Catholic University of America School of Law
Catholic University of America
Columbus School of Law
3600 John McCormac Rd, NE
Washington, DC 20064
www.law.edu
Law School Pro Bono Programs
Contact Information
Hilary BednarzPro Bono Coordinator
(202) 319-5132
bednarz@law.edu
Jessica Heywood
Director, Office of Career and Professional Development
(202) 319-5132
heywood@law.edu
Joan Vorrasi
Director, Student Life and Special Events
(202) 319-6126
vorrasi@law.edu
Category Type
Formal Voluntary Pro Bono Program Characterized by Administrative Support for Student Group Projects
Description of Program
Our newly created Legal Services Society (LSS) will begin operation in fall 2006. LSS is a formal voluntary program managed by a collective group of students of varying grade levels comprised of an executive committee, with a full-time non-student coordinator to oversee operations. The LSS program aims to promote volunteerism in three ways:
- Plan pro bono service opportunities open to all law students, faculty, and alumni;
- Assist the Student Bar Association in the planning and execution of voluntary community service programs to encourage volunteerism, but also to encourage participation in LSS in hopes that student volunteerism would extend to pro bono activities; and
- Plan educational events to encourage pro bono service and emphasize the importance of performing service while in practice to reach students not interested or without time to volunteer.
The faculty will have an important role to play within LSS. They will serve as mentors and volunteers. As mentors, the faculty may encourage student membership, stress within their course lectures the importance and availability of pro bono activities, and provide professional responsibility training and lectures to LSS to ensure compliance with internal and external rules governing conduct. Faculty may sponsor students and supervise their work, receiving hourly pro bono credit for their assistance. The faculty also will be able to volunteer their own hours separately, offering their time to clients within their respective fields of expertise.
In order to become a member in the Legal Service Society, an individual must pledge a minimum of 30 hours of service over 3 years and agree to abide by its rules of professional responsibility. In general, LSS sponsored pro bono projects will be designed to provide legal services to indigent or underrepresented clients. Should a member of the Society wish to participate in a project different from those sponsored by the Society, the member would petition the executive committee for approval of a project with the final decision made by the program coordinator. Alumni, faculty and students alike deserve to be recognized for the service they will be providing to the greater Washington, D.C. and CUA law community. Because no pay or academic credit is given for the volunteer pro bono work, contributions made by the participants will be honored in other ways.
Location of Program
Staffing/Management/Oversight
Funding
Student Run Pro Bono Groups/Specialized Law Education Projects
CUA Innocence Project - The Catholic University of America Chapter of the Innocence Project, affiliated with the Mid-Atlantic Innocence Project, was founded in 2002. Members typically are assigned a matter in which they must determine if an actual innocence claim exists. Working closely with the faculty advisor and expert supervising attorneys, student members investigate facts, review trial transcripts and pleadings, and eventually formulate legal arguments which asserts a client's factual innocence. The group meets regularly with a faculty advisor to evaluate the progress of cases and to discuss strategies in proving innocence. Volunteer Income Tax Assistance Program (VITA)- Tax preparation for low-income persons.
Faculty and Administrative Pro Bono
Awards/Recognition
The student organization, Students for Public Interest Law, solicit donations from faculty, staff, alumni, businesses, and other organizations that are sold at the Annual SPIL Auction through both silent- and live-auction venues. The proceeds from these auctions, less expenses, is matched by the law school (up to $25,000), providing resources for summer stipends. The Dulin-Haynes Fellowship - This is a scholarship awarded to one or more third year students in the Law and Public Policy Program who have done exceptional public service during law school and have also demonstrated academic excellence. This award is given at the annual LPP banquet.
The law school gives awards every year to many students for exceptional public service and service to the law school community. These include the First Lap Award, the Extra Mile award, and the Marathon award, among others.
The alumni association gives an award each year to one day and one evening student for exceptional academic performance and for exceptional public service.
Student Recognition for pro bono work is also provided in the student transcript.
