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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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.

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.

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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.

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RALEIGH – Thanks to a two-year, $450,000 grant from the Wells Fargo Foundation, Legal Aid of North Carolina is expanding its housing-justice services to homeowners and renters in Eastern North Carolina.

The grant will fund a two-pronged effort targeting separate causes of housing instability among low-income residents of the region: heir property, which refers to homes and land passed down outside of the courts, an arrangement seen predominantly in Black, rural communities; and eviction, an endemic problem in low-income communities everywhere.

Of the total grant funds, $300,000 is being used to launch the Heir Property Pro Bono Project, a new effort at Legal Aid NC to involve the private real-estate bar in heir property work throughout Eastern North Carolina. Legal Aid’s Raleigh and Wilson field offices will use the remaining $150,000 to expand eviction-defense work in the City of Raleigh and Edgecombe and Nash counties.

“At Wells Fargo, we believe everyone should have access to a quality, affordable home and opportunities for creating generational wealth through homeownership,” said Suzie Koonce, Senior Philanthropy and Community Impact Specialist at Wells Fargo. “We are proud to provide this important grant to Legal Aid NC to help more families in Raleigh and across Eastern North Carolina access the legal services they need to stay in their homes and address systems that often lead to loss of property, land, and wealth for families of color.”

Heir Property Pro Bono Project

The Heir Property Pro Bono Project will partner with the North Carolina Bar Association’s Real Property Section, with support from the North Carolina Bar Foundation, to recruit North Carolina real estate lawyers and paralegals to help heir property owners establish clear title to their home and land, thereby preserving generational wealth in families, and safe and affordable housing in low-income communities. Heir property arrangements are most common in Black, rural communities in Eastern North Carolina and some mountain communities in Western North Carolina.

Heir property is a home or land that is inherited informally, often from a family member who passed away without leaving a will. Heir property typically involves several people who have inherited shares in the same property, an arrangement that makes it difficult to use the property as collateral for a loan, sell the property, or enroll in recovery-assistance programs following a natural disaster.

As a result, families lose the ability to rely on heir property as a practical financial asset, impeding their ability to secure loans and financial assistance to keep the property in a habitable condition. This can lead to the property’s abandonment, which destabilizes communities by lowering surrounding property values, decreasing local tax revenue and creating safety hazards. [1]

“Whenever we stabilize and formalize home ownership, we help preserve the stock of affordable, sanitary housing,” said Lesley Albritton, Chief of Staff for Legal Aid NC and former project director and managing attorney of the firm’s Disaster Relief Project, which often encounters heir property issues in their work. “This grant enables Legal Aid NC to expand our work facilitating long-term disaster recovery, increasing and maintaining habitable and affordable housing across the state, and supporting equitable resiliency.”

Through this project, Legal Aid NC plans to create a partnership between its attorneys and members of the private bar to better help low-income North Carolinians—particularly Black residents of rural communities—resolve complex heir property cases.

Erin Haygood, Director of Pro Bono Programs at Legal Aid NC, said, “Pro bono attorneys are vital partners in so much of what we do at Legal Aid of North Carolina. Through this project, we will integrate them into our heir property work for the first time. Combining the talents of our attorneys and members of the real-estate bar will allow us to maximize the efficacy of our advocacy to low-income homeowners in North Carolina.”

Attorneys and paralegals with real-estate experience can sign up for our Heir Property Pro Bono Project at bit.ly/lanchppbp.

Legal Aid NC’s Heir Property Pro Bono Project owes a debt of gratitude to the Land Loss Prevention Project, a Durham-based nonprofit that pioneered heir property work in the early 80’s. Since then, it has worked tirelessly to raise awareness of the issue in North Carolina’s legal community and beyond. Among its practice areas, the Land Loss Prevention Project provides direct legal services to heir property owners statewide. The work of our project would not be possible without their legacy of committed service. Attorneys and paralegals trained by our project will be invited to also provide pro bono service through the Land Loss Prevention Project and Pisgah Legal Services, a civil legal aid organization serving Western North Carolina, as part of a pro bono referral network managed by the North Carolina Bar Association’s Real Property Section and the North Carolina Bar Foundation.

Eviction defense

Funded by $150,000 from Wells Fargo, Legal Aid NC will expand its eviction defense work in the City of Raleigh, which is served by our Raleigh field office, and in Edgecombe and Nash counties, which are served by our Wilson office.

