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Featured Pro Bono Volunteers

Thank you!

FROM:  LANC-Pittsboro Office
  Retired UNC Professor now doing pro bono work!
 
 James Wild ('04 UNC-School of Law) retired from UNC-s economics department after teaching for more than 35 years and then enrolled as a full-time law student at UNC.  The 69-year-old lawyer specials in elder law and volunteers his services at local senior centers.  "He saw a need to help people with elder-care issues...," said Maccene Brown, Managing Attorney with Legal Aid of NC's Pittsboro Office. "He contacted us to say he had time to help.  This kind of volunteer effort helps us expand and makes equal access to justice meaningful."  Legal Aid of NC schedules time for Dr. Wilde's clients. [Click here to read the full article from "Carolina Alumni Review", July-August 2007 edition.]


  • FROM:  LANC-Durham Office:
    C. Holton  - outstanding pro bono service in Durham!

    Charles Holton

    Womble Carlyle Sandridge & Rice, PLLC
     
    Charles Holton, of the firm Womble Carlyle Sandridge & Rice, PLLC, recently negotiated and favorably settled a housing matter, which included property damage and personal injury claims, on behalf of a low-income tenant who was referred through the volunteer lawyers program at Legal Aid of NC in Durham.  Due to landlord negligence, the client’s ceiling had collapsed under the weight of many gallons of water ruining all her furnishings and personal property. After visiting the client’s home, compiling and assessing medical records, and sending a demand letter for damages to the landlord, Holton quickly brought financial relief to the injured party.  Holton also counseled the client regarding investment of the settlement proceeds.  As a partner with Womble Carlyle Sandridge & Rice, PLLC, Holton has continued his long-term commitment to serving the low-income community through his work on his firm’s pro bono committee.  He has spent countless hours helping the Legal Aid staff recruit new pro bono attorneys, train them, and help match them with different legal projects being handled by Legal Aid of NC.  He again enthusiastically helped develop a partnership of pro bono lawyers between his firm and corporate attorneys from the Research Triangle Park to help low-income families in Durham with their legal problems.  Thank you, Mr. Holton!
     
  • FROM:  LANC-Sylva Office:
    Pro bono attorney keeps helping Legal Aid clients.

    Rod Kight
    Kight Law Office

    The LANC-Sylva office is grateful for the skill and generosity of attorney Rod Kight (of Kight Law Office, Sylva and Asheville). Since 2005, Rob has handled 10 bankruptcy cases pro bono and has pledged to do even more.  Most recently he took the case of a Sylva client who worked hard her entire life, only to be abandoned and divorced by her husband when she became disabled. Constant harassment by people seeking to collect on debts that she could not pay were making her already great emotional and physical distress worse. Rod says that "It is our responsibility as attorneys to give back to the community if we can." And give back is exactly what he does. He serves on the 28th Judicial Bar's Pro Bono section, where he is one of the Chairs of the Consumer Protection Section. Rod also serves on the Board of Directors for the Consumer Credit Counseling Service of Western North Carolina.

  • FROM:  LANC-Raleigh Office:
    David Coats gets client long-term disability benefits !!!

    DAVID S. COATS
    Bailey & Dixon, L.L.P

    In May 2004 volunteer attorney David Coats (of Bailey & Dixon, LLP in Raleigh) accepted as a pro bono referral the case of a 54-year-old lady who had been totally disabled for two years following an automobile accident. Her previous disability insurance provider had been denying payment of her long term disability benefits for the entire time. Her only household income was support for her 2 teenaged nephews who lived with her. In April 2007, David sent the client $47,482.39 from the insurance company, representing benefits payable from September 2002 through April 2007, plus past-due interest on those benefits. "As a senior litigation attorney for his law firm, Mr. Coats is a busy man," says Celia Mansaray, LANC's PAI Coordinator, "but he still took time out to help our client.  Thank you, Mr. Coats!"
      
  • FROM:  LANC-Gastonia Office:
    Reeves earns Cleveland County VLP Service Award!!!

    Jeannette Reeves
    Teddy and Meekins
    Shelby, NC

    Jeannette Reeves received the prestigious 2006 Cleveland County Volunteer Lawyers Program Service (VLP) Award during the Cleveland County Bar’s regular meeting on Tuesday, March 27, 2007.  Reeves, an attorney with the law firm Teddy and Meekins in Shelby, NC, provided individual client pro bono services, co-counseled strenuously with a Legal Aid attorney in a family law case, and served on the Local Advisory Council of Legal Aid of NC-Gastonia Office for the three county area (Cleveland, Gaston, and Lincoln counties).  “Jeannette sets the best example of attorneys who strive to provide access to the legal system for those who otherwise could not afford a lawyer”, said Becki Lowder, coordinator for the Cleveland County VLP. “Not only is she a good lawyer, Jeannette is kind, a good listener, and patient. These personal characteristics show in every area of her life; all of us are fortunate to know Jeannette.”  Reeves is a graduate of the West Virginia School of Law and has worked with Teddy & Meekins since 2004.  Reeves specializes in the areas of social security law, family law, and personal injury law.
  • FROM:  LANC-Durham Office:
    Volunteer attorney helps children find home...

