Winston-Salem of counsel Lorin Lapidus is a volunteer with the North Carolina Appellate Pro Bono program, which connects unrepresented parties in appellate cases with lawyers who will represent them for free. The cases have included child custody and support, unemployment benefits, revocation of a driver’s license, domestic violence, and prisoner tort. And as it approaches its two-year mark in March, the Appellate Pro Bono program is now such a success that the North Carolina Supreme Court said it will join the program.

Lapidus was appointed by the Court of Appeals to prepare an amicus brief defending a trial court’s decision in a case where a woman is seeking a domestic violence protective order against another woman whom she previously dated. The trial court denied the request because state law doesn’t allow people to obtain protective orders against current or former romantic partners of the same sex. The woman seeking the protective order argues that the law is unconstitutional.

“The program immerses its pro bono volunteers directly in the midst of a difficult appeal … the court itself needs help to figure out complex issues, and it’s an honor to be asked to be part of this new North Carolina tradition,” Lapidus said, noting that the opportunity to present oral arguments to a panel of the Court of Appeals is a “rare and special event.”

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