By Staff
Monroeville attorney and Brewton native Dawn Wiggins Hare announced this week her candidacy for circuit judge of Conecuh and Monroe counties, a position that is being vacated.
For the past 15 years Hare has served as an assistant district attorney assigned to the drug task force and to the prosecution of major crimes in both Monroe and Conecuh counties. During that time she has also practiced law with her husband and father-in-law at the law firm of Hare and Hare in Monroeville representing plaintiffs and defendants in civil cases.
Hare graduated from T. R. Miller High School as valedictorian in 1975. She graduated from the University of Alabama, magna cum laude, in 1979, where she was selected to be a member of Phi Beta Kappa.
In 1982, she graduated from the University of Alabama School of Law, where she served as secretary of the Student Bar Association, as a member of the Trial Advocacy Board and was honored as the outstanding senior by the Bench and Bar legal honor society.
After graduation from law school, Hare served as law clerk to the late Daniel H. Thomas, United States District Judge for the Southern District of Alabama. In 1983 she became associated with the law firm of Levin, Middlebrooks, Mabie, Thomas, Mayes, and Mitchell (now known as Levin Papantonio) in Pensacola, Fla., becoming the first woman partner in 1988.
In 1991, Hare was inducted into the Alabama College System Alumni Hall of Honor. In 1996 she was selected by the Mobile Press Register as one of &#822060 [community leaders] for the next [21st] Century.”
Hare has been active in her support of the quality of education in Monroe County, serving as past-president of Monroeville Elementary Parent-Teachers' Organization, past-trustee at Monroeville Middle School, and presently as trustee at Monroeville Junior High School as well as board member of the Monroe County Education Foundation. She has also been active in her support of the quality of legal education provided in the State of Alabama, serving as a member of the Farrah Law Society Board of Directors for the University of Alabama School of Law and past president of the University of Alabama School of Law Alumni Association.
She has also served in leadership roles with the Alabama Bar Association, serving as past chairman of the Labor and Employment Law Section, past chairman of the Women's Section, and presently as a commissioner on the governing board of the Alabama State Bar.
Hare and her family are members of First United Methodist Church of Monroeville, where she serves as a member of the Chancel Choir and Chancel Bells. She has taught elementary and middle school Sunday school classes and has directed numerous Christmas and youth drama productions.
She is past chairman of the Staff-Parish Relations Committee and Past Lay Leader. She currently serves as delegate to the Alabama-West Florida Conference for the United Methodist Church, and was a reserve delegate to the Southeastern Jurisdictional Conference.
For the past 11 years, Hare has performed in the Monroeville production of &#8220To Kill a Mockingbird,” traveling with the other cast members and serving as a &#8220good will” ambassador for Monroe County to Biloxi, Miss; Washington, D.C.; Chicago, Illinois; Jerusalem, Israel; Kingston-upon-Hull, England; and throughout the state of Alabama.
Hare has been active in her community serving as one of the founding directors of the Monroeville Area YMCA, past member of the board of the Monroeville Area Chamber of Commerce, and presently as a board member of the Alabama Southern Community Chorus and board member of Southwest Alabama Mental Health Association. She has devoted time and energy to youth activities including support of the Junior Miss Program, Youth baseball, and children's fine arts through her work with children's theatre and the Monroeville Area Youth Ballet.
Hare is the daughter of Mrs. Nell Wiggins and the late Judge Devon Wiggins. She is married to Nicholas &#8220Chip” Hare, Jr., and they have two sons, Nicholas, 17, and Eli, 15.