    Kimberly Parker, Esq.
    Corporate Intellectual Property Department
    Glaxo Smith Kline

    Seven years ago, a recently divorced young mother of two suffering with lupus made a difficult decision to move back to her mother’s home. Though the father of the children lived in the area and visited the children on occasion, it was the maternal grandmother who cared for the children as the young mother’s health continued to decline.  Within weeks of the mother’s death in May 2006, the maternal grandmother was served with a temporary restraining order filed by the father of the children and they were removed from her home and placed with their father.  The grandmother came to Legal Aid of NC and volunteer attorney Kimberly Parker, (GlaxoSmithKline, RTP) who had never appeared in court in North Carolina, agreed to accept the case.  Parker was immediately immersed in the case defending the protective order.  She filed an answer and counterclaim in the custody action and continued to prepare for the next hearing.  Parker represented the grandmother at a hard-fought hearing and ultimately the court granted temporary joint legal custody to the father and the grandmother.  Both children now spend most of their time with their grandmother.   Sharon Council, PAI Coordinator stated, “I was most impressed with the energy that Ms. Parker invested in this case. She rose to the challenge of a difficult, emotional case and helped her clients navigate the legal system to reach a successful result.  This case was another example of the impact that volunteer attorneys can make in the lives of our clients.”

  • FROM:  LANC-Raleigh Office:
    Volunteer Attorney closes four-year-old case.

    Louis B. Meyer III
    Poyner & Spruill LLP

    Raleigh volunteer attorney Louis B. Meyer III (Poyner & Spruill LLP) recently closed an estate case involving a will caveat that had gone on for close to four years.  Mr. Meyer represented two of the decedent's five siblings as caveators. The caveators claimed that the decedent's sister-in-law forged the decedent's signature on his supposed will before his death, naming herself and her husband primary beneficiaries of the decedent's rather sizeable estate.  The caveators secured the entry of an order to "freeze" the decedent's estate and accounts before the sister-in-law, who was executor of the decedent's estate, could distribute the estate assets to herself and her husband under the challenged will. The will caveat was recently resolved pursuant to a family settlement agreement, and the sister-in-law, in her capacity as executor, had to write checks to the caveators and other surviving siblings. She also had to write a check for the  expense incurred for the services of a forensic handwriting expert, whose opinion supported the caveators' claim that the decedent's signature on the challenged will was forged.

  • FROM:  LANC-Raleigh Office:
    Jerry Hartzell helps client get bad car debt  rescinded!

    Jerry Hartzell
    Hartzell & Whiteman, LLP

    A single mother attempting to support herself and her 12-year-old son on her income of $210 a week (that's $10,920 a year) needed a car to get to work. She was sold a "clunker" for several thousand dollars by a used car company, who then sold her account to a finance company. The dealership claimed the client didn't turn in a promised car for a trade-in and sued her in Small Claims Court.  Volunteer attorney Jerry Hartzell (Hartzell & Whiteman, LLP) counter-sued and brought a third party claim against the finance company. During this process, the car the client bought was repossessed, leaving her with nothing but a new debt of several thousand dollars.  The Small Claims Court decision went against the client; Jerry appealed. On appeal the entire deal was rescinded, and the client no longer owes anything to anyone. This client's circumstances present a picture all too common among poor people in North Carolina. People need transportation to get to minimum wage jobs. Minimum wage jobs don't pay for very good cars, so people end up getting "bamboozled" in situations like this. Then, if not for attorneys like Jerry (and you), they end up in worse shape than before they made their bid for financial independence.


  • FROM:  LANC-Raleigh Office:
    Volunteer Attorney saves home - Johnston Co.

    Douglas L. McClanahan
    The McClanahan Law Firm

    After communicating with more than a dozen attorneys, the Ansleys contacted the local Volunteer Lawyers Program (VLP).  Wake County attorney and volunteer lawyer Doug McClanahan (The McClanahan Law Firm agreed to represent Ansley and his wife in the matter.... At the time he accepted the case, McClanahan had thought he might spend 50-100 hours on it.  However, the case made the front page of the paper, and the State dismissed the case with prejudice in short order.  The CEO of the UNC Health System was quoted in the local paper as saying that from now on, patients who qualify for financial aid or who make a good-faith effort to pay their bills will not be referred to the Attorney General’s office for collection....“The VLP and Jerry have given me the opportunity that keeps me coming to work each day. For that, I am thankful.”
     
