National Legal Services Corporation to Honor Five North Carolina Attorneys for Outstanding Pro Bono Work

Washington, DC—The national Legal Services Corporation (LSC) Board of Directors will honor five lawyers at an event on Monday, October 1 for their volunteer work with Legal Aid of North Carolina (LANC). 

North Carolina Bar Association President-Elect Alan Duncan and North Carolina State Bar President Jim Fox will speak at the awards ceremony and reception at the Duke University School of Law, in the Star Commons, 210 Science Drive, from 6:00 - 7:30 p.m. 

The pro bono service award recipients are:

  • Charles R. Holton – A partner with Womble Carlyle Sandridge & Rice, and vice-chair and chair-elect of the LANC Board of Directors, he is a pro bono leader in the area of fair housing for low-income clients in central North Carolina.  
  • Auley “Lee” M. Crouch III – A partner in the Wilmington firm of Block Crouch Keeter Behm & Sayed, LLP, and a member of the LANC Board of Directors, Crouch’s many years of pro bono work have primarily focused on housing issues.  He is also a leader in LANC’s annual Access to Justice campaign.
  • Sylvia King Kochler – Now retired, Kochler was a partner in the Atlanta office of Hunton & Williams LLP.  She has devoted countless hours to pro bono representation of victims of domestic violence and to encouraging other attorneys to do the same.
  • Paul C. Shepard –  A solo practitioner and a member of the LANC Board of Directors from 2006-2012, Shepard received the Volunteer Attorney of the Year Award from Legal Aid of North Carolina’s Winston-Salem office in 2010. He also co-chaired LANC’s Access to Justice campaign for Winston-Salem in 2009-2010.
  • Thomas S. Berkau – A solo practitioner in Smithfield and treasurer of the LANC Board of Directors, Berkau routinely accepts referrals from Legal Aid of North Carolina and has donated thousands of pro bono hours to LANC clients and through other pro bono work.

The event is being held in conjunction with meetings of the LSC Board and its committees, which will occur on October 1 & 2 at the Hilton Durham Hotel, 3800 Hillsborough Road, in Durham.  Details regarding the board and committee meetings may be found in a notice published on the LSC website .  Members of the public who are unable to attend may listen to open sessions of the board and its committees by telephone, using the instructions in the notice.

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*** Also on October 1, North Carolina Supreme Court Chief Justice Sarah Parker will join five distinguished judges from the Southeast at a forum on Civil Legal Aid at Duke University Fuqua School of Business. This is the third such forum convened by LSC in 2012.  Read more.

 

Legal Services Corporation (LSC) is an independent nonprofit established by Congress in 1974. For 50 years, LSC has provided financial support for civil legal aid to low-income Americans. The Corporation currently provides funding to 131 independent nonprofit legal aid programs in every state, the District of Columbia, and U.S. territories.