Public Works

2009 Pro Bono Graduates

The Mortimer Caplin Public Service Center wishes to congratulate the Class of 2009 Pro Bono Graduates. The following graduates deserve recognition for meeting the requirements of the Pro Bono Challenge and for completing a combined 6,130 hours or pro bono work during their three years of law school:

Law Firm Deferral: Opportunities at LAJC

The Legal Aid Justice Center seeks to host attorneys on public interest furlough or deferral to work in one of our four offices in Virginia. The positions are dependent upon your ability to secure and obtain third-party funding. Depending on individual interest and location preference, the attorney may work on one or several of various poverty law issues such as public benefits, affordable housing, employment, special education, or juvenile justice. The Legal Aid Justice Center is a nationally recognized, non-profit civil legal assistance program with offices in Charlottesville, Falls Church (Metro D.C.), Petersburg and Richmond. Our dynamic staff of more than two dozen attorneys pursue systemic legal advocacy for all low-income Virginians using a wide array of strategies. Through legal representation, community education and statewide advocacy, the Legal Aid Justice Center works both to eliminate the immediate symptoms and to address the underlying causes of poverty in Virginia. Individuals interested in working with any of our targeted programs are encouraged to apply.

Information on how to apply for the internship positions is available here: Download Public Interest Fellows edited.

Submit Your Pro Bono Hours for the Pro Bono Project Challenge

The Virginia Law Pro Bono Project challenges every law student to contribute at least 25 hours per year of pro bono service. Students who complete their required hours (25 hours for 1Ls and 50 for 2Ls) will receive a certificate of recognition at the end of their first and second years. Graduating students who have logged at least 75 hours will be recognized in the commencement brochure.

To make sure that your hours are included in the challenge and that you receive proper recognition of all your hard work, we ask that you do the following by Friday April 24:

1. Fill out and submit all online pro bono logs. The hours do not need to have been approved by the 24th but they do need to have been submitted. (For more information on locating and submitting online pro bono logs, please go here.)
2. Submit a completed Student Evaluation Form for each project you participated in. (A copy of the evaluation form can also be picked up in the Public Service Center - SL249).
3. Complete a Volunteer Agreement for each project you participated in. (This should have been done prior to the start of your project).

If you would like to check your pro bono hours that you have already logged, please refer to the following document: 

How to Check Your Total Pro Bono Hours

Due to the change in Pro Bono Work Log systems during the 2007-2008 academic year, 3Ls will also need to check the old work log system. The following document demonstrates how to do this:

How to Check Your Total Pro Bono Hours (Prior to 2007-2008)

If you are a 3L who is close to 75 hours and would like to reach the 75 hour requirement, please contact Dean Emery at lawprobono@virginia.edu.

Image | Courtesy

Deferred Law Firm Associate Opportunities on PSLawNet

PSLawNet -- the online resource for public service careers and employers -- has created a page for students whose start dates have been deferred by law firms. Registration for Virginia Law students and graduates is free. 

PSLawNet is serving as a clearinghouse for public interest organizations to post notices about their willingness to place law firm associates.  Accordingly, PSLawNet has, as of today, listed more than 150 internship and pro bono opportunities in several states across the nation. A few of these organizations include the New York City Law Department, The Constitution Project (Washington, D.C.), National Security Archive (D.C.), Texas Appleseed, Advocates for Human Rights (Minneapolis), ACLU (San Diego, Seattle), Lawyers Committee for Civil Rights (San Francisco), Volunteer Lawyers for Justice (Newark), National Center for Refugee & Immigrant Children (Charlotte and Los Angeles), National Juvenile Defender Center (Las Vegas, New Orleans, Houston), etc.

The law firm page provides links to several helpful resources including to the Association of Pro Bono Counsel's Considerations for the Placement of Law Firm Attorneys into Public Interest Organizations, a list of pro bono clearinghouses in several states, to the Pro Bono Institute, the American Bar Association, and to relevant news items.

