Law School Pro Bono Programs - Description of Programs
American University: Washington College of Law
Information on the voluntary Pro Bono Honors Pledge Program can be found at http://www.wcl.american.edu/publicinterest/probono.cfm.
Under this Program, students are encouraged to conduct at least 75 hours of pro bono work during law school. Up to 25 of the 75 hours may be non-legal community service work. The remaining 50 hours must be: legal in nature with an attorney supervisor, for the benefit of an underserved population, not for pay and not for academic credit. The Office of Public Interest maintains a listing of over 100 local legal service providers seeking WCL students for pro bono projects. In addition, there are numerous ways students can engage in pro bono activities through programs housed as the law school.
Current intensive short-term pro bono and community service opportunities: Several students each year travel with faculty to assist in cases being heard by the Inter-American Commission on Human Rights. Further, there is a non-legal alternative spring break program each year where students travel to Latin America to work with Habitat for Humanity.
Appalachian School of Law: Appalachian School of Law
ASL's mission is to develop professionals who will serve as community leaders and community advocates. ASL provides a unique opportunity for mandatory community service that students may complete in a variety of ways. No classes are scheduled on Monday afternoons, so that the entire faculty and student body is free to perform community service during that time.
At the beginning of each academic year, a community service fair is held at the law school; local groups and organizations attend this fair and provide information to the students about opportunities available from their organization. Students are required to attend this fair and an orientation meeting. Written descriptions of community service opportunities also are distributed to the students. Students also may request approval of alternative projects in the local community or their home communities. The program is promoted to prospective students through our catalog and website. See http://www.asl.edu/misc info/commserv.htm. Each community service project is supervised by a faculty member.
Ms. O'Quin and the faculty supervisors annually review each placement site prior to the start of the academic year to insure quality placements.
Arizona State University: Arizona State University Sandra Day O'Connor College of Law
At the Sandra Day O'Connor College of Law, our Director of Pro Bono Programs and Student Life supervises the voluntary Pro Bono Program. The Pro Bono Board consists of faculty, administrators and students working together to ensure that our students have an ample number of quality pro bono opportunities, and to make access to these opportunities as easy as possible. The Director and Pro Bono Board coordinates projects administered by other student organizations, promotes and monitors student involvement, and makes and implements policies and procedures relating to student pro bono activities.
At any one time, we may have about 20 student-run pro bono projects, as well as pro bono efforts that law students can do independently in accordance with policies. Some of our groups are run completely in-house, such as the Homeless Legal Assistance Project. Others are outreach projects that work in conjunction with community agencies, such as the Family Lawyers Assistance Project. One of our most unique programs is the Crime Victims' Legal Assistance Project that was a pilot program through the Department of Justice, and has now won national recognition and is being duplicated in other locations. Please visit us online at www.law.asu.edu/?id=304
Barry University: School of Law
Barry University School of Law commits itself to offering students a quality education in a caring environment that encourages community service and assures a religious dimension. The Rules of Professional Conduct recognize that every lawyer has a professional responsibility to provide legal services to those unable to pay. To foster the mission of the University and the aspirations of our profession, the School of Law has adopted a "pro bono requirement" that each student perform a minimum number of hours [40 hours] of pro bono or community service work prior to graduation.
The pro bono requirement can be satisfied by any of the following activities, if undertaken without compensation or academic credit: volunteering at a non-profit charitable organization (either law- or non-law related); providing legal assistance on a pro bono case under the supervision of an attorney; and serving people who are disadvantaged through a public agency or private organization.
Baylor University: Baylor University Law School
Though there is no formal pro bono program, several faculty members work to support, encourage and coordinate pro bono work by the students.
Boston College: Boston College School of Law
The Law School provides support to student organizations involved in pro bono in terms of counseling, programming and organizing. A staff member also provides significant administrative support to these student organizations. Individual students are offered pro bono opportunities through the PSLawNet database and program. Students attend a training session in order to identify a local organization with which to volunteer. The students, including first years, participate in a wide variety of legal work on a pro bono basis at public service organizations, the courts, or government agencies during the semester and summer.
Through the Miami/El Paso Immigration Asylum Project, interested law students go over winter break to either El Paso or Miami to help low income immigrants fleeing persecution in their home countries. Students have written motions, interviewed clients, and prepared country conditions reports and memoranda. Students have also observed courtroom proceedings and visited detention centers.
Boston University: Boston University School of Law
Boston University School of Law students are invited to participate in our voluntary pro bono program and to make a Pro Bono Pledge to perform a minimum of 35 hours during their three years in law school.
Pro Bono work, for the purposes of the BUSL program, must be unpaid and not for academic credit. To meet the goals of our program, student pro bono work should involve the rendering of meaningful law-related service to persons of limited means or to organizations that serve such persons or to other organizations dedicated to underrepresented groups and/or social issues.
Legal work performed in one of the BUSL clinical programs for academic credit will not qualify.
Students who meet or exceed the pledged amount of hours will receive a notation on their law school transcripts.
Brigham Young University: J. Reuben Clark Law School
Many non-clinical public service opportunities are offered through "Law Help" seminars on topics including elder law, street/poverty law, mediation, domestic relations, and child advocacy. The seminars have service learning components. Several other courses also have service learning components. The law school also offers opportunities for students to volunteer as community mediators. The law school's Pro Bono Alliance matches volunteer students with volunteer attorneys to work on pro bono cases provided by a local legal services organization.
Brooklyn Law School: Brooklyn Law School
The Public Service Program Office engages in career counseling for the entire public service community, coordinates various pro bono activities, acts as faculty advisor to public interest student groups, and sponsors events exposing students to both various practice areas and to issues important to the public interest community.
California Western: California Western School of Law
The Dean introduces the idea of pro bono service to all students in the welcoming ceremony. In November, the Office of Career Services talks with the students about the Pro Bono Program, and in February of each year hosts a Pro Bono Fair on the campus, at which only public interest organizations that provide legal services are represented. The students are encouraged to make a commitment of 50 hours of service over the course of two trimesters while in law school, making them eligible for induction into the Pro Bono Honors Society. Career Services also orchestrates a Pro Bono On Campus Interview Program each fall and spring.
The Pro Bono Coordinator meets with each student interested in working for public interest organizations through the Pro Bono Program. The Coordinator oversees the Pro Bono Program and tracks the students participating in that program.
Campbell University: Norman Adrian Wiggins School of Law
Capital University Law School: Capital University Law School
The Pro Bono Validation Program seeks to encourage public service by law students through recognizing their successful completion of an approved placement. Recognition is given by a transcript designation of Pro Bono Honoree, a certificate of completion, and acknowledgement during the Honors Convocation. Placement may be with a government body or other entity that is engaged in providing pro bono legal services. Students must submit proposals for pro bono work to the Assistant Dean for Career Services to be approved before work may begin.
Students may create their own pro bono programs or participate in one of the pre-approved pro bono opportunities supported in part by the law school. These opportunities include:
Interfaith Legal Services of the Columbus Bar Association
- Students meet with clients, conduct an initial interview, assist the client in completing the intake form, introduce the client to the attorney, assist the client in presenting the issue, and participate in any subsequent representation as permitted by the attorney and the client, and/or assist in clinic administration.
- Signature Homeless Shelter Project
- Domestic Violence Project Clinic Intake
- Pro bono students assist with legal and policy research projects, summarize recent cases and tobacco policy news, and assist with other ongoing programs.
https://culsnet.law.capital.edu/CareerServices/ProBonoProgram.asp
Case Western Reserve University: Case Western Reserve University Law School
Catholic University of America: Columbus School of Law
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.
