Pro Bono Update

Disaster Legal Services volunteers and representatives at a Jan. 31 event in Black Mt.

Attorney volunteers needed for Helene-recovery events

If you are an NC attorney who wants to help Hurricane Helene survivors overcome the legal barriers to a full and just recovery, please contact us! We are looking for volunteer attorneys to help our staff provide legal advice at recovery events throughout Western NC.

Upcoming recovery events

FEB 22: Marion (Sponsored by Disaster Legal Services)
FEB 22: Black Mountain (Sponsored by Disaster Legal Services)
FEB 24: Bat Cave (Sponsored by Henderson County)
FEB 25: Asheville (Sponsored by Buncombe County)
FEB 27: Leicester (Sponsored by Buncombe County)
MAR 3: Black Mountain (Sponsored by Buncombe County)

Interested? Please reply to this email or click the button below.

A big thank you to ...

Our holiday season donors!

Your generous contributions will help us secure justice for North Carolinians in need across the state and throughout the year. Missed out on donating to our holiday campaign? Don't worry! It's never a bad time to do good for our neighbors in need of justice.

Donate now

Our Name Change Program volunteers!

Almost 40 of you answered our call in last month's newsletter to volunteer for our Name Change Pro Bono Program. That's a lot of volunteers! We are incredibly grateful for the selfless support we receive from the private bar. Interested in this program? Visit our website to learn more and sign up!

Name Change Pro Bono Program

Upcoming events

Our Pro Bono Programs team has a busy schedule! In addition to the Hurricane Helene recovery events listed above and the Charlotte Triage events listed below, the team — and our volunteers — will be working hard in the coming weeks. Here's a sample of what we're looking forward to.

FRI, FEB 21

Wills clinic at Campbell Law

WED, FEB 26

Charlotte Triage Courthouse Clinic

THU, FEB 27

FEMA appeals clinic with Amazon and Greenberg Traurig
Lawyer on the Line clinic with the Wake County Bar Association

FRI, FEB 28

Charlotte Triage Courthouse Clinic
Lawyer on the Line clinic with Elon Law
Wills clinic with UNC Law and Orange County Habitat for Humanity

Learn more about our pro bono programs

Don't forget to report your pro bono hours!

The NC State Bar's voluntary pro bono reporting period opened January 1. NC attorneys and paralegals can report their 2024 pro bono hours as part of the bar's annual CLE reporting process. Those who report at least 50 hours will gain induction to the 2024 class of the NC Pro Bono Honor Society. Need to know how many hours you reported to us? Send us an email.

Learn more

Thank you, NC Central Law!

We love law schools! Big thanks to NC Central University Law — and Lakethia Jefferies in particular — for their steadfast pro bono partnership during last year's fall semester and so far this year. Students have provided free legal advice to our clients at numerous Lawyer on the Line clinics in recent months. Thank you to all the volunteers!

Learn more about our partnerships with law schools

Disaster Legal Services featured in NC Lawyer Magazine

The new issue of the NC Bar Association's NC Lawyer Magazine includes a spotlight on Disaster Legal Services, a group of organizations (including Legal Aid NC!) working together to provide pro bono services to Hurricane Helene survivors. The article, Helene Recovery Will Be Measured In Years; NC DLS Will Be There Every Step Of The Way, includes interviews with disaster-relief gurus (and former Legal Aid NC attorneys!) Brooks Savage and Brad Piland.

Read the article

New Pro Bono team members!

Meet Tricia Russ (pictured above) and Marquita Pittman, the newest members of our Pro Bono Programs team!

Tricia is our inaugural Strategy and Operations manager, working closely with our Director of Pro Bono Programs to increase statewide pro bono engagement with the private bar and perfect our internal policies and procedures.

Marquita is our firm's Raleigh Community Engagement Manager, working with our Raleigh field office and our Pro Bono team to form and maintain partnerships with critical community partners in the capital area, including pro bono partners.

Learn more about our Pro Bono team

Charlotte Triage Pro Bono Partnership

Charlotte Triage is the Queen City legal community's concerted effort to use pro bono to meet residents' most pressing legal needs. An inaugural member of the partnership, we help coordinate services to housing clients and domestic violence survivors. Learn more.

Upcoming events

Courthouse Clinics (eviction)

Wed, Feb 26
Fri, Feb 28
Wed, Mar 26
Fri, Mar 28
Tue, Apr 22
Thu, Apr 24

Lawyer on the Line (housing conditions)

Thu, Mar 6
Wed, Apr 9

Thank you, Dechert and Wells Fargo!

Huge thanks to Dechert LLP and Wells Fargo for organizing the Lawyer on the Line clinic on Feb. 7. Seventeen volunteers from the organizations provided pro bono legal advice over the phone to Legal Aid NC clients struggling with dangerous and unsanitary housing conditions.

Learn more

Program Spotlight

Child custody petition drafting

Working under the supervision of our experienced family law attorneys, volunteers provide advice and prepare initial filings for a custody complaint for domestic violence survivors.

Interested in volunteering? Contact us

Volunteer Spotlight

Robert Culver · The Culver Law Firm

Pisgah Forest

We are grateful to lawyers across the state and beyond for their support of our clients recovering from Hurricane Helene. One of those volunteers was Robert Culver, a solo practitioner in Pisgah Forest, a small town in Transylvania County between Asheville and the South Carolina border.

No stranger to the devastation wrought by the storm, Robert was committed to help. He agreed to help a tenant whose apartment the storm had rendered uninhabitable. With no water and no electricity, the client had moved in with family out of state. Yet, her lease was still in force and she was responsible for rent. She needed out of her lease.

Robert negotiated with the client’s landlord, and ultimately, the sympathetic landlord terminated the lease and even returned some of our client's rent money to her.

Thanks to Robert's service, our client can now move forward with her life free from an onerous financial obligation. Thank you, Robert!

Learn more

Pro Bono Go

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.

Help tenant stay in her home! Potential affirmative suit against harassing landlord who will not recertify for subsidized housing

Johnston County

Seeking help for a client who may have an affirmative suit against her harassing landlord. Client is in default of her lease agreement because the landlord will not recertify her for subsidized housing.

Learn more

Help wife gain access to deceased husband's estate by validating marriage

Wake County

Seeking help for a client who believes she is entitled to half of her deceased husband's estate. There are claims that she was not legally married to her husband and he was still married to his first wife. We are looking for a volunteer attorney who could advise this client about her rights and options.

Learn more