Happy Pro Bono Week!

Charlotte Center for Legal Advocacy has had a busy week working with volunteers to advance several of our pro bono projects. We are so grateful for all our partners who showed up and gave so generously of their time this week!

On Monday, Julieanne Taylor, Director of our Family Support and Healthcare Program, trained volunteers from Haynes Boone LLP and Wells Fargo on scheduling clients for appointments with healthcare navigators during open enrollment. This task is particularly important in a year like this one, when there are so many changes to policies and pricing, making the process of enrolling in health insurance even more challenging than usual. Volunteers ended up calling 140 clients.

On Tuesday, we held our monthly Consumer Clinic, a project recently added to Charlotte Triage. Pro bono attorneys with civil litigation experience met with clients who have been subject to unfair or deceptive acts or practices to assess their claims, provide guidance on how to proceed pro se, or in some cases, take the case for full representation.

On Wednesday, Soreé Finley, Director of our Legal Services for the Elderly Program, led a training for attorneys from Duke Energy and Parker Poe Adams & Bernstein LLP in advance of a clinic to draft and execute wills for seniors.

On Thursday, Kelly Durden, Managing Attorney for our Veterans Legal Services Project, led a training for attorneys from Wells Fargo and McGuireWoods LLP in advance of a clinic to draft and execute wills for veterans.

To close out the week, volunteers from Troutman Pepper Locke LLP and Vanguard spent time pulling criminal records for expungement clients after learning about North Carolina’s expunction statutes and recent transition to electronic filing. Together, we were able to run records for 30 clients, a critical first step in the process of clearing an eligible client’s past charges.

To learn more about these and other pro bono projects, visit our website and submit an interest form to get started: https://charlottelegaladvocacy.org/access-to-justice-pro-bono-partners