Chapman University: Chapman University School of Law
Chapman University School of Law, in partnership with the Public Interest Law Foundation and Externship Program, has created the “Commitment to Service” award to encourage and recognize the public interest work of Chapman Law students. Students who complete at least 50 hours of pro bono work upon graduation will receive an award acknowledging their service. The program is administered by the Director of Externships, and information and forms are available at http://www.chapman.edu/law/students/proBono.asp.
Charleston School of Law: Charleston School of Law
Charleston School of Law students must complete 30 hours of pro bono legal service under the supervision of a practicing attorney before they can graduate. The School of Law provides students with a comprehensive list of pro bono placement sites, but students also may find their own pro bono opportunities. The Dean and the Assistant Dean for Career Services pre-approve all student pro bono work.
City University of New York: City University of New York Law at Queens College
The stated mission of CUNY to educate and train lawyers for the practice of Law in the Service of Human Needs. CUNY's curriculum emphasizes practical experience during all three years of law school. Each third-year student is required to take at least 12 credits of in-house clinic, a field placement program, or an elective concentration of public importance.
Pro bono placements are communicated via the email and weekly notices to website.
The Mississippi Project operates during the break between fall and spring semesters.
Cleveland State University: Cleveland-Marshall College of Law
The Director of the Pro Bono Project facilitates individual projects, monthly projects (legal and non-legal) and ongoing larger projects. Each year, the Program holds a Pro Bono Program Volunteer Fair. At this Fair, students meet with representatives from non-profit agencies and governmental entities to learn about community service and pro bono opportunities.
The Project, with the help of the Student Public Interest Law Organization, sponsors monthly group projects. These single day initiatives are either pro bono or community service. Law related projects have included providing end-of-life decision to the residents of Benjamin Rose Institute for the Elderly and providing intake for the Cleveland Bar Homeless Project. Training is provided.
The Project sponsors an Alternative Spring Break during which students are encouraged to design their own volunteer week at one or more sites in the community. In addition, through the South Texas Pro Bono Asylum Representation Project, a law professor and students travel to Texas over school break to participate in this project of the American Bar Association, the State Bar of Texas and the American Immigration Lawyers Association. A full-time attorney oversees and coordinates the efforts of volunteer attorneys and students who provide representation and counseling to political asylum applicants and immigrants detained by the Immigration and Naturalization Service.
College of William and Mary: Marshall-Wythe School of Law
The Law School partners with the Williamsburg Bar Association in quarterly legal clinics. The clinics provide pro bono assistance to low-income residents throughout Greater Williamsburg. Students assist volunteer lawyers with a range of pro bono services.
The Law School also partners with the Virginia Bar Association to promote its Pro Bono/Community Servant Program. Through that program, nearly 230 William & Mary students pledged at least 35 hours of service during the 2005-06 academic year.
The Director of Externships also publicizes pro bono opportunities that are available with organizations who seek volunteers in addition to those students who are completing for-credit externships.
Columbia University: Columbia University School of Law
Forty hours of uncompensated (by cash or academic credit) law-related service between the end of the first year of law school and the last day of upper-class classes is required. See Pro Bono Program information at www.law.columbia.edu/center_program/public_interest/pro_bono
Columbia's Pro Bono Program, created in 1993, has both mandatory and voluntary components. First year students and those who have completed the graduation requirement are encouraged to do voluntary pro bono service. Oversight of the pro bono program is provided by the Associate Director of the Pro Bono Program who meets with students, creates partnership projects and placements, and ensures that the necessary forms are filed before pro bono credit is awarded. Each student must complete an Exit Questionnaire and have his or her Placement Supervisor complete a Supervisor's Report in order to receive credit. Information from the Exit Questionnaires is used in developing and revising the pro bono program.
The school's adoption of the mandatory pro bono requirement has led, among other things, to the creation of over twenty "in-house" pro bono projects in which students work together under the supervision of a faculty member, an alum or other lawyers. In-house pro bono opportunities are promoted and facilitated at brown bag meetings and training sessions at the Law School, which are held at the beginning of each semester. Meetings are held with the student leaders of in-house pro bono projects at the end of each semester, with the lawyers who direct other in-house projects on an annual basis, and with both more frequently as needed.
Other opportunities are promoted/facilitated through many means, which include one or more of: a web-based pro bono opportunity databse; weekly e-mails to all students; brown bag meetings and training sessions at the Law School; and individual matching of a student who has a particular interest with an organization that works in the area of the student's interest.
A custom-designed computer program tracks the students and provides the information to Academic Services. The Center for Public Interest Law maintains a web-based database of student evaluations, which facilitates comparison of one student's experience with others and tracking of an organization and/or supervisor at an organization over time.
Publications of the Center include the Student Guide to the Columbia Law School Pro Bono Program, the Supervisor's Guide to Columbia's Pro Bono Program, and a document of Frequently Asked Questions.
The Pro Bono Director solicits intensive projects from public interest organizations and government agencies with which we work closely that can be done over winter break, spring break and summer vacation. The most popular intensive experience is the Spring Break Caravan in which groups of students travel to other cities to work together at an organization on matters that include criminal justice and death penalty defense (New Orleans, Atlanta, San Francisco, and Washington DC), post-Hurricane relief work (New Orleans and various cities along the Gulf in Mississippi, Texas, and Florida), environmental justice (Puerto Rico) and immigration (Miami). About 80 students, including 1Ls, participate in the Caravans.
The Assistant Dean for Public Service has the responsibility, as part of her job description, for connecting law students with pro bono opportunities. Here are examples:
- During fall orientation a “Public Service Fair” was held where representatives from local legal aid and other public interest organizations spoke to law students about term-time pro bono opportunities in their offices.
- Promotion of the Law Students in Action Project (LSAP). LSAP collaborates with local legal service providers and Cornell Law School to create a broad array of projects designed to expand the delivery of legal services to low-income and underserved communities. For example, students from the Public Interest Law Union became part of the Volunteer Research Assistance Team and compiled a comprehensive list of adoption and child support law from various states. The Spanish Translation and Interpretation Assistance Team helps public interest attorneys communicate with their Spanish-Speaking clients.
- Advising and assisting a new student group, Cornell Advocates for Human Rights. The Assistant Dean connected students with alumni working for human rights, civil rights and other public interest organizations. As a result, students worked on several legal research projects for these attorneys.
- In July 2004, Joe Iarocci '84, General Counsel for CARE (which is Atlanta based) requested a volunteer law student or students to conduct research and write a memo addressing certain provision of the United States Leadership Against HIV/AIDS, Tuberculosis and Malaria Act of 2003, and its validity under the U.S. Constitution. Many students jumped at the chance.
- In 2005-06, provided information, encouragment and funding for law students who traveled to New Orleans during winter break (4 students) and spring break (18 students) to do legal pro bono work and help with clean-up projects resulting from the effects of hurricane Katrina.
Creighton University: School of Law
DePaul University: College of Law
The Community Service Initiative
Created in 2005 with funding from the Center for Public Interest Law, the Community Service Initiative (CSI) connects students with rewarding and flexible volunteer opportunities in legal and non-legal settings. Past volunteers have staffed an expungement help desk, hosted interview workshops for juveniles with criminal pasts, tutored kids, educated at-risk youth about their legal rights, worked at legal clinics, and helped individuals transition from homelessness. In addition DePaul alumni and professors worked to create The Louise Project, a unique volunteer opportunity which is now part of CSI. The Louise Project connects law students with high school students at Jones Magnet High School in the South Loop. Law students spend an hour or two each week tutoring the high school students in various subjects. Mentors to students in the Jones Legal Program assist graduating seniors with college essays, applications, and academic decisions. CSI is a popular program and the number of opportunities presented and the number of students involved expand every year.
