Pro Bono Spotlight: Amanda Clark

Amanda, a white woman with brown hair, wears a white blouse and grey suit.

Amanda Clark

By Courtney LaTourrette

When Hurricane Helene swept through Western North Carolina just days after her bar admission, newly licensed attorney Amanda Clark found herself called to serve her community in a way few imagine so early in their careers.

After graduating from the University of South Carolina School of Law in May 2024, Amanda began her legal career as a personal injury associate with Fisher Stark, P.A. in Asheville. She passed the July 2024 bar exam and was sworn in on September 23, 2024. Merely three days later, Hurricane Helene struck. Nearly the entire city went dark. Her new firm, one of the few buildings still with power, suddenly became a refuge, and Amanda quickly turned her first weeks as a lawyer into an act of community service.

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Pro Bono Spotlight: Hannah Michalove

Hannah, a white woman with brown hair, wears a white shirt and black blazer.By Sidney Thomas

Hannah Michalove is a bilingual immigration attorney at Pisgah Legal Services in Asheville, where she began her position in October 2024 — just ten days after Hurricane Helene.

Hannah’s dedication to pro bono advocacy began as a law school student at Campbell University Law School, where she served as Chair of the Naturalization Project, a student-led pro bono initiative focused on assisting eligible immigrants with applications for U.S. citizenship. Through this work, she witnessed firsthand how access to legal assistance can foster family stability, civic participation, and long-term security.

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Pro Bono Spotlight: Aishaah Foster — Advocating for Safety and Dignity

Aishaah is a Black woman with black hair. She is wearing a silver blouse with a black jacket.

Aishaah Foster

By Larissa Mañón Mervin

As an associate attorney at Moore & Van Allen, PLLC, Aishaah Foster brings both professional skill and deep personal commitment to her pro bono work with survivors of domestic violence. Since joining the firm in 2020, she has practiced in the Financial Regulatory Advice and Response group, while also dedicating meaningful time outside of their day-to-day practice to serve vulnerable individuals in the community.

In the summer of 2024, she responded to a call for pro bono volunteers and began working with Legal Aid of North Carolina (LANC) on Domestic Violence Protection Order (DVPO) advice cases. Through this work, she assists individuals who are navigating some of the most frightening and uncertain moments of their lives, often without the financial resources to hire an attorney.

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Pro Bono Spotlight: Mark Kinghorn

Mark, a white man with brown hair, wears a white shirt, pale blue tie and navy jacket.

Mark Kinghorn

By Tricia Russ

Mark Kinghorn is equal parts litigator, connector, and community advocate. As a partner at McGuireWoods and Chair of the Financial Services & Securities Enforcement Department, Mark helps companies navigate their most complex challenges, including arbitration, commercial litigation, and multi-jurisdictional disputes that require both strategic insight and steady leadership. Yet his influence within the firm extends far beyond case strategy. A recognized pro bono leader and mentor, Mark invests deeply in developing new attorneys and associates, reminding them through his actions what the legal profession should represent. His message is consistent: compassion, consistency and excellence matter equally — whether serving paying clients or those with limited means.

As he often emphasizes, “I want to be remembered not just as a great lawyer, but as one who worked hard for everyone, including those who can’t afford it.”

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Pro Bono Spotlight: Nicholas Lee

Nicholas, a white man with brown hair, wears a white shirt, yellow tie and black suit.

Nicholas Lee

By Laura Merriman

Nicholas Lee, a Litigation Partner at Parker Poe, handles mainly complex business litigation in federal and state court. He has worked on various pro bono projects over the years, including wills clinics and Guardian Ad Litem appeals. However, over the past decade, his primary focus has been helping North Carolinians get a second chance by clearing their criminal records through expunctions.

Nicholas has handled dozens of expunctions over the past ten years. Expunctions help low-income individuals by removing old or dismissed criminal charges or convictions from their records. It offers individuals a clean slate and removes barriers to employment, housing, and other benefits.

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2025 Pro Bono Awards Recipients Announced

Bianca, a Black woman with black hair and clear glasses, wears a white blouse with a black print, a black blazer, and gold earrings.By Bianca Simmons

The 2025 Pro Bono Award winners have been selected and will be recognized during the NCBA Annual Meeting on Friday, June 27, 2025, in Asheville.

