History
[Note: Legal Aid of North Carolina (LANC) is a
statewide, nonprofit law firm that began operations on July 1, 2002 as a result
of a consolidation of multiple, legal services (nonprofit) law firms, each with
a 25+ year history of serving low-income people in North Carolina. These
law firms had been established to provide legal services in civil matters to
low-income people, so that they could have equal access to justice in North
Carolina. Below is a brief history of the development of legal aid
programs in North Carolina.]
In the 1960s, our nation responded to a call to service and justice that had
been articulated by such leaders as President John F. Kennedy and the Reverend
Dr. Martin Luther King. Grants were offered by the federal Office of Economic
Opportunity (OEO) to help fund operation on nonprofit law firms that could offer
legal assistance in civil matters to low-income people. In North Carolina,
members of the
NC State
Bar and other citizens in Forsyth, Guilford Mecklenburg and Durham counties
demonstrated their commitment to equal justice under the law by establishing
legal aid organizations to assist people living in poverty to protect their
rights in civil cases.
In 1962, the Forsyth County Junior Bar Association won the
Harrison Tweed Award for opening “Legal Aid
Society of Northwest North Carolina” (later renamed the “Legal Aid
Society of Northwest North Carolina ”, LASNNC) on February 1 of that year; by
1965 it was receiving federal Office of Economic Opportunity (OEO) funding.
In 1966, the Mecklenburg County Bar and the Charlotte Area Fund
raised local matching funds to qualify for an OEO grant, and on September 1,
1967 opened the “Mecklenburg County Legal Aid Society” (later renamed “Legal Services of
Southern Piedmont”, LSSP). Also in 1966, the
Greensboro Bar Association established “Central Carolina Legal Services”
to serve low-income people in the Guilford County area. In 1968,
the Duke University Center on Law and Poverty opened a downtown office, which it
called the "Durham Legal Aid Clinic" (later know as “North Carolina
Legal Assistance Program”, NCLAP) and by 1971, the clinic had OEO
funding of its own and an established identity as a community legal assistance
program.
In 1974, the U.S. Congress created the
Legal
Services Corporation (LSC) to take over the legal assistance activities of
the OEO and operate as a private, nonprofit corporation that promotes equal
access to justice and provides grants for high-quality civil legal assistance to
low-income Americans. LSC recognized that the nation’s (including North
Carolina’s) legal aid system was a patchwork of programs focusing primarily on
urban areas, i.e., many regions were not served at all. Therefore, LSC
actively promoted (and supported with federal grants) the establishment of legal
aid entities throughout the nation.
Subsequently, through the support of local law bars, the
North Carolina
Bar Association and individual attorneys, 11 additional LSC-funded legal
services law firms were founded and expanded in North Carolina, including the
following:
| Legal Aid
Program |
Year Established |
East Central
Community Legal Services
(Raleigh area) |
1974 |
Western North
Carolina Legal Services
(Sylva area) |
1974 |
North State Legal
Services
(Hillsborough area) |
1976 |
Legal Services of
the Lower Cape Fear
(Wilmington area) |
1976 |
Lumbee River Legal Services
(Pembroke area) |
1978 |
Pisgah Legal
Services
(Asheville area) |
1978 |
Legal Services of
the Coastal Plains
(Ahoskie area) |
1979 |
Legal Services of
the Blue Ridge
(Boone area) |
1979 |
Catawba Valley Legal
Services
(Morganton area) |
1979 |
Eastern North
Carolina Legal Services
(Wilson area) |
1980 |
Pamlico Sound Legal
Services
(New Bern/Greenville area) |
1981 |
Each of the legal aid programs assumed responsibility to serve specified
counties and received the LSC funding allocated to by counties. By 1981,
the 15 LSC -funded legal aid programs collectively served all 100 counties of
North Carolina.
Meanwhile, Legal Services of North Carolina (LSNC) was created
as the result of a lengthy and careful study by the NC Bar Association’s Special
Committee on Indigent Legal Services Delivery Systems. The Committee
studied the legal needs of the poor and the alternative delivery systems
available to fulfill those needs. In 1976, at its annual
meeting, the NCBA approved the recommendation of the Special Committee to
establish a statewide institution that would serve the legal needs of the poor.
