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Meeting Minutes - LANC Board of Directors
March 14, 2008

Site/Location:
Holiday Inn Brownstone Hotel & Conference Center, Raleigh, NC

Call to Order and Welcome

Chairman Barfield called the meeting to order at 9:42 a.m. and welcomed all in attendance and announced that a quorum was present.

Members Present

Reid C. Adams	Celeste M. Harris	Paul C. Shepard
Glenn A. Barfield	Shirley Jones	Kristoffer B. Shepard
Thomas S. Berkau	Phillip Leigh	Rhonda Shepherd
John J. Bowers	Scott B. Lewis	Alice Tejada
Burton Craige	Gregg E. McDougal	Charles R. Ward
Helen Cook	Lisa Morgan	Willis Williams
Sarah Davis	Pearl Nealey	Diana Williams-Cotton
Sharon Greig	Frank G. Queen	S. Kyle Woosley

 

Members Absent With Prior Notification

Charles L. Becton	William H. Lambe, Jr.
Susan Perry Cole	Raymond E. Owens, Jr.

Approval of Minutes

Chairman Barfield directed the Board’s attention to the minutes of December 7, 2008. Following review and discussion of the minutes a motion was made, duly seconded, and the minutes were UNAMANIMOUSLY APPROVED.

President’s Report

George Hausen reported that the NC State Supreme Court has ordered the NC State Bar to implement a mandatory IOLTA program for all lawyers in North Carolina. The order requires all attorneys to have their general client trust accounts in interest bearing IOLTA accounts and is expected to generate over 1,100 new IOLTA trust accounts. Mandatory IOLTA accounts will create additional funds that the IOLTA program will distribute to legal services providers across the state.

Hausen noted that LANC is again hosting the statewide legal services conference on April 1-2, 2008 and invited all board members to attend. The conference will provide training events for all staff, including CLE sessions for attorneys, as well as sessions specifically for clients. Keynote speakers include Chief Justice Henry Frye and Law Professor Florence Roisman.

The Centralized Intake Unit (CIU) continues to expand its hot line services to other areas and will begin providing advice and brief service to clients in the Greensboro and Winston Salem service areas in the next two months. Due to the efforts of the CIU staff, an additional 5,000 clients have been served.

Hausen informed the Board that foreclosure filings have increased significantly and North Carolina anticipates 60,000 foreclosures in 2008. To better address this critical legal need, LANC has trained CIU staff, housing counselors and pro bono attorneys through the NC Academy of Trial Lawyers to assist these homeowners who may face the loss of their homes. NCBA President Janet Ward Black has challenged our own Frank Queen in his capacity as chair of the NCBA Real Property Section to involve real estate lawyers in helping LANC defend foreclosures. LANC will be addressing the foreclosure crisis with the NC House of Representatives and will request funding assistance.

The North Carolina Bar Association 4All project will take place on April 4, 2008. The NCBA will host a day long call in center for persons to call a toll free number to speak with a lawyer about any legal matter for free. Twenty six bill billboards advertising the toll-free number were donated and placed across the state. LSC President Helene Barnette has been invited to attend the 4All event and is expected to attend. The NCBA is planning to host this event annually. Also, the NCBA has pledged to raise one million dollars for the LANC Endowment Fund and currently $300,000 has been donated.

LANC has received a $281,000 grant to represent victims of human trafficking. The Farmworker Unit, Battered Immigrants Project, law enforcement and other agencies are involved in this work. Legal Aid will work with the NC Veteran’s Affairs to develop a project to represent veterans on appeals and other civil matters. The Governor’s staff is involved in this effort and is pleased that Legal Aid is reaching out to assist veterans. This collaboration opens an avenue to provide potential funding. Finally, our domestic violence work is increasing as funding is being decreased.

Glenn Barfield reported that the Access to Justice Campaign’s corporate effort is looking into various venues to generate funding. Melissa Pershing has been hired to do consulting work to develop the corporate ideas.

