Tropical Storm Helene Edition | |
How to Help: Serve, Give, Spread the Word | | |
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SERVE: Sign up to volunteer
Join your 1,000-plus colleagues from around the state — and the country! — who have signed up to provide pro bono service to Tropical Storm Helene survivors.
We are partnering with the NC Bar Association Young Lawyers Division, the American Bar Association Young Lawyers Division, and FEMA, with support from the NC Bar Foundation, the NC Pro Bono Resource Center and Pisgah Legal Services, to coordinate the legal community's response to the disaster.
If you are an attorney — even if you're not licensed to practice in NC (learn more) — you can join the effort by filling out the Disaster Legal Services sign-up form today (click the link below).
*** Training opportunities are coming soon! ***
VOLUNTEER
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GIVE: Support our disaster relief work
Donations to our disaster relief efforts support mobile legal clinics, additional staff for dedicated disaster hotline intake, support for our pro bono program, and other emerging needs.
Your donation can be the lifeline that helps a family rebuild. Please consider giving today.
DONATE
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SPREAD THE WORD: Free legal resources available
Our website has a wealth of free legal resources for survivors. Please feel free to share the link to our Helene webpage among your networks and with anyone who may contact you seeking Helene-related legal help.
Our resources for clients can also be useful to volunteers, as they provide info on common post-disaster legal problems, with which private practitioners might be unfamiliar.
LEGALAIDNC.ORG/HELENE
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Patience and Preparation
The watchwords of post-disaster pro bono
While the images of raging floodwaters and devastated homes are still fresh in mind, it's natural to want to help immediately. This may be especially true for lawyers, whose deep-seated spirit of service is rarely more evident than it is after a natural disaster. The reality, though, is that post-disaster pro bono is a marathon, not a sprint, making patience and preparation the watchwords of any successful pro bono response.
Patience
As important as legal help is to disaster survivors, it is not among their most immediate needs. Food, shelter, medical care and other fundamental needs come first. Legal problems can take months — even years — to surface. For Helene survivors in NC, their first legal need might not occur until it's time to appeal denials of applications for FEMA benefits, which aren't due until November 27.
In the meantime, stay in the loop by keeping up with news from the organizations — including us! — participating in the Disaster Legal Services partnership. Subscribe to their emails, follow them on social media, check their websites. We will let you know when legal needs come to a head and volunteers are needed.
Preparation
Thankfully, the "slow burn" of post-disaster legal needs gives volunteers plenty of time to prepare. While FEMA appeals, consumer scams, employment and housing might not be your everyday practice areas, there are plenty of freely available training resources to get you up to speed. Here at LANC, we are actively preparing Helene-specific training materials that we will soon make available to volunteers.
In the meantime, check out the Disaster Bootcamp section of the Legal Aid Disaster Resource Center. Learn about FEMA assistance, common post-disaster legal issues, the lifecycle of post-disaster civil legal issues, and more.
Thank you
For those who have already signed up to volunteer and those who will, all of us at Legal Aid of North Carolina thank you for willingness to donate your time and talents on behalf of our neighbors in need, and we thank you for your patience as we begin the journey to a full and equitable recovery from Tropical Storm Helene.
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National Celebration of Pro Bono starts soon!
The National Celebration of Pro Bono (celebrateprobono.org), held annually throughout the last week of October, runs from the 20th through the 26th this year. Here at Legal Aid NC, we are gearing up celebrate you, our amazing volunteers, in big and small ways throughout the week. Join the fun by following our pro bono posts on LinkedIn.
Follow our LinkedIn page and our #LANCprobono hashtag
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Charlotte Triage marks 6th anniversary
Legal Aid of North Carolina joined the Queen City's leading law firms and corporate legal departments on Sept. 18 to mark the sixth anniversary of the Charlotte Triage Pro Bono Partnership, a citywide effort to use pro bono to meet residents' most pressing legal needs.
Learn more
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BofA, Baker Donelson organize Triage clinics
Huge thanks to Bank of America and Baker Donelson! The bank and firm organized September's Lawyer on the Line and eviction court clinics as part of the Charlotte Triage Pro Bono Partnership. The monthly events bring together volunteers from the city's leading law firms and companies to provide pro bono service to tenants struggling with poor housing conditions or facing eviction in court.
