hit in 1929, my father and his sisters moved to Washington, DC, because there were no jobs in the little town in which they lived. My dad got a job at People’s Drugs as a stock boy and clerk. That experience shaped him and eventually me. My father returned to North Carolina in the 1940s, where he and a brother started a pharmacy in Kannapolis. From there, he developed a small chain of pharmacies called Baxter’s and eventually opened additional pharmacies in Concord, Kannapolis, and Hickory.
I was a product of my upbringing. I was born in Kannapolis, a North Carolina textile mill town, where my father started his first pharmacy.
He didn’t believe in borrowing money. He taught me to save money. In fact, for years, he drove on the first day of every month to deposit $100 into the Landis Savings and Loan for my college fund. He never missed a month from the time I was born until my first day at Davidson College. I still have the “passbooks” in which his deposits were logged. He never had the opportunity to attend college, so it was incredibly important to him that I did.
I was the child of an entrepreneur. That, I believe, allowed me to embrace, albeit somewhat reluctantly, the role of business owner and employer. I was blessed to own and lead a small business with about two dozen employees for many years—the business just happened to be a law firm.
While my entrepreneurial spirit came from my father, my mother’s background in English taught me discipline. Most of my mother’s relatives were teachers or school principals in eastern North Carolina. That heritage taught me to be a careful proofreader of almost everything I read and, I hope, to become a capable public speaker and teacher. Over the years, I had the privilege of speaking to audiences totaling thousands of people—including students, lawyers, and business owners. The last thing I wanted to do when I attended Duke Law School was try cases in court or speak in public, but God had other plans. It became one of the great joys of my life.
I was raised in church. If the doors were open, I was there. When I was about 40 years old, I attended a three-day spiritual retreat called Presbyterian Pilgrimage and began participating in international mission trips. Serving God through mission work changed my perspective on what it meant to be the Church.
I served on medical missions in Nicaragua and El Salvador with Mercy Mission teams, a Greensboro-based organization. I also spent several years working on construction teams building houses with Habitat for Humanity in Honduras. Nearly every year after that retreat, I traveled to another country on a mission trip.
My later mission trips took me to China, India, Nepal, Thailand, Rwanda, Burundi, South Africa, Lesotho, and Vietnam with International Cooperating Ministries.
ICM is a Christian nonprofit that funds church buildings and discipleship materials in more than 100 countries for indigenous pastors who have thriving congregations but no building in which to worship. Through these experiences, I witnessed the beauty of people and places across the globe. Being immersed in different cultures opened my eyes to a world I had never known and elevated missions to one of the highest priorities in my life.
My walk with God strengthened over the years. While I considered myself a Christian throughout my life, I don’t think I truly understood what that meant until later. In 2006, I joined C12, a national organization for Christian CEOs and business owners. I devoted one day each month to meetings with C12. Over time, a number of our lawyers and leadership team members also became involved in C12’s “Key Players” groups. Together, we dedicated that time to making Ward Black Law not only a stronger business but also a stronger ministry.
My beliefs shaped not only how I represented clients but also how I led our law firm. I believed that representing clients—each a unique creation of God—was both an honor and a responsibility. To take advantage of a client, mislead a client, or fail to give my very best effort was simply wrong. Honor and integrity in our business dealings were fundamental to our practice.
I believed that taking care of our employees meant taking care of our clients. Our employees were entrusted to us by God, and the more we cared for them, the more compassion they could extend to those we served. We invested in continuing education, meaningful responsibility, and a supportive workplace. Many employees remained with us for more than 20 years, and I considered their dedication a reflection of the culture we worked to build.
In addition to professional development, we invested in our staff’s spiritual growth. We offered opportunities for mission work and encouraged our team to experience different cultures and communities. I believed those experiences helped us better understand and empathize with the people we served.
Our staff and lawyers have always believed in giving back to our community. We loved our neighbors, both near and far. For many years, we partnered with the Marine Corps to collect toys for children throughout the Triad. We also established a prayer team dedicated to lifting up our employees, clients, work, and charitable efforts.
In 2013, we began setting aside 10% of our gross revenue to support outstanding nonprofit organizations locally, nationally, and internationally. That “dime on every dollar” has benefited hundreds of organizations serving those in need. We never sought recognition for those gifts because we wanted God to receive the glory. What began as an effort to bless others ultimately became one of life’s greatest blessings for us.
Claiming to be a Christian-led law firm carried a sacred responsibility. I believed we should always strive to do the right thing, even when it was difficult. As a Christian business owner, I believed serving our staff, clients, and community faithfully required sacrifice, courage, integrity, and trust in God’s guidance.
I believed the honors I received were not the result of my own accomplishments alone but of God’s purpose for my life. My desire was simply to remain faithful to His calling through service, generosity, and compassion.
Justice is God’s idea, and that is what we sought. Our mission statement—”seek justice, give generously, love lavishly”—summarized what I hoped we would continue to do for our clients, our community, and one another.
Isaiah 41:10 was my favorite verse: “Fear not, for I am with you. Be not afraid for I am your God. I will strengthen you; I will uphold you with the right hand of my righteousness.” I believed we are called to seek justice without fear because God is with us. He strengthens us, sustains us, and loves each one of us.
Janet believed that leading Ward Black Law was part of God’s plan for her life. Today, her legacy lives on through the attorneys and staff who continue to carry forward her vision of serving clients with compassion, integrity, generosity, and an unwavering commitment to justice.