News Article
Pro Bono Profile: Boys and Girls Club Solves Neighborhood Problem, Gets Land For A Teen Center
May 21, 2007
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Club officials plan to tear down the dilapidated structure and build a Teen Center on the property. |
The John Avery Boys and Girls Club faced two problems with a common solution.
A house next door to the club’s administrative office had become a magnet for illegal activity and a danger to the club. After the last tenants left, the owner boarded up the house. But that still didn’t stop drug users from attempting to break into the house and the Boys and Girls Club office. At the same time, the Boys and Girls wanted to expand their offerings to older children. To do that, club leaders wanted to create a "Teen Center," so Durham’s teenagers would have a positive place to spend their free time.
Enter Womble Carlyle attorney Kim Justus, former Womble Carlyle attorney Culley Carson and paralegal Barbara Sporrer, who offered to help the Boys and Girls Club on a pro bono bases. Culley, Kim and Barbara worked with the City of Durham and the property owner to negotiate a sale of the property to the Boys and Girls Club. Culley, a Durham native and member of the Board of Directors for the John Avery Boys and Girls Club, helped put the club in touch with Womble Carlyle.
After months of work, the deal closed in May, 2007. Club officials plan to tear down the dilapidated structure and build a Teen Center on the property.
This isn’t the first time the firm has aided the John Avery Boys and Girls Club, as back in December, the firm’s RTP office raised $1,525 for the club.
A full-service business law firm, Womble Carlyle ranks among AmLaw's 100 leading firms in the country and is a top law firm for companies doing business in the Southeast and mid-Atlantic states. The firm is a recipient of the Thurgood Marshall College Fund Corporate Leadership Award, making Womble Carlyle the first law firm ever to receive the highest honor given to a business organization in recognition of its support of the Fund and its 45 member educational institutions.
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