Pro Bono

We protect children through the 1980 Hague Convention on the Civil Aspects of International Child Abduction.

The attorneys at Waldrep Wall Babcock & Bailey have extensive experience representing applicants under the 1980 Hague Convention on the Civil Aspects of International Child Abduction. Such applicants need legal representation because their children have been habitually resident in a foreign country and wrongfully removed to or retained in North Carolina. Such representations include the filing of a lawsuit, typically in federal court, requesting an Order granting the return of the applicant’s children to their country of habitual residence. Our attorneys provide their services to Hague Abduction Convention applicants on a pro bono basis through the Hague Convention Attorney Network. The Hague Convention Attorney Network is an all-volunteer national attorney network maintained by the U.S. Department of State.

Our attorneys regularly participate in North Carolina’s 4ALL Statewide Service Day.

Annually, the North Carolina Bar Foundation and the North Carolina Bar Association host 4ALL Statewide Service Day. This pro bono program connects volunteer attorneys with members of the public to provide free legal answers to callers all over the state. Each spring, Waldrep Wall Babcock & Bailey attorneys join forces to provide advice, information, and resources to callers seeking information regarding North Carolina-related legal matters. Furthermore, our attorneys take an active role in promoting and mobilizing their peers to participate in this pro bono event.

Have a legal question? Call the North Carolina Bar Foundation’s 4ALL number to speak with an attorney for free: (828) 418-6969 or visit
North Carolina Bar Foundation.

Our attorneys volunteer to represent pro se litigants.

As part of the Middle District of North Carolina’s Pro Bono Representation Program, the attorneys at Waldrep Wall Babcock & Bailey volunteer to represent pro se litigants, a large portion of whom are prison inmates. The majority of pro se filings are dismissed before or on summary judgment, but occasionally, some survive summary judgment and proceed to jury trial. After summary judgment is denied and a case is set for trial, volunteer attorneys are appointed. Our attorneys are proud to be on the list of attorneys available for this type of volunteer pro bono work.

We defend children in high conflict custody and domestic violence cases.

The attorneys at Waldrep Wall Babcock & Bailey partner with the Children’s Law Center of Central North Carolina to provide a voice for vulnerable children in high conflict custody and domestic violence cases by volunteering to be appointed guardian ad litem in such cases. Guardians ad litem are responsible for investigating all aspects of the case and making recommendations regarding custody and/or visitation, services including mental health treatment for the child and/or parents, parenting classes, substance abuse treatment, and educational assistance.

Partner Ciara L. Rogers serves as the director of the Stubbs Bankruptcy Clinic at Campbell University School of Law.

In 2018, Partner Ciara L. Rogers was selected to serve as Director of the Stubbs Bankruptcy Clinic at Campbell University School of Law. Alongside other Waldrep Wall Babcock & Bailey attorneys, she supervises law students providing pro bono bankruptcy representation to low-wealth individuals in the Eastern District of North Carolina. The clinic gives students hands-on experience serving real clients while expanding access to quality legal representation for those in need.

The clinic receives referrals from legal services, private attorneys, the bankruptcy trustees, as well as the court when a person’s pro se efforts appear to affect the proper administration of justice.

Students have a unique opportunity to engage with debtor and creditor attorneys, courtroom staff, trustees, the Bankruptcy Administrator’s office, federal judges, and, most important, real clients. This opportunity is enhanced by the clinic’s location in the Century Station Federal Building on Fayetteville Street in Raleigh, where the United States Bankruptcy Court for the Eastern District of North Carolina holds court.

Students involved in the clinic have handled matters as varied as:

• Counseling clients, gathering information, and preparing the documents to file Chapter 7 liquidation cases, and appearing at statutory meetings with the trustee with the client.
• Preparing, filing, and prosecuting a Chapter 11 case — a complex type of bankruptcy — in order to help a disabled client with two children stop a foreclosure, lower their mortgage payments, and keep their home.
• Defending a college student who is not involved in a bankruptcy case, but who was nonetheless sued by a Chapter 7 trustee seeking to take away property intended for the student by his great-grandparent.
• Preparing, filing, and prosecuting Chapter 13 cases, and preparing and filing reorganization plans by which the clients avoided foreclosures and stayed in their homes.
• Helping a client reopen a closed bankruptcy case in order to seal private confidential information that had been filed publicly in the case by the previous attorney.
• Going to court to help a client who was being harassed by a debt collector in violation of the bankruptcy laws.
• Acting as primary contact with the clients, returning phone calls, preparing the clients for court appearances, and keeping the clients informed as to the status of their cases.

A maximum of eight students are enrolled in the clinic each semester, with preference given to third-year students. In addition to one classroom session per week, students are also expected to perform three or more hours of clinical work each week.

Partner Jennifer B. Lyday is an attorney volunteer for the Pro Bono programs offered in the Middle District and Eastern District of North Carolina Bankruptcy Courts.

Waldrep Wall Babcock & Bailey Partner Jennifer B. Lyday, along with other attorneys in the firm, are attorney volunteers for the Pro Bono programs offered in the Middle District and Eastern District of North Carolina Bankruptcy Courts. The pro bono programs provide a volunteer attorney to assist certain unrepresented parties that are unable to employ an attorney on their own behalf (pro se) with adversary proceedings and certain contested matters.