The honorees are:

•  Greenblatt Outstanding Lawyer Award | Jonathan Perry – Legal Aid of North Carolina

•  Thorp Pro Bono Service Award | Mark Holt – Raleigh

•  YLD Pro Bono Award | Elizabeth “Brooks” Savage and Brad Piland – North Carolina Dept. of Public Safety

•  Outstanding Paralegal Pro Bono Service Award | Gennell Curry – NC Central University School of Law

•  Law Firm Pro Bono Award | Small and Medium Law Firm Award: Sneed & Stearns (Anna Stearns), Large Law Firm Award: Robinson Bradshaw (Ethan White and Julian Wright)

•  Law School Pro Bono Service Award | Duke University School of Law, Civil Justice Clinic – Charles R. Holton & Jesse H. McCoy II

•  The Filling the Justice Gap Award | NCBA Paralegal Division

•  Outstanding Collaborative Pro Bono Award | NCBA Young Lawyers Division, Legal Aid of North Carolina, Pisgah Legal Services, NC Bar Foundation, NC Pro Bono Resource Center, NCBA Paralegal Division, ABA Young Lawyers Division, and FEMA

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Pro Bono Spotlight: NCBA Paralegal Division NC Disaster Legal Services

By Yazmeen Gadalla

Dealing with Disaster 

On September 27, 2024, North Carolina was hit by a major disaster when Hurricane Helene ripped through Western NC. In response to the tragedy, the North Carolina Bar Foundation activated Disaster Legal Services (“DLS”) – an effort where the North Carolina Bar Association’s (“NCBA”) Young Lawyers Division (“YLD”) coordinates with the Young Lawyers Division of the American Bar Association, the Federal Emergency Management Agency (“FEMA”) and Legal Aid of North Carolina (“LANC”) to provide disaster-related resources and services to the public. Supporting the YLD is the North Carolina Bar Foundation, the NC Pro Bono Resource Center, and the NCBA Paralegal Division (“NCBA PD”).

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Pro Bono Spotlight: Brooks Savage and Brad Piland, NC Disaster Legal Services

By Sidney Thomas

Elizabeth “Brooks” Savage

Brooks, a white woman with long, light brown hair, wears a white shirt and light blue blazer.When legal professionals are nervous or not sure how they can help those impacted by a disaster, Brooks’ words come to mind. “One act of service (no matter how small you self-perceive it to be) can make the world of difference for a disaster survivor who needs trusted counsel after experiencing such severe loss.” Brooks has worked in disaster relief for several years from working at Legal Aid of North Carolina’s Disaster Relief Project as a W.C. Dawson Fellow and Staff Attorney to serving as an Assistant General Counsel in the Disaster Recovery Division of the North Carolina Office of State Budget and Management. Throughout her career in disaster recovery, she has served survivors directly to alleviate legal barriers with FEMA, insurance, and displacement matters and provided outreach and education on disaster legal issues. Notably in response to Hurricane Helene, Brooks is a volunteer leader with NC Disaster Legal Services (DLS), where she works closely with state and national DLS partners, recruits and trains volunteer legal professionals and coordinates DLS operations for clinics, FEMA Disaster Recovery Centers, and case management, just to name a few responsibilities.
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Pro Bono Spotlight: Christopher Fowler

Chris, a white man with brown hair, wears a white shirt, pink tie with blue stripes and black blazer.

Chris Fowler

By Paul Yale

Chris Fowler is a firm member and corporate finance and transactional attorney with Moore & Van Allen (MVA) in Charlotte. Chris began volunteering on pro bono projects immediately after joining MVA in 2012 after graduating from the University of North Carolina Law School at Chapel Hill. He heads the firm’s Pro Bono Wills Project in partnership between MVA and the Charlotte Center for Legal Advocacy to assist elderly residents of Mecklenburg County with estate planning services.

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Pro Bono Spotlight: John Noor and the Western North Carolina COVID Legal Hotline

John, a white man with brown hair, wears a white shirt, red tie, and black jacket.

John Noor

By Paul Yale

Approximately four years ago, on March 10, 2020, Gov. Roy Cooper issued an executive order declaring a state of emergency in North Carolina due to the covid-19 outbreak which had originated in Wuhan, China in the late Fall of 2019 and began spreading to the United States in early 2020. The public is aware of the doctors, nurses and other medical workers who helped so many North Carolinians through the covid-19 crisis. The public is less aware of the significant role that lawyers played in providing pro bono legal services to North Carolinians with covid-19 legal issues, one of whom was attorney John Noor with the Asheville law firm of Roberts and Stevens.

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