LSNC received its incorporation on May 19, 1976.
From 1976-1998 (twenty-two years), LSNC existed as a
confederation of 12, separately incorporated, geographically based,
nonprofit legal services organizations (covering 83 of the 100 counties in North
Carolina), which included a "Central Office" (administrative office) and a
statewide board of directors—the only legal services program in the country to
have ever been constituted as a confederation. [LASNNC, LSSP and NCLAP were not
part of the LSNC confederation, but did receive LSC funding for their respective
regions and continued to collaborate with the LSNC local programs.]
In 1998, upon the recommendation of the NC Commission on the
Delivery of Civil Legal Services and as required by
LSC, LSNC was reorganized as a single corporation on
the model of the University of North Carolina (UNC) system at midnight, December
31, 1998. The local offices were allowed to retain the names of their
previous programs. The LSNC statewide board of directors was expanded to
include representatives from each of the local programs. The central board
of directors existed to provide the ultimate governance that LSC required, but
it was also required to delegate to the local boards of trustees the powers the
local boards had enjoyed previously: to set local case priorities, develop
and submit budgets, hire staff, and to raise and retain all local funds in the
local community. Pisgah Legal Services (which serves six counties:
Buncombe, Henderson, Madison, Polk, Rutherford and Transylvania counties) became
an independent (and non-LSC-funded, i.e., “unrestricted”) program, and LSNC
created the "Appalachian Legal Services" office (located in Asheville) to serve
those respective counties. LSSP (Charlotte), LASNNC (Winston-Salem) and
NCLAP (Durham) also chose to remain as independent programs, but continued to
accept LSC (“restricted”) funding.
Ultimately, LSC desired to have only one LSC-funded legal aid program in North
Carolina.
In January and February 2001, the board of directors of each of
the four LSC-funded programs adopted a resolution endorsing the creation of a
new, statewide program to apply for LSC funding for 2002 and beyond and
endorsing the immediate creation of a new, 501(c)(3) corporation, governed by a
“Transition Board” (composed of attorneys and clients by each of the four
current LSC-funded program Boards) to design and create the new statewide,
LSC-funded program. The
“Transition Board”,
composed of four representatives (two attorneys and two client representatives)
from each program, was established to develop the basic organizational structure
and governance policies of the new program, which was named “Legal Aid
of North Carolina” (LANC). NCLAP consolidated its operation with
LANC LSSP (Charlotte), LASNNC (Winston-Salem) and Pisgah Legal Services
(Asheville) decided to remain independent, non-LSC-funded organizations (and not
part of the new LANC firm). LANC offices were established in 2002 in
Charlotte and Winston-Salem. All LANC offices were renamed to include the
new name "Legal Aid of North Carolina" (e.g., "Legal Aid of North Carolina -
Wilmington Office").
Full approval of the consolidation plan by all four boards of directors took
place in May 2002. Legal Aid of North Carolina began operations as a new
nonprofit law firm on July 1, 2002, to provide legal services
in civil matters to low-income people in all 100 counties of North Carolina
through 32 geographically located offices, so that low-income people (those at
or below 125% of the federally established poverty level) throughout North
Carolina could have equal access to justice and to economic opportunity.
In 2004, the LANC-Hillsborough office was moved to
Pittsboro to provide a more central location to serve clients.
The office was renamed the "Legal Aid of North Carolina-Pittsboro Office.
In 2007, the Legal Aid Society of Northwest North Carolina
(LASNNC) -- the first legal aid program in North Carolina -- consolidated it
operations with the LANC-Winston-Salem Office.
Disclaimer
The materials contained on this website
are for information and educational purposes only and do not
constitute legal advice.
Also please note that Legal Aid of North Carolina does not
provide legal assistance by E-mail. Contact your Legal Aid of
North Carolina office or a private attorney if you need to speak
to an attorney regarding your particular situation.
See our
complete disclaimer.
Mission Statement
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.