Public Service at Virginia

Virginia upholds Thomas Jefferson’s conviction that lawyers have a special obligation to serve the public interest. We are committed to nurturing the civic virtues that support his ideal of public responsibility: integrity, civility and service. The Law School offers hundreds of thousands of dollars in fellowships to students pursuing public service careers, and its loan forgiveness program removes the burden of debt repayment from students who choose lower-paying public service careers, making virtually any career a practical possibility.

The Law School’s Pro Bono Program encourages all students to provide at least 25 hours of free legal work annually. In a typical year Virginia law students contribute more than 10,000 hours to assisting indigent clients and nonprofit organizations.

In 2004, the Law School developed a pro bono partnership with the Richmond-based law firm of Hunton & Williams. The partnership combines pro bono services of the firm’s attorneys with the assistance of volunteer law students to represent indigent clients in the areas of immigration/asylum and family law. The Pro Bono Partnership reflects the Law School’s and the firm’s commitment to the ideal of access to justice.

Mortimer Caplin Public Service Center

The Mortimer Caplin Public Service Center is the School’s focal point for public service programming and outreach. Its efforts include:

• Career counseling for students and alumni
• The Virginia Law Pro Bono Project
• Coordination of summer internships and postgraduate fellowships
• Public service career panels, speakers and workshops
• Public Works, a blog featuring public service and pro bono advice and news
• The annual Public Interest Interview Week

In its recently created blog, Public Works, the Mortimer Caplin Public Service Center frequently posts information on public service job opportunities, pro bono projects, fellowships, speaker events, and links to frequently accessed employment resources.  The Center also hosts a database of jobs available nationwide, maintains an electronic network of Virginia Law alumni employed in public service, and issues e-mail alerts of new openings, events, and pro bono opportunities. Each year, the Center sponsors the Public Interest Job Fair, drawing employers from throughout the Mid-Atlantic Region. The Center also sponsors a variety of public service workshops and speakers and assists student organizers of the Conference on Public Service and the Law, the Public Interest Law Association, and other public service organizations.