Clients’ Council

Willis Williams reported that the council met on March 13 for a business meeting that included addressing statewide client issues and outreach to clients. Workshops are being planned and there is an effort to inform clients about LANC’s VITA tax preparation services. Also, the council continued to work on finalizing the work plan. Regional trainings to address client board development and community outreach are in the planning stages.

The council discussed LANC client board vacancies that will arise when the following board members’ terms of service expire in June 2008: Willis Williams, Pearl Nealey, Nellie Kearney and Rhonda Shepherd. New appointments will be necessary to fill three of those positions. Nellie Kearney is eligible to serve a second term. The screening process for the appointments was discussed.

COMMITTEE REPORTS:

Nominating/Board Development Committee
Frank Queen reported that the Nomination and Board Development Committee met and discussed expiring terms and appointments for attorney and client board members. He stated that letters will be sent to all organizations soliciting appointments.

The following attorney members have served two three-year consecutive terms and an appointment will be necessary to fill those seats, they are: Frank Queen, NC Bar Association; Burton Craige, NC Academy of Trial Lawyers; and Scott Lewis, NC Gay and Lesbian Attorneys. Gregg McDougal, NC Bar Association, completes his first three-year term and will be eligible to serve a second term.

The following client members have served two three-year consecutive terms and an appointment will be necessary to fill those seats, they are: Pearl Nealey, Statewide Clients Council – West Region; Willis Williams, Northeast Region Clients Council; Rhonda Shepherd West Region Clients Council. The one year ex-officio terms for CR Ward and Sarah Davis will expire in June 2008 and those seats will not be filled.

Operations and Personnel Committee
Lisa Morgan reported that the Operations and Personnel Committee met and discussed a number of items.

The Committee reviewed the 2008 eligibility guidelines generated by LSC and recommends that the Board adopt these guidelines. Following discussion, it was moved, duly seconded and UNANIMOUSLY RESOLVED to approve the guidelines as presented on page 37 of the board book. A copy of the guidelines is attached to these minutes.

Morgan reported that the Committee will begin a review of the priorities for 2009 which will involve significant work by the committee members.

The Committee reviewed an amendment to the retirement plan to exempt hourly employees who work more than 1000 hours per year. LANC Personnel Policies do not allow hourly employees to receive any benefits, but the retirement plan as currently written requires this benefit for hourly workers who work more than 1000 hours annually. The Committee recommends that board adopt the resolution found on page 47 in the board book that will exempt hourly employees from receiving any benefits. Following discussion it was moved, duly seconded and UNANIMOUSLY RESOLVED to adopt the amendment, as presented. A copy of the approved amendment is attached.

Annual reports from Local Advisory Councils (LAC) are found on pages 38 through 44 of the board book. The Operations Committee will be reviewing the role of the local advisory councils. The Committee will develop a survey to be distributed to the LAC chairs for information about how the various LAC’s are working. LAC’s provide support for the local LANC, raise community issues and possibly help with fundraising. The survey is designed to promote more effective local and community work by the advisory groups.

 

Private Attorney Involvement Committee
Glenn Barfield reported that he met recently with members of the LANC staff, PAI Committee and pro bono coordinators and discussed pro bono activity, case referrals, attorney recruitment, and utilization of the pro bono website. The PAI Committee is scheduled to meet again at the upcoming statewide conference.

Strategic Planning Committee
Cal Adams reported that the Strategic Planning Committee will develop a long range planning committee and will discuss hiring a development director/fundraiser. The committee will consist of 15 members, selected from the board and outside organizations. The next step is to develop a list of persons from outside organizations who may be interested in serving on the committee.

Grievance Committee
Phillip Leigh reported that there were no grievances.

New Business
There was no new business.

Adjournment

As there was no further business to be brought before the Board, Chair Barfield adjourned the meeting at 11:40 p.m.

___________________________
Phillip Leigh, Secretary
LANC Board of Directors

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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.