The North Carolina Pro Bono Resource Center (PBRC) is proud to announce the induction of 1,373 attorneys into the 2023 North Carolina Attorney Pro Bono Honor Society. Society members reported providing 50 or more hours of pro bono legal services in 2023 to clients unable to pay without expectation of a fee, an aspirational goal set by Rule 6.1 of the North Carolina Rules of Professional Conduct. 

"Thank you to North Carolina attorneys and paralegals who volunteered to share their time and skills to help address unmet legal needs," said Sylvia Novinsky, Director of the North Carolina Pro Bono Resource Center. "You play an integral role in addressing the access to justice gap." 

The PBRC launched in April 2016, and began collecting responses from attorneys about pro bono involvement through the state's first voluntary reporting process in January 2017. A program of the North Carolina Equal Access to Justice Commission, the PBRC works to increase North Carolina attorneys’ pro bono legal service as a way to meet the legal needs of people of low-income and modest means in our state.  

This year, the PBRC partnered with the North Carolina State Bar to integrate the voluntary pro bono reporting process into the CLE reporting form. The partnership with the State Bar for 2023 pro bono reporting has proven to be a successful one. Attorney reporting increased by more than 800%. Of North Carolina’s approximately 30,000 attorneys, over 8,000 reported donating at least one hour of pro bono service in 2023, and many reported donating over 200 hours.  

Each member of this year's cohort of the Attorney Honor Society will receive a certificate from the Supreme Court of North Carolina in recognition of their valuable contributions to the people of North Carolina.  

The PBRC introduced the Paralegal Pro Bono Honor Society in 2021, and since then 57 paralegals have reported donating more than 50 hours of pro bono service, leading to recognition by the PBRC through the North Carolina Paralegal Pro Bono Honor Society. This year, four of the seventeen 2023 Paralegal Pro Bono Honor Society inductees reported donating more than 100 pro bono service hours. All Paralegal Honor Society members will receive a certificate from the PBRC recognizing their service.  

The PBRC is currently working with the North Carolina Board of Paralegal Education to integrate pro bono reporting into the voluntary North Carolina Certified Paralegal yearly recertification process for 2025.