Pro Bono and Legal Recruitment Committee

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Recruits legal volunteers and provides direct case placement for nonprofits and individual clients who cannot afford representation and are not served elsewhere; and recruits Mecklenburg County Bar (MCB) members for pro bono opportunities with legal service organizations as requested.

 

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Membership

         

 

 

Class of 2022	Class of 2023	Class of 2024
Ben Pleune Nancy Roberts Raeneice Taltoan	Emily Morris Bo Caudill Lynn Krueger-Andes	Amanda Hinnant Akysia Resper Alexa Voss

 

Staff Liaison
Shannon Reid, Associate Executive Director - sreid@meckbar.org

 

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 Volunteer Need / Commitment

Members of the Pro Bono and Legal Recruitment Committee attend monthly committee meetings, screen individuals and nonprofits seeking legal services, and work to recruit volunteer attorneys for the MCB Pro Bono Program as well as other legal services organizations. This committee meets on the second Wednesday every month from 12 – 1 p.m. Committee members need to volunteer about 2 additional hours per month outside of committee meetings fielding client intakes and preparing status updates for the committee.

 

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 2020-21 Pro Bono and Legal Recruitment Committee Report
David B. Sherman, Jr., Chair and Rachel D. Rogers Hamrick, Vice-Chair

The 2020-21 year for the Pro Bono & Legal Recruitment Committee was a year of collaboration.  The Committee joined efforts with the North Carolina Bar Foundation on a Wills for Heroes clinic at the Mecklenburg County Bar & Foundation Center.  Those served by the clinic were front-line essential workers of the Charlotte Fire Department.  The Committee is also collaborating with Charlotte Rescue Mission (CRM) and the SelfServe Center to provide pro bono legal service to those in CRM’s recovery programs. 

Historically the Pro Bono Committee has received a high volume of family law inquiries, and finding family law attorneys to volunteer their time for pro bono clients is often difficult because of the unique conflict issues. Based on our historical influx of family law cases, the Pro Bono Committee evaluated other local and regional family law resources. Ultimately, the Committee determined referring pro bono clients to existing resources and hosting general informational sessions is the most efficient way to support our family law pro bono clients.

This year, the Committee screened 13 community members for pro bono services and recruited volunteer counsel for two local nonprofit organizations.  At this year’s Annual Meeting of the MCB, the Committee honored Alston & Bird with the Outstanding Collaborative Project award and Lauren Timmons with the Outstanding Individual Service award.

The mission of the Pro Bono & Legal Recruitment Committee is to place with MCB volunteer attorneys those who cannot afford legal services and who are not served elsewhere. The Committee also recruits MCB members for pro bono projects as requested by outside organizations.  If you or your organization have an idea for a project or you are interested in becoming a pro bono volunteer, please email Associate Executive Director Shannon R. Reid.