Learn more: LOTL clinic / Courthouse clinic
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Ashley Edwards-Davis joins Pro Bono team
Meet Ashley Edwards-Davis, a new supervising attorney on our Pro Bono team. She may be new to the team, but she's an old hand at Legal Aid NC. She first joined our firm in 2018 after two years in private practice. In 2020 she left to serve a two-year stint in Duke University's Office for Institutional Equity, returning to us in May 2023 to serve as a domestic violence attorney in our Durham office's satellite location in Henderson. Ashley's primary responsibility will be building up our pro bono programming for domestic violence survivors across the state.
Learn more
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A Not-So-Scary Pro Bono Primer
Thu, Oct 24, 12 PM - 1 PM · Virtual
October may be the month to celebrate all things spooky, but there's nothing scary about pro bono service with Legal Aid of North Carolina. Join us October 24 from 12 to 1 p.m. for A Not-So-Scary Pro Bono Primer, a virtual one-hour CLE about pro bono service that takes only a few hours and requires no experience. Attendees will earn one hour of General CLE credit (pending State Bar approval).
Register now!
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Domestic Violence Awareness Month: True crime in the courtroom
Wed, Oct 30, 3 - 7:30 PM · Virtual and in person (Raleigh)
October is Domestic Violence Awareness Month (DVAM), a time to shine the spotlight on this all-too-pervasive problem and recommit ourselves to solving it. Our Raleigh field office will mark the occasion by holding its annual DVAM CLE, held in person and broadcast live from Campbell Law on October 30 from 3 to 7:30 p.m. The event will feature a presentation from Poyner Spruill attorney and Legal Aid NC pro bono volunteer Steve Epstein, and a panel discussion featuring prominent state judges. Attendees will earn four hours of General CLE credit (pending State Bar approval).
Register now!
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Second Chance Project
Our Second Chance Project oversees our firm's statewide criminal record expunction work. Until recently, volunteering with the project was one of our premier pro bono offerings. Currently, due to new legislative changes affecting the work, the project is temporarily pausing most of its operations to reorganize and engage in strategic planning (learn more).
If you're an attorney interested in helping our clients clear their way to stable employment, housing, and more, you can stay in the loop by filling out our pro bono interest form (link below) and indicating your interest in expunction work.
Big thanks to our law school partners for continuing to work with the project throughout this transition. Special shout out to Duke Law for partnering with us on their fall break project this year!
Complete our pro bono interest form
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Evan Lewis
Washington, NC
Here at Legal Aid NC, we are incredibly grateful for Evan Lewis' long running, skillful and incredibly prolific pro bono service, but we aren't surprised by it. After all, we know him quite well.
His deep commitment to pursuing equal justice for all North Carolinians and his dogged tenacity on behalf of his clients are well known to us from his time as Managing Attorney of our Greenville office, from 1999 to 2013.
While Evan has left Legal Aid NC, he's never stopped serving our clients, handling more than 100 pro bono cases in the last 11 years, a figure which ranks him among our most steadfast volunteers.
The breadth of his service, in addition to the depth, also makes him a standout. Consumer protection, employment, housing, public benefits, wills and advanced directives — Evan does it all.
Thank you, Evan, for all that you have done and continue to do for our clients and our firm!
Learn more about Evan
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Pro Bono Go is a one-stop shop for pro bono opportunities from NC's leading civil-justice groups. Check out our latest opportunities below. More at probonogo.org. | |
Grandparent guardians seek custody of grandchildren
Davidson County
Volunteers needed for drafting custody complaint for grandparent-guardians of two grandchildren, one of whom is special needs.
Learn more
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Advise community garden on nonprofit governance
Wake County
Seeking attorney to provide brief advice and counsel to community garden providing fruits and vegetables to low-income families and volunteers.
Learn more
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Brief advice in rural domestic violence cases
Statewide · Serve remotely
One-hour phone consultation with a client preparing to appear pro se at their Domestic Violence Protective Order hearing. Sign up for a 2-week period and receive 1 referral within that time. Experienced attorneys only. Training coming soon for others.
Learn more
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Lawyer on the Line: Housing conditions
Statewide · Serve remotely
Seeking attorney volunteers to provide brief advice over the phone to tenants living with dangerous and unsanitary housing conditions and related landlord/tenant issues. Training provided.
Learn more
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