Drake University: Drake University School of Law
The Law School's Career Development Office advertises pro bono opportunities. In addition, The Student Bar Association is offered space and supplies for the Volunteer Income Tax Assistance Program. Other public interest organizations, including the American Constitution Society are offered space to hold group meetings.
Drexel University: College of Law
The motto of Drexel University College of Law, Scientia, Ars, Officium – Knowledge, Skill, Duty – reflects the goals Drexel has for its law student graduates. The third element of our school’s mission, Officium , means “the duty to the public good owed by a public official.” For Drexel, it is an essential element of the College of Law because it recognizes the lawyer’s obligation to serve the public good by providing uncompensated legal service to people and organizations that cannot afford to retain lawyers.
“Pro Bono Publico” service, “For the Public Good,” is at the heart of the legal profession. Providing pro bono service to individuals or groups traditionally underserved by the private bar is the focus of Drexel’s mandatory 50 hour Pro Bono Service Requirement. Students will make an immediate impact in the world by helping those most in need. In addition, the program strives to educate students about their ethical responsibility to provide assistance and improve access to legal services throughout their professional careers. Finally, the program highlights public service opportunities that students may want to pursue as a career path.
The Pro Bono Service Requirement complements Drexel’s long and proud tradition of integrating classroom experience with the real-world environment. Under close supervision, students will develop their legal skills and gain practical, hands-on, experience in a real work setting. The Pro Bono Service Requirement is a vital part of Drexel’s curriculum and demonstrates the Faculty and Administration’s commitment to professionalism.
In order to qualify for credit towards the requirement, the pro bono service must be law-related. In addition, students may not receive financial compensation or academic credit for providing pro bono service. Moreover, a licensed attorney or other qualified supervisor must adequately supervise and review any and all work. The service must be:
- on behalf of people who cannot afford to pay for legal services, have limited access to legal services, or are underserved by the private bar, or
- aimed at protecting the rights of an individual or individuals in situations raising important public interest con¬cerns and/or important rights belonging to a significant and underserved segment of the public.
Duke University: Duke University School of Law
Students must complete 30 hours of pro bono service before graduation. They may begin doing pro bono work during their first year of law school.
See http://www.law.duke.edu/publicinterest/probono.html
The ultimate goal of the Duke Law School Pro Bono Project, created in 1991, is to help shape law students into lawyers who are committed to public service - whether that commitment is made by working full-time in a non-profit or governmental organization or by devoting time in their careers to pro bono work and other important civic and community activities. The Project connects Duke law students with non-profit, governmental and educational institutions in the community that are in need of law student assistance on projects serving the public.
Students are asked to sign a Pro Bono Pledge to contribute at least 50 hours of law-related community service while a student. Opportunities are promoted and facilitated through individual counseling, the Project's website, an annual retreat, presentations at orientation, an open house, a listserv and the law school's e-newsletter, and the work of student leaders of pro bono group projects. Students can receive assistance designing their own project or may choose from a wide variety of issue areas.
Emory University: Emory University School of Law
Students are encouraged to undertake pro bono projects. Those who accrue 25 hours of pro bono work over the year are recognized at a ceremony in the spring. Those who work 75 hours over three years are recognized at graduation with pro bono medals. Pro bono opportunities are posted on the public interest web page or may be initiated by student groups. Students submit pro bono hours on a timesheet to the coordinator, Professor Pratt.
Faulkner University: Thomas Goode Jones School of Law
As part of a Christian university, the law school seeks not only to provide the legal knowledge and practical skills necessary to produce competent and ethical members of the legal community, but also to instill in our students an attitude of service. This commitment to serve those who otherwise could not afford such assistance complements the legal profession's rich tradition of service.
Students are encouraged to think about ways to provide pro bono services. The law school provides opportunities through its clinics for students to begin their career of service while using the practical skills obtained in their law school courses.
The Career Services Office spearheads the focus on public service by posting notices of pro bono opportunities and sponsoring speakers on various public interest topics. The law school subscribes to a database service that highlights pro bono and public interest opportunities.
Students who perform 35 hours of pro bono or community service per year receive a certificate signed by the Dean recognizing such achievement, and a notation of service will be included on the student's transcript. In addition, graduates who complete 50 or more hours will be recognized in the graduation program. Finally, a Public Interest Service Award will be presented at graduation ceremonies to the graduating student who has most distinguished himself or herself in the area of public service.
Florida A&M University: College of Law
Florida Coastal School of Law: Florida Coastal School of Law
A Student Service Notebook is maintained to record students' pro bono hours, while a separate Service Opportunities Notebook provides placement listings. Pro bono opportunities, in addition, are publicized via email on the job opportunity listserv and on the "Pro Bono - Public Interest Law" bulletin board. The faculty are considering an official policy statement as follows: "Florida Coastal School of Law students should aspire to render at least 20 hours of pro bono public service during their tenure at the school of law. Law students successfully meeting this goal will receive a Pro Bono - Public Interest Law Program Certificate and receive recognition at graduation."
Florida International University: University College of Law
The objective of the pro bono program is to learn about a lawyer’s role in providing access to justice by assisting to provide legal services to the poor, disadvantaged, and other individuals or groups unable to secure legal assistance to address critical problems.
At the FIU College of Law, Pro Bono Legal Service is defined as “uncompensated legal work or education in conjunction with an individual lawyer, law firm, or organization on behalf of indigent individuals, a disadvantaged minority, the victims of racial, gender, or sexual orientation, or other forms of discrimination, those denied human or civil rights, or work on behalf of individuals, groups or causes that may otherwise lack access to the legal system.” See FIU College of Law, Student Handbook.
All College of Law students must complete at least 30 hours of qualifying pro bono legal service. This requirement must be completed no later than the end of the semester or summer session immediately preceding the student’s final semester of law school.
Florida State University: Florida State University College of Law
Students are required to complete and report 20 hours of civil pro bono service during the second or third year of law school. Pro bono work is defined as "work on behalf of indigent individuals or other uncompensated legal work in conjunction with an individual lawyer, law firm or organization on behalf of a disadvantaged minority, the victims of racial, sexual, other forms of discrimination, those denied human and civil rights, or other work on behalf of the public interest. Work on behalf of the public interest means legal work that is designed to represent a position on behalf of the public at large on matters of public interest. . . ." Public interest work does not include the direct representation of litigants in actions between private persons, corporations, or other representations of litigants in which the financial interests at stake would warrant representation from private legal sources.
Students are required to attend a pro bono meeting that covers all aspects of this law school requirement in the spring semester of the first year of law school. A list of pre-approved placements can be found on the school's website and hard copies are available in the Office of Student Affairs. A pro bono fair is also held each spring following the pro bono meeting. Representatives of the pre-approved placement sites are invited to campus to meet with law students about their organizations and pro bono opportunities. Information about the Pro Bono Program as well as pre-approved placement sites can be found on the law school website as well as in hard copy in the Office of Student Affairs. There is significant promotion and advertisement of the pro bono information session that is mandatory for all first year law students as well as the Pro Bono Fair that brings organizations to campus in the spring.
