The North Carolina Bar Association Pro Bono Committee invites you to join us in celebrating National Pro Bono Week and all things pro bono.
Pro bono legal service is vital in addressing unmet legal needs in North Carolina and across the country. We hope that pro bono is a part of your life and practice throughout the entire year, but also know that there are obstacles to committing time to pro bono. But heed our call: National Pro Bono Week is a great time to start and/or continue the important volunteer legal work that only we, as members of the legal profession, can do. When you provide pro bono legal service, you provide a benefit and skill set to the community that is not being met without your commitment of time and unique professional talents. You have skills and knowledge that are in short supply and desperately needed.
We encourage you to celebrate the important contributions of pro bono across the state and to document your commitment on social media using #CelebrateProBono. Volunteer with your local legal service provider, nonprofit, or other programs (like the North Carolina Pro Bono Resource Center) in need of legal services during pro bono week. We hope that you’ll catch “the bug” and keep or continue pro bono throughout the year!
https://ncbarblogprod.wpengine.com/wp-content/uploads/2018/06/Blog-Header-1-1030x530.png00Pro Bonohttps://ncbarblogprod.wpengine.com/wp-content/uploads/2018/06/Blog-Header-1-1030x530.pngPro Bono2022-10-17 10:06:182022-10-25 13:07:26October 23 to 29 is National Pro Bono Week 2022!
Kayla Britt is the example of a what everyone strives for in a great lawyer: dedicated, professional, passionate, humble.
A recipient of the NCBA YLD Young Lawyer of the Quarter for October through December 2020 and July through September 2021, Kayla has been working hard to serve those in North Carolina. Since law school, Kayla has made it a priority to focus on pro bono work.
Kayla shares, “Pro bono work is important to me because it allows me to assist those who may otherwise not have adequate assistance. It also allows me to broaden my experiences beyond the skills I learn in my job.”
Kayla works with the Housing Stability Pro Bono Project (“HSP”), which is a joint effort of the North Carolina Bar Foundation and North Carolina Pro Bono Resource Center in partnership with the North Carolina Office of Recovery & Resilience. This Project works with the Housing Opportunities and Prevention of Evictions Program (“HOPE”) — a program that provides income-based assistance for vulnerable tenants at risk of eviction. Volunteers with this project help to stabilize housing by facilitating agreements between tenants and landlords to accept HOPE terms.
Kayla’s favorite experience with HSP is when she facilitated a landlord-tenant agreement, one that led to helping many others: Kayla contacted a landlord to help a specific tenant. After learning about the program, the landlord wanted to help her other tenants with HOPE. Kayla was able to get a list from the landlord to refer to HOPE, potentially preventing many other evictions.
“The overwhelming joy tenants exhibit when they find out that we reached an agreement with their landlord has been more than I ever expected to experience in a pro bono role,” Kayla said.
Beyond her pro bono service with HSP, Kayla is an Assistant Attorney General with the North Carolina Department of Justice Appellate & Post-Conviction Section where she prepares the state’s criminal briefs, responds to habeas corpus petitions, and appears before both North Carolina Appellate Courts and Federal District Courts. She volunteers with Wills For Heroes, assisting first responders with estate planning.
Kayla is a member of the NCBA Litigation Section and co-chair of Young Lawyers Division Law Student Outreach Committee.
For attorneys, fewer things are more important than having an outstanding reputation amongst one’s professional peers. Reputation is something that is observed by others. For example, one attorney could be known for sporting flamboyant bow ties, another for her killer collection of Jimmy Choo shoes. While it’s good to score fashion and style points, that says nothing about the quality of one’s work. It’s better to be known for getting great results for one’s clients. And it’s best to be known for zealous representation, and for carving out time from a busy practice to provide pro bono legal services. Anna Davis has earned an exemplary reputation not only for practicing law at the highest professional level, but also for making tremendous pro bono contributions.
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Robinson Bradshaw & Hinson, PA’s Blaine Sanders is not only committed to pro bono work in his own practice but in facilitating opportunities for others to serve as well. For over thirty-five years, Sanders has built a litigation practice focusing on commercial, real estate, employment, and sports & entertainment law, and he is a member of the NCBA’s Litigation and Employment sections. His pro bono practice, described by his colleagues as a “tremendous combination of pro bono work,” spans landlord/tenant matters, expungement cases, non-profit work, and more.
