We remove barriers to employment and housing by providing free legal services to Durham residents who cannot afford attorneys to expunge charges and convictions from their criminal records and restore suspended or revoked drivers’ licenses.
A Special Message on DEAR Services
For Durham County residents, we have a dropbox on the desk in Suite 2000 of the Durham Courthouse where individuals can submit an information card. The information will be forwarded to the Second Chance Project Intake Specialist, who will follow up by phone to begin the intake process.
Please note that our courthouse office is no longer staffed in person.
DEAR Durham,
We believe in second chances.
WHAT WE DO
DEAR LAUNCHES “SECOND CHANCE DRIVING” PROJECT
The Durham Expunction & Restoration Program supported the transformational initiative of the Durham District Attorney’s Office to resolve old traffic charges that were causing long-term driver’s license suspensions for Durham residents. Please visit https://ncfairchance.org/ to search your name to determine if you have received relief—either the dismissal of an old pending traffic case or the elimination of old unpaid traffic court debt, or both. In addition to DA Deberry, DEAR thanks the NC Justice Center and Code the Dream (who developed the website). Read more about the effort in this story in the INDY.
At the heart of DEAR is an unprecedented level of partnership and collaboration between the City of Durham, Durham District Attorney’s Office, Public Defender’s Office, Durham Court System, community organizations, and members of the DEAR Advisory Board. Unique to the DEAR program, our local law schools participate in an organized network of community legal clinics.
Attorneys from the District Attorney and Public Defender’s Offices volunteered at a free DEAR clinic at Mount Vernon Baptist Church in December 2018.
We aspire to create a model pro bono community in Durham. If you are an attorney, paralegal or law school student interested in volunteering to support DEAR’s mission, please sign up below and we will notify you of future opportunities.
“Volunteering with the DEAR project attorneys has been a rewarding experience. I enjoyed seeing people relieved that their records were being cleaned and excited for new opportunities.”
“I haven’t had a license in 22 years. A lawyer said he could help me for $9,000. I can’t afford that. DEAR helped me get my license back.”