William & Mary School of Law
William & Mary School of Law
P.O. Box 8795
Williamsburg, VA 23187
law.wm.edu
Law School Pro Bono Programs
Contact Information
Robert E. Kaplan
Associate Dean for Career Services and Public Service Initiatives and Director of Externships
rekapl@wm.edu
757-221-3804
Category Type
Formal Voluntary Pro Bono Program Characterized by a Referral System with Coordinators
Description of Program
Pro bono service – unpaid, non-credit bearing legal assistance to those unable to pay – takes many forms at William & Mary, including:
Spring Break Service Trips: Students spend spring break in organized volunteer activities to help meet the legal needs of low-income clients. Recent initiatives include trips to New Orleans, where students assisted victims of Hurricanes Katrina and Rita long after those natural disasters occurred.
Street Law: William & Mary law students, serving on teams with lawyers from the law firm of Hunton & Williams, teach diverse and disadvantaged high school students in Richmond, Virginia, about substantive areas of law, the legal profession, and legal career pathways.
Student Legal Services: Law students assist and provide referrals for members of the William & Mary community for a variety of legal problems.
Students for the Innocence Project: Assisting the Mid-Atlantic Innocence Project’s efforts to exonerate wrongly-convicted inmates, students participate in investigation and research of claims of actual innocence.
Williamsburg Community Legal Clinics: Partnering with volunteers from the Williamsburg Bar Association and the Community Action Agency, students help low-income clients of greater Williamsburg with matters involving bankruptcy, child support/custody, contracts, employment, immigration, landlord-tenant, restoration of driving privileges and voting rights, uncontested divorce, and wills and probate.
Wills for Seniors: Students work with attorneys from the law firm of Williams Mullen to conduct intake interviews and help draft, execute, and witness wills for clients referred by the Peninsula Agency on Aging.
Students also provide substantial unpaid, credit-bearing legal service through the Law School’s externship and clinical programs. Those credit-bearing programs are described in the Clinic and Externship sections below.
The range and breadth of our students’ nonlegal community service is as diverse as our students themselves. They volunteer on campus, in greater Williamsburg, in their home communities, and throughout the United States and the world. Indicative of students’ volunteerism is their participation in the Law School's Community Service Program (CSP), through which students pledge at least 35 hours of community service annually. Students who satisfy their pledges are recognized at the graduation awards ceremony and receive a certificate.
Location of Program
The program is administered through the Office of Career Services and Externships.
Staffing/Management/Oversight
The program is managed by the Associate Dean for Career Services and Public Service Initiatives and Director of Externships. He also serves on the coordinating committee for the Williamsburg Bar Association's Community Legal Clinics.
Funding
Funding for staff and programmatic activities is provided through the Law School’s operating budget.
Student Run Pro Bono Groups/Specialized Law Education Projects
American Civil Liberties Union, William & Mary Chapter: Provides students with opportunities to engage in work relating to civil liberties by serving as a research arm of the ACLU's Virginia chapter.
Election Law Society: Student division of William & Mary’s Election Law Program, a joint venture of the National Center for State Courts and the Law School that provides assistance to state court judges in resolving election law disputes.
Institute of Bill of Rights Law Student Division: Hampton Roads School Program (develops educational curriculum on Bill of Rights taught in middle and high schools in southeastern Virginia)
Spring Break Service Trips: Organized volunteer activities to help meet the legal needs of low-income clients.
Literature and the Law Program: Working with a professor, students discuss law-related literature with inmates at the Central Virginia Regional Jail.
Student Legal Services: Assists with legal needs of members of William & Mary community
Students for the Innocence Project: Assists the Mid-Atlantic Innocence Project’s efforts to exonerate wrongly-convicted inmates, students participate in investigation and research of claims of actual innocence.
Faculty and Administrative Pro Bono
Members of the faculty and administration provide pro bono service, but that service is not tracked formally. Some examples are available at http://law.wm.edu/faculty/bios/index.php.
Awards/Recognition
The Law School annually nominates a student for the Virginia State Bar’s Oliver White Hill Law Student Pro Bono Award. The state bar selects one recipient among all Virginia law schools. William & Mary has had multiple recipients since the award was implemented in 2002.
