The Pittsboro Office of Legal Aid of North Carolina has partnered with the UNC School of Law to assist qualifying low-income Orange County residents seeking divorces.

Under the partnership, UNC law students who are committed to providing access to justice for people of modest means will represent clients under the supervision of clinical professor and Legal Aid attorney Beth Posner.

Chief District Court Judge Joe Buckner will hold divorce hearings for these clients at the UNC School of Law, giving the clients and law student-representatives a convenient forum in which to secure divorce judgments and providing the Law School community with a learning opportunity.

Legal Aid of North Carolina reports that divorces are particularly difficult for low-income clients to obtain.

Attorney and court fees are out of reach for poor people, and Legal Aid resources are generally devoted to emergency legal problems such as domestic violence, mortgage foreclosure defense, evictions, and issues associated with unsafe, unsanitary or uninhabitable rental properties.

Legail Aid's partnership with the Law School, volunteer law students and the courts is the beginning of a larger program to address the issue of access to the courts in divorce matters.

In addition to the UNC Law School collaboration, Legal Aid will hold quarterly "Do It Yourself" divorce workshops this spring.

The next workshops will be at Orange County Courthouse in Hillsborough on Jan. 28 and March 18.

Private attorney Laura Irwin has volunteered her time to conduct the next two clinics in Hillsborough

Interested participants for either program should contact the Pittsboro office at 542-0475 or (800) 672-5834.