NCBA 4ALL Garners ABA Recognition
Article Date: Tuesday, May 26, 2009
The North Carolina Bar Association, in recognition of the 4ALL Campaign, has been
selected as a 2009 recipient of the American Bar Association’s Harrison Tweed
Award.
Given annually by the ABA Standing Committee on Legal Aid and Indigent
Defendants and the National Legal Aid and Defender Association, the award will
be presented in Chicago on Friday, July 31, during the ABA Annual Meeting at a
joint luncheon of the National Conference of Bar Presidents, the National
Association of Bar Executives and the National Conference of Bar
Foundations.
The award was created in 1956 to recognize the extraordinary achievements of
state and local bar associations that develop or significantly expand projects
or programs to increase access to civil legal services for poor persons or
criminal defense services for indigents.
Past-President Janet Ward Black of Greensboro will accept the award on behalf
of the NCBA. The 4ALL Campaign to expand the provision of legal services to the
poor in North Carolina was the centerpiece of her term as president in 2007-08
and remains a major objective of the NCBA.
“This is thrilling news for the North Carolina Bar Association and everyone
who has been involved with this important endeavor,” said current NCBA President
Charles Becton. “There are so many people who deserve credit for this award,
which is a true testament to Janet Ward Black for her vision and leadership.
“Let us also give full credit to the NCBA’s Strategic Planning and Emerging
Trends Committee, which formulated the concept for this program, and the
individuals who served as co-chairs of the 4ALL Task Force in 2007-08 and
2008-09.”
Raleigh attorneys Caryn McNeill and Martin Brinkley served as co-chairs of
the 4ALL Task Force in 2007-08 with Rebecca Britton of Fayetteville, Kim
Sieredzki of Clayton and Dayton Cole of Boone serving as tri-chairs in
2008-09.
Becton’s recognition of volunteer leadership from two separate years is in
reference to the timetable for which the award was judged: April 1, 2008 to
March 31, 2009. During this 12-month period, the NCBA conducted two statewide
service days through which thousands of North Carolina citizens received free
legal information through an expansive network of call centers across the
state.
The first Statewide Service Day was conducted on April 4, 2008, and was
promoted as the 4/4 Service Day. The second of these events
was held on March 6, 2009, lending itself to promotion as the 3/6/9 Service Day.
The success of both events was built upon the foundation of volunteer
leadership of numerous site chairs and the Participate Working Group co-chairs
under whom the service days were organized. Joshua Bennett and Michael Slipsky
served in this capacity in 2007-08, succeeded by working group co-chairs
Katherine Wilkerson and Sara Palmer in 2008-09.
Members of the N.C. Bar Center staff played key roles, as did the various
call center hosts and contributors that provided facilities and support to make
the endeavor possible.
WLOS News 13 in Asheville, WBTV News 3 in Charlotte, WFMY News 2 and The
Volunteer Center of Greensboro and Williams Mullen of Wilmington hosted call
centers both years.
BB&T of Winston-Salem, WCTI News 12 of New Bern, ACS (Affiliated Computer
Services) Inc. of Cary, Advanced Internet Technologies (AIT), Inc. of
Fayetteville and the N.C. Outdoor Advertising Association were the leading
providers of facilities and support in 2008, with WRAL-TV 5 of Raleigh serving
as a call center host in 2009.
Add in hundreds of volunteer lawyers, supported by legal aid attorneys,
judges, paralegals and law students, and the recipe for success was firmly in
place.
“This truly is the story of the turtle being on top of the fence-post,”
stated Janet Ward Black. “He did not get there by himself! From the initial
groundwork and ongoing strategy that the first 4ALL Task Force put into place
under the leadership of Martin and Caryn to our being recognized nationally and
copied by others, this has been a team effort.
“Everyone who has played a part thus far is responsible for the NCBA winning
this award. That includes the firms and individual lawyers who have contributed
to the Legal Aid of North Carolina Fund, where we have raised close to $900,000,
to more than 1,000 members who have committed their time and expertise to answer
phones during our service day projects.
“These are good works that deserve recognition, and we hope it will be a
model for the rest of the country.”
It already is.
The 4ALL Campaign, logo and all, has been adopted by the Tennessee Bar
Association, which recently conducted its first statewide
service day. Other states are considering adoption of the program, which is a
multi-faceted approach to supporting the unmet legal needs of the poor that
focuses on education, donation, legislation, participation and repayment of law
school loans for LANC staff attorneys.
The goal loan repayment assistance program, or LRAP, is to help Legal Aid of
North Carolina retain experienced staff attorneys by eliminating or
significantly reducing their law school debt. LANC lawyers, in turn, provide
free legal representation for indigents on critical issues such as housing and
domestic violence.
“The money our members have raised and contributed will have a lasting
impact,” Black added, “especially the dedicated gifts that have been provided to
reduce the educational debt for LANC lawyers who have committed their lives to
representing poor people for free.
“It just does not get any better than that.”