What Can Pro Bono Do for You?
By Elysia Prendergast-Jones and Jay Jerkins
Jay Jerkins and I, co-chairs of the Pro Bono section, want to welcome you to a new bar year with new opportunities for pro bono work. Why is pro bono important? The North Carolina State Bar asks each lawyer to commit to providing 50 hours of legal services to those who are unable to pay, according to Rule 6.1, which states in further detail: every lawyer should
“(a) provide a substantial majority of the (50) hours of legal services without fee or expectation of fee to:
(1) persons of limited means;
(2) charitable, religious, civic, community, governmental and educational organizations in matters that are designed primarily to address the needs of persons of limited means; or
(3) individuals, groups or organizations seeking to secure or protect civil rights, civil liberties or public rights, or charitable, religious, civic, community, governmental and educational organizations in matters in furtherance of their organizational purposes, where the payment of standard legal fees would significantly deplete the organization’s economic resources or would be otherwise inappropriate;
(b) provide any additional services through:
(1) the delivery of legal services described in paragraph (a) at a substantially reduced fee; or
(2) participation in activities for improving the law, the legal system or the legal profession.
In addition, a lawyer should voluntarily contribute financial support to organizations that provide legal services to persons of limited means.”
Our plans for this year include the following fun activities:
- Empower hour to clear the queue where you can answer the legal questions on the NCBA Free Legal Answers website and help someone on your own time or join us in October for Pro Bono month and again in February. Dates are forthcoming.
- Holiday edition of a family law clinic for November. We are working on finding a location, ideally in Roanoke Rapids, Cumberland County, or Durham, where there is a great need and low pro bono options. These are also locations close to the Triangle for many of our members to attend. This is also a great opportunity to get your pro bono hours in before the holidays and the end of the year.
- Pro Bono at the beach. In April, we plan to move our family law clinic to Wilmington at the Legal Aid office. These legal clinics are the opportunity for you to get pro bono hours in by providing advice and paperwork if needed for individuals to take and file pro se. Another cool thing about the clinics is that you are covered under the malpractice insurance offered by the NCBA for all of these activities.
- Assist Legal Aid of North Carolina by taking DV cases or working with Lawyer on the Line. Lawyer on the Line is a program where you can give advice to an individual within an hour. Assisting with DV cases is a great way for young associates to gain litigation experience. Legal Aid sets up the clients for you, provides the paperwork, helps track the cases and even provides a manual and mentorship to make it a seamless process.
- You can also volunteer to take on a client for one of our non-profits throughout the state or sign up for an existing project through the NC Pro Bono Resource Center.
If you would like to work on one of those projects or join our committee, please contact Jay and me. We would not only love to work with you on these projects, but you can help us design the future of pro bono. I hope to see you soon at one of these exciting pro bono projects.