The video is a multi‑speaker promotional piece in which attorneys and staff from Moore & Van Allen describe the firm’s long‑standing commitment to community service through a suite of pro‑bono initiatives. Speakers highlight the firm’s philosophy of using legal expertise to uplift underserved populations, detail specific programs—including the Housing Rights Project, the CLIMB transactional‑legal service for under‑resourced entrepreneurs, the Human Trafficking Pro Bono Project, the Pro Bono Policing Project, the Domestic Violence Pro Bono Program, the Derwentshire school‑reading volunteer effort, and the Wills Pro Bono Project—and share concrete client impact stories such as removing an unjust judgment for a trafficking survivor and helping a tenant with mold‑related health issues. The narrative underscores the firm’s partnership with the Charlotte Triage Pro Bono Partnership and its belief that providing free legal services strengthens both the justice system and the local community.
Chapters
Investing in our community remains a fundamental practice at Mooreman Allen. A strong commitment by the firm's lawyers and staff to helping those in need is a cornerstone of our history, a legacy forged by our founding members and carried forward by our outstanding team members.
As attorneys, we have a unique access to and understanding of the justice system. And when we use that access to represent pro bono clients, not only is our justice system stronger and more connected to the community that it serves, we are lifting up voices of community members that we don't always hear. Moore& Van Allen makes it exceptionally easy to represent pro bono clients. We offer a wide variety of projects. We're also a part of the Charlotte Triage Pro Bono Partnership. And through that partnership, we connect volunteer attorneys to clients in need throughout the city.
The Housing Rights Project here at Morton Van Allen helps tenants get justice. You look around Charlotte, you see it's booming on all fours. You see the construction cranes, you see the new towers, but what you don't always necessarily see is the tenants who are facing upward economic mobility issues. We have the ability to step in and help tenants when they're in the most desperate need. This morning I walked into my office and sitting there was a card from a client I recently helped. I spent countless hours helping them with mold issues with their landlord, and she had a lot of trouble breathing, and it just, you know, really warmed my heart to see that.
Charlotte Legal Initiative to Mobilize Businesses, or as we call it, CLIMB, helps to provide transactional legal services to under-resourced members of our community. So this would be Black, Indigenous, people of color, women, might be veterans, might be members of the LGBTQ community. People come with many different ideas in many different industries, and it's been incredible to see the amount of innovation in our community that otherwise, you know, might never kind of come across because they wouldn't have the resources they needed in order to further their business.
The Morin Van Allen Human Trafficking Pro Bono Project provides free legal representation to survivors of sex and labor trafficking. Survivors of human trafficking have tremendous legal needs. They're vast and various, and Morin Van Allen steps in to provide comprehensive legal services in matters ranging from expunction and vacature of criminal records to representation of them as victim witnesses in the criminal process, including the investigation and prosecution of the trafficker.
Recently, we had a victim of human trafficking and had had a judgment entered against her involving the trafficking, and the judgment was absolutely without basis. We were able to reach out to one of the large banks and inform them of this, and they immediately removed the judgment and literally forgave the debt. It changed her life.
The Pro Bono Policing Project is really aimed at trying to build trust between communities and police forces by making the expectations for behavior in different sorts of interactions in different settings public knowledge and creating a resource for people to go to, to see what might be expected of them in any given situation when they're interacting with the police officers.
The Morin Van Allen Domestic Violence Pro Bono Program has a tremendous impact on the lives of domestic violence survivors. Specifically, by representing these folks in court, we are able to finally give them a voice and let them know that their truth is worth protecting.
The Derwentshire program is a program that volunteers go to the school and read to the 3rd graders, and Maureen Van Allen takes a major part in assisting the children in reading. When I show up, the kids run to me, give me a big hug, make me feel welcome because they know that I'm getting ready to tell them a wonderful story, and they enjoy that part of I volunteer with Heart Math Tutors. I know that I am blessed to be a blessing, and the opportunity to give back is so important to me, and that's what keeps me going. And especially with Heart Math Tutors, it gives me the opportunity to put my whole heart into it.
The Wills Pro Bono Project at Moore& Van Allen is a project where we work with the Charlotte Center for Legal Advocacy Being in a position where we can come in and help those people and really make sure that they feel good about their situation, both from a legacy perspective but also from the perspective of knowing that when they get sick, someone's going to be there to help make the decisions and make sure that they're taken care of.
Warren Fudd Allen's commitment to service is longstanding. It's important work to us and this community because we live here and we work here, we raise our children here, and it's important to us as attorneys because of our commitment to providing pro bono legal services for people who can't afford it.
The investments our attorneys and staff make within the community are truly life-changing. These are more than legal transactions and volunteer opportunities. They are valued relationships built upon trust. We are grateful for every opportunity to serve.