Students must complete a Registration Form identifying the nature and location of the pro bono placement prior to starting the pro bono work. That form must be approved by the Assistant Dean for Student Affairs. After completion of the pro bono requirement, the students must provide a Certificate of Completion that is signed by the student as well as the supervising attorney at the placement site. That information is entered into a pro bono tracking database in the Office of Student Affairs.
Many students choose to perform their pro bono work during the summer or during spring break.
Fordham University: Fordham University School of Law
The Public Interest Resource Center strives to educate law students about pro bono and community service volunteer opportunities through actual experiences working with people in need. The work of the Center is based on the premise that students leading students increases opportunities.
Franklin Pierce Law Center: Franklin Pierce Law Center
The Student Pro Bono Project, a joint project with the New Hampshire Bar Association's Pro Bono Program, began as a student initiative. The project pairs law students with NH lawyers to work on a volunteer basis on pro bono cases accepted through the NH Bar Association's Pro Bono Program. The Project is in the process of expanding to include pro bono opportunities for students in local legal aid offices and other non-profits.
George Mason University: School of Law
George Washington University: George Washington University Law School
The Pro Bono Program, formally initiated in Fall 2001, is organized through a faculty-student Pro Bono Subcommittee of the Law School's Public Interest Committee. The Committee acts as a clearinghouse for active pro bono projects. The Committee also works with the Student Bar Association, which sponsors a program that recognizes students who perform a certain amount of pro bono work by graduation.
The subcommittee members contact organizations that are most likely to have "quality" volunteer projects for law students. Approved placements are listed on the Law School's "Public Interest & Pro Bono" webpage. See http://www.law.gwu.edu/pubint. Hard copies of hours sheets and the pro bono program's description are provided in the Law School's Records Office, as well as on the webpage.
Students are asked to complete hours sheets and describe the nature of their work. One of the Pro Bono subcommittee members reviews these hours and work descriptions before they are credited to the student.
The Program sponsors an annual Pro Bono Fair, where local organizations come to the law school and meet interested students.
Georgetown University: Georgetown University Law Center
The Director of Pro Bono Programs promotes and facilitates pro bono placements of students. She works individually with students interested in being placed with DC-area non-profits or government agencies, and she assists student groups with group-oriented pro bono projects. In addition, the 1L Pro Bono Service Project places first-year students with legal service providers in the city.
Information about the Pro Bono Program can be found at www.law.georgetown.edu/opics
Golden Gate University: School of Law
GGU's full time Public Interest Adviser develops and maintains a list of current opportunities for pro bono work in the Bay Area. Students can discuss their skills, interests and availability with the Public Interest Adviser who will connect them to an appropriate placement. New opportunities are promoted throughout the year in the law school's weekly newsletter, at all law career services events, and through the public interest listserve. Outstanding pro bono work is recognized at the annual graduation Public Interest Graduation Reception and on an ongoing basis in the weekly newsletter.
In addition, students receiving the Public Interest Certificate are required to perform 25 hours of community service (not for money or credit) and required to perform 150 hours of supervised public interest legal work (can be paid or for credit).
Gonzaga University: Gonzaga University School of Law
Each student is required to complete 30 hours of public service after the first year of law school. The requirement can be satisfied by any of the following activities, if uncompensated: 1) volunteering at a non-profit charitable organization (either law- or non-law related); 2) assisting an attorney or law firm, including University Legal Assistance, on a pro bono case; or 3) serving at a public agency.
A paid student pro bono coordinator coordinates efforts with the Service Learning Coordinator on main campus at the Center for Community Action and Service Learning (CCASL) to secure placement for interested students. Students can also secure placements on their own, with approval from the student pro bono coordinator, through the University's service learning website or through the University's Community Service Fair.
Hamline University: Hamline University School of Law
In 1999, MJF launched its Law School Public Service Program, a collaborative effort that now includes the MJF, the four Minnesota law schools (Hamline University School of Law, University of Minnesota Law School, University of St. Thomas School of Law and William Mitchell College of Law), the Minnesota State Bar Association (MSBA), and over 150 agencies. The Law School Public Service Program is designed to promote an ethic of public service in Minnesota law students and to increase the availability of legal services to Minnesota's low-income and disadvantaged populations. Through the Pro Bono Component each Minnesota law school asks its students to perform 50 hours of law-related public service and makes the commitment to have placements available. MJF coordinates the volunteer placements. Lists of opportunities are made available to students in hard copy and on the web. MJF oversees placements and receives feedback from both students and supervising attorneys concerning the placements. MJF has a Newsletter which is widely distributed three times a year. MJF has sponsored intensive street law placement opportunities for students during spring break.
In recent years over winter and spring breaks, students have taught Street Law in Greater Minneapolis, assisted clients in completing immigration forms in Willmar, and participated in the Asylum Law Project, serving refugees in Texas and Florida.
Harvard University: Harvard Law School
Students must perform at least 40 hours of uncompensated, law-related public interest work on behalf of people who cannot afford (in whole or in part) to pay for legal services, or; for the government, or; at a non-profit organization as defined under IRS sections 501(c)(3) & (4) protecting rights of marginalized individuals/groups or working in the broader public interest, or; in a law firm working on a pro bono basis. The work may also be performed in a setting in which clinical credit is given, in conjunction with a faculty pro bono project, in student-initiated projects, or in many HLS volunteer student organizations. Student’s work should involve the application or interpretation of law, the formulation of legal policy, or the drafting of legislation or regulations. Work should have an advocacy or representational component. It should not be primarily clerical in nature. Eligible tasks include: assisting an attorney at trial, client and witness interviewing and investigation, drafting documents, preparing a case for trial, assisting pro se litigants in court, community legal education, and research and writing. All work must be supervised by a licensed attorney or a faculty member.
On average, students at HLS perform over 400 hours of pro bono work each (the class of 2007 did over 270,000 hours of pro bono service).
Hofstra University: Hofstra University School of Law
Hofstra's Public Service Certificate Program recognizes students for volunteering, under the supervision of an attorney and without pay or credit, with (1) nonprofit organizations that provide legal representation to individuals or groups who are under-served; under-represented or of limited means; (2) government agencies; or (3) attorneys providing legal services free of charge or at significantly reduced cost. In addition, volunteer hours with the Hofstra Law School student groups that advocate on behalf of clients, such as the Unemployment Action Center [UAC] or Domestic Violence Courtroom Advocates Project [DVCAP] and for groups that provide legal education, such as Street Law and the Elmont Mock Trial Enrichment program, count towards the Certificate. Judicial internships are ineligible.
The levels of service recognized are as follows: Bronze Level (50 hours), Silver Level (125 hours) and Gold Level (200 hours).
Completed program log sheets must be submitted to Tamara Stephen, the Director of Public Sector Career Planning, no later than the Friday after Spring Break of the student's third (or fourth) year.
Howard University: Howard University School of Law
The Equal Justice Program (EJP), started in 1995, provides "unique opportunities for law students to engage in legal research and writing, critical analysis, public education, legislative advocacy, and litigation support regarding the myriad of problems facing society today." Pro bono placements/opportunities are promoted and facilitated through the Equal Justice Program brochure, bulletin boards, email, and internet services.
Illinois Institute of Technology: Chicago-Kent College of Law
As a way of encouraging and promoting community service and pro bono legal work, Public Interest Resource Center (PIRC) was created to help connect students interested in volunteer or career opportunities with public interest groups or agencies in need of their services. Primarily, the Center acts as a clearinghouse for short and long-term public service law as well as non-law related projects, with the realization that many students cannot fully commit themselves to a career in public interest upon graduation. Therefore, enabling students to benefit from doing pro bono work while in law school is a Center priority.
