Author: Sean Driscoll

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

Headshot of Sarah Carrier

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.

Author: Sean Driscoll

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!

Photos

Author: Sean Driscoll

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.

Author: Sean Driscoll

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.

Author: Sean Driscoll

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:

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.


Awards ceremony photo gallery

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

Author: Sean Driscoll

RALEIGH — We are marking the start of the National Celebration of Pro Bono today by joining the NC Pro Bono Resource Center, Charlotte Center for Legal Advocacy and Pisgah Legal Services to launch Pro Bono Go, North Carolina’s new one-stop shop for pro bono opportunities.

Lawyers, paralegals and law students can browse opportunities from our organizations, sign up for opportunities in just a few clicks, and set up customized email alerts to get new opportunities delivered right to their inbox.

Read our joint press release below to learn more and visit Pro Bono Go today!


Pro Bono Go: North Carolina’s new one-stop shop for pro bono opportunities

Visit ProBonoGo.org to browse pro bono opportunities and set up customized email alerts

RALEIGH · October 23, 2023 — North Carolina’s civil justice community is kicking off this year’s National Celebration of Pro Bono by launching Pro Bono Go, a statewide platform for legal professionals seeking pro bono service that makes a meaningful difference in the lives of North Carolinians in need.

Created by the North Carolina Pro Bono Resource Center in partnership with Charlotte Center for Legal Advocacy, Legal Aid of North Carolina and Pisgah Legal Services, Pro Bono Go is a new online clearinghouse of pro bono opportunities provided by the state’s leading civil legal aid and public-interest legal organizations.

“Lawyers and paralegals are busy,” Sylvia Novinsky, Director of the NC Pro Bono Resource Center, said. “The practice of law is a high-stakes, deadline-driven profession that demands more than its fair share of time from practitioners. Yet, North Carolina legal professionals have always made time for pro bono service. It’s the responsibility of organizations that need pro bono volunteers to meet them halfway. We need to make it as quick and easy as possible for volunteers to learn about and sign up for our pro bono opportunities.”

Pro Bono Go does exactly that,” Novinsky continued. “It’s a statewide, one-stop shop for pro bono opportunities that’s easy to use–volunteers can sign up for an opportunity in just a few clicks–and it has email integration so volunteers can get fresh opportunities delivered right to their inbox. Pro bono can’t get much easier. When NC legal professionals think ‘pro bono,’ we want them to think ‘Pro Bono Go.'”

Pro Bono Go allows legal professionals to visit one website to find pro bono opportunities from the state’s leading civil justice organizations. Volunteers can search and filter opportunities by keyword, location, practice area, type (ex: cases, clinics, etc.), and sponsor organization. Volunteers can also set up customized email alerts when new opportunities matching their preferences hit the site. Volunteers do not need to create an account and never have to remember a password.

“The power of Pro Bono Go lies not only in its convenience but also in its ability to drive transformative change. By simplifying the process of engagement, we invite ALL legal professionals to be part of the movement for justice for all. This collaboration among civil legal aid partners statewide allows us, together, to make a lasting impact for our clients across North Carolina.” highlighted Courtney Viebrock, Interim Managing Attorney of the Pro Bono Unit at the Charlotte Center for Legal Advocacy.

Allison Constance, Director of Pro Bono Programs for Legal Aid of North Carolina, said, “We are so grateful for the partnership of the NC Pro Bono Resource Center and our sister legal services organizations. Pro Bono Go provides a single place for legal professionals to find pro bono opportunities, which makes it easier for volunteers to engage with our organizations. The easier we can make it for volunteers, the more likely they are to serve, meaning that we can all help more clients together than we can separately.”

“Thousands of people across our state who cannot afford an attorney are desperate for help and can benefit from Pro Bono Go,” said Katie Russell Miller, Pisgah Legal Services’ Managing Director of Community Engagement. “We work with hundreds of local attorneys who assist our clients pro bono, and we witness the life-changing work they do to help people with low incomes navigate complicated legal systems.”

Pro Bono Go uses the Pro Bono Matters software created by SavvySuit, a Florida-based software development company that builds access to justice software and products for the private bar.


About

Pro Bono Go is the North Carolina civil justice community’s statewide one-stop shop for pro bono opportunities. It was created and is maintained by the North Carolina Pro Bono Resource Center in partnership with Charlotte Center for Legal Advocacy, Legal Aid of North Carolina and Pisgah Legal Services.

Author: Sean Driscoll

New program will provide “summers of service” to next generation of NC lawyers

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.

# # #

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.

