Member Moves

Pollard To Lead Indigent Defense Services

May 28, 2020

The North Carolina Commission on Indigent Defense Services has appointed NCAJ Past President Mary Pollard to serve as the new executive director of the North Carolina office. IDS provides court appointed representation to individuals who could not otherwise afford to hire an attorney in criminal cases and certain types of civil cases. Pollard’s legal career spans 27 years, most of which she spent working to protect the rights of indigent, incarcerated people. From 1993 through 2002, she practiced civil litigation with the firm of Womble Carlyle Sandridge & Rice. In 2002, she joined the Center for Death Penalty Litigation. Since 2009, Pollard has served as executive director of North Carolina Prisoner Legal Services, Inc., which contracts with IDS to provide inmates incarcerated in the N.C. Department of Corrections with their constitutional right of meaningful access to the courts. A Raleigh resident and mother of two, Pollard is a graduate of the Wake Forest University School of Law. She served as NCAJ president in 2018-19.