Indiana University: Indiana University School of Law, Indianapolis
The School of Law established the Pro Bono Program in 1993 to introduce law students to the professional obligation of attorneys, the benefits of providing public service, and to recognize the needs of the under-represented in society. As a Pro Bono Program participant, students volunteer on supervised projects for non-profit organizations, government agencies, and individual attorneys doing unpaid legal work. The work must benefit the under-served, under-represented, or organizations with limited resources. The Pro Bono Program is open to all IU-Indianapolis law students who have completed their first semester of classes. See www.indylaw.indiana.edu/career/probono.htm
Indiana University: Indiana University School of Law, Bloomington
Inter American University of Puerto Rico: Inter American University of Puerto Rico School of Law
Students are required to take a 2-semester, 6-credit clinical course in which they work with cilients of the Legal Assistance Clinic
John Marshall: Law School – Atlanta
The JMLS Pro Bono Program exposes students to the importance of providing pro bono services and encourages their participation through formal recognitions and incentives.
Lewis & Clark College: School of Law
The Pro Bono Program, created in 1997, offers students an opportunity to act as volunteer legal interns with public service organizations. Pro bono placements/opportunities are promoted and facilitated through notices posted on a prominently situated window dedicated to pro bono, through individual student meetings with the Public Interest Law Coordinator or the Career Services professional, through an annual week of Pro Bono Panels (featuring as many as 20 organizations), through the Pro Bono Honors Program Awards (which offers recognition to students completing a minimum number of pro bono hours), and through email promotions (for specific opportunities and specific developed pro bono programs) to a pro bono list-serve.
A student Evaluation Form is included in the Pro Bono Honors Program packet. The forms are collected and kept in a notebook for future students to review.
Liberty University: School of Law
Liberty University School of Law does not mandate volunteerism; however, it does aim to develop a culture of service among its law students, faculty, staff, and administration. In and out of the classroom, faculty members are encouraged to model and promote the value of pro bono and community service and to emphasize the pro bono obligation of all persons licensed to practice law.
Faculty and administration encourage students to apply the practical skills they learn in law school to a lifetime of public service. From its inception, the law school has offered students the opportunity to participate in Street Law as an independent student group project that is supported administratively by the Center for Career & Professional Development (CCPD). During the fall and spring semesters, students teach practical, law-related classes in two separate locations. On Monday evenings they teach detained youth at the Lynchburg Regional Detention Center, and on Tuesday evenings they teach teenagers from four separate group homes who gather together at the Presbyterian Home, also in Lynchburg.
In addition, with the administrative support of CCPD, the law school matches students with private practitioners who request assistance on pro bono projects, and it facilitates the placement of students in uncompensated, not-for-credit internships in public defender offices, prosecutorial offices, legal aid offices, and other not-for-profit organizations.
Students are also offered the opportunity to participate in a wide variety of externships; to work pro bono in the Center for Constitutional Litigation and Policy (a public interest center formed through a partnership between Liberty Counsel and Liberty University School of Law); and to avail themselves of public service opportunities offered through PSLawNet and career fairs (e.g., the Equal Justice Works Career Fair and Conference and the Southeastern Minority Job Fair).
Louisiana State University: Paul M. Hebert Law Center
Loyola Law School: Loyola Law School, Los Angeles
The Public Interest Law Department oversees the pro bono program, which was instituted by the faculty in October 1992, along with other programs. Students are provided with an "Approved Pro Bono Listing" and are responsible for contacting those agencies in regards to completing their 40-hour requirement. This list is not exclusive; students wishing to satisfy their pro bono requirement with other verifiable public interest organizations can do so with the approval of the Director.
The Public Interest Law Coordinator is responsible for tracking and clearing students who have satisfied the mandatory requirement before graduation. Students are asked to evaluate their experiences at their pro bono placement and offer any suggestions or comments about the evaluation portion of the supervisory log report form, which they must submit to document/verify the completion of their forty hours.
Students must complete a minimum of forty unpaid hours of legal services in an approved public interest agency or complete at least two units in approved public interest externship programs. Only services provided to traditionally underrepresented groups.
Loyola University Chicago: Loyola University Chicago School of Law
The Office of Career Services coordinates the dissemination of information of Pro Bono opportunities on the local, regional, and national levels. The office utilizes PSLawNet, the public service law network (PSLawNet.org), and its on-line career search website.
Loyola University New Orleans: Loyola University New Orleans School of Law
Law students at Loyola have the option of participating in the Gillis Long Student Pro Bono Program to satisfy the Law and Poverty requirement needed for graduation.
Students may satisfy the Law and Poverty requirement by fulfilling any one of the following options: take the Law and Poverty Seminar (LAW 782); take Street Law (LAW 833); represent low income people in the Clinical Seminar (LAW 897); or perform 50 hours pro bono legal services to the poor in one academic year in a pre-approved setting.
The Gillis Long Student Pro Bono Program requires fifty hours of pro bono work which the student may perform at any time during their law school career. The Pro Bono Program places students at approved sites where students can gain practical legal experience while performing legal work such as conducting client interviews, legal research and writing, and, in some cases, representing clients before the courts where it is permitted by law. Areas of practice include such fields as domestic law, homeless law, mental health law, juvenile law, social security issues, the death penalty, elder law, consumer law, and AIDS issues. The Gillis Long Student Pro Bono Program seeks to provide students with the opportunity to gain practical legal experience to aid their development as professionals, create a greater awareness of the obligation to provide legal services to the disadvantaged, foster development of the bar, and provide quality legal services to our community.
All placements must be approved in advance by the Pro Bono Coordinator. Pro bono placements with private practitioners or firms may be approved where: (1) there is no concurrent paid employment relationship between the law student and the private practitioner or firm, and (2) the work to be performed has been assigned through the local legal aid services provider, by court appointment, or by referral from the local office of the public defender, or (3) it has been approved by the Coordinator of the program in advance. Students can volunteer with one of the in-house clinics.
The program is open to first through third year students. The fifty-hour requirement is merely a minimum guideline. Students are encouraged to do more. Placements are promoted through brochures, newsletters, and the program's interactive website: http://law.loyno.edu/probono/ The Program's interactive, web-based administration makes it easy for students to sign up, select a placement or propose their own, submit pro bono hours, and complete their evaluations.
Marquette University: Marquette University Law School
MULS uses a referral system designed to match students with law-related pro bono opportunities in the community.
Pro-Se Initiative – Milwaukee County Courthouse: This initiative places students at the Milwaukee County Courthouse to provide information to pro-se litigants regarding basic family, small claims and child support procedures, including form direction and review.
Marquette Volunteer Legal Clinic – House of Peace: This clinic matches volunteer attorneys with law students who provide brief advice, counsel and referral to low-income individuals on the near North side of Milwaukee. The clinic has two attorney and 2 student coordinators and operates once per week year round. Services do not include ongoing casework.
Independent Pro Bono Placement: The Office of Public Service in cooperation with the Career Planning Center coordinates the placement of students in various pro-bono opportunities with community agencies throughout the state including: Legal Action of Wisconsin, Legal Aid Society of Milwaukee, AIDS Resource Center of Wisconsin, ACLU of Wisconsin, Disability Rights Center of Wisconsin and Catholic Charities Immigration Services.