Previous postings for deferred third years are available here (New Jersey Job Fair -- April 8, 2009), here (NYT), and here (PSLawNet). The Public Service Center remains available to assist students with their individual search for public interest and pro bono opportunities.

Interested in Pro Bono work at private law firms?

The Virginia Law Pro Bono Program will present a unique opportunity on March 12, 2009 for students  interested in pro bono work at private law firms. Gregory A. McConnell (bio) Director of Public Interest Law and Pro Bono Counsel at Winston & Strawn LLP and Marc R. Kadish (bio), Director of Pro Bono Activities and Litigation Training for Mayer Brown, both oversee the pro bono activities of their respective firms and will be on hand to offer 30-minute informational sessions to students who have questions about pro bono work in law firms and how that work can influence their careers. These will NOT be interviews for employment opportunities.

Students who would like the opportunity to meet with Mr. McConnell and Mr. Kadish should submit a statement of interest to lawprobono@virginia.edu by Tuesday, March 10, at 5:00pm. Students selected for an informational session, will be contacted by the Public Service Center to arrange a meeting time. Please note, informational sessions will be scheduled around a student's classes.

The image.

Pro Bono Work Logs

Students should use the online Pro Bono Work Log System to record any volunteer hours they perform which meet the 75-Hour Pro Bono Challenge criteria described on the Virginia Law Pro Bono page, here.

Every student who performs pro bono hours and has completed a volunteer agreement for that project should submit an online work log within the semester in which the work was done. Even if you are not interested in logging hours for credit towards the Pro Bono Challenge, we ask that you still submit a log for institutional purposes.

To access the online Pro Bono Work Log System, log in to LawWeb and select the link "Pro Bono Work Logs" found in the Public Service Center section. To start a new work log, click on "Create WorkLog" and fill in all of the fields. (Please note that you must complete a separate work log for each organization with which you have volunteered and you must provide an accurate e-mail address for each organization's supervisor). The system will allow you to save each work log you create so that you may update the information throughout the semester. However, once you submit the work log for supervisor approval, you will no longer be able to edit the form and must create a new work log for any additional hours you volunteer. To submit a work log, place a check mark on the box next to the saved log in the "New" category and click on the Submit WorkLog button. In order to maximize the efficiency of the new online system, we recommend that you only submit one work log, per organization, per semester (though if you run out of lines for adding new information, you will need to create a second work log).

Once a work log is submitted, it is verified by the Public Service Center and emailed to the supervisor for approval. Once approved by your supervisor, it will appear as "Approved" in the Employer Status section of the main Pro Bono Work Log page. If there is a problem with the submitted work log, or if the employer chooses not to approve, then the work log will appear as "Denied" and will contain comments explaining why it was denied.

If you encounter problems/bugs with the system, we ask that you try two things prior to contacting us:

1) Try using an alternate browser (e.g. if you are using Internet Explorer, try using FireFox).

2) If you tried to save and the log is not showing up on the main page, please try refreshing the browser. If it still does not appear, try waiting 15 minutes and checking again.

If neither of these solutions works please email us at publicservicelaw@virginia.edu with the relevant information.

We hope you find the Pro Bono Work Log System useful.

2008 Winter Pro Bono Program

The Pro Bono Program will begin accepting applications from students interested in volunteering for a Winter Break Pro Bono Project. These projects are voluntary and the student can select the location, type of work, and duration of their assignment.

Last winter, the Mortimer Caplin Public Service Center was able to assist over 100 students in securing a pro bono project with various public interest organizations -- places such as the Virginia Capital Representation Resource Center here in Charlottesville; the Manhattan District Attorney’s Office in New York; the San Bernardino County Public Defender’s office in California; Texas RioGrande Legal Aid in Austin, TX; the Alliance for the Great Lakes in Chicago, IL; and everywhere in between.  The type of work done by these students varied from specific research projects, to client intake, to the shadowing of attorneys in court.

