4ALL Going Virtual — And It’s All Good

February 16, 2021

The 14th annual 4ALL Statewide Service Day of the North Carolina Bar Foundation will go on as scheduled on Friday, March 5, in spite of COVID-19.

It will definitely not be the same, but in many important ways it will be better, thanks to an app that will allow North Carolina attorneys to participate from anywhere in the state.

Or the world for that matter.

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“It’s just a fun day.”

The Telzio app has already been put to test as the centerpiece of last year’s COVID-19 Legal Hotlines. Alicia Edwards, co-chair of this year’s 4ALL Statewide Service Day Committee, gave the app high marks for its performance during the Triad-area hotline.

“I did not get a lot of calls,” said Edwards, “because the calls kept getting picked up by other volunteers. But I used the app, and getting the calls through was easy and it worked fine. I think it will work great for 4ALL.

“The only thing that will put a damper on this year’s 4ALL will be missing out on the social aspects of the event – the camaraderie. But in terms of people calling in, I don’t think there will be any lag or difference in the service being provided.”

Providing service to the public, added the longtime Legal Aid of North Carolina attorney, is key.

“It will be a lot different,” Edwards said, “but people just have these questions, and they need answers, or they just want to talk. This is such a valuable service we can do to answer these questions, and most of them are quick questions that they are not going to hire an attorney for.”

Edwards has been a 4ALL volunteer throughout the event’s rich history, working as a “floater” by being on call to help with questions potentially involving the services of a legal aid provider.

“I love it,” Edwards said. “It is similar to what we do every day at Legal Aid, but it allows us to reach a broader network by partnering with private attorneys. It is just a fun day.”

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“This breaks down a lot of barriers.”

John Noor, a 4ALL Committee member from Roberts & Stevens in Asheville, is even more familiar with the app, having been involved with its implementation during the first COVID-19 Legal Hotline last spring.

“We reached out to the local pro bono committee back in April, and reached out to the North Carolina Bar Foundation to help us with funding and logistics to make this a reality,” Noor said in regard to the Western North Carolina COVID-19 Legal Hotline on May 21. “We tested out Telzio that day with about 100 attorneys and paralegals – the first of several mini-4ALLs across the state.

“It was a joint effort between the Buncombe County Bar Association, Pisgah Legal Services, Legal Aid of North Carolina and the North Carolina Bar Foundation. At the time no one knew how long the pandemic was going to last.”

But Noor and his colleagues in Western North Carolina knew that people needed answers to their legal questions, so they went to work on securing a solution that would allow them to conduct the hotline remotely.

“We knew there had to be some software out there that would allow you to log in and centralize calls,” Noor said. “We searched for products and found Telzio. (Director of Community Engagement) Katie Russell Miller of Pisgah Legal Services and I sat down with the software and worked it out. It was really inspiring to see all of the attorneys coming together in Western North Carolina.”

Noor expects the technology will mesh well with 4ALL, and will even be an improvement is some regards.

“Like anything with technology, some will use this seamlessly and some will need some help along the way,” Noor said. “But there were very few problems that we could not figure out the day we ran the hotline in Western North Carolina.

“I think this will be a standing component of 4ALL in the future because it allows attorneys who don’t want to take four hours to go down to the TV studio to volunteer from their home or their office. And if they do want the camaraderie and community of working together, they can. I think it will be successful for citizens and attorneys across the state.

“This breaks down a lot of barriers between attorneys and non-attorneys who have a passion for pro bono to come and contribute.”

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“There really is no other program like 4ALL.”

Nicolette Fulton is in her second year as co-chair of 4ALL, and she also served two years as a site chair in Raleigh. She vividly recalls last year’s event, held on March 6, shortly before the pandemic’s full effects became a reality.

“Last year, we already knew we had to take extra precautions,” said Fulton, who serves as senior associate city attorney for the City of Raleigh. “The volunteers were cautious, and we wanted to make sure everybody was comfortable. We made accommodations to spread everyone out with a new setup, we had extra hand sanitizer, and we had areas set up for extra cleaning and sanitization.

“At the time, we didn’t know the extent of what COVID was, but we wanted volunteers to know we would make things as safe for them as could be. We did have some volunteers say they weren’t coming because of COVID, which was completely reasonable, and we understood. We tried to make it work, which is my philosophy for everything, and we did, even with a lower number of volunteers.”

Still, looking back, Fulton is amazed that last year’s 4ALL came off as well as it did.

“I don’t know how we did it,” Fulton said. “I am very grateful that we did and very grateful that there weren’t any negative repercussions for any of our volunteers. I am very grateful for the site chairs across the state and the volunteers for all of the hard work they put in to make it as successful as it was.

“It was because of their dedication and their enthusiasm that we were able to do it, and I don’t think that we could have done it but for their dedication and commitment – they are what 4ALL stands for.”

This year will obviously be different, but Fulton is excited about the opportunities that have arisen from these uncertain circumstances. The 4ALL Statewide Service Day will be shorter – from 11 a.m. to 7 p.m. – and volunteers are only being asked to serve two-hour shifts. Callers will have the opportunity to request assistance in Spanish, and attorneys will be fielding calls regarding areas of the law with which they are familiar.

Community partners who have supported 4ALL and COVID-19 Legal Hotlines in the past are on board to promote this year’s event. They are WLOS in Asheville, WBTV in Charlotte, WFMY in Greensboro, WNCT-TV in Greenville, WRAL in Raleigh, WECT-TV in Wilmington, and Hutchens Law Firm in Fayetteville.

“This is definitely a new normal,” Fulton said. “Being involved with 4ALL for so many years, having known what 4ALL has been and having it in this new format is different. We are trying to make it as close to the same feeling as what people are used to with 4ALL.

“It may not be the same environment, but the feeling is the same in terms of what you are providing to the community.”

Fulton, who volunteered for one of the hotlines, found the process to be user-friendly.

“I had the app on my laptop and answered the phone with my computer audio on,” she said. “It was very easy to answer it, and we have a training resource available for volunteers to use before the program. Volunteers will also have access to the 4ALL manual, accessing the same resource manual that is usually at the site location.”

Fulton has volunteered for all four two-hour shifts on March 5 and encourages attorneys to volunteer for more than one shift.

“We particularly need volunteers on Friday afternoon from 5 to 7. I know that it is a big ask for people to give up part of their Friday evening. If we can get people to join us, it really does serve the North Carolina Bar Foundation’s mission of being a power of greater good for the people of North Carolina.

“There really is no other program like 4ALL. The impact that this makes to the people of North Carolina and the community in just one day is so significant, and this year, all we are asking for volunteers is to give two hours of their day. And for that, we will have people saying thank you for helping them go through what they see as a maze that they have been searching for a way out.