Alex Gomes, a young Pisgah Legal lawyer, is one of the first men to stand up for women on a state council.

by Jess McCuan . photos by Matt Rose

The North Carolina Council for Women, an advocacy agency that’s part of the state’s Department of Administration, has never had any male members. Until now.

In late September, Alex Gomes, a 32-year-old attorney with the Asheville nonprofit Pisgah Legal Services, was one of two men sworn in as council members. The group, formed in 1963, doles out grant money and monitors state policies regarding women. One of its most ambitious projects is a comprehensive survey of North Carolina women, comparing their behavior to women in other states. Sadly, in 1996, the last time the survey was done, North Carolina women were among the lowest-ranked in the nation in areas like voter turnout and women holding elected offices. Gomes says he’s anxious to help oversee work on a new survey, which will make data available in summer 2012. He specializes in representing victims of domestic violence, so he’ll also personally lobby against three bills in the state legislature that would make it more difficult for domestic violence victims to seek protection under the law.

Gomes, a Pisgah Legal employee since 2006, is relatively fresh out of law school. Jill Dinwiddie, the Council for Women’s executive director, says that’s a good thing. When she and the council decided to recruit men, she wanted someone young, and someone from the state’s Western region. “I’m a firm believer in diversity, even though it’s a women-focused council,” Dinwiddie says. “In my experience, organizations always operate better—more efficiently, more creatively—when both genders are represented.” Still, Gomes is “a special kind of male,” she says, to advocate for women in his line of work, and to sit at the table with a previously all-female group. The other male appointed to the council is Phil Kline, president of a long-established women’s shelter, United Family Services, in Charlotte.

Gomes, who is married, says being surrounded by women is the norm for him. “I don’t know it any other way,” he says, grinning. Three of his bosses at Pisgah Legal, all managing attorneys, are female. The vast majority of his clients—low-income women seeking legal help in domestic violence cases—are female. He was nominated for the state council by a female law professor at North Carolina State University, whose course, Domestic Violence and the Law, inspired him to get into the field. Sure, he watches football (with his wife, Kathryn Hast). But by and large, neither he nor his friends question his masculinity, given his interests or line of work.

Pisgah Legal, which has three regional offices and clients in 17 WNC counties, offers representation to low-income people in several areas, from disability to immigration law. But more than three quarters of the nonprofit’s clients are women, many of whom are seeking help after abuse. Pisgah Legal has 11 women staff attorneys, two bilingual women court advocates and eight female legal assistants. Earlier this year, the organization had more than $85,000 in funding cut from state and county sources. Gomes, like most of Pisgah’s other lawyers, has about 40 cases open and takes on five new clients each week. A long downturn like the current one exacerbates domestic problems, he says. Job losses and long periods of unemployment lead to frustration at home. The steady stream of clients who need legal help is “[more like] a fire hydrant, shooting out water,” he says. “We’re constantly trying to stop it. You simply can’t. There’s always going to be a need for help for folks who are in poverty or falling into poverty.”

According to his colleagues, Gomes is more efficient than most at stemming the flow. The firm says he has closed 1,095 cases since 2006. “He has an incredible ability to gain the trust of women,” says Tina Owen, the nonprofit’s development director. “He’s changed more than 1,000 women’s lives and their futures. Most people can’t say they’ve helped ten. That’s pretty astounding.” Gomes says he regularly works long hours and is fueled by the notion that Pisgah Legal is often the last line of defense. “They have nowhere else to go,” he says of the people who sit in his office and tell him their stories. “I think I’m lucky in that aspect of my work. [The clients] are very appreciative of our help.”

For more about Pisgah Legal Services, check out www.pisgahlegal.org.