GENERAL ASSEMBLY OF NORTH CAROLINA

SESSION 2009

 

 

SESSION LAW 2009-231

SENATE BILL 763

 

 

AN ACT to clarify the authorization for Certain nonprofit corporations to render legal services.

 

The General Assembly of North Carolina enacts:

 

SECTION 1.  G.S. 84-5.1 reads as rewritten:

"§ 84-5.1.  Rendering of indigent legal services by certain nonprofit corporations.

(a)        Subject to the rules and regulations of the North Carolina State Bar, as approved by the Supreme Court of North Carolina, a nonprofit corporation, tax exempt under 26 U.S.C. § 501(c)(3), organized or authorized under Chapter 55A of the General Statutes of North Carolina and operating as a public interest law firm as defined by the applicable Internal Revenue Service guidelines or for the sole primary purpose of rendering indigent  legal services, may render such services through provided by attorneys duly licensed to practice law in North Carolina. Carolina, for the purposes for which the nonprofit corporation was organized. The nonprofit corporation must have a governing structure that does not permit an individual or group of individuals other than an attorney duly licensed to practice law in North Carolina to control the manner or course of the legal services rendered and must continually satisfy the criteria established by the Internal Revenue Service for 26 U.S.C. § 501(c)(3) status, whether or not any action has been taken to revoke that status.

(b)        In no instance may legal services rendered by a nonprofit corporation under subsection (a) of this section be conditioned upon the purchase or payment for any product, good, or service other than the legal service rendered."

SECTION 2.  This act is effective when it becomes law.

In the General Assembly read three times and ratified this the 24th day of June, 2009.

 

 

                                                                    s/  Walter H. Dalton

                                                                         President of the Senate

 

 

                                                                    s/  Joe Hackney

                                                                         Speaker of the House of Representatives

 

 

                                                                    s/  Beverly E. Perdue

                                                                         Governor

 

 

Approved 5:56 p.m. this 30th day of June, 2009