“Keeping families in their homes by preventing eviction has always been one of our top priorities at Legal Aid NC,” said Pamela Thombs, managing attorney of our Raleigh office, “but there are never enough resources to help everyone who needs us. This funding will allow us to provide life-changing legal help to families who would otherwise have nowhere to turn.”

Ayanda Meachem, managing attorney of our Wilson office, said, “Eviction doesn’t discriminate. Our clients live in urban and rural communities, in apartment complexes and mobile home parks, and eviction is a problem everywhere. This funding will help us serve more families confronting eviction and homelessness, wherever they are.”

North Carolinians facing eviction can visit legalaidnc.org/housing to find free self-help and know-your-rights resources, or apply for help by calling our statewide Helpline at 1-866-219-LANC (5262) or applying online at legalaidnc.org/apply.

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[1] To learn more about heir property, read Disasters Do Discriminate: Black Land Tenure and Disaster Relief Programs, Journal of Affordable Housing and Community Development Law, by Lesley Albritton, director of Legal Aid of North Carolina’s Disaster Relief Project, and Jesse Williams, former Legal Aid NC staff attorney and current law fellow at Wake Forest Law’s Environmental Law and Policy Clinic.

CHARLOTTE — Wells Fargo lawyers and paralegals provided free legal advice to Legal Aid of North Carolina clients struggling with serious housing-conditions issues at a Lawyer on the Line pro bono event May 17 at the bank’s offices in Charlotte.

Legal Aid NC’s flagship pro bono program, Lawyer on the Line, connects clients with common legal problems to pro bono volunteers—lawyers, paralegals and law students—who, working under the supervision of Legal Aid NC attorneys, provide free legal advice over the phone. Volunteers can serve individually from their home or office, or as a group with colleagues from their employer or local bar association.

“Lawyer on the Line is a quick and easy way to spend an hour or two and feel like you’re directly helping someone,” said Mark Metz, Deputy General Counsel at Wells Fargo, who participated in the event.

Mark’s client was living in a home infested with mold caused by multiple leaks, problems that the landlord was not addressing. Mark advised his client, who was nearing the end of his lease and planning to move, to negotiate a resolution with his landlord that would compensate the client while avoiding litigation.

“It felt great,” Mark said. “So much of our typical work is long and drawn out. This was very quick and provided an immediate benefit to someone.”

Glenn Huether, Lead Counsel at Wells Fargo and co-coordinator of the bank’s pro bono projects in Charlotte, helped a woman living with mold, a broken lock on her front door and other issues threatening the safety of her family. Glenn’s advice to her client included making repair requests to her landlord in writing, taking pictures and calling local code enforcement.

“It felt very rewarding,” Glenn said, “particularly when she told me, ‘This has been so great. I’m so thankful. I’m so glad we talked. I really needed this!’ That made it feel so worthwhile.”

Janice Reznick, Deputy General Counsel at Wells Fargo and co-sponsor of the bank’s pro bono initiatives, said, “Wells Fargo is really committed to the communities in which we operate. We encourage everyone within our legal department—not just attorneys—to participate in pro bono, and there are plenty of opportunities for everyone.”

Speaking of her own motivation for championing pro bono, Janice said, “I think it’s important to help the community as lawyers and legal professionals. As a lawyer, being able to provide my legal knowledge and use my skills to help others is an incredible experience.”

Craig Baldauf, Executive Vice President and Deputy General Counsel at Wells Fargo, helped a client whose small house had no heating or air conditioning, roaches, electrical problems and mold—problems that the client has been trying to get fixed for four years.

“It’s easy to forget, particularly when you work for a company, that our problems tend not to be the problems faced by the average person,” Craig said. “It felt really nice to take a break from our corporate problems—which are important, but in a different way—to help somebody in the community who has been struggling for years to get a decent place to live. I left with a really positive feeling about the experience and my role in it.”

Kasasira Mwine, E-Discovery Project Manager for Wells Fargo, did a double shift of pro bono service on the day of the event. He handled a Lawyer on the Line case after attending court in the morning to handle a separate pro bono case for one of our clients.

Explaining his dedication to pro bono service, Kasasira said, “Especially in the housing arena, there’s so much that tenants are entitled to under law that they’re not aware of. It gives me a lot of joy to help tenants claim as much of their legal rights as they can. To me, it’s very important to provide that to people in the community. Every chance I get to do that, I’m going to be a zealous advocate for them.”

