.0210 Pro Bono Activities

(a) Pro Bono Activities for Law Students. Pro bono activities for law students may be facilitated by a law school acting under the auspices of a clinical legal education program or another program or department of the law school. As used in this rule, “auspices” means administrative or programmatic support or supervision.

(b) Student Certification Not Required. Regardless of whether the pro bono activity is provided under the auspices of a clinical legal education program or another program or department of a law school, a law student participating in a pro bono activity made available by a law school is not required to be certified if

(1) the law student will not perform any legal service; or

(2) all of the following conditions are satisfied: (i) the student will perform specifically delegated substantive legal services for third parties (clients) under the direct supervision of an attorney who is an active member of the North Carolina State Bar or licensed in another jurisdiction as appropriate to the legal services to be undertaken (the responsible attorney); (ii) the legal services shall not include representation of clients before a tribunal or agency; (iii) the responsible attorney is personally and professionally responsible for the representation of the clients and for the law student’s work product; and (iv) the role of the law student as an assistant to the responsible attorney is clearly explained to each client in advance of the performance of any legal service for the client by the law student.

(c) Law School Faculty and Staff Providing Pro Bono Services Under Auspices of a Clinical Legal Education Program. Any member of the law school’s faculty or staff who is an active member of the North Carolina State Bar or licensed in another jurisdiction as appropriate to the legal work to be undertaken may serve as the responsible attorney for a pro bono activity if the activity is provided to eligible persons under the auspices of the law school’s clinical legal education program and the responsible attorney complies with the relevant supervision requirements set forth in Rule .0205(a)(2)-(5) of this subchapter.

(d) Responsibility for Client File. Unless otherwise specified in this rule, if a client file is generated by a pro bono activity, it shall be maintained and safeguarded by the responsible attorney in compliance with the Rules of Professional Conduct and the ethics opinions interpretative thereof. If the pro bono activity is provided under the auspices of a clinical legal education program and the responsible attorney is a member of the law school’s faculty or staff, the client file shall be maintained and safeguarded by the clinical legal education program in compliance with the Rules of Professional Conduct and the Rule .0209(d). If the pro bono activity is sponsored by a legal services organization or government agency, the legal services organization or government agency shall maintain and safeguard the client file. If the pro bono activity is sponsored by more than one legal services organization or government agency, the co-sponsors shall determine which entity shall maintain and safeguard the client file and shall so inform the client.

History Note: Statutory Authority G.S. 84-23

Adopted by the Supreme Court September 25, 2019

Amendments Approved by the Supreme Court: April 21, 2021