Author: Sean Driscoll

Headshot of Allison Constance, Director of Pro Bono Programs

Dear volunteers,

As the new Director of Pro Bono Programs for Legal Aid of North Carolina, I want to introduce myself and preview upcoming ways for you to engage with us as a pro bono volunteer.

But first thing’s first …

Thank you

Thank you for being a pro bono volunteer with Legal Aid of North Carolina. Whether you’ve been with us for years or months, whether you’ve taken too many cases to count or are waiting for your first one—thank you. Thank you for giving your limited time and invaluable talents to our clients, and to us. We can’t do what we do without your help. On behalf of everyone at Legal Aid NC, I extend to you our deepest and most sincere “thank you.”

Get used to hearing that a lot from me.

About me

Leading Legal Aid NC’s Pro Bono Programs team is a new role for me—I’ve been on the job for only a few weeks—but supporting underrepresented people in North Carolina has been my passion for a long time. You may know me from my time as Director of Pro Bono Initiatives at UNC School of Law or in my previous role as an attorney at North Carolina Prisoner Legal Services. If we don’t yet know each other, I hope to change that. To start, let’s connect on LinkedIn.

Now, let’s talk pro bono.

Past and present

In the past few years, the Legal Aid NC pro bono program has struggled with some staffing deficits and shifting case priorities due to the pandemic. We have looked closely at our work and community needs, and we are redesigning many of our pro bono programs from the ground up. And we have some big plans.

We want our pro bono programs to meet our clients’ most pressing legal needs while also meeting yours. We want to know what motivates you to volunteer, what you need to succeed, and how we can meaningfully thank you for your service.

Coming soon

In the coming months, we will be announcing new recognition opportunities and awards, we look forward to launching our Summer Associate Program, and we can’t wait to share with you more opportunities to engage (even remotely!) in meaningful service.

For now, if you have any questions about pro bono at Legal Aid of North Carolina—its past, present or future—do not hesitate to reach out to our team at probono [at] legalaidnc.org.

You can also stop by our webpage at legalaidnc.org/pro-bono for the latest info about pro bono at Legal Aid. Thank you again for serving as a pro bono volunteer with us. We are excited to have you as a partner on our journey into a bright future for pro bono at Legal Aid of North Carolina.

If you want to receive updates from the Pro Bono Programs team, click here to sign up for our email list.

Author: Sean Driscoll

CHARLOTTE — Lawyers and summer associates from Duke Energy and McGuireWoods partnered up to provide free legal advice to our clients struggling with serious housing-conditions issues at a pro bono clinic June 28 in Charlotte. The clinic was part of our Lawyer on the Line pro bono program, which connects clients with common legal issues to pro bono volunteers, who provide free legal advice over the phone.

“Pro bono is a priority for us as a company, because so often these clients are also our customers,” said Alex Castle, Deputy General Counsel of Duke Energy. “We want to take care of the people in our communities who can’t otherwise afford these types of services. We really appreciate McGuireWoods and Legal Aid NC working with us to give us the opportunity to do this work.”

“Our firm is very supportive of pro bono work,” said Angie Zimmern, Pro Bono Director at McGuireWoods, “but the real hallmark of our firm is the dedication of individual attorneys. Our attorneys do pro bono because they believe in it and have a passion for it — and Legal Aid NC makes it easy for us. It’s a pleasure to partner with you, and we look forward to continuing our partnership.”

Learn more about our pro bono programs at legalaidnc.org/pro-bono.

Photo gallery

Author: Sean Driscoll

CHARLOTTE — Lawyers from Allspring Global Investments and K&L Gates provided free legal advice to our clients struggling with serious housing-conditions issues at a pro bono clinic July 11 in Charlotte. The clinic was part of our Lawyer on the Line pro bono program, which connects clients with common legal problems to pro bono volunteers, who provide legal advice over the phone.

“Partnering with Legal Aid NC allowed our company to connect attorneys with meaningful pro bono opportunities in our community,” said Chrishon McManus, Counsel and Pro Bono Coordinator at Allspring. “It means a lot to us to give back in a coordinated effort. Lawyer on the Line allows us to do it in a way that does not overwhelm our team.”

“Pro bono allows local attorneys like me to provide meaningful and tangible contributions to our communities,” said Christopher Fernandez, Partner at K&L Gates. “It is very satisfying to put our training to use to help someone in need and who appreciates our time.”

“I greatly enjoyed participating in the Lawyer on the Line clinic,” said Kenya Parrish, Associate at K&L Gates. “Legal Aid NC provided all of the materials and training so that we could easily and quickly assist clients. This was a wonderful opportunity to give back to our community.”

Learn more about pro bono at Legal Aid NC at legalaidnc.org/pro-bono.

Photo gallery