Out-of-state lawyers can temporarily register with the North Carolina State Bar to provide pro bono legal services to victims of Hurricane Helene, following an order by the North Carolina Supreme Court.
The court approved the North Carolina State Bar’s temporary rule amendment on Oct. 1.
The State Bar petitioned the Supreme Court for this emergency rule to streamline the process by which out-of-state lawyers can provide pro bono services in North Carolina. In its petition for the emergency rule, the State Bar noted that, “there is not sufficient time to follow the prescribed procedural steps to amend the State Bar’s administrative rules and still provide the indigent legal services now, when they are desperately needed.”
The temporary rule, expiring in January 2025, allows lawyers licensed in other states but not in North Carolina to register with the North Carolina State Bar and immediately begin providing pro bono legal services through a legal services organization to indigent residents of North Carolina who are victims of Helene without first obtaining approval from the State Bar Council.
Lawyers interested in providing pro bono services under the order can fill the registration form at https://www.ncbar.gov/media/730811/hurricane-helene-temporary-pro-bono-form.pdf and return it to the North Carolina State Bar using the instructions provided.
Hurricane Helene made landfall on the Florida Gulf Coast as a Category 4 storm on Sept. 26 and caused significant damage across a large portion of the southeastern United States, particularly the southern Appalachians, according to the National Weather Service. As of Oct. 2, at least 170 people have been declared dead as a result of Helene.