At an awards ceremony during graduation weekend, certificates are presented to members of the graduating class who have satisfied the Law School’s voluntary pro bono/community service pledge.
Graduation awards for which public service is a criterion include the Ewell Award, the George Wythe Prize, and the Thurgood Marshall Award.
Community Service
The following student organizations have a community service mission and/or sponsor community service activities:
American Civil Liberties Union
American Constitution Society
Asian-American Law Students Association
Black Law Students Association
Bone Marrow Drive Committee
Children's Advocacy Law Society
Christian Legal Society
De Vecino a Vecino
Election Law Society
Environmental Law Society
Federalist Society
George Wythe Society of Citizen Lawyers
Institute of Bill of Rights Law Student Division
J. Reuben Clark Law Society
Jewish Law Students Association
LGBT Equality Alliance
Military and Veterans Law Society
Multicultural Law Students Association
National Lawyers Guild
Phi Alpha Delta
Phi Delta Phi
Public Service Fund
St. Thomas More Society
Spring Break Service Trips
Student Animal Legal Defense Fund
Student Bar Association
Student Legal Services
Students for Equality in Legal Education
Students for the Innocence Project
Virginia Bar Association Student Division
Women’s Law Society
Law School Public Interest Programs
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Contact Information
Robert E. Kaplan
Associate Dean for Career Services and Public Service Initiatives and Director of Externships
rekapl@wm.edu
757-221-3804
Certificate/Curriculum Programs
We do not have a public interest-specific curriculum track or academic certificate program.
Public Interest Centers
Information about the following public interest centers is available at http://law.wm.edu/academics/intellectuallife/researchcenters/index.php
Center for Legal and Court Technology
Election Law Program
Health Policy and Law Initiative
Human Security Law Program
Institute of Bill of Rights Law
Post-Conflict Justice Program
Public Interest Clinics
Information about the following public interest clinics is available at http://law.wm.edu/academics/programs/jd/electives/clinics/index.php
Domestic Violence Clinic
Federal Tax Practice Clinic
Innocence Project Clinic
Legal Aid Clinic
Special Education Advocacy Clinic
Veterans' Benefits Clinic
Externships/Internships
Information about the following public interest externships is available at http://law.wm.edu/academics/programs/jd/electives/externships/index.php
Criminal Litigation Externships with a public defenders and prosecutors
Federal Government Externship with executive or legislative agencies of the U.S. government
Judicial Externships with judges, courts, and organizations that provide research, educational, and management services to judges and courts
Nonprofit Organization Externships with civil legal services/legal aid organizations and private nonprofit organizations
State and Local Government Externships with city or county attorneys, attorneys general, and executive or legislative agencies
U.S. Attorney Externships with civil or criminal divisions of U.S. Attorney offices
Virginia Attorney General Externships
Virginia General Assembly Externships with members of the Virginia Senate or House of Delegates during the spring General Assembly session
Classes with a Public Service Component
There are no classes, other than clinics and externships, that have a specific public service component. However, faculty often incorporate public service issues/examples into other classes. A representative list of classes is available at http://law.wm.edu/academics/programs/jd/index.php
Public Interest Journals
There are no journals that are exclusively public interest-oriented. However, the subject area of these journals often encompasses public interest issues: William & Mary Bill of Rights Journal , the William and Mary Environmental Law and Policy Review , the William and Mary Journal of Women and the Law . See http://law.wm.edu/studentlife/studentorganizations/publish/index.php for information about journals.
Public Interest Career Assistance
Public interest and government employers interview on-campus and at our off-campus interview programs in Atlanta, Boston, Chicago, Dallas, Los Angeles, and New York. Our students also participate in annual off-campus interview programs exclusively for government and public interest employers – the fall Equal Justice Works Career Fair and the spring Government and Public Interest Interview Program.
Through individual advising, the professionals in the Office of Career Services (OCS) devote substantial time to helping students and graduates secure public service jobs. Students work for government agencies, public interest organizations, and judges during the summer. Graduates also obtain those types of positions.
William & Mary is a member of PSLawNet ( www.pslawnet.org); our students and graduates therefore have access to the many resources available there. OCS prepares numerous additional resources. Three of particular note are a comprehensive Government and Public Interest Job Search Guide, a specialized guide for Finding and Funding International Public Service Opportunities (which is featured on the PSLawNet site), and a Judicial Clerkship Guide. The OCS website and library include resources helpful for students considering public interest and government careers. OCS sponsors programs featuring government and public interest lawyers. The office also conducts workshops about how to secure summer and post-graduate public service jobs.
