The North Carolina Colloquium was a day-long event, attended by about 100 participants and organized around meeting the needs of under served populations in civil legal services and indigent criminal defense programs. Hudson Fuller, the director of public interest programs at the University of North Carolina Law School was primarily responsible for the coordination and the success of the colloquium. Surprisingly, almost half of the attendees were members of the private bar, primarily from small firms and solo practice. The offer of CLE credit was apparently a significant lure to many practitioners. I'm told that 15 or 20 law students also participated during various parts of the day.

The program began with a spirited welcome from the UNC dean, Gene Nichol, whose comments centered around the growing economic inequality in our society. Following his remarks, Martha Bergmark from NLADA spoke about the need for more accessible delivery systems and using skills other than litigation to address the needs of the poor. Next a panel of local legal service providers discussed the challenges (high caseloads, need for standards of competence, not enough volunteers, high % of folks above legal service guidelines who still can't afford private lawyers, etc.) of meeting the needs of under served populations. The next panel of providers focused on improving law school support for practitioners doing public interest work and began with Deborah Howard, the director of the law school consortium project, describing the models created at CUNY, Northeastern and Maryland law schools followed by local providers discussing the failure of law schools to teach public service values, the law school debt burden, mandating pro bono or clinic, encouraging public interest careers, etc. After lunch, the participants separated into smaller groups for presentations and discussions focusing on immigration, death penalty and community development issues. The day ended with a lively and provocative discussion on what law schools could do to support students doing public interest work.

I think the Colloquium was successful in attracting a fairly large and diverse audience producing a fresh exchange of opinions and ideas. In terms of critique, the program was a UNC production with apparently little or no input and participation from the other law schools in the State. There were 3 or 4 presenters from the UNC faculty and 1 from Duke; a handful of UNC faculty members were in attendance. Another concern raised that has been mentioned in many of the other Colloquia was the lack of articulated intention to follow-up and/or create a structure to ensure the connection between law school faculties and the equal justice community. However, Ms. Fuller reports that at least 2 grant proposals are in the works to do immigration and equal justice work partnering lawyers and faculty that attended the UNC colloquium.

For further information, contact the local planner listed below:

Hudson Fuller
University of North Carolina School of Law
Ridge Road, Van Hecke-Wettach Hall, CB #3380
Chapel Hill, NC 27599-3380
(919) 843-6998
vhfuller@email.unc.edu