Winter Pro Bono experiences benefit students in a variety of ways: they help introduce students to an area of law in which they might be interested in practicing; they provide valuable networking connections, which may be helpful in seeking summer employment; they offer private firm-bound students the opportunity to experience an area of pro bono law they might want to pursue while an associate; and most importantly, they provide assistance to understaffed organizations, introducing law students to the ethic of service that is part of their professional responsibility as members of the bar.

First- and second-year students should also note that hours dedicated to a qualified Winter Pro Bono project will count towards the PILA Summer Fellowship application hours requirement. The Law School’s Pro Bono Program encourages all students to perform at least 25 hours of free legal work annually.

If interested in requesting a Winter Pro Bono Project, please download and complete the Winter 2008 Pro Bono Request Form: Download 2008_winter_pro_bono_request_form.pdf You must submit the form to the Public Service Center by Friday, November 7, at noon. Due to the number of applications expected, no late applications will be accepted.

Once the form has been received, the Public Service Center will then develop a list of suggested organizations/alumni for the student to contact. To the extent possible, we will try to identify organizations/alumni who have taken winter break pro bono volunteers in the past. We will also provide a sample script for the student to use when contacting the various organizations to arrange a winter break pro bono project. 

Questions? Please contact the Virginia Law Pro Bono Program at lawprobono@virginia.edu.

New Pro Bono Course Offering in the Spring

Next semester (2009), the Law School will offer a course on Pro Bono and Private Law Firms. The one-credit course will explore pro bono legal services at US-based law firms and is open to all students. It will examine the nexus between public interest and private sector law, and the growth of pro bono work in law firms.  Several issues will be also considered: (1) how pro bono affects the law firm bottom line; (2) the various ways that law firms structure their pro bono programs; (3) the varying types of projects; (4) ethical concerns and conflicts surrounding pro bono work; (5) the impact of law firms on pro bono clients and public interest groups; and (6) various trends and issues regarding pro bono. The course will consist of lectures, guest speakers, student participation, and class projects.

We encourage all students interested in pro bono to consider enrolling.  For more information, please see the Course Offering Directory, here. Additional questions may be directed to Kimberly Emery, Assistant Dean for Pro Bono.

A Silver Lining to the Economic Downturn?

In a recent piece in The American Lawyer, Nate Raymond explores whether the recent downturn in the economy will adversely affect the legal profession's commitment to pro bono:

R. Bruce McLean still shakes his head when he thinks about how his firm, Akin Gump Strauss Hauer & Feld, derailed its pro bono program in 2000. Firms across the country had increased associate salaries to $125,000. Akin Gump had generally allowed associates to mix pro bono with the minimum 2,000 billable hours needed to be eligible for a bonus. But after the raises, it stopped counting pro bono work -- all 2,000 hours would have to be billable. (Continue reading).

Pro Bono Results from 2007-2008

The Mortimer Caplin Public Service Center extends its deepest gratitude to all students who performed pro bono work during the 2007-2008 academic year. 245 students logged over 11,500 pro bono hours and 60 3Ls received graduation recognition for their contribution to the Pro Bono Program during their three years of Law School.

Please join us in congratulating the following individuals who deserve special recognition for meeting the requirements of the Pro Bono Challenge:

Class of 2008: Download 3l_certificate_flyer_2008.pdf

Class of 2009: Download 2l_certificate_flyer_2008.pdf

Class of 2010: Download 1l_certificate_flyer_2008.pdf

Final Statistics for the 2007-2008 Academic Year

Total Number of Students who Logged Hours: 245 
Hours Logged by Class of 2008: 4,184
Hours Logged by Class of 2009: 3,138
Hours Logged by Class of 2010: 4,268
Total Number of Hours Logged: 11,590

Number of 3Ls who logged 75+ hours during their three years: 60 
Number of 2Ls who logged 50+ hours during their first two years:49
Number of 1Ls who logged 25+ hours during their first year: 89

Creative Commons photo of Lady Justice courtesy of flickr user Cam B.