DURHAM · NC Central University School of Law and our Durham Expunction and Restoration (DEAR) Program hosted some special guests April 5 at an expunction clinic at the law school. Members of the Corporate Counsel Section of the NC Bar Association joined us to partner with law students to provide pro bono expunctions to Legal Aid NC clients in Durham. 

“I was worried this would be really complicated, but it wasn’t” said Elizabeth McKee, Chair of the Corporate Counsel Section, who volunteered at the event. “It was really easy. It helped that I partnered with a seasoned person who knew what they were doing.” 

That “seasoned person” was NCCU Law 2L Taiesha Morgan, a frequent participant in the law school’s expunction clinics. Asked about her interest in the subject, Taiesha, who wants to work in criminal law, said, “People have the right to expunge their records, but it’s a complicated process. Just being able to help is awesome.” 

Providing an opportunity for law students to network with attorneys was an important goal of the clinic, according to Jane Paksoy, Co-Chair of the Corporate Counsel Section’s Pro Bono Committee, who participated in the event. Another goal was to provide in-house counsel with a meaningful and manageable pro bono opportunity. 

“In-house attorneys have less exposure to traditional pro bono opportunities than some of our colleagues,” Jane said. “Pro bono opportunities like today’s clinic are ideal for in-house attorneys. You don’t need a criminal law background to do expunction work and it’s a meaningful way to make an impact in a short amount of time.” 

Making an impact is what motivates Lakethia Jefferies, Director of the Pro Bono Clinic at NCCU Law, to organize these clinics. She wants to show students the meaningful difference that attorneys can make in the real world. 

“People with criminal records may not be able to get housing or jobs,” Lakethia said. “Something as simple as clearing a few marks off someone’s record can make a world of difference. These clinics allow law students to do access-to-justice work and see what a difference they can make for real clients. It also shows students that regardless of what practice area they go into, they can still do this work as a volunteer and make a difference.”

Ali Nininger-Finch, attorney with our DEAR Program, provided training to the law students and attorneys on how to prepare an expunction petition. Ali and DEAR paralegal Jeremiah Brutus (an NCCU Law alum), provided support to the volunteers during the clinic.

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Whether you volunteer with our Heir Property Pro Bono Project, are interested in volunteering, or simply want to learn more about heir property and genealogy, you can’t go wrong by attending this free, virtual lunch-and-learn on March 28.

Sarah Carrier, Research and Instruction Librarian at the Wilson Special Collections Library at UNC Chapel Hill, will discuss genealogical research methods using hypotheticals and real-world examples, and will address nuances related to accessing records in various formats in different areas of the state.

Register today using the button below!

Details

• Date: Thursday, March 28, 2024
• Time: 12:00 PM – 1:00 PM
• Format: Zoom

Presenter

Sarah Carrier is the Research and Instruction Librarian at the Wilson Special Collections Library at UNC Chapel Hill, where she supports research related to the history, people and culture of North Carolina, engaging with a wide variety of communities to meet their information needs.

Her work includes providing research services in the library’s reading rooms, working with faculty and instructors to incorporate the use of the collection into courses and workshops, providing instruction and support to students, and working with community members, groups and educators across the state to access collection materials.

Sarah has both her master’s in Library and Information Science and her bachelor’s from UNC Chapel Hill, and a certification in Data Science and Data Analytics from Springboard.

Learn more about Sarah on LinkedIn.

The Cadwalader law firm, with support from Wells Fargo, held this month’s Charlotte Triage housing conditions clinic March 5 at the firm’s Charlotte office.

The monthly clinics are a new part of the Charlotte Triage Pro Bono Partnership, the Queen City legal community’s concerted effort to harness the power of pro bono to meet residents’ most pressing legal needs. The clinics are organized by a rotating group of the partnership’s Housing Champions—private attorneys responsible for directing services to Legal Aid NC’s housing clients.

At the clinics, which are also part of our Lawyer on the Line program, volunteers provide free, valuable legal advice over the phone to Legal Aid NC clients struggling with dangerous and unsanitary housing conditions.

Thanks to Christopher Dickson at Cadwalader for serving as a Charlotte Triage Housing Champion, Todd Stillerman at Wells Fargo for co-chairing the Charlotte Triage Task Force, and Glenn Huether at Wells Fargo for her longtime support of these clinics.

Check out these great photos from the event!

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We ❤️ our pro bono volunteers! Dana Lumsden, partner with Bradley Arant Boult Cummings LLP in Charlotte, recently scored a big win for one of our housing clients.
 
In 2022, our attorneys helped our client settle an eviction case with her landlord. As part of the settlement, the landlord agreed to waive rent that was still owed by our client. Soon after, the landlord reneged and sought to claim the rent they had agreed to waive. We turned to Dana for help.