Mercer University: School of Law
Michigan State University: College of Law
Mississippi College: Mississippi College School of Law
Though there is no formal pro bono program; volunteer opportunities are posted by Career Services on job posting board and also placed on the School's website.
New England School of Law: New England School of Law
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.
New York Law School: New York Law School
The Law School's Public Service Certificate program recognizes students who have committed substantial time to working in the public interest, and students who earn the Public Service Certificate receive a notation on their transcript. Pro bono opportunities are promoted and facilitated via internal communication systems, including email, a printed and electronic newsletter, a Career Services searchable database, and the school's website. In addition, NYLS is an active participant in PSLawNet, a global website which provides students with comprehensive information about pro bono opportunities.
New York University: New York University School of Law
NYU students have many opportunities to get involved in public service in student pro bono groups, clinics, summer internships, and term-time internships. NYU guarantees funding for summer internships for all 1L and 2L students. The Public Interest Law Center (PILC) has five full-time staff and is responsible for all public interest activity at the law school, including pro bono promotion and facilitation.
North Carolina Central: North Carolina Central School of Law
NCCU Law School established the Pro Bono Program in 1996 to promote law student involvement in public interest law and pro bono service. The Pro Bono and Public Interest Program seeks to inspire and recruit students to be the pro bono and public interest attorneys of the future and also to be a source of volunteerism for the North Carolina public interest law community. The program facilitates student placements with public interest organizations across the state; sponsors speakers and events on public interest law topics; and offers public interest career advising, recognition for student pro bono service, and support for student-led pro bono projects. The program also provides support for two ongoing law school-based, student-led pro bono projects, the NCCU Law Innocence and VITA (Volunteer Income Tax Assistance) Projects, and for new student-led pro bono initiatives, such as the Just Democracy/Election Protection initiative of Fall 2004.
First-year students are encouraged to attend Pro Bono Program events such as panels and speakers during Fall semester and to volunteer on a limited basis during Spring semester. First-year students typically volunteer with the NCCU Law Innocence and VITA Projects and with the Durham County Teen Court program.
A major event initiated in 2005-06 is the Public Interest Organization Fair, at which representatives from public interest organizations have the opportunity to showcase their programs and talk with interested students in an informal setting.
The Pro Bono Program is a resource for students seeking a pro bono opportunity and advising about careers in public interest law. We maintain ongoing relationships with more than twenty legal services and public interest law organizations in the area and across the state and regularly publicize their needs for student volunteers and summer interns via electronic bulletin boards and e-mail alerts. The Pro Bono Coordinator provides individual counseling to students seeking a pro bono opportunity or public interest law summer internship and serves as advisor to the Public Interest Law Student organization (PILO) and the Innocence Project.
Northeastern University: Northeastern University School of Law
The Public Interest Requirement was instituted in 1994 with the incoming class. Students may meet the Public Interest Requirement in a variety of ways. These include: successfully completing a full-time public interest co-op comprised of spending 11 weeks and 35 hours per week (385 hours) in a public interest work setting; taking a law school clinic; performing 30 hours of pre-approved legal pro bono work; or doing a public interest independent study. Please note that in 10 years of operating under the requirement, an average of 84% of each graduating class satisfied the requirement through co-op, the most significant time commitment. Eighty-eight percent of the two most recent graduating classes satisfied the requirement by doing a public interest co-op. To satisfy the requirement, all students must receive a written evaluation from their attorney or faculty supervisor.
Northern Illinois University: Northern Illinois University College of Law
The Pro Bono Service Opportunities program is in recognition of the commitment the College of Law has to encourage pro bono publico legal services. Pro bono services is defined as work done for the benefit of underserved populations by public agencies, public interest or pro bono organizations or charitable or other nonprofit groups or corporations. In this voluntary program, students who successfully complete a cumulative 60 hours of approved pro bono service will receive a notation on their transript. Pro bono service includes only voluntary, uncompensated work for which academic credit is not received.
Northwestern University: Northwestern University School of Law
Students are encouraged to serve at least 40 hours of public service work over the course of their time at Northwestern Law. Acknowledging that not all students will choose public interest law as a career, students may volunteer in a wide range of legal and non-legal community service projects. Our public service coordinator assists students in finding placements, organizes opportunities and keeps track of their efforts.
Through our public service program, students work with many organizations that approach us on an as-needed basis, but we also have established a few key partnerships that continue on a regular basis from year to year, including an educational partnership with Chicago Public Schools' Futures Exchange Program, a partnership with Chicago Youth Programs, the Tax Assistance Program, and the Unaccompanied Children's Advocate Project. To assist in the expansion of legal representation of the poor, we also partner with several legal service organizations, including Legal Assistance Foundation of Metropolitan Chicago, Cabrini Green Legal Aid Clinic, Center for Disability and Elder Law and Catholic Charities Legal Referral Program. For more information, go to the public service website at http://www.law.northwestern.edu/publicservice
Notre Dame: Notre Dame Law School
Pro Bono and community service activities are sponsored by the Career Services Office, the Student Affairs Office, and student-run groups. The Career Services Office collaborates wiith student organizations to coordinate pro bono activities and work with the Legal Aid Services of Indiana of South Bend to provide volunteer service opportunities. Pro bono announcements are placed on bulletin boards and electronic list serves so that students are kept informed about pro bono activities and opportunities.
GALILEE (Group Alternative Live-In Legal Education Experience) is highly encouraged. Students spend their Christmas break living among citizens of the inner cities to learn about the legal needs of the urban poor. The program lasts for about 10 days and is followed up with a weekend retreat in the spring so that students are provided the opportunity to discuss and share ideas about their experience.
Nova Southeastern University: Shepard Broad Law Center
The Pro Bono Honor Program recognizes students who provide pro bono legal work for public service or government organizations while enrolled in law school. Students volunteering a minimum of 50 hours are awarded this graduation honor. Placements are secured by meeting with the program director and/or participating in Public Interest Law Day. The program is part of the Public Interest Law Center (PILC), which provides information, resources, and acknowledgement to students who are interested in serving the community through public interest law.
http://www.nsulaw.nova.edu/career/pilc/probono.cfm
Ohio Northern: Claude W. Pettit College of Law
Ohio State University: Ohio State University Moritz College of Law
The Public Service Fellow Program at Moritz College of Law recognizes students who volunteer legal service to a non-profit (501)(c)(3) organization or to a governmental agency. Fellows will be recognized at the Honors Convocation, which precedes the Hooding Ceremony, and the PSF designation will be added to student fellows' transcripts. There are four levels of distinction:
- The Public Service Fellow will be given to students who accumulate between 50 and 149 hours of volunteer legal service.
- The Public Service Fellow with Recognition will be given to students who accumulate between 150 and 249 hours of volunteer legal service.
- The Public Service Fellow with Dean's Special Recognition will be given to students who accumulate between 250 and 449 hours of volunteer legal service.
- The Public Service Fellow with the Dean's Highest Honors will be given to students who accumulate 450 or more hours of volunteer legal service.
Oklahoma City University: Oklahoma City University School of Law
Pro bono service is promoted by and information on opportunities (local and other) is provided through the Professional Career and Development Center. The Professional Career and Development Center, in conjunction with local attorneys and associations, as well as PSLawNet and the Equal Justice Works organization, sponsors training and speakers on pro bono service. OCU LAW is a member of NALP, which now hosts the PSLawNet volunteer opportunity database, and is a member of Equal Justice Works, which holds an annual national pro bono and public interest career fair.