Community Service
OnGoing Community Service Programs: Shadow Day - Members of the law student group Black Law Student Association are paired with local high school students. The high school students and the law students attend special classes at the law school. The high school students are given the opportunity to ask questions about law school, legal careers, and observe the general law school atmosphere. Both the high school students and law school students have given very positive feedback to this project.
St. Anthony's School Outreach - Law students tutor and mentor grade school students.
Brentwood Community Center/Earth Day Clean-up
Homeless Food Runs
Catholic Charities Christmas Gifts for children and young adults in the Catholic Charities Foster Care and Immigrant Care programs.
BINGO with Seniors
Clothing Drives for various organizations, including the CCNV Shelter in downtown DC.
Project Champ Christmas Party and Easter Party
SBA. A canned food drive to support the Capitol Area Food Bank collected 1363 pounds of food.
Women's Law Caucus. The WLC sponsors a day for local Girls Scouts to visit the law school and attend mock classes and mock trials and learn about careers in law.
Student participation in the annual DC "Help-the-Homeless" walkathon.
Law School Public Interest Programs
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Contact Information
Meridith JacobsAssistant Director, Office of Career and Professional Development
(202) 319-5132
jacobsm@law.edu
Certificate/Curriculum Programs
The Law and Public Policy Program is a certificate program that offers academic enrichment and professional development for students interested in public interest law, government and politics. About fifteen students are admitted to the program from each class. To complete the certificate, each student must complete a series of seminars and clinical or externship experiences. The LPP program offers a cohesive subcommunity for some of the most idealistic and service-oriented students at the law school. Many LPP students have experience in the Peace Corps, Americorps, the Jesuit Volunteer Corps, or other significant prior service experience. Their interests are diverse, but the program produces a regular stream of legal services lawyers, public defenders, prosecutors, child advocates, and others who focus on homelessness, education law, or human rights. Information about the program is available on the law school website.CUA supports public interest law through LPP (above) and through:
The Communications Law Institute (certificate)
The Comparative and International Law Institute (certificate)
and
Interdisciplinary Program in Law and Religion (Curricular Concentration)
Public Interest Centers
The Law and Public Policy Program - facilitates student participation in a variety of public service activities. Pro bono Placement in National Legislative Affairs Office of Catholic Charities USA - The Center for Law, Philosophy and Culture's St. Ives Summer Honors Internship Program in Legislative Affairs places three rising second-year Catholic University law students, each year, in an intensive summer program of research and writing at the Legislative Affairs Office of Catholic Charities, U.S.A. The purpose of the program is to expose selected law students to advocacy within the legislative process, based on an integration of theoretical insight into meaning of the social good. The placements are decided on a competitive basis.
St. Ives Summer Honors Internship in Legislative Affairs - http://law.cua.edu/LPCI/Stives.cfm
Center for Law, Philosophy and Culture - http://law.cua.edu/clpc/index.cfm
Public Interest Clinics
Advocacy for the Elderly Criminal Prosecution Clinic
D.C. Law Students in Court
Families and the Law Clinic
General Practice Clinic
Externships/Internships
Our field placement programs include Legal Externships: Becoming a Lawyer and Legal Externships: Supervised Fieldwork, which are general placement externship programs with either a seminar (Becoming a Lawyer) or a tutorial (Supervised Fieldwork) component. In addition, we have a Criminal Prosecution Clinic, which places up to 16 third-year students in the offices of the State's Attorney for Montgomery County and Prince George's County Maryland; the SEC Observer Program, which places student at the Securities & Exchange Commission; DC Law Students in Court, civil & criminal divisions, which are year-long placements in poverty law office; and the Immigration/Human Rights Externship Clinic, operated by our in-house clinical program, but which places students in up to 5 different immigration/human rights placements. All placements in each program are within the DC metropolitan area. http://law.cua.edu/clinics/cle/externships.cfm/
Classes with a Public Service Component
Public Interest Journals
Public Interest Career Assistance
Greater Washington D.C. Public Service Job Fair (coordinated with American, George Mason, University of Maryland) The Catholic University of America, Columbus School of Law (CUA) Externship Fair(This fair occurs twice a year -- in the fall and spring.)