     
  • FROM:  LANC-Raleigh Office:
    Pro bono attorney has judgments removed... + more!!!

    Brian D. Darer
    Parker Poe Adams & Bernstein, LLP

    Brian Darer represented a 77-year-old, functionally illiterate widow who supplemented her $570 monthly government pension by cleaning houses and businesses. Some of her customers--who advertised themselves as professional psychics--used her name and other personal information to set up various accounts for themselves with phone and credit card companies, and then defaulted on payments to all.  By the time the widow understood what had happened, several judgments were entered against her and parties were beginning to take action on them. In scarcely four months, Brian had all adverse credit notations removed from her credit report, judgments against her set aside and cases pending against her dismissed. Brian then proceeded to file a civil complaint against "the psychics," who opted to settle the matter by paying approximately $10,000 over a period of 18 months.
      
  • FROM:  LANC-Raleigh Office:
    Wake County pro bono attorneys win (again) !

    Addie K.S. Ries 
    Smith, Anderson, Blount, Dorsett, Mitchell & Jernigan, LLP
     
    Matthew D. Rhoad 
    Smith, Anderson,Blount, Dorsett, Mitchell & Jernigan, LLP

    Wake County volunteer attorneys Addie Ries and Matt Rhoad (Smith, Anderson, Blount, Dorsett, Mitchell & Jernigan, LLP) have brought another pro bono case to a successful conclusion. (They do that a lot.)This time they represented the mother of two young children, whose landlord had unlawfully disposed of the client's belongings after an eviction proceeding. The case was settled for $40K, secured by a confession of judgment from the landlord. The client  received the first $10K in October and reported that she has begun buying back the essentials for her family--including beds for her children, who have been sleeping on inflatable mattresses since the summer.
     
  • FROM:  LANC-Sylva Office:   
    Pro Bono Attorney victory for wheelchair bound client!

    Sylvia King Kochler
    Hunton & Williams

    Pro bono attorney Sylvia King Kochler of the law firm of Hunton & Williams has recently achieved a victory for our wheelchair bound client in negotiating with Allstate Insurance Company to have them pay for a new 2006 Dodge Grand Caravan handicap modified van valued at $42,410.  After being denied relief since his 1980 motor vehicle accident, Kochler was successful in arguing that the new handicap modified van was a “medical necessity”. The client is understandably thrilled and thankful to Sylvia King Kochler.  Congratulations and THANKS to Sylvia King Kochler for her hard work and tenaciousness!!
     
  • FROM:  LANC-Charlotte Office:
    Volunteer Lawyers Program  www.Meck Bar
    "Rookie Attorney Wins!"

    Erin E. Maxon
    Moore & Van Allen PLLC

    Erin Maxon joined the Mecklenburg County Bar in April 2005 and took on her first pro bono case for Legal Aid of North Carolina (LANC) in September 2005.  She won a substantial ($55,125) judgment against a landlord for a tenant who has severe health problems and who is unemployed.  "Not bad for her first court appearance," joked Tony Lathrop, Maxon's mentor from Moore and Van Allen PLLC. 


     

  • FROM:  LANC-Durham Office:
    Jim White named 2005 "Volunteer Lawyer of the Year"


    James C. White
    Moore & Van Allen

    James C. White was recognized in September 2005 by the LANC-Durham Advisory Council as the Volunteer Lawyer of the Year.  Jim is an associate attorney with the law firm of Moore & Van Allen practicing in the area of litigation and has served on Legal Aid’s pro bono panel since 2003.  Although White has handled a number of pro bono cases for Legal Aid, one matter that involved five clients stands out.  White represented five individuals who had been wrongfully terminated from employment.  The employees were dismissed because they allegedly failed to account for time during the work day. The clients reported that the equipment they had to use that calculated their work hours did not properly account for their time.  White represented all five employees throughout their litigation before the Employment Security Commission and for their Grievance hearings with the employer.  White provided over 200 pro bono hours of legal services and obtained reversals in favor of these individuals in all five cases in both the grievance and Employment Security Commission hearings. The exhaustive efforts put forth by White in this case benefited five Durham men maintaining their jobs and the ability to support their families.  It is results like this that make Legal Aid of NC-Durham proud to have a volunteer like Jim White. White earned his law degree from Duke University where he was Editor-In-Chief of Law & Contemporary Problems. He is also very active in other pro bono work including activities with the American Civil Liberties Union.  Jim White was honored as Durham County Volunteer Lawyer of the Year at the local Bar luncheon on October 12, 2005.
  • FROM:  LANC-Wilson Office:
    Law Day” on May 5, 2006 in Wilson and surrounding counties

    The Law Day Project promotes dialogue between local attorneys and high school students to help students plan their career goals.  Our thanks to the volunteer attorneys who will be sharing their time and expertise to expand local student's knowledge and inspire genuine interest in the justice profession!