Dana immediately swung into action, filing suit in small claims court to stop the landlord from taking the rent, which was rightfully our client’s. After learning of Dana’s suit, the landlord relented, acknowledging our client’s right to the rent and agreeing to pay interest and attorney’s fees, an amount totaling more than $5,000—a huge sum of money for our client.
 
Dana is no stranger to pro bono. He serves as a Housing Champion for the Charlotte Triage Pro Bono Partnership, the Queen City legal community’s concerted effort to use pro bono to meet residents’ most pressing legal needs. As a Housing Champion, Dana helps direct the partnership’s services to our housing clients. In recognition of his pro bono service, the Mecklenburg County Bar honored him with an Individual Pro Bono Award last year.

We ❤️ our pro bono volunteers! Raleigh attorney Peter Robinson recently helped a Robeson County resident expunge the only serious marks on her criminal record, a nearly 40-year-old nonviolent felony conviction and a dismissed misdemeanor charge. Peter’s service eliminated a major obstacle to his client’s ability to secure and maintain stable housing and employment.
 
Said Peter about his service: “I was proud to serve a Native American client and help her expunge her criminal record, which arose from her poverty and disadvantaged circumstances.”
 
When Peter isn’t handling expunctions for us, he represents defendants before the International Residual Mechanism for Criminal Tribunals, a United Nations body with responsibilities related to the Rwandan genocide and the Yugoslav Wars.
 
Learn more about Peter at peterrobinson.com.

RALEIGH — Today we announce the inaugural winners of our new, annual Pro Bono Hero Awards. The awards recognize pro bono service that we hope serves as an inspiring example to the NC legal community. They also celebrate the diversity of both the forms of service from which our clients and organization benefit and of the volunteers themselves.

We will present the awards today at a lunchtime ceremony held during the first day of our two-day Statewide Summit, a training and networking event for our staff, partners and supporters. The event will take place at the Friday Conference Center in Chapel Hill.

“The value of the pro bono service and support provided by legal professionals to Legal Aid of North Carolina and our clients is incalculably high,” said Allison Constance, Director of Pro Bono Programs.

“The amount and quality of the direct pro bono services to our clients is especially valuable and impressive,” Constance continued, “though our organization also reaps huge benefits from other forms of service, including serving on our Board of Directors and other consultative bodies, sharing legal expertise with our practitioners, and championing our pro bono programs throughout the private bar.”

“We hope our Pro Bono Heroes feel even half as honored to receive this recognition as we do to count them among our supporters and friends,” Constance concluded.

Wells Fargo

We honor Wells Fargo for:

• Cofounding and co-leading the Charlotte Triage Pro Bono Partnership;
• The service of attorney Todd Stillerman as a member of the Charlotte Triage Task Force, the partnership’s leadership body, and his individual pro bono service to our housing clients in Charlotte;
• The company’s commitment to host recurring Lawyer on the Line clinics
  under the leadership of attorney Glenn Huether;
• The Wells Fargo Foundation’s support of our Heir Property Pro Bono Project; and
• The service of attorney Gonzalo Frias as immediate-past Chair of our Board of Directors.

Nelson Mullins Riley & Scarborough LLP

We honor Nelson Mullins for:

• Their attorneys’ service to our Charlotte office’s housing clients through the Charlotte Triage Pro Bono Partnership, especially the service of attorney Paul Osowski as a champion of the housing practice area;
• The steadfast service of attorney Lorin Lapidus in support of our appellate advocacy;
• The extraordinary and successful service of attorneys Paul Osowski and David Blue to a client seeking to recover a security deposit; and
• Attorney Jeff Kelly, who is a champion of access to justice in the national and NC legal communities, who serves as Chair of the Advisory Board of our new Innovation Lab, and who is a member of our Board of Directors.

Randolph County Domestic Violence Pro Bono Team

We honor Thomas D. Robins, Margaret J. Megerian, Chelsie L. Embler and Nicholas Patrick (pictured clockwise) for their extraordinary service to domestic violence survivors in Randolph County. For years, the attorneys have worked on a rotating weekly basis to take domestic violence cases to court for our Greensboro office. Once, when the team was without a few members, Tom and Margaret continued taking all the cases to court. Tom is also a member of our Greensboro office’s Local Advisory Council, a group of supporters that informs the office’s advocacy and raises awareness of its services among the client and legal communities.

Evonne Sammartino Hopkins

We honor Evonne Hopkins for her steadfast, skilled, and ongoing service to clients of The Child’s Advocate and her other support of the project, which represents children in high-conflict custody cases in Wake and Durham counties. Evonne, President of the Raleigh Law Center, has spent more than 130 hours representing six children in three different cases, two of which involved physical and emotional abuse of the children. She has also helped with the project’s annual training and written detailed letters of support for the project’s grant applications.