OCS coordinates the Law School’s summer and post-graduate public service fellowships and loan repayment program.
Loan Repayment Assistance Programs (LRAP)
William & Mary School of Law’s Loan Repayment Assistance Program assists graduates who work full-time for a legal aid/legal services organization; public defender; prosecutor; government agency; JAG corps; legislative office; or an academic, law-related, nonlegal, or other 501(c)(3) organization with a public service mission. Partisan political work and judicial clerkships are not eligible. Assistance is in the form of annual interest-bearing loans which are forgiven if the recipient satisfies all program requirements and remains in qualifying employment. Funding is provided on a calendar-year basis. See http://law.wm.edu/careerservices/currentstudents/lrap/index.php for complete information.
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Post-Graduate Fellowships/Awards
Law School Funded:
William & Mary School of Law offers post-graduate public service fellowships to recent graduates for work in non-paying or low-paying positions following graduation. Eligible organizations include civil legal services offices; public defenders; prosecutors; federal, state, and local government agencies; 501(c)(3) organizations; non-U.S. nonprofit organizations with a public service mission; legislative offices; and judges and courts. Political campaign work is not eligible. See http://law.wm.edu/careerservices/currentstudents/postgraduatepublicservicefellowships/index.php for additional information.
Graduate Student Funded:
None
Other Funding Sources:
None
Term Time Fellowships/Scholarships
Law School Funded:
Several endowed scholarships are awarded based, in part, on students’ commitment to public service. William & Mary law students also participate in the "America Reads Challenge," which provides paid reading tutors for preschool and elementary students.
Graduate Student Funded:
None
Other Funding Sources:
None
Summer Fellowships
Law School Funded:
Approximately 100 students receive summer public service fellowships annually. The largest sources of funding are the Law School’s budget, money allocated by the university, and law school endowments. Additional information is at http://law.wm.edu/careerservices/currentstudents/summerpublicservicefellowships/index.php
Graduate Student Funded:
The William & Mary Public Service Fund (PSF), a student organization, raises money for summer public service fellowships and loan repayment assistance.
Other Funding Sources:
Several alumni have established funds to support summer fellowships. The Law School also receives grants for summer fellowships from the Virginia State Bar, the Virginia Law Foundation, and the Christopher Wren Association.
Extracurricular and Co-Curricular Programs
The Law School hosts many speakers each year – an average of over two a week. They run the gamut – from prominent senior scholars who deliver named lectures (Cutler, Wythe), to more junior scholars with fresh perspectives who participate in conferences such as the Supreme Court Preview and the Brigham Kanner Property Rights Conference, to our own faculty who deliver the Blackstone and St. George Tucker lectures. Judges, practicing lawyers, and public figures also frequently appear as lecturers and conference panelists. Some events have a designated subject matter (for example, international human rights, national security, election law, civil liberties, post-conflict justice); others are limited only by the intellectual imagination of the participants.
Our students play a pivotal role in the richness of intellectual life at the Law School. Virtually all lectuers and programs are open to student attendance, and students often help research and organize events.
Student Public Interest Groups
The following student organizations have a public interest mission and/or sponsor public interest activities:
American Civil Liberties UnionAmerican Constitution Society
Asian-American Law Students Association
Black Law Students Association
Bone Marrow Drive Committee
Children's Advocacy Law Society
Christian Legal Society
De Vecino a Vecino
Election Law Society
Environmental Law Society
Federalist Society
George Wythe Society of Citizen Lawyers
Institute of Bill of Rights Law Student Division
J. Reuben Clark Law Society
Jewish Law Students Association
LGBT Equality Alliance
Military and Veterans Law Society
Multicultural Law Students Association
National Lawyers Guild
Phi Alpha Delta
Phi Delta Phi
Public Service Fund
St. Thomas More Society
Spring Break Service Trips
Student Animal Legal Defense Fund
Student Bar Association
Student Legal Services
Students for Equality in Legal Education
Students for the Innocence Project
Virginia Bar Association Student Division
Women’s Law Society