    The following schools and attorneys in the 7th Judicial District agreed to participate in Law Day presentations on Friday, May 5th:  North Edgecombe High School, Tarboro, NC (Natarlin R. Best of Lawrence Rigsbee & Best, P.A., Rocky Mount, NC); South West Edgecombe High School, Pinetops, NC (Peter Glasgow, Assistant District Attorney, North Carolina State District Attorney’s Office, Tarboro, NC); Tarboro High School, Tarboro, NC (Jack G.P. Hopkins of Hopkins & Associates, Tarboro, NC; James C. Marrow, Jr., Attorney at Law, Tarboro, NC; Natalie Watson of  Lawrence Rigsbee & Best, P.A., Rocky Mount, NC, and Callie Williamson, Attorney  At Law, Spring Hope, NC); Northern Nash Senior High School, Rocky Mount, NC (Terry W. Alford, Attorney At Law, Spring Hope, NC; Mark E. Edwards of Fields & Cooper, PLLC, Nashville, NC; Sonya Mastrodonato, Attorney at Law, Rocky Mount, NC; and Damien L. Tucker of Hester & Moore, Rocky Mount, NC);  Beddingfield High School, Wilson, NC (Elizabeth B. McKinney, Attorney At Law, Wilson, NC; Darryl G. Smith, Attorney At Law, Wilson, NC, and Misty E. Woodard of Conner Bunn Rogerson & Woodard, PLLC, Wilson, NC); Fike High School, Wilson, NC (Millicent G. Graves, Attorney At Law, Wilson, NC); and Hunt High School, Wilson, NC (B. Perry Morrison, Jr. of Morrison Law Firm, PLLC, Wilson, NC, and Susan K. Ellis of Rose Rand Orcutt Cauley Blake & Ellis, P.A., of Wilson, NC). 

    The following schools and attorneys in the 8th Judicial District agreed to participate in Law Day presentations on May 5th:  Kinston High School, Kinston, NC (Christopher A. Rogerson, Attorney At Law, Kinston, NC; Jonathan Mark Herring of White & Allen, P.A., Kinston, NC; and Sonya S. Davis of Durant & Davis, P.A., Kinston, NC); North Lenoir High School, LaGrange, NC (Kimberly Connor Benton of Wallace Morris Barwick Landis & Stroud, P.A., Kinston NC; Joretta Durant of Davis & Durant, P.A., Kinston, NC, and David J. Fillippeli, Jr. of White & Allen, P.A., Kinston, NC); South Lenoir High School, Deep Run, NC (Gregory E. Floyd of White & Allen, P.A., Kinston, NC; Darnell Parker, Attorney At law, Greenville, NC; Christopher A. Rogerson, Attorney At Law, Kinston, NC; and Dal F. Wooten of Wooten & Cooley, Kinston, NC); Greene Central High School, Snow Hill, NC (Delaina D. Boyd of White & Allen, P.A., Kinston, NC; and Richard Diener, Attorney At Law, Snow Hill, NC); Eastern Wayne High School, Goldsboro, NC (Billy Strickland, II of Dees Smith Powell Jarrett Dees & Jones, Goldsboro, NC; and Tonya White, Assistant District Attorney, North Carolina State District Attorney’s Office, Goldsboro, NC); Goldsboro High School, Goldsboro, NC (Glenn A. Barfield of Haithcock of Barfield, Hulse & Kinsey, PLLC, Goldsboro, NC; D. Lynn Whitted, Attorney At Law, Goldsboro, NC; and Michael S. Williamson, Law Office of Louis Jordan, Goldsboro, NC); and Rose Wood High School, Goldsboro, NC (Douglas P. Connor, Attorney At Law, Mount Olive, NC; and Kevin F. MacQueen, Attorney At Law, Goldsboro, NC).


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Legal Aid of North Carolina is a statewide, nonprofit law firm that provides free legal services in civil matters to low-income people in order to ensure equal access to justice and to remove legal barriers to economic opportunity.

 

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