Thomas E. Fulghum

We honor Tom Fulghum for his years of pro bono service to clients of our Immigration Pathways for Victims (IMMPAV) project. Tom, a sole practitioner in Durham, was for many years the project’s go-to, never-says-no pro bono volunteer for U Visa cases. U Visas provide immigration relief to victims of qualifying crimes who have helped law enforcement investigate or prosecute criminal activity. U Visa cases are complex and can last years. Tom also helped lead a CLE for pro bono attorneys about U Visa adjustment cases, which involve U Visa holders seeking green cards. Most recently, he took a T Visa/removal defense case from IMMPAV to assist a survivor of human trafficking.

Ashlee B. Poplin

We honor Ashlee Poplin for her dedicated and proactive service to domestic violence clients of our Charlotte office. An attorney in the Charlotte office of Adams and Reese LLP, Ashlee contacted our staff in 2022 to inquire about providing pro bono service to domestic violence survivors. She currently handles nearly all the office’s cases involving renewals of Domestic Violence Protective Orders — and she fiercely protects the rights of every survivor. Ashlee serves as a champion of the domestic violence practice area for the Charlotte Triage Pro Bono Partnership, a role which involves recruiting other attorneys to serve survivors.

Paul R. Kinny

We honor Paul Kinny for his years of extraordinary and dedicated service to our housing clients in Charlotte. For the past few years, Paul, a retired Duke Energy lawyer, has taken on a full housing caseload from May to August, providing hundreds of hours of pro bono service to Charlotte residents. Paul also serves on our Charlotte office’s Local Advisory Council, a group of supporters that informs the office’s advocacy and raises awareness of its services among the client and legal communities.

Desirae C. Williams

We honor Desirae Williams for her extraordinary service to a New Hanover County client whose landlord withheld the client’s security deposit under false pretenses. Desirae, an attorney in Robinson Bradshaw’s Charlotte office, accepted the case in September 2022, the same month she was admitted to practice in North Carolina. Desirae devoted 30 hours to the case, which lasted nearly a year. Her service included exerting a Herculean effort to try to serve her client’s landlord and traveling to Wilmington for a court hearing.

To learn more about our pro bono programs, visit legalaidnc.org/pro-bono.

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Awards ceremony photo gallery

Tom Fulghum, Paul Kinny and Representatives from Wells Fargo were unable to attend the ceremony.

RALEIGH – We are announcing our new Summer Associate Pro Bono Program today. The program will give law firms and organizations a new way to enrich their summer associates’ experience and will provide law students with the opportunity to spend their summers in service to North Carolinians in need.

“We are so excited to offer our pro bono partners this new way to work together,” Ashley Campbell, CEO of Legal Aid of North Carolina, said. “The program provides benefits to all involved: firms and organizations can bolster their summer programs, summer associates can learn valuable skills, we get to engage future pro bono volunteers in our work, and our clients get critical legal help. Everyone wins!”

Launching in summer 2024, the program will pair Legal Aid NC clients with summer associates at the state’s leading law firms and organizations. Working under the supervision of attorneys at their organization, with training and support provided by our Pro Bono Programs team, summer associates will handle real cases for real clients, providing them with an early opportunity to gain valuable experience interacting with clients and opposing parties, conducting research, preparing documents, and even representing their clients in court.

“This program will provide invaluable real-world experience to summer associates early in their careers,” Allison Constance, Director of Pro Bono Programs, said. “Whether it’s working with clients, negotiating with opposing counsel or drafting life-changing documents, this program will allow summer associates to hone vital skills while still in law school, providing value to them and their future employers. We can’t wait for next summer!”

For the first year of the program, participating firms and companies can choose to handle cases involving criminal record expunction, Domestic Violence Protective Orders, housing conditions, and wills and advanced directives. Additional case types may be added to the program in future years.

“These are among the most important services we provide to our clients,” Allison Constance said. “This program will expose associates to the realities of poverty, but also to the sense of purpose and satisfaction that comes with making a meaningful difference in the life of someone who has little hope for justice without you.”

Each program year will conclude with regional wrap-up celebrations that will highlight the work done and the outcomes achieved by that year’s class of associates. The celebrations will be hosted by participating organizations in August.

Law firms and companies that are interested in participating should visit the Summer Associate Pro Bono Program page on our website to learn more and fill out the program agreement form: legalaidnc.org/summer-associate-pro-bono-program.

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Media contact

Sean Driscoll, Communications Manager, Pro Bono Programs, 984-263-9852, seand@legalaidnc.org.

About

Legal Aid of North Carolina is a statewide, nonprofit law firm that provides free legal services in civil matters to low-income people in order to ensure equal access to justice and to remove legal barriers to economic opportunity. Learn more at legalaidnc.org. Follow us on Facebook, Twitter, Instagram, LinkedIn and YouTube.

Learn more about pro bono at Legal Aid of North Carolina at legalaidnc.org/pro-bono.

Need legal help? Call 1-866-219-5262 (toll-free) or apply online at legalaidnc.org/apply.