By Caroline Trautman
For attorneys working in business law who want to give back, it’s hard to think of a better opportunity than the NC Lawyers for Entrepreneurs Assistance Program (“NC LEAP”).
And when it comes to attorneys who have taken that opportunity, Kate McCullough immediately comes to mind.
Kate has been an active NC LEAP volunteer since she graduated from Elon University School of Law in 2017. NC LEAP, which is the only statewide program of its kind, provides legal services to low-wealth entrepreneurs.
Through her work with NC LEAP, Kate has assisted business owners with a wide range of topics including contracts, trademark registration, company handbooks, operating agreements, and formation. She sat on a panel during the 7th Annual Business Summit – Business Q&A at Vance-Granville Community College.
For Attorney Heather Culp of Essex Richards, P.A. in Charlotte, every year brings the same challenge: to complete at least 50 hours of pro bono work for her fellow North Carolinians.
Culp has served as a volunteer attorney with Charlotte Center for Legal Advocacy and Legal Aid of North Carolina’s Charlotte office since 2010. She was recognized in the inaugural 2016 class of the NC Pro Bono Honor Society, her prior law firm of Mitchell & Culp was awarded the Legal Services of the Southern Piedmont’s 2012 Outstanding Legal Services Award (Small Firm), and she is currently chairing the 2018-2019 Access to Justice Campaign in Mecklenburg County, to benefit Charlotte Center for Legal Advocacy and Legal Aid of North Carolina’s Charlotte office.
Culp strives to accomplish the 50-hour goal, set forth by Rule 6.1, sometimes even accepting pro bono cases through her own intake system in addition to assisting legal service providers. For Culp, doing pro bono work is an acknowledgement of the special skills and training unique to those in the legal profession and of the duty all attorneys have to serve the public.
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.
For information about the Pro Bono Resource Center and voluntary pro bono reporting, please visit ncprobono.org/report.
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 work.
The NC Pro Bono Resource Center is currently accepting information about the types of activities encouraged by North Carolina Rule of Professional Conduct 6.1: pro bono legal service; legal service at a substantially reduced fee; activity that improves the law, the legal system, or the legal profession; non-legal community service; and financial support of legal service providers.
https://ncbarblogprod.wpengine.com/wp-content/uploads/2018/06/Blog-Header-1-1030x530.png00NCBARBLOGhttps://ncbarblogprod.wpengine.com/wp-content/uploads/2018/06/Blog-Header-1-1030x530.pngNCBARBLOG2019-03-25 10:27:432019-03-25 10:30:04NC Pro Bono Honor Society Wants To Recognize Your Work
Chadwick McCullen’s pro bono work focuses on Wills for Heroes, a program that enables its volunteers to prepare essential legal documents — including wills, living wills, and powers of attorney — free of charge to North Carolina first responders (police officers, sheriff’s deputies, EMS, fire and rescue workers) and their spouses.
Register to volunteer for a Wills for Heroes clinic or find out how your organization can sponsor a clinic here.
McCullen’s work with the program began in 2010 when he volunteered at various clinics around the state. He, along with other volunteers, would meet with first responders and their spouses, discuss their estate planning needs, and prepare the appropriate documents. In 2016, he became a Young Lawyers Division co-chair of the project with Rebecca Rushton. As a co-chair, his work shifted to planning the clinics (securing a location, feeding the volunteers, advertising the clinic and scheduling clinic appointments) as well as training and providing legal support for the volunteers. This year, the YLD is partnering with the NC Bar Foundation to offer Wills For Heroes clinics, and McCullen is focusing his efforts on conducting volunteer training and serving as the lead Estate Planning Practitioner on site for clinic days.
Many people don’t have the finances or time to meet with an attorney. While most attorneys’ provide legal advice on a daily basis, some go the extra mile and answer legal questions for people who cannot afford an attorney or consultation fees through programs, such as NC Free Legal Answers.
Robin Stinson has practiced in Winston-Salem and surrounding counties for more than 34 years. Robin joined Bell, Davis, & Pitt, P.A. in 1997, focusing her practice in family and alternative dispute resolution including mediation, arbitrations, and parenting coordination.
Her passion for family law led her recently to begin work with NC Free Legal Answers. Robin spends her free time answering questions related to family law, i.e., the procedure for filing and prosecuting a pro se complaint for child custody or visitation for lower middle class and indigents who cannot afford legal services in the general market.
Few things make people feel helpless like a natural disaster can. If you’re like most attorneys, your daily work doesn’t involve feeding people, clearing giant trees, or repairing homes. As we settle into our day-to-day work, it’s easy to feel like we don’t have anything to offer people who have lost basic needs like clothing and shelter.
But what we forget is that many of our jobs, at their core, DO involve helping people clean up messes – and the knowledge and skills we’ve picked up along the way are probably more useful than we think.
Molly Gross, a young lawyer in Hickory who’s been bitten by the pro bono bug, has figured this out. Her story is proof that attorneys like you can impact people with big needs, even with just a little time. We at the NCBA Pro Bono Committee were so inspired, we thought we’d give her a shout out.
April Giancola and Emily Moseley are both honored and excited to co-chair the NCBA Pro Bono Committee this year.
April Giancola is the Director of Public Interest Advising at UNC School of Law. Since joining the career development office in April 2016 she counsels students and alumni on all aspects of job searching and career development, with a particular interest in issues relating to public interest, government and pro bono. Since earning her J.D. from New England School of Law in Boston in 2000, Giancola has worked as a trial attorney at the Public Defender’s Office in Phoenix, as the Director of Legal Services at Our Place DC in Washington, DC, and as the Volunteer and Training Coordinator at the D.C. Bar Pro Bono Center. After moving to North Carolina in 2007, she was the Post-Conviction Managing Attorney for North Carolina Prisoner Legal Services and served as the Chief Legal Program Officer for Disability Rights NC. She has been active in the Pro Bono Activities Committees of both the NC Bar Association and the NC Equal Access to Justice Commission. She is admitted to the bars of Arizona, Massachusetts, the District of Columbia and North Carolina.
Emily Moseley is a member at Strategic Health Law, where her work includes counseling health plans that sponsor Medicare Advantage, Medicare Prescription Drug, and Medicaid Managed Plans. After completing a two-year clerkship for the Honorable Jennifer Coffman of the United States District Court for the Eastern and Western Districts of Kentucky, Moseley entered private practice with Kilpatrick Townsend & Stockton, LLP (then Kilpatrick Stockton), in Raleigh, North Carolina where she worked on complex business disputes, as well as healthcare and regulatory matters from 2000 to 2010, when she joined Strategic Health Law. Moseley received a B.A. from Pomona College, graduating cum laude in 1995. She graduated from Vanderbilt Law School in 1998, where she was Executive Research Editor of the Vanderbilt Journal of Transnational Law. Moseley has an AVR peer rating through Martindale Hubbell, the highest rating given by that organization. She has also been named a “Woman of Justice” by Lawyers’ Weekly, in recognition for her extensive and dedicated pro bono practice.
By Caroline Trautman
For Attorney Heather Culp of Essex Richards, P.A. in Charlotte, every year brings the same challenge: to complete at least 50 hours of pro bono work for her fellow North Carolinians.
By 
By Celia Pistolis
By 