Anabel Rosa has long held a commitment to giving back through service. “I know what it feels like to be the person who needs help,” describes Anabel. “I know what it feels like to not belong, to not have meaning, to not be able to speak with someone.” Anabel recalls a memory of sitting in the Hall of Languages at Syracuse University, where she completed her undergraduate degree, and looking at her homework, puzzled. Anabel could barely speak English when she came to the United States from Puerto Rico to attend college. She needed help, and someone helped her.
Our Supreme Court notes “Equal Justice Under Law” on its building. Yet, access to this justice only truly exists when it is available to all members of our state, regardless of ability to pay. A failure to provide adequate legal services to those of modest means affects both the economic and social fabric of our society and does not adequately represent the principles of the profession to which we have been called.
Pro bono is one way for attorneys to help narrow the access to justice gap. We would like to capture your service and celebrate your pro bono work! We especially look forward to hearing about your pro bono legal services in 2021, including those provided through the North Carolina Bar Association and Foundation projects like Free Legal Answers, Wills for Heroes, and NC LEAP.
A North Carolina State Bar Certified Freelance Paralegal, Rachel Royal is the founder of Royal Touch Legal & Business Solutions. As a freelance paralegal, Rachel provides virtual paralegal services to personal injury, family law, and real estate firms while also serving as a Project Coordinator for the North Carolina Pro Bono Resource Center’s Driver’s License Restoration and Housing Stability Projects.
Despite her busy workload, Rachel is a leader in the North Carolina Bar Association, serving as the Secretary and Pro Bono Co-Chair for the Paralegal Division, the Co-Chair of the Survey Committee, and a member of the Awards Subcommittee of the Pro Bono Committee.
Salim Uqdah is a dedicated volunteer who is focused on educating and providing his dispute resolution skills to the people of North Carolina. Salim is a North Carolina Certified paralegal, Arkfeld E-Discovery Specialist, and NCDRC Certified Mediator with an immense talent for bringing people to the table. Salim left the Mecklenburg Courthouse in June 2018 to find innovative ways to help people during the most difficult times in their lives. In 2018, Salim opened the doors of Uroboros Mediations, a dispute resolution company specializing in mediation, arbitration, and divorce coaching. He has served as a collaborative neutral facilitator, divorce coach, and a securities arbitrator for the Financial Industry Regulatory Authority.
Members of the North Carolina access to justice community are putting the focus on pro bono as part of the National Pro Bono Week Celebration. The annual celebration has been celebrated in conjunction with the American Bar Association’s National Celebration of Pro Bono: Moving Forward in a Post-Pandemic World (this year’s theme) and is held from October 25 through October 31, 2021. The National Pro Bono Week Celebration focuses the nation’s attention on increased need for pro bono services and celebrates the outstanding work of lawyers who volunteer their services throughout the year.
During Pro Bono Week, North Carolina legal aid programs, bar associations, law firms, law schools, and others will celebrate pro bono by recognizing volunteers, offering training, providing pro bono legal services at clinics, hosting events to raise money for legal aid, and raising awareness of the need for pro bono. For more information about events in your area, visit https://www.probono.net/celebrateprobono/.
There are many ways to get involved in pro bono service in our state. North Carolina legal services organizations including Legal Aid of NC, Charlotte Center for Legal Advocacy and Pisgah Legal Services coordinate pro bono case referrals and provide volunteer training, support and malpractice insurance coverage for pro bono practice. The NC Bar Foundation and NC Pro Bono Resource Center both coordinate pro bono projects that engage attorneys, paralegals and law students in pro bono service. Sections, Divisions and Committees of the NC Bar Association coordinate pro bono initiatives that allow members to serve within their areas of practice. Find pro bono opportunities here: https://ncprobono.org/opportunities/.
https://ncbarblogprod.wpengine.com/wp-content/uploads/2018/06/Blog-Header-1-1030x530.png00Pro Bonohttps://ncbarblogprod.wpengine.com/wp-content/uploads/2018/06/Blog-Header-1-1030x530.pngPro Bono2021-10-25 09:32:432022-10-25 13:09:22Celebrating National Pro Bono Week
William (Bill) Christy is an outstanding volunteer attorney who has done extensive pro bono and community service to improve the lives of Western North Carolinians since moving back to the region in 1995 to practice law. Bill founded the firm Stone & Christy, PA in Black Mountain in that year and immediately began doing pro bono service through Pisgah Legal Services’ Mountain Area Volunteer Lawyer Program (MAVL). Through MAVL, Bill has handled at least 488 pro bono cases, contributing more than 1,500 hours of pro bono legal services. Bill has assisted low-income clients with consumer protection and debtor issues, housing problems, tax matters, end-of-life planning and probate, and immigration and family preparedness issues.
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