Pepperdine University: Odell McConnell Law Center
Students are encouraged to volunteer with existing clinical and externship placements. The Union Rescue Mission Clinic uses a lot of student and faculty volunteers. The Clinical Education Programs Office facilitates a Public Counsel's Adoption Day. Students under the supervision of attorneys provide free legal representation to people adopting children who have been neglected and/or abused and are currently in the foster care system.
Regent University: School of Law
The Office of Law Career & Alumni Services in conjunction with the Virginia Bar Association encourages public service by students through recognizing their successful completion of an approved placement through the Making the Commitment Program. The Virginia Bar Association is challenging every law student in Virginia to make the commitment.
The placement must be for a minimum of 35 hours per academic year. Students must complete both a proposal of work and supervisor agreement.
All students participating in the Making the Commitment Program are honored at a Public Interest Awards Reception held each fall; are given a certificate of appreciation signed by the dean of the law school; and are publicly recognized in front of family and peers at their commisioning ceremony as part of graduation.
Roger Williams University: School of Law
Twenty hours of uncompensated, law-related public service is required for graduation. The 20 hours must be completed on one project and 30 days in advance of the anticipated graduation date. Students may not receive academic credit for their service.
The Feinstein Institute's Director of Public Service and Community Partnerships administers the school's pro bono requirement. She creates projects for students and hosts presentations about them. A list of volunteer opportunities is circulated.
Students are encouraged to create their own projects, but all projects must be approved in advance. Some pre-approved projects are group projects at the law school, with a regular training component. Others are at various organizations under the supervision of attorneys or other appropriate staff of the agencies. Students are required to evaluate the experience and complete a journal about their public service work, what they learned, whether or not it influenced their career choice, etc.
The Institute also administers an innovative, pro bono project called the Pro Bono Collaborative (PBC). The PBC is partially funded by the Rhode Island Foundation and partners large law firm attorneys and law students with community-based organizations to offer pro bono legal assistance.
Rutgers: The State University of New Jersey, Center for Law and Justice (Newark)
Under the supervision of the Director for the Eric R. Neisser Public Interest Program, students operate the Pro Bono Program which provides opportunities for students to volunteer in a wide variety of civil and criminal law placements in Newark and the surrounding communities. Rutgers participates in PSLawNet and, thus, placements are available throughout the country. Student are encouraged to donate at least 35 hours a year of legal assistance to the poor and underrepresented communities. Projects have included AIDS legal services, criminal defense, immigration law, women's issues, civil court, and family law.
Rutgers: The State University of New Jersey School of Law, Camden
The Rutgers - Camden Law School Pro Bono Program currently consists of eleven projects, including the Bankruptcy Pro Bono Project, the Domestic Violence Pro Bono Project, the Volunteer Income Tax Assistance Project, the Pro Bono Research Project, the Children’s SSI Project, the Financial Literacy Project, the Defender Project, the Street Law Project, Election Protection, the Immigration Project, and the Pro Bono Mediation Project. All include training and supervision. In addition, many opportunities are available to do pro bono work in local public interest programs, in Camden and in greater Philadelphia.
Staffing the Pro Bono Program are Assistant Dean Eve Biskind Klothen, 225- 6608, eklothen@camden.rutgers.edu, and Pro Bono Coordinator, Pamela Mertsock-Wolfe, 225-6406, pmertsoc@camden.rutgers.edu.
Promotion and facilitation of opportunities occurs through brochures, articles, mention at Admitted Student Day, presentations at First Year and Transfer Orientations, a session in the Professional Responsibility class, a prominent place on the website, and a panel discussion by local attorneys about how to fit pro bono into private practice.
Saint Louis University: Saint Louis University School of Law
Web address is http://law.slu.edu/public_services
Saint Mary’s University of San Antonio: Saint Mary’s University of San Antonio School of Law
The Public Interest Law Program's mission is to create opportunities for law students to engage in legal pro bono work. Most of these opportunities are created through partnerships with other organizations such as legal aid organizations, public defender organizations, the state's attorney general, bar groups, private attorneys, other law schools, etc.
Current projects include: Free Wills Clinic; Volunteer Income Tax Assistance Project; Immigration Initiative; St. Jude's Ask-A-Lawyer Clinic; and the Pro Bono Fair.
St. Mary's is also a member of Equal Justice Works which entitles our law students to compete for various fellowship positions.
The Public Interest Law Program also offers career counseling to law students interested in pursuing public interest work.
Saint Thomas University: Saint Thomas University School of Law (FL)
The Pro Bono Program is designed to give second- and third-year students legal experience under the supervision of lawyers in a variety of not-for-profit offices, government agencies and law firms. The objectives of the Program are to: 1) supplement the educational experience of students by developing a lasting commitment to public services; 2) enhance empowerment and access to the legal system for persons and communities who have been traditionally underserved by the bar, and 3) build a positive identity that strengthens admission, placement, and the overall standing of St. Thomas University School of Law in the South Florida community and nationally.
The Program is administered through the Career Services Office. It maintains information about the organizations and publishes a Pro Bono Student Manual with a directory to assist students in securing a variety of pre-approved placements and opportunities as well as the procedures and forms necessary to secure and propose new placement sites of their own choosing. The requirement can be met through one or more extended-service placements or through several small ones. All new sites must, however, be approved before the student can begin work or receive pro bono credit. The Government and Public Interest Job Fair, held annually in February, serves to bring local pro bono placement supervisors to campus so that students can meet and discuss pro bono opportunities with them.
Evaluation forms are in the Student Pro Bono Manual. Career Services staff meets with the supervisors in their offices periodically to discuss their needs, training procedures and other matters in order to better advise students.
Students are reminded periodically in newsletters and in notices to mailboxes that breaks and summers provide time to explore pro bono opportunities.
Samford University: Cumberland School of Law
The pro bono program began in 2001 as a student run organization, Public Interest Law Organization (PILO), with a faculty advisor. The Student Coordinator assigns placements for receptive organizations based on the need of the organization and the aptitude of the participating students. Other students help create interest in other students. Students are asked to volunteer a minimum of 50 hours at approved placements. Less commitment is expected for VITA. Written evaluation is provided by the student and the organization. Students are encouraged to volunteer during the Christmas holiday break, Spring Break and summer. PILO organizes public interest speakers and events.
Since April 1, 2002, the pro bono program has come under the auspices of the Assistant Dean for Student Services and Public Interest Director. Part of the function of this new position is to offer assistance and leadership with student pro bono projects and other public interest programs.
Santa Clara University: Santa Clara University School of Law
The Pro Bono Recognition Program is designed for and by Santa Clara University School of Law students. The Program is committed to supporting community-based legal service projects. In order to accomplish this goal, the Program depends on the dedication and commitment of student volunteers. The Pro Bono Recognition Program provides an arena where students can become involved in the community and also enhance their law school experience.
In addition to the personal satisfaction of volunteering much-needed assistance and gaining valuable and practical legal experience, students are eligible to receive a Pro Bono Recognition Award from Santa Clara University School of Law. All it takes is 50 hours of not-for-credit or compensation work for a public interest, public sector or non-profit organization during the school year (May to May).
Seattle University: Seattle University School of Law
The work of the Access to Justice Institute reflects the mission of Seattle University School of Law: to lead its students toward a lifetime of service to justice for all. AtJI connects the law school to the community at large, collaborating with hundreds of attorneys, judges and advocates from every field and drawing more than 300 student volunteers each year. AtJI enables students to connect their classroom learning to real clients, cases and attorneys while providing invaluable services to low-income communities.
