"Jefferson held the conviction that lawyers have a special obligation to serve the public interest. 'A lawyer,' Mr. Jefferson said, 'must aspire to be a public citizen.' He believed that lawyers, who have the benefit of not only education but excellent legal education, can make a difference, and therefore we must strive to make a difference, in the world. Jefferson wanted this ideal of public citizenship to be carried forward in the traditions of his beloved University of Virginia—and so they have. The School of Law at the University of Virginia has always been committed to the ideal of public responsibility and to nurturing the civic virtues that support it: the virtues of integrity, civility and service...And there is no more suitable way for a lawyer—or law student—to show concern for the public welfare than by making sure that those less fortunate than we in life have access to our system of laws and jurisprudence and appreciate the role of the law and the value of the rule of law in society...Moreover, pro bono and community service reinforce basic, decent, human tendencies and traits – they further our spiritual needs. Psychologists now brilliantly tell us what we have always known deep down – that doing good deeds for others makes us feel better than just accumulating and consuming more and more and more."
The University of Virginia School of Law Pro Bono Project cannot provide direct legal advice or services to members of the general public. Law student volunteers must be supervised by a licensed attorney or law school faculty member. For assistance in obtaining an attorney please contact the Virginia State Bar’s Virginia Lawyer Referral Service at (800)552-7977 or your local legal aid or public defender’s office.
The Pro Bono Project
Contact: Kimberly Emery, Assistant Dean for Pro Bono and Public Interest at lawprobono@virginia.edu
In 2007, the Mortimer Caplin Public Service Center was one of two recipients of the Lewis F. Powell Pro Bono Award by the Virginia State Bar’s Committee on Access to Legal Services.
The School of Law believes that lawyers should serve their community. Introducing law students to public service through a formalized pro bono program provides them with the skills and values needed to promote a lifetime commitment to law-related community service. Instilling this ethic of service is vitally important to ensuring access to justice as the need for free and low cost legal services continues to rise. Pro bono, in addition to providing much-needed legal services to indigent clients, also offers law students structured opportunities to gain valuable practical experience, such as legal research and writing, client interviewing techniques, and other investigative and advocacy skills. Many students find that pro bono work enhances their Law School experience and allows them to better relate their academic work to the real world of law practice.
The Pro Bono Project challenges every law student to volunteer at least 25 hours annually. Students who complete their required hours will receive a certificate of recognition at the end of their first and second years. Graduating students who have logged at least 75 pro bono hours will be recognized in the commencement brochure and at an awards ceremony during graduation weekend. The graduate who best demonstrates an "extraordinary commitment to pro bono service" will be honored with the annual pro bono award. Many students perform far more than the 75 hour requirement.
What Type of Work Counts Toward the 75-Hour Pro Bono Challenge?
In order to count for the pro bono challenge, the work must be unpaid, law-related (e.g. interviewing clients and witnesses, drafting documents or legislation, doing legal research or law reform projects, assisting at trials or administrative hearings, and supervised by a licensed attorney or a Law School faculty member. The work must be completed during the academic year or over the winter/spring breaks and may not be used to gain academic credit. Summer internships, whether paid or unpaid, do not qualify. However, qualifying volunteer work done above and beyond the course of the normal internship or academic clinic will be recognized. Law-related work with a UVA Law pro bono or public service student organization may also qualify. Student volunteers must submit a signed work log to the Mortimer Caplin Public Service Center in order for their hours to be appropriately recorded for the challenge.
If you have questions about whether or not a specific project would qualify for the pro bono challenge, please contact Dean Emery at lawprobono@virginia.edu.
How to Locate a Pro Bono Project
The easiest way for students to locate a pro bono project is to use the Law School’s pro bono project database which can be accessed through LawWeb. Projects posted on the database are publicized through e-mail alerts and are available on a first-come, first-serve basis. The database offers an array of projects in both the local Charlottesville area and around the country. Past participants have included nonprofit organizations, pro bono attorneys, public interest law firms, local government agencies, public defenders, and legal services offices. Students may also volunteer through a student-run public service organization, or participate in one of the following:
- Access to Justice Partnership – Students will be paired with members of the local bar and trained to do client intake and case follow-up on site at the Legal Aid Justice Center.
- Child Health Advocacy Program – Students who volunteer for a year are trained to do legal intake and case follow-up with patient families being seen at the UVA Children’s Hospital or its affiliated clinics.
- Court Appointed Special Advocates (PCASA) – Students are trained to serve as advocates for children involved in the child abuse and neglect process.
- Hunton & Williams Pro Bono Partnership – Students commit to volunteer for a year with attorneys from the firm’s Richmond office to represent indigent clients in the areas of domestic violence, family law, and immigration and asylum law.
- Legal Outreach Project – Students volunteer to do client intake for the Legal Aid Justice Center each week at area soup kitchens, homeless shelters, and low-income housing projects.
- Nonprofit Legal Assistance Project – Students are supervised by local attorneys to provide assistance to Charlottesville-Albemarle area nonprofits with incorporation, by laws, leases, deeds and other transactional matters.
A law student talks to a volunteer at a soup kitchen
in a Charlottesville church. Law students volunteer at
a number of local homeless shelters and church-run
soup kitchens, doing client intake for the Legal Aid
Justice Center.Students may also develop their own pro bono projects. Projects posted on the pro bono database are publicized through e-mail alerts and are available on a first-come, first-serve basis. The database offers an array of projects in both the local Charlottesville area and around the country. Past participants have included nonprofit organizations, pro bono attorneys, public interest law firms, local government agencies, public defenders, and legal services offices. Participating student-run projects have included the Domestic Violence Project, Legal Education Project, Legal Assistance Society, Migrant Farmworkers Project, Rape Crisis Advocacy Project, Virginia Employment and Labor Law Association, Virginia Environmental Law Foundation, and the Virginia Innocence Project.