Chief Justice Mark D. Martin is pleased to announce that the North Carolina Equal Access to Justice Commission has hired Sylvia Novinsky to serve as the North Carolina Pro Bono Resource Center Director.

"I could not be more excited to have Sylvia Novinsky as our first Pro Bono Resource Center Director," said Chief Justice Martin. "As a national leader on pro bono, she will bring an unparalleled enthusiasm and professionalism to this new position."

Sylvia is the assistant dean for Public Service Programs at the University of North Carolina School of Law. She joined the School of Law in 1996, serving as the associate director for Public Interest Law in Career Services, then as the assistant dean for Student Affairs and the associate dean for Student Affairs. She coordinated pro bono programming and services for students and alumni.

Dean Novinsky grew up in Queens, New York, and is from Argentina. She is a graduate of Cornell University's School of Industrial and Labor Relations and The American University's Washington College of Law.

"We are delighted to have someone of Sylvia's caliber with deep ties to our legal aid community," remarked Jennifer Lechner, executive director of the North Carolina Equal Access to Justice Commission. "Just as she influenced decades of students at UNC Law, she will have a profound impact on the overall pro bono landscape in North Carolina."

The newly-established North Carolina Pro Bono Resource Center will be one of only a handful of statewide pro bono resource centers in the country. Among the first tasks of the Center will be to develop pro bono projects to match unmet legal needs with recent law school graduates.

The North Carolina Equal Access to Justice Commission was established in November 2005 by order of the Supreme Court of North Carolina and is chaired by Chief Justice Mark Martin. The mission of the Commission is to expand access to civil legal representation for people of low income and modest means across North Carolina.