New England School of Law
New England School of Law
154 Stuart Street
Boston, MA 02116
www.nesl.edu
Law School Pro Bono Programs
Contact Information
Russell Engler Professor & Clinic Director
rengler@faculty.nesl.edu
617 422-7380
Career Services Office
cso@admin.nesl.edu
Category Type
Formal Voluntary Pro Bono Program Characterized by Administrative Support for In-house and Collaborative Student Group Projects
Description of Program
The program is situated within the school’s Center for Law and Social Responsibility (CLSR) and operated in coordination with the school’s Career Services Office. The CLSR dedicates itself to the ideal of law as a means through which to achieve socially responsible goals. In keeping with this mission, the CLSR supports the faculty, students, and alumni in classroom, scholarship, pro bono projects and other activities that study or otherwise address social problems that can be addressed through the law and those that are products of the inequities in the legal system itself. The CLSR serves, in part, as the New England School of Law's implementation of Massachusetts Rule of Professional Conduct 6.1, a rule encouraging lawyers to engage in public service activities. The CLSR also aims to assist in the school's mission to perform "public service and other work that further the interests of justice." Its website includes information about its four projects as well as information regarding employment, public service work, and public interest and pro bono web links. The four projects of CLSR are Criminal Justice, Environmental Advocacy, Public Service, and Women’s and Children’s Advocacy, through which students may take courses, enroll in clinics, or volunteer.
Faculty recommended volunteer opportunities and in-house pro bono group projects are listed on the Law School's website on student organizations. The CLSR also sponsors a fellows program through which graduates may earn a position as a salaried school employee and spend ten months post-graduation working part-time as a member of the CLSR staff on a substantive public service project.
Location of Program
Center for Law and Social Responsibility. See www.nesl.edu/clsr/.
Staffing/Management/Oversight
There is no separate pro bono coordinator. Staffing is coordinated by the Center for Law and Social Responsibility and the Career Services Office. Each of the Center's Projects has a faculty Director.
Funding
The school provides a budget for the CLSR, which oversees the Pro Bono Program as part of its work.
Student Run Pro Bono Groups/Specialized Law Education Projects
Confinement Outreach Project - Members of the New England Journal on Criminal and Civil Confinement extends pro bono educational services to local prisoners to help provide information regarding legal process, providing weekly training to prisoners during the academic year.Judicial Language Project – Members of the Women’s Law Caucus monitor cases related to sexual violence for language that stereotypes, demeans, or otherwise inappropriately characterizes the victims of the violence.
National Lawyers Guild Chapter - This group coordinates student volunteers who teach off-campus workshops to educate non-lawyers about their rights under the law and what to do when those rights are violated.
Public Interest Law Association (PILA) – The organization supports a range of Public Interest activities on campus. It raises funds through an annual auction used to fund summer public interest grants for students.
Sexual Violence Legal News – Members of the Women’s Law Caucus produce the Sexual Violence Legal News (SVLN), providing online summaries of recent, important cases relating to sexual violence.
Shelter Legal Services Foundation Chapter -- This group coordinates student volunteers who participate in the activities of Shelter Legal Services Foundation, Inc. (SLSF), a Boston organization that provides free legal services to homeless and low-income people through weekly clinics at the New England Shelter for Homeless Veterans and Rosie's Place, a shelter for homeless women. Volunteer law students, supervised by volunteer attorneys, assist clients with a broad array of legal problems. Participating students get experience through client contact and use of their research, writing, and advocacy skills.
Women's Law Caucus - This group organizes student volunteers who work at the Domestic Violence Institute at the Boston Medical Center assisting clients with domestic violence issues.
VITA - Each spring, law students participate in an IRS program to serve the Boston Community by offering free tax help to people who can not afford paid professional assistance. Students prepare tax returns for walk-in, low-income clients.
Faculty and Administrative Pro Bono
There is no formal faculty pro bono policy, but criteria for evaluating faculty for retention and promotion include service to legal and non-legal communities, including "legal representation for those in need". Faculty run and participate in the work of the Center for Law and Social Responsibility; some promote pro bono opportunities related to their own activities. For a description of pro bono work performed by Center-affiliated faculty and other faculty at New England School of Law, please see http://www.nesl.edu/clsr/projects/PSP/PSPfaculty.cfm
Awards/Recognition
The school’s Public Service Transcript Notation program provides recognition for appropriate public service legal work. For more information about the program, please visit http://www.nesl.edu/clsr/projects/PSP/TranscriptNotation.cfmThe Dean Timothy J. Cronin, Jr., Award recognizes one graduating student who has shown the greatest promise of outstanding contributions to public service.
Community Service
Law School Public Interest Programs
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Contact Information
Russell Engler Professor & Clinic Director
rengler@faculty.nesl.edu
617 422-7380
Career Services Office
cso@admin.nesl.edu
Certificate/Curriculum Programs
Public Interest Centers
Center for Law & Social Responsibility (www.nesl.edu/clsr/)
Public Interest Clinics
The in-house clinics and externships are administered jointly under the umbrella of the clinical courses. Most clinics and placements are entirely Public Interest.
Externships/Internships
The in-house clinics and externships are administered jointly under the umbrella of the clinical courses. Most clinics and placements are entirely Public Interest.
Classes with a Public Service Component
Public Interest LawSeveral courses have practicum components through which students and their professor take on actual public service work as part of the course activities. These have included: Environmental Advocacy, Domestic Violence and Mental Health Issues in Criminal Proceedings.
Public Interest Journals
The Center for Law and Social Responsibility, http://www.nesl.edu/clsr/The Center for International Law and Policy, http://www.nesl.edu/center/
The New England Journal on Criminal and Civil Confinement, http://www.nesl.edu/journal/
The New England Journal of International and Comparative Law, http://www.nesl.edu/intljournal/
Public Interest Career Assistance
Career Services Officecso@admin.nesl.edu
Loan Repayment Assistance Programs (LRAP)
Post-Graduate Fellowships/Awards
Law School Funded:
Academic Center Fellowship. The fellow assists faculty of the Center for Law and Social Responsibility, the Center for Business Law, and the Center for International Law and Policy with administrative tasks, as well as developing and completing a project on a substantive legal issue in coordination with one or more centers.
Graduate Student Funded:
Other Funding Sources:
Term Time Fellowships/Scholarships
Law School Funded:
Graduate Student Funded:
Other Funding Sources:
Summer Fellowships
Law School Funded:
Graduate Student Funded:
Other Funding Sources:
The Public Interest Law Association awards grants to a select number of students who will by working in low- or non-paying public interest related legal jobs in the summer.
Extracurricular and Co-Curricular Programs
Student Public Interest Groups
American Civil Liberties Union ChapterChildren’s Law Society
Environmental Law Society
National Lawyers Guild Chapter
Public Interest Law Association
Shelter Legal Services Foundation Chapter
Women’s Law Caucus
