Charlotte, NC – Parker Poe Adams & Bernstein LLP is pleased to announce the North Carolina Bar Association has honored Parker Poe with the Law Firm Pro Bono Award and the Outstanding Collaborative/Group Pro Bono Service Award. The awards recognize the firm’s overall commitment to providing free legal services for the public good, as well as the collaborative role it played in helping Afghan refugees.

The Law Firm Pro Bono Award honors Parker Poe for its contribution of pro bono hours, its creative approach to pro bono engagement, and the consistency and sincerity of its pro bono program. In addition to the Afghan asylum project detailed below, Parker Poe’s pro bono impact last year included:

• Representing abused and neglected children through the Guardian ad Litem program, including in cases before North Carolina appellate courts.
• Playing an extensive role in the creation of the Excel Pilot Program to help the formerly incarcerated get back on their feet in Durham.
• Championing the work of the Charlotte Triage Pro Bono Partnership, including helping to recruit, train, and support volunteers who represent low-income clients in expunging their criminal records.
• Advising on the lease of a former church, Milner Presbyterian Church, in connection with a project to develop affordable housing for senior citizens in Raleigh.

The Outstanding Collaborative/Group Pro Bono Service Award honors Parker Poe along with Pisgah Legal Services, Hatch Rockers Immigration, and King & Spaulding for organizing and executing an Afghan asylum project. Tiffany Burba led Parker Poe’s efforts in the project, which included 11 attorneys from the firm.

The idea for the project started with Pisgah Legal Services hearing about a challenge from local refugee resettlement agencies. They said that dozens of Afghan newcomers had no legal help to navigate the complex asylum process so that they could stay in the U.S. Pisgah Legal Services did not have the capacity to assist all the newcomers – many of whom had complex asylum cases – so it sought volunteer attorneys. Ultimately, the attorneys in the project represented 35 Afghan refugees in their asylum applications and interviews.

Parker Poe Pro Bono Committee Chair Michael Crook and Tiffany Burba will be honored along with other award winners at the North Carolina Bar Association’s annual meeting on June 22 and 23 in Wilmington.

About Parker Poe
Parker Poe Adams & Bernstein LLP has more than 275 lawyers in eight offices in North Carolina, South Carolina, Georgia, and Washington, DC. The firm provides legal counsel to many of the largest companies and local governments in the Southeast.

Parker Poe is a member of two leading international legal networks: TerraLex and the Employment Law Alliance. TerraLex and the ELA have chosen Parker Poe to help guide clients through the challenges of global business.