The 2023 Pro Bono Award winners have been selected and will be recognized during the NCBA Annual Meeting on Friday, June 23 in Wilmington. The recipients are:
Greenblatt Outstanding Lawyer Award: Carlene McNulty – NC Justice Center
Thorp Pro Bono Service Award: Erik Zimmerman – Robinson Bradshaw & Hinson PA
YLD Pro Bono Award: Troy Shelton – Fox Rothschild LLP
Outstanding Paralegal Pro Bono Service Award: S.M. Kernodle-Hodges – Tolliver, Richardson & Kernodle LLC
Outstanding Collaborative Pro Bono Award: Afghan Asylum Project – Parker Poe Adams & Bernstein and Pisgah Legal Services
The Filling the Justice Gap Award: Charlotte Initiative to Mobilize Business
Law Firm Pro Bono Award: Parker Poe Adams & Bernstein
Law School Pro Bono Service Award: North Carolina Central University School of Law Elder Law Project
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The Appellate Pro Bono Program is available to pro bono lawyers in North Carolina, in collaboration with the North Carolina Court of Appeals, the North Carolina Bar Association Appellate Practice Section, and the North Carolina Pro Bono Resource Center. This program matches pro bono attorneys to pro se litigants in cases before the North Carolina Court of Appeals or the North Carolina Supreme Court.
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There are many wonderful reasons why attorneys engage in pro bono work. A robust pro bono practice not only greatly benefits low-income clients and the legal services organizations that serve them, but it also benefits attorneys from the private bar who take on pro bono representation. Pro bono attorneys report high levels of satisfaction, knowing that they played a significant role in helping another person who needed an attorney. It is often one of the most personally and professionally fulfilling parts of an attorney’s practice.
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On March 30, a free informational session was held for college students to help answer the common questions among prospective students: is law school a good fit for me, and what can expect in the first year? Featuring an experienced panel of North Carolina Bar Association lawyers from diverse backgrounds and specialties within the legal field, the event provided insights on what it takes to excel in law school and eventually practice law. With an engaged audience of more than 40 attendees, many of whom stayed after the session to speak with panelists, it was evident that there is a strong interest in navigating the complex world of legal education.
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Candace Friel finds her passion for pro bono work in projects where she gets to work with clients one-on-one, especially at home in the Triad. Friel is a partner at Nelson Mullins Riley & Scarborough, working as a healthcare and commercial litigator, and she is a member of the NCBA’s Health Law Section.
Since beginning her legal career at Nelson Mullins in 2007, Friel has built a robust pro bono practice, volunteering with driver’s license restoration clinics, Rebuild North Carolina, A Gift to Your Family advanced directive clinics, and more. Friel appreciates the opportunity to work with pro bono clients in person like she did with Rebuild North Carolina, where her client was seeking funds to help rebuild after Hurricanes Florence and Matthew.
“Our courts are designed to protect the stability of our law, and pro bono attorneys can play a role in that important tradition. Our courts work better when all parties have a say in the outcome, even those without sufficient means to participate. Protecting an individual’s position safeguards the law at the same time, and as an officer of the court, I see that as my sincere duty.”
Who spoke these wise words? None other than Lorin Lapidus – a man who is a stellar example of someone who dedicates his legal services to pro bono work and cultivates a strong pro bono atmosphere at his firm.
Equal access to justice should exist for every individual, regardless of economic status. However, the 2021 Civil Legal Needs Assessment published by the North Carolina Equal Access to Justice Commission and Equal Justice Alliance, in partnership with UNC Greensboro’s Center for Housing and Community Studies, revealed that 86% of North Carolinians are not able to get legal help. Legal aid providers are woefully underfunded, which means they cannot serve the majority of the people who qualify for their services. Those who qualify for legal aid certainly cannot afford an attorney’s average $250/hour fee, and what’s more, a large majority of the middle class who do not qualify for legal aid or any government funding, cannot afford it either. When those of modest means do not have access to adequate legal services, we fail to represent the principles of our profession.
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In 2016, when the Greensboro Legal Aid office lost the funding necessary to provide representation for members of the community navigating Domestic Violence, or “DV,” court, Tom Robins, an attorney at Bunch & Robins and member of the Family Law Section of the North Carolina Bar Association, stepped up.
In discussing his decision to begin this project, Tom is practical, and it is easy to see why he’s been a successful family law attorney for decades.
“Legal Aid wasn’t in a position to accept these cases, and it’s what I do so, naturally, it’s what I can do to help. I then asked some other lawyers if they would be willing to take it on.”
First Church of God in Christ is a thriving church in Winston-Salem, North Carolina. They have owned their worship space property – which contains a building valued at almost $1 million – for 23 years. Like most commercial real estate owners, First Church had a five-year term on the loan that was secured by their church property. When the term ended in February 2022, the lender was not willing to work with First Church to extend the term or give them additional time to refinance the loan, despite having an excellent payment history and substantial equity in the property.
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Talk with Katie Jenifer about her work and pro bono experiences, and it won’t take you long to see the depth of her commitment or the magnitude of the positive effect she’s had in the community. The proud mom of two queer kids, Katie was driven to enroll in North Carolina Central University School of Law to start a second career at the age of forty-five after witnessing the legal and policy challenges her youngest daughter faced alongside her transition and the related need for more accessible legal services and advocacy in the community.
As a law student, Katie let her passion drive her. In her 1L year, Katie began researching and meeting with people holding name change clinics across the country to prepare to bring the service to NCCU. “I knew upon entering law school that I wanted NCCU to have a name change clinic/pro bono project to help overcome the barriers that my family faced,” she shares. “How could we make this process more accessible to more people? How could we ease the financial burden by providing legal assistance for free? How could we meet people where they were in the process and stay connected with them for as long as they needed us? How could we train law students how to work with LGBTQ+ clients to ensure no harm was done in the process of providing this service? How can we leverage NCCU’s HBCU legacy to reach more BIPOC clients who face additional barriers when accessing legal services? These were just some of the issues we contemplated when working toward creating the clinic/pro bono project.” Read more
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