Service to others has been one of Robinson Bradshaw’s guiding principles since the firm’s founding in 1960. One way we live that value is by representing neighbors who need legal help but lack financial resources. We consider pro bono work not only our duty as lawyers and legal professionals, but also a privilege. Our commitment to pro bono service reaches all corners of the firm with 126 attorneys and professionals recording 5,810 hours of pro bono service in 2023 alone.
We partner with agencies, including Legal Aid of North Carolina, Charlotte Center for Legal Advocacy and the Council for Children’s Rights, to connect with underserved individuals and organizations that are often facing overwhelming and consequential situations: An affordable housing tenant fighting against a predatory landlord. A nonprofit organization entering a complex real estate transaction. A juvenile immigrant seeking protection against abuse. As pro bono counsel to these clients and many others, we strive to resolve the legal problem at hand while restoring hope and humanity along the way.
How We Make a Difference
- The firm, as co-counsel, represented the plaintiffs in Harper v. Moore, the U.S. Supreme Court case in which the Court rejected the “independent state legislature” theory and confirmed that state legislatures must follow their state constitutions when they regulate federal elections. The representation included a trial, three trips to the North Carolina Supreme Court and the U.S. Supreme Court appeal.
- Robinson Bradshaw partnered with another local law firm to found the Charlotte Legal Initiative to Mobilize Businesses (CLIMB) in 2021. The program’s volunteer attorneys provide business law services to low-income entrepreneurs and small businesses in the Charlotte area, with a focus on small businesses whose ownership consists primarily of people of color, women, the LGBTQ+ community, veterans or people with disabilities. CLIMB is now a stand-alone nonprofit supporting business development in historically under-resourced communities in the Charlotte area.
- The firm represented the Charlotte Center for Legal Advocacy in the acquisition of its new home. The complex transaction included drafting and negotiating reciprocal and access easements so that the property could be used for CCLA’s legal services, ensuring that the Charlotte-Mecklenburg community has equal access to justice and civil legal aid.
- More than $5 million in COVID-19 relief aid was distributed to North Carolina families in need after a team of Robinson Bradshaw attorneys took action against an unjust distribution of the state’s Extra Credit Grants and successfully litigated the reopening of the deadline for low-income families to apply for the funds.
- A team of Robinson Bradshaw attorneys represented the tenants at Lake Arbor Apartments, an affordable housing community, to bring a suit against the complex’s owners after they illegally collected rent from the tenants while maintaining squalid conditions that violated city code. The firm reached a settlement with the owners, securing $547,000 in funds distributed among more than 100 tenants.
- Robinson Bradshaw has helped tackle the affordable housing crisis by representing Roof Above in various projects, most recently a 341-unit apartment complex in East Charlotte and an 88-unit studio apartment project involving the conversion of a former hotel.
- Robinson Bradshaw submitted an amicus brief to the North Carolina Supreme Court in a decision that awarded same-sex domestic violence victims the same protections as victims in opposite-sex relationships. The firm’s brief was filed on behalf of Legal Aid of North Carolina, the North Carolina Justice Center and the Pauli Murray LGBTQ+ Bar Association in support of the victim.
- The firm prevailed in the North Carolina Supreme Court in a pro bono appeal on behalf of a tenant who challenged her eviction from public housing, arguing that she was not given fair notice of the reasons for her eviction. The Court ruled in our client’s favor, not only allowing her to stay in her home, but establishing an important precedent that protects the due-process rights of public-housing tenants across North Carolina.
- The firm served as lead counsel in Hyatt v. Shalala. The firm prosecuted the class action through its 20-year run in the federal courts, including the U.S. Supreme Court. As a result, approximately 150,000 North Carolinians won new disability hearings under new standards, and the Social Security Administration revised a national regulation on disability. The firm devoted more than 4,500 hours to this case and donated attorneys' fees exceeding $450,000 to the Volunteer Lawyers Project and the Mecklenburg Bar Foundation. For this effort, Robinson Bradshaw was the first law firm in the nation to receive the American Bar Association's Pro Bono Publico Award.
Recognition
- Law Firm Pro Bono Award, North Carolina Bar Association, 2010, 2021, 2024
- Outstanding Paralegal Pro Bono Service Award, North Carolina Bar Association: Andrea Blosser, 2024
- Pro Bono Hero Award, Legal Aid of North Carolina, 2024
- William Thorp Pro Bono Service Award, North Carolina Bar Association: Brent Torstrick, 2019; Erik Zimmerman, 2023
- Outstanding Individual Attorney Pro Bono Award, Mecklenburg County Bar: Fitz Barringer, 2020; Adam Doerr, 2023
- North Carolina Pro Bono Honor Society, 2020-23
- Pro Bono Honor Roll, Mecklenburg Access to Justice Pro Bono Partners Program, 2019-23
- Defenders of Justice Award, North Carolina Justice Center, 2021
- Outstanding Firm Pro Bono Service Award, Legal Aid of North Carolina and Council for Children's Rights, 2017-18
- Outstanding Individual Pro Bono Service Award, Legal Aid of North Carolina: Jason Wright, 2018; Julian Wright, 2018
- Distinguished Pro Bono Service Award, Legal Aid of North Carolina, Legal Services of Southern Piedmont and Council for Children's Rights: John Wester, 2016
- Pro Bono Attorney of the Year, Mecklenburg County Bar: Will Packard, 2009
- Pro Bono Publico Award, American Bar Association, 1984
