NCSB Journal Spring 2026

“Since its creation by the State Bar and the North Carolina Supreme Court in 1983, this pro gram has awarded more than $134 million to organizations that provide civil legal aid to low income North Carolinians. That translates to hundreds of thousands of seniors, veterans, farmers, families, and other residents who were supported in cases ranging from pending fore closures to consumer scams and access to wages and benefits, as well as many, many survivors of domestic violence who found much-needed safety and support.”

initiatives that benefit the public. Similarly, the criteria by which prospec tive grantees are evaluated have not changed much over the years. The board considers many factors when deciding how to allocate available funds, including how many low income residents a program or organization is designed to serve and what degree of need a particular community has. During my time on the board, we made grant decisions that addressed both ongoing and emergent needs. Recognizing the financial pressure being put on home ownership by the 2020 pan demic and subsequent economic challenges, we continued support of multiple nonprofits focused on staving off foreclosures and land loss—saving cherished homes and family farms and contributing to the stability and well-being of families and communities across the state. Galvanized by North Carolina’s 2020 Legal Needs Assessment and the State Bar’s 2023 Legal Desert Summit that highlighted gaps in access to justice in many of our coun ties, we renewed funding for an internship program that sends law students into these communities to work alongside legal aid attorneys, district attorneys and public defenders, and judges—bringing young legal talent into the very areas that need it most and helping interns appreciate the rewards (and challenges) of practicing law in small towns. I have spoken with some of these stu dents after their summer internships, and many express a keen interest in careers in public service and working in legal deserts. Programs like this one build the future of our profession across our state. Responding to the daunting needs in communities in Western North Carolina

after Hurricane Helene, we funded nearly $1M in emergency and out-of-cycle grants to speed resources to legal aid groups already on the ground in hard-hit areas. Even now, these groups continue to assist survivors as they work to rebuild their lives—replacing lost documents, filing insurance appeals, and seeking compensation from unscrupulous service providers and fraudsters who took advantage of people in the storm’s aftermath. NC IOLTA grantees fight for disability rights; employment, health care, and bene fits access; safety and justice for survivors of domestic violence, victims of human traf ficking, refugees and asylum-seekers; driv er’s license restoration; custody and guardianship; consumer protections…The list goes on. Here’s the bottom line: NC IOLTA grantees—attorneys, paralegals, advocates, and thousands of members of the private bar who volunteer their time because they believe in access to justice for all—use the legal tools our lawmakers at both the state and federal level have created to protect the rights of North Carolinians and to allow them to seek redress when those rights have been violated. That was at the heart of NC IOLTA’s mission when it first started making grants in 1984, and it hasn’t changed in the more than 40 years since. Indeed, the program is built upon the very bedrock of our democracy: equal protection under the law. A Harmful Funding Freeze Last July, the General Assembly included a provision in a bipartisan bill that explicitly bars NC IOLTA from using any funds to make grants for a period of one year. As such, none of the civil legal aid organizations doing

Each year, the board is tasked with reviewing all grant applications and voting on grant awards. During my tenure—which spanned a period of higher interest rates and a booming real estate market that helped boost IOLTA revenue in North Carolina, allowing us to fund more organizations than ever before—I voted on almost 250 grant applications. I remain awed and deeply grat ified by the impact these grantees made. As a family law attorney, I know how important having basic legal services is to people going through family law-related sit uations. During my time on the board, we sought applications for grantees providing family law services, an identified area of unmet need for low-income people. Inner Banks Legal Services, based in “Little” Washington, started receiving NC IOLTA grant funding in 2023 to provide family law services to people in underserved communi ties in Eastern North Carolina. Another grantee, Wake County Legal Support Center, opened in 2023 and provides pro se litigants with the resources they need to nav igate the court process, with more than half of the visitors they’ve seen each year coming to court on matters of family law. I hope both of these nonprofits will become models for others to replicate across our state. It is your support of the IOLTA program that has made this game-changing work pos sible. Thank you! A Mission Spanning More than 40 Years While the State Bar has made occasional updates to the IOLTA rules—often in re sponse to court rulings on IOLTA programs across the country—NC IOLTA has remained steadfast in its mission of funding civil legal aid organizations and administration of justice

SPRING 2026

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