Students volunteering with AtJI have the option to be placed as volunteers in one of 55 community legal service agencies that have formed collaborative partnerships with the Institute, or, they can participate in one of the following projects administered by the AtJI staff. In-house projects include: The Community Justice Centers, Immigration Court Project, Hague Convention Project, Unemployment Insurance for Battered Women Project, Language Bank, Real Change Homeless Newspaper Project and Begal Aid Newsletter Project. More information on these projects can be found at http://law.seattleu.edu/atji
Seton Hall University: Seton Hall University School of Law
Students at all levels of learning and experience are encouraged to participate in the Center for Social Justice's Pro Bono program. At minimum, students in the program donate 35 hours of their professional time during a semester. Students can complete the 35 hour requirement during the course of a semester or during school breaks.
South Texas College: South Texas College of Law
The South Texas College of Law Pro Bono Honors Program is open to all students who have completed the first year of law school study. The Program has two components. First, it “matches” interested students with community public interest projects. Second, it monitors student participation and recognizes those students who contribute 50 or more hours of pro bono service. Although it is a “stand-alone” program, it operates closely with the Public Interest Process Clinic in keeping abreast of current service needs in the community.
Students can either select from a list of “pre-approved” placements, or students can propose their own placement with a lawyer or agency engaged in pro bono service. Each student and supervisor signs an agreement, and the law school tracks the hours worked and the final evaluation of the service by both the student and supervisor. Many of the pre-approved placements involve agencies with which the law school has had a multi-year relationship through the academic internships. The extensive list allows the law school to help the student in selecting a service opportunity that is commensurate with the student’s lawyering skills level or addresses the student’s subject matter interest.
The program is available to all interested second and third year students, whether or not the student intends to donate 50 hours of service in order to qualify for special recognition. http://www.stcl.edu/students/probono
Southern Illinois University: Southern Illinois University School of Law
Southern Methodist University: Dedman School of Law
The goal of SMU's pro bono requirement is to enhance the legal profession and the law school curriculum by exposing lawyers-to-be to the importance of and the need for a life-long commitment to public service. The Director of the Public Service Program helps students meet the pro bono requirement. Students can search for a pre-approved placement on the Public Service Program website. In addition to information available on this website, students may access hard copy information about pre-approved placements in the career/public service library. Students may propose their own public service placement by submitting to the Public Service Director a Student Initiated Placement (SIP) form for approval. All Public Service Program forms are available on this website.
To qualify, service must be law-related with no academic credit nor financial remuneration received. The 30-hours cannot be satisfied until after completion of the first-year curriculum. Students may perform their 30-hours at any of the law school's clinics (civil/criminal/family violence/tax), provided that the hours are not being claimed for both public service and academic credit.
Southwestern University: Southwestern University School of Law
As stated in its Student Handbook, Southwestern has a long-established Pro Bono Policy with a mission to "make law students aware of the special needs of those persons often under-represented in legal matters, including minorities, poor, elderly, and handicapped or disabled members of society; facilitate student services to those groups; and should instill a sense in their students of the profession's obligation to provide legal services to those who are unable to afford them."
The Southwestern Public Interest Law Committee, comprised of students, faculty, and staff, furthers the goals of the Southwestern Pro Bono Policy. The Committee is committed to providing legal services to the under-represented members of society and sponsors a number of events each year to raise awareness throughout the student body of the importance of providing legal services to the under-represented, including speaker's programs and various activities to raise funding for summer public interest law grants.
The Student Affairs Office, in collaboration with the Career Services Office, provides information to students interested in volunteering in law-related and non-legal volunteer opportunities.
Stanford Law School (SLS) is committed to excellence in legal education and views pro bono legal service as integral to that goal. SLS also seeks to advance the ethical standards of the legal profession in the United States, which state that lawyers should aspire to provide significant pro bono publico legal services. Through its voluntary Pro Bono Program, students are encouraged to contribute 50 hours or more of pro bono service during their time at SLS.
Like other programs under the auspices of the Levin Center, the Pro Bono Program is designed to inspire, teach, cultivate the interests and passions of, and provide experiential learning opportunities for law school students.
By doing pro bono work and, hopefully, clinical work in the 2L and 3L years, students learn important skills, such as legal research and writing, client interviewing and the crafting of legal arguments, among others, early in their legal careers. These skills greatly benefit students as they begin their careers in the public interest sector, government or law firms. Doing pro bono work also helps students to contextualize what they are learning in their classes and gives them "real world" experience. Students discover, first-hand, how the ability to navigate the complexities of the law can make a tremendous difference in the lives of the people that they help – whether it is preventing a person’s eviction from her home or filing a temporary restraining order against an abusive partner.
Currently, there are 15 pro bono projects covering a wide range of legal areas:
- Alternative Spring Break
- Domestic Violence Pro Bono Project
- Elder Law Pro Bono Program
- Equality Pro Bono Project (LBGT rights)
- Fresh Lifelines for Youth
- Guardianship Pro Bono Program
- Housing Pro Bono Program
- Immigration Pro Bono Program
- Language Bank
- Medical-Legal Collaborative Pro Bono Program
- Stanford Law School Social Security Disability Project
- StreetLaw
- Student Animal Legal Defense Fund
- Student Hurricane Network
- Volunteer Attorney Program
Stetson University: Stetson University College of Law
All students are required to complete 20 hours of pro bono service. Students will be formally introduced to these requirements during their First-Year Orientation. All pro bono requirements must be completed six months before graduation. At least 10 hours of the 20 hours must be completed in legal-related activities.
Legal-related activities are limited to:
- pro bono service for the indigent,
- pro bono work for a public agency, and
- pro bono work for a private attorney on a case in which the attorney is working pro bono
Students may complete the remaining 10 hours in non-legal activities.
-
> pro bono service for the indigent,
> pro bono work for a public agency, and
> non-profit agencies
Stetson is a charter member of the Public Service Law Network Worldwide, a global network of law schools and law-related public service organizations that fosters community service and encourages future lawyers to incorporate public service into their careers.
Students have performed their pro bono service at a variety of Tampa Bay organizations. Listed below are a few examples of these organizations. A complete list is available online at www.law.stetson.edu/studentlife/probono.asp
Suffolk University Law School: Suffolk University Law School
Through its voluntary Pro Bono Program, Suffolk University Law School seeks to foster in every member of the law school community a moral and professional obligation to ensure access to justice for all citizens. In furtherance of this goal, Suffolk Law School challenges all incoming law students to complete at least 50 hours of law-related volunteer work before they graduate.
The Pro Bono Program at Suffolk Law School defines “pro bono work” for students in accordance with the ABA’s Model Rule 6.1, which defines pro bono broadly, to include free and reduced fee service to the poor, as well as activities for “improving the law, the legal system or the legal profession.” To count as pro bono, students may not receive pay or credit for their work. In addition, students must be supervised by an attorney and Suffolk Law students may not use Massachusetts Student Practice Rule 3:03 certification to perform pro bono work. All students who meet or exceed the 50-hour goal will receive recognition for their pro bono service.
Pro Bono opportunities are solicited, centralized, and promoted to law students through the Program’s website, weekly e-letters, presentations at orientation, and an annual open house. The Director of Pro Bono Programs facilitates student pro bono work through individual counseling and online matching of volunteers with appropriate placements. Students may choose pro bono work from a wide array of issue areas, as posted by the Program, or they may initiate their own projects with the assistance and approval of the Director.
Law students may also participate in Suffolk’s Pro Bono Pa