Originally published in Student Lawyer magazine, March 2004 (Vol. 32, No. 7). All rights reserved.

University of Miami School of Law Honored for Public Service

by Kenneth Gorton

At last year's ABA Annual Meeting in San Francisco, the ABA Law Student Division honored the University of Miami School of Law with its Judy M. Weightman Memorial Public Interest Award. Each year, one law school or individual is selected to receive the award for outstanding efforts in public interest.

The school was recognized for its program, Helping Others Through Pro Bono Efforts (HOPE), which coordinates several public service projects throughout Miami. The school also was selected for the high degree of volunteerism among law students. Roughly 40 percent volunteered for public service projects.

"Many schools have compulsory community service and pro bono requirements, but we've taken a different approach," says Marni Lennon, Miami's dean of students and director of HOPE. "All of our student participation is voluntary. Being recognized by the ABA for our students' passion and commitment is really special."

Lennon says some of her favorite projects coordinated by HOPE last year include the Volunteer Income Tax Assistance (VITA) program and the university's Books for Buddies program, which enlists the help of law students to promote child literacy throughout the area. Children are given books and receive one-on-one mentoring by law students.

The Law Student Division's public interest award is named for the late Judy Weightman, a law professor at the University of Hawaii who died of breast cancer in 1998. Weightman had received numerous awards from bar and community groups in Hawaii for her advocacy on behalf of minorities and the poor. She also received the Law Student Division's Dean Henry Ramsey Jr. Award for promoting the full and equal participation in the legal profession by minorities and women.

The Judy M. Weightman Memorial Public Interest Award is presented to a law school or individual each year based on the degree of commitment to public interest work, including pro bono and volunteer programs, clinics, and student participation in public interest projects. Nominations are due May 1. To nominate your school or for more information, visit www.abanet.org/lsd/awards.

Kenneth Gorton, a 2L at Pepperdine University School of Law, is Student Lawyer's student editor.