Fall On-Campus Interviews (includes approximately 20 public interest employers)
Speed Networking for Public Interest Employers (held in cooperation with American, George Mason and University of Maryland)
CUA Public Interest Career Week (speaker panels)
CUA Public Interest Networking Reception (CUA alums meet formally and informally with current students interested in pursuing a career in public interest)
CUA Fall and Spring Mock Interview Programs (which includes both government and public service employers)
The National Black Prosecutors Association's 2005 Conference and Job Fair (formalized component of CUA Fall Recruiting program)
The Hispanic Bar Association of DC Foundation Summer Public Interest Fellowship Program (formalized component of CUA Fall Recruiting program)
New York City Law Department Annual Diversity Fair (formalized component of CUA Fall Recruiting program)
The Equal Professional Opportunity Committee of the Dauphin County Bar Association (Harrisburg, PA) Clerkship Interview Program (formalized component of CUA Fall Recruiting program)
Loan Repayment Assistance Programs (LRAP)
The CUA program has received provisional approval and is now in the process of reaching the funding level specified for beginning to make awards.
Post-Graduate Fellowships/Awards
Law School Funded:
Graduate Student Funded:
Other Funding Sources:
Term Time Fellowships/Scholarships
Law School Funded:
Graduate Student Funded:
Other Funding Sources:
Summer Fellowships
Law School Funded:
Charles and Louise O'Brien Fellowships In 1995, Father Raymond O'Brien created a fellowship in memory of his grandparents Charles and Louise O'Brien. The fellowship may only be used the summer following the first year of law school. To apply for the fellowship, a student must write an essay entitled "The Interaction Between Religious Perspective and Service Within the Legal Profession." Two fellowships are available at $4,000 each. The recipients will receive a check in the amount of $2,000 in late May and then another in early July. It is hoped that the recipients will, during the summer the awards are received, volunteer in placements related to the social justice mission presented in their application essay. Details on the O'Brien Fellowships are included in the SPIL Summer Stipend and Off-Campus Stipend Packet and are due around the same time.
Students for Public Interest Law (SPIL) Stipends Students For Public Interest Law (SPIL) spends the academic year raising money to fund stipends for law students who obtain summer public interest jobs. The number of stipends awarded depends upon the fundraising efforts of student volunteers and donations from local businesses and law firms. SPIL's primary fundraising source is its auction held every spring semester. SPIL funded twenty stipends in 2007; each stipend is $3,500. If you are interested in applying for a SPIL Stipend, you need to complete application materials in the early part of the second semester.
Eric Weissman Endowed Scholarship Fund A student who has completed the application for the SPIL stipend may also be considered for the Weissman Stipend. This summer stipend is for $3,500. Two Weissman stipends were awarded in 2007.
Plato Papps Labor Law Scholarship This program provides a $3,000 stipend for an internship in labor law during the summer following the first year of legal study. Applications are distributed by the CUA Law faculty directly to students shortly after Spring Break. The deadline will be announced with the distribution of the application forms. Papps Fellows are expected to work at their assigned internship for ten weeks, perform the tasks assigned to them, maintain a journal of their activities (maintaining client confidentiality), report by telephone to Professor Roger Hartley twice during the internship regarding the Fellow's progress, and submit a journal to Professor Hartley at the conclusion of the internship. Fellows will be paid one-half of the summer stipend near the beginning of the internship and the remainder half way through the internship.
Graduate Student Funded:
Other Funding Sources:
Patton Boggs LLP Public Policy Fellowship Using the attorney's fees earned from a successful pro bono case won by John Oberdorfer, Patton Boggs, LLP established the Patton Boggs Foundation to commemorate the retirement of founding partner James R. Patton, Jr. The Foundation annually grants Public Policy Fellowships to exceptional law students (one of whom is a CUA student) who spend their summers working on public policy matters for a non-profit institution or a government agency. The student must have been offered a position or be under serious consideration for a summer position doing policy work. The summer position need not be in the Washington, D.C., area. The stipend is $5,000. For more information, contact Hilary Bednarz in the Office of Legal Career Services.
Extracurricular and Co-Curricular Programs
Student Public Interest Groups