Natali Bollinger, Senior Paralegal with Wells Fargo, helped a client whose home had a broken water heater that was causing sewage backup, standing water on her lot, dirty drinking water, a skyrocketing water bill and other issues.

“My client has done everything right,” Natali said. “She’s paid rent on time, documented all the problems, taken photos and videos. My client hasn’t called code enforcement yet. We hope that code enforcement can decide if there are violations and put pressure on the landlord.”

Discussing why she volunteered to participate in the Lawyer on the Line event, Natali said, “It was something that was easy, a minimum time commitment, and provided an opportunity to really help out. Wells Fargo is amazing. The opportunities to give back and do pro bono are endless.”

Todd Stillerman, Assistant General Counsel at Wells Fargo and longtime pro bono volunteer, said, “The work that we do with our legal aid partners is all about providing security, stability and safety to families and children in our communities. The ability to have access to the law and access to legal remedies is crucial. Wells Fargo has recognized for a long time that providing that access is something we need to be doing. I get an incredible amount of support from my employer to do this work.”

Addressing the fears that attorneys may have about pro bono work being outside their professional comfort zone, Todd said, “I’m an investment bank lawyer. I’m not a litigator. I’ve done what I’ve done because I’ve had support from Legal Aid and the attorneys that work there. They’ve helped me do things that I never imagined I’d be able to do. No matter what your background is, no matter what your skill level is, no matter what your experience is, it only takes a little bit of courage to do this work.”

Other Wells Fargo volunteers who participated in the event are:

• Jose Bermudez, Lead Counsel
• Loretta Carty, Senior Counsel
• Gloria Fazzolari, Lead Counsel
• Annie George, Lead Counsel
• Sarah Hayden, Paralegal
• David Lamothe, Assistant Counsel
• Ryan Larkin, Managing Counsel
• Brittany Mullen, Senior Counsel
• Anna O’Neal, Managing Counsel and Senior Vice President
• Bryan Riddle, Senior Counsel
• Ben White, Senior Counsel

If you want to make a meaningful difference in the lives of North Carolinians in need, visit the Pro Bono section of our website to learn about our programs and sign up to join our mission for justice: legalaidnc.org/pro-bono.

Want to stay in the loop on pro bono at Legal Aid of North Carolina? Join our pro bono email list to stay connected: https://lp.constantcontactpages.com/su/iNkX2oL/probono.

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GREENSBORO – Elon Law students working with Legal Aid of North Carolina attorneys provided free legal advice to low-income renters struggling with poor housing conditions at a Lawyer on the Line pro bono clinic held Monday at the law school. Lawyer on the Line, our flagship pro bono program, connects our clients who have day-to-day, non-emergency legal problems to volunteer attorneys — and law students — who provide them with free legal advice over the phone.

Working under the supervision of our attorneys, nine students partnered up to serve six clients, who were struggling with issues ranging from mold to radon poisoning. The students called their clients to learn about their problems and then discussed their clients’ situations with our attorneys. Afterwards, the students drafted letters to the clients summarizing their legal issues and the advice that was approved by the attorneys.

“Everyone enjoyed the clinic,” said Matt Ferris, co-director of Elon Law’s Pro Bono Board, which organized the event. “Interacting with clients and learning from practicing attorneys is valuable real-world experience for students.”

Nicole Mueller, supervising attorney on our Pro Bono Team and an Elon Law alum, helped organize the clinic and served as a supervising attorney. “Law school pro bono clinics are a win-win for everyone,” she said. “Clients get free legal help, students get experience, and we can serve more clients. Plus, we hope the experience inspires students to make pro bono an integral part of their legal careers.”

The students participating in the clinic were April Bourommavong, Elizabeth Fadl, Joselyn Harden, Courtney Latourrette, Liz Martinez, Brooke McCormick, Kayla McLaurin, Lindsay Young and Nick Young. The Legal Aid NC attorneys participating were Shaun Arnold, Amanda Feder, Janet McAuley-Blue and Charlisa Powell, all from our Greensboro office. Liam O’Brien, an Elon Law student interning with our Economic Justice Initiative, also participated. Jill Bridges, case coordinator on our Pro Bono Programs team, screened the clients and prepared the case files.

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