How to Find a Pro Bono Opportunity
The Pro Bono Program strives to provide every interested student with an appropriate pro bono project. New project opportunities are posted on the pro bono database and advertised to students through email alerts.
In-House Projects The Pro Bono Program has developed several partnerships with outside law firms and nonprofit organizations. These pro bono projects share many of the structures and goals of a clinical experience, although they require a less-significant time commitment. These projects typically require a semester or yearlong commitment of approximately 3-8 hours per week. They provide students with the opportunity to do high-quality legal work under the direct supervision of practicing attorneys or law school faculty members. The number of volunteers for each project is limited and the application process is competitive.
Access to Justice Partnership - The partnership is a new collaboration among the Law School, the Legal Aid Justice Center, Central Virginia Legal Services and the Charlottesville-Albemarle Bar Association to provide substantial pro bono services to low-income clients. This project offers selected second- and third-year law students the unique opportunity to partner with legal aid attorneys and members of the local bar to provide much needed legal services to indigent families, with particular focus on the "new poor" and those in the "gap" between meeting legal aid eligibility and being able to afford legal representation. The partnership will address legal issues faced by low-income clients such as housing, employment, family concerns and access to health care.
Hunton & Williams Pro Bono Partnership – Under the supervision of attorneys from the firm’s Richmond office or the pro bono associate in the Charlottesville Pro Bono Office, students volunteer to assist indigent family law clients with protective orders, child support and custody/visitation issues. Other students will conduct factual and legal research in cases for clients with asylum or other immigration law issues.
Immigrant Jail Outreach Project – Students accompany attorneys from the Capital Area Immigrants' Rights (CAIR) Coalition in Washington, D.C., to interview clients and to present know-your-rights presentations at a juvenile detention facility and at several regional jails that have a large population of immigrant detainees.
Legal Outreach Project – Students conduct client intake for the local Legal Aid Justice Center at area soup kitchens and homeless shelters.
Medical-Legal Partnership – Student volunteers are trained to conduct legal intake and case follow-up with patient families being treated at the UVA Children’s Hospital or its affiliated clinics.
Piedmont Court Appointed Special Advocates (PCASA) – Student volunteers are trained to serve as advocates in the court system for the best interests of children who have been adjudicated to be abused or neglected.
Veterans Medical Disability Appeals Pro Bono Program – Students are teamed with supervising attorneys to represent veterans before the U.S. Court of Appeals for Veterans Claims. The program’s emphasis is on representing veterans whose disability claims have been rejected by the Department of Veterans Affairs and who plan to appeal in federal court. Students research issues, formulate arguments and draft court documents in support of the veteran’s appeal.
Ad-Hoc Pro Bono Opportunities Initiated These are shorter-term pro bono opportunities that are publicized to students through email alerts and on the Pro Bono Project Database. These projects generally have more limited time commitments.
Pro Bono Opportunities Initiated by Students Students may also develop their own pro bono projects. Projects must be supervised by an attorney or a Law School faculty member to qualify for pro bono credit. Student-initiated pro bono projects should be approved in advance by emailing lawprobono@virginia.edu.
Winter and Spring Break Pro Bono Projects With the support of the Pro Bono Program, students arrange individual short-term pro bono opportunities for the winter or spring breaks. These projects allow students to spend more concentrated periods of time working on a project while also exploring potential career options. Spring break pro bono trips are sponsored by the Public Interest Law Association (PILA), and involve weeklong projects to rural or other underserved areas. In 2011, 53 students participated in seven spring break pro bono projects with legal aid and public defender organizations in Charlottesville, Richmond, Raleigh, Prestonsburg, New Orleans, Biloxi and Washington, D.C.
PSLawNet This national database, designed to facilitate student public service and pro bono work, includes over 100 law school members and more than 10,000 public service organizations. Students can visit http://pslawnet.org to search for potential sponsoring organizations or unpaid internships in different geographic or substantive law areas.
