History of New Bern/Greenville Offices

(formerly "Pamlico Sound Legal Services")

Answering the Call to Service

by Watsi M. Sutton, Esq.

Members of the NC State Bar and other citizens in Forsyth, Mecklenburg and Durham counties demonstrated their commitment to equal justice under law by establishing North Carolina’s first legal aid organizations to assist people living in poverty to protect their rights in civil cases.

Following this example, Pamlico Sound Legal Services was founded in 1981 opening its main office in New Bern and a branch office in Greenville and began the work of ensuring equal access to justice and the courts on behalf of 82,000 eligible, low-income citizens residing in ten (10), northeastern North Carolina counties: Beaufort County Martin County, Carteret County, Pamlico County, Craven County, Pitt County, Hyde County, Tyrrell County, Jones County, Washington County

The New Bern Office and Greenville Office (both of the former "Pamlico Sound Legal Services") now operate as two of the 24 field offices of Legal Aid of North Carolina (LANC), a statewide, nonprofit law firm that consolidated 12 legal services (nonprofit) law firms across the State in 2002 to serve low-income people in all 100 counties of North Carolina. Our New Bern Office and LANC-Greenville Office remain the sole providers of free civil legal assistance to eligible low-income clients in the surrounding 10-county service area (listed above).

As part of local and statewide, human services and justice networks for nearly 20 years, the New Bern Office and LANC-Greenville Office continue to pursue the mission of providing free, civil legal assistance to eligible low-income citizens in its service area. We help children, families, individuals and eligible immigrants who cannot afford a private attorney to solve problems that affect their basic needs, such as the prevention of homelessness and eradication of substandard housing, safety from domestic violence or abuse, health care (Medicare or Medicaid), subsistence income (SSI or Medicaid) and consumer loan problems by providing direct legal assistance to individual clients and conducting community education and outreach.

In addition to providing assistance with traditional poverty law matters, the New Bern/Greenville offices have partnered with local community and faith-based organizations and foundations to undertake outreach, education and advocacy projects, expanding our services to special populations, such as the elderly, victims of domestic violence, and limited English-speaking individuals within our local service area.

Some of our current advocacy projects include:

  • Domestic Violence Prevention Initiative
    ...a statewide project funded by the Governor’s Crime Commission to obtain domestic violence protective orders for victims of domestic violence    .

  • Family Law Access to Justice Project
    ...funded by the United Way of Coastal Carolina to conduct pro se (self-help) legal assistance clinics for low-income families facing divorce and custody lawsuits.

  • Elder Access to Justice Initiative
    ...funded in part by the Harold H. Bate Foundation and the Eastern Carolina Council of Governments to protect the rights of the elderly through education, outreach and advocacy.

  • Mortgage Foreclosure Defense Project
    ...funded by the Z. Smith Reynolds Foundation to assist families at risk of losing their homes through foreclosure.

We also provide legal assistance to:

  • Area community development corporations, who develop affordable housing and economic opportunities in cooperation with the North Carolina Rural and Economic Development Center

  • Low-income and limited English proficiency taxpayers, who are involved in disputes with the Internal Revenue Service (IRS) through the IRS Taxpayers’ Advocates Office

  • Low-income patients, who are unable to obtain Medicaid benefits to pay their hospital bills at Craven Regional Medical Center.

With these projects, LANC has dramatically increased service to targeted individuals and groups, further establishing LANC as a key player in area networks of organizations working to comprehensively address the needs of families and communities and ensuring justice for all individuals without respect to wealth or resources.

The New Bern Office and LANC-Greenville Office are also proud of their extensive and effective collaborations with local:

  • Domestic violence programs

  • Housing and tenant associations

  • Aging councils and advocates

  • Governments

  • Community and economic development partners

  • Countless other constituent and community organizations in efforts to coordinate and expand services to the community.

However, much work on behalf of the poor, elderly and disadvantaged remains undone both locally and statewide. Due to limited funding, the New Bern Office and LANC-Greenville Office aggressively advocate on behalf of individual clients and special groups with a skeletal staff of attorneys and advocates to serve nearly 82,000 eligible clients locally. Consequently, hundreds of eligible clients with serious legal problems affecting their basic needs and no resources to hire private attorneys must be turned away each year.

To close the gap in available services and address the unmet needs of the increasingly poor, aged and disadvantaged populations in our community, the staff in our local offices dedicates substantial time and effort to identifying private sources to fund ongoing and new projects to protect the rights of individuals in our community who can least afford to have their rights abridged. While we have seen some successes, in order to address the growing needs of the elderly, the poor and otherwise disadvantaged, LANC welcomes the support of the local community that it has ably served for over two decades through our annual Access to Justice Campaigns, recruitment of private attorney (pro bono) volunteers and other ongoing efforts to better serve our local client population.

For more information about legal services offered by LANC or to provide support to the New Bern/Greenville offices, please contact our LANC-New Bern Office, 252-637-9502, our LANC-Greenville Office, 252-758-0113.

 

 

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Disclaimer

The materials contained on this website are for information and educational purposes only and do not constitute legal advice. Please 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.

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