{"id":3013,"date":"2026-03-16T10:48:55","date_gmt":"2026-03-16T14:48:55","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/magazine.law.unc.edu\/march-2026\/?p=3013"},"modified":"2026-04-08T11:18:52","modified_gmt":"2026-04-08T15:18:52","slug":"unc-school-of-law-students-spent-winter-break-serving-sandhills-communities","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/magazine.law.unc.edu\/spring-2026\/unc-school-of-law-students-spent-winter-break-serving-sandhills-communities\/","title":{"rendered":"UNC School of Law Students Spent Winter Break Serving Sandhills Communities"},"content":{"rendered":"\n
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Mary Amico barely slept the night before her first pro bono trip. The third-year law student kept thinking about the clients she\u2019d meet the next morning \u2013 strangers who would trust her with some of life\u2019s hardest conversations. <\/p>\n\n\n\n

\u201cI hoped I was worthy of our clients\u2019 trust and capable of work I had never done,\u201d said Amico. <\/p>\n\n\n\n

By the time her first client sat down at the December 16, 2025 clinic in Fayetteville, the nerves melted away. \u201cI loved every second,\u201d said Amico. <\/p>\n\n\n\n

Amico was one of eight UNC School of Law students who traveled to the Sandhills region over winter break to provide critical legal services in Cumberland and Robeson counties. In partnership with Legal Aid of North Carolina, the students co-hosted wills and advanced directives clinics in Fayetteville and Pembroke on December 16 and 17, 2025, serving 22 clients and executing over 75 documents. <\/p>\n\n\n\n

The work was both technically demanding and emotionally heavy. Students guided clients through wills, powers of attorney, living wills, and advanced directives. Working on these documents required conversations about death, incapacity, and what happens if loved ones pass away first. <\/p>\n\n\n\n

Meghan Moran \u201919<\/a>, director of pro bono initiatives at Carolina Law, watched students handle back-to-back clients across both days. \u201cI was really impressed with how compassionate and empathetic they were with clients, discussing what can sometimes be a sensitive topic,\u201d said Moran. <\/p>\n\n\n\n

\u201cClients were willing to trust us \u2014 total strangers \u2014 enough to have these conversations,\u201d said Amico. \u201cTheir resiliency through hours of intense and taxing work was beyond admirable.\u201d <\/p>\n\n\n\n

One client told Amico and her partner how relieved she felt getting all the important documents handled in a single afternoon. \u201cShe kept telling us it was such a weight off her shoulders,\u201d said Amico. \u201cHer relief felt contagious.\u201d <\/p>\n\n\n\n

Allison Constance \u201909, director of pro bono programs at Legal Aid and Carolina Law\u2019s former pro bono director, supervised the students. At Legal Aid, the demand for services far outweighs available resources, particularly for wills and advance directives in Cumberland and Robeson counties. \u201cWe were delighted that the\u00a0Law pro bono program could help us meet the needs of our clients,\u201d said Constance. The work not only ensured clients\u2019 wishes would be honored by their loved ones, but also prevented future heir property issues. \u201cBringing an infusion of pro bono support to areas beyond the Triangle is essential to helping Legal Aid serve North Carolinians statewide, and we appreciate the students\u2019 willingness to spend part of their winter break with us.\u201d\u00a0<\/p>\n\n\n\n

Many clients served were seniors, veterans, and members of the Lumbee tribe. The trip also included an alumni event featuring retired Superior Court Judge Mark Sternlicht \u201978 and Legal Aid attorney Alex Rutgers \u201920, who discussed the importance of pro bono service. <\/p>\n\n\n\n

For Amico, who couldn\u2019t sleep the night before, the trip clarified her path forward. <\/p>\n\n\n\n

\u201cI wish there was another wills clinic tomorrow,\u201d said Amico. \u201cI hope I\u2019ll be able to do pro bono wills work when I am a real-life lawyer.\u201d <\/p>\n\n\n\n

Thank you to the Carolina Law community for supporting the Pro Bono Discretionary Fund<\/a>, which makes opportunities like this winter trip to Fayetteville possible.<\/em><\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"

Mary Amico barely slept the night before her first pro bono trip. By the end of the next day, she wished there was another clinic tomorrow.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":5,"featured_media":3255,"comment_status":"closed","ping_status":"open","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":[],"categories":[7],"tags":[],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/magazine.law.unc.edu\/spring-2026\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/3013"}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/magazine.law.unc.edu\/spring-2026\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/magazine.law.unc.edu\/spring-2026\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/magazine.law.unc.edu\/spring-2026\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/5"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/magazine.law.unc.edu\/spring-2026\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=3013"}],"version-history":[{"count":6,"href":"https:\/\/magazine.law.unc.edu\/spring-2026\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/3013\/revisions"}],"predecessor-version":[{"id":3407,"href":"https:\/\/magazine.law.unc.edu\/spring-2026\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/3013\/revisions\/3407"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/magazine.law.unc.edu\/spring-2026\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/3255"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/magazine.law.unc.edu\/spring-2026\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=3013"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/magazine.law.unc.edu\/spring-2026\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=3013"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/magazine.law.unc.edu\/spring-2026\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=3013"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}