CHARLOTTE — Channel 9, along with Action 9 Attorney Jason Stoogenke, will be hosting the annual Lawyers on Call event tomorrow from 10 a.m. to 7 p.m.
The event allows residents to speak with North Carolina-licensed attorneys for free and confidential legal advice.
The program is sponsored by the North Carolina Bar Foundation to help connect the public with legal professionals.
According to the North Carolina State Bar, nearly half of the state’s counties are classified as “legal deserts,” meaning they have less than one lawyer per 1,000 residents.
While many of these areas are rural, the Charlotte area also shows a high demand for legal assistance.
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Harrison Lord is one of the North Carolina attorneys who volunteers for the event each year. Lord said the program allows legal professionals to fulfill their primary career goals.
“It’s my favorite day of the year to be a lawyer...” Lord said. “It’s an opportunity to do the things that we all went to law school to do. To help people. To give back to our communities.”
Last year, the event connected 3,184 callers with legal volunteers. Lord noted that the inquiries cover a wide variety of legal fields.
“People call in with all sorts of different questions,” Lord said. “People call in with questions about trust and estate issues. People call in with questions about their businesses. People call in with questions about debt collection issues, family law issues, all sorts of things.”
Attorney Stoogenke advised callers to prepare before using the hotline. He suggested having a pen and paper ready to take notes and jotting down the basic facts of the legal issue beforehand.
Callers should be prepared to explain the who, what, when, where, why, and how of their situation. Organizing these details into a timeline can also be helpful.
Stoogenke also recommended that callers be ready to explain any steps they have already taken to resolve the issue on their own.
Callers should identify the specific questions they want to ask the attorney.
For those who need more significant legal assistance, volunteers may suggest the Lawyer Referral Service. This service costs $50.
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