Pro Bono Spotlight: Kayla Britt
Kayla Britt
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.