RALEIGH, N.C. — Poyner Spruill LLP is pleased to announce five of the firm’s attorneys were named to the 2019 North Carolina Pro Bono Honor Society
Partner Drew Erteschik and associates J.M. Durnovich, Stephanie Gumm, Nick Tosco, and Cosmo Zinkow were included among 520 attorneys recognized by the North Carolina Pro Bono Resource Center (PBRC). Honorees must report 50 or more hours of pro bono legal services to clients unable to pay without expectation of a fee, an aspirational threshold set by Rule 6.1 of the North Carolina Rules of Professional Conduct.
Each member of this year’s Honor Society class receives a certificate from the Supreme Court of North Carolina in recognition of their valuable contributions to the people of North Carolina. This group of attorneys provided more than 40,000 hours of pro bono legal services in 2019 to clients unable to afford needed legal services.
“The firm congratulates Drew, J.M., Stephanie, Nick, and Cosmo on earning this recognition from the Pro Bono Honor Society,” Poyner Spruill managing partner Dan Cahill said. “Their commitment to helping others through valuable pro bono work is commendable, and the honors are well-deserved.”
All 1,703 attorneys who shared information about their pro bono volunteerism together provided nearly 50,000 hours of pro bono legal services in 2019.
Rule 6.1 encourages a variety of activities in addition to the pro bono legal services recognized by the Honor Society, including providing legal services at a substantially reduced fee; engaging in activities that improve the law, the legal system, or the legal profession; participating in nonlegal community service; and contributing financially to North Carolina legal aid organizations.
Launched in 2016, the PBRC began collecting responses from attorneys about pro bono involvement through the state’s first voluntary reporting process in January 2017. The program aims to increase North Carolina attorney pro bono legal service as a way to meet the legal needs of people of low income and modest means in our state.
