University of Chicago Law School
University of Chicago
University of Chicago Law School
1111 East 60th Street
Chicago, IL 60637
www.law.uchicago.edu
Law School Pro Bono Programs
Contact Information
Susan J. Curry
Director of Public Interest Law & Policy
773-702-4558
Fax: 773-702-3154
currys@uchicago.edu
Category Type
Formal Voluntary Pro Bono Program Characterized by Administrative Support for Student Group Projects
Description of Program
The University of Chicago Law School is dedicated to the principle that members of the legal profession and those aspiring to enter the legal profession have a professional obligation to assist in providing quality legal services to individuals, groups or causes that are under-represented in the legal system. In furtherance of this principle, the Law School encourages its students to pledge to complete at least 50 hours of law-related volunteer work before they graduate. Entirely voluntary, the Chicago Pro Bono Program gives participating students exposure to a range of important legal issues and invaluable experience that will contribute to their education.
Location of Program
The Pro Bono Program is administered through the Office of Career Services; see http://www.law.uchicago.edu/publicinterest/probono for more information.
Staffing/Management/Oversight
One full-time Director of Public Interest Law and various student leaders
Funding
Student Run Pro Bono Groups/Specialized Law Education Projects
Spring Break of Service is a group organized by and for those students interested in providing legal services as part of a weeklong volunteer opportunity over spring break. In recent academic years, the Spring Break of Service sent students to Biloxi, MS to provide volunteer legal services in collaboration with the Mississippi Center for Justice, the largest public interest law firm in Mississippi. http://www.law.uchicago.edu/studentorgs/sos
Street Law is an outreach volunteer program to community high schools. Groups of approximately four or five students visit eleventh and twelfth grade classrooms once per week for fifty minutes. During each visit, the law students teach the class fundamental legal concepts and engage in policy discussion. Some classes break into small groups to encourage interaction and the free flow of ideas among high school and law students. http://www.law.uchicago.edu/studentorgs/streetlaw
Faculty and Administrative Pro Bono
Awards/Recognition
Students who fulfill their pro bono pledges, log their hours, and submit evaluations will be recognized at graduation. The Public Interest Law Society annually presents awards to students who have made significant contributions in public interest law and to the community.
Community Service
Neighbors is the Law School's primary community service organization. Each year, approximately 100 law students spend two hours a week volunteering in the local community. These service programs include one-on-one tutoring at local elementary and high schools, career mentoring for teen-adults, participating at a soup kitchen, and visiting the elderly at the local YWCA center. In addition, Neighbors also conducts quarterly service drives, including a canned-food drive in the fall, a blood drive in the winter, and a clothing drive in the spring. Overall, Neighbors is a key way that University of Chicago law students can become involved in the local community. http://www.law.uchicago.edu/studentorgs/neighbors
Other Student Groups: Many other student groups engage in community service projects throughout the year. For example, the University of Chicago Black Law Students Association has invited area high school students for an introduction to law school and held a clothing drive, and the Law Women’s Caucus initiated a toiletries drive, encouraging students traveling for interviews to donate unused hotel toiletries, which will be distributed to local shelters. http://www.law.uchicago.edu/students/organizations/list
Law School Public Interest Programs
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Contact Information
Susan J. Curry
Director of Public Interest Law & Policy
773-702-4558
Fax: 773-702-3154
currys@uchicago.edu
Certificate/Curriculum Programs
None.
Public Interest Centers
None.
Public Interest Clinics
The Law School is home to the Edwin F. Mandel Legal Aid Clinic (with projects that include a Civil Rights and Police Accountability Project, Criminal and Juvenile Justice Project, Employment Discrimination Project, Federal Criminal Justice Project, Housing Initiative, and a Mental Health Project), as well as the Immigrant Children’s Advocacy Project (a human service and policy advocacy program dedicated to advocating for the best interests of immigrant and refugee children who are alone in the United States), the Exoneration Project (which represents clients who have been convicted of crimes of which they are innocent), and the Institute for Justice Clinic on Entrepreneurship (a public interest organization devoted principally to expanding economic liberties and providing a range of legal services to local entrepreneurs in economically disadvantaged communities.).
These Clinical Programs ensure the growth of community service and that ensure practical education for students of the Law School. These clinical programs are located in the Law School's Arthur O. Kane Center for Clinical Legal Education, and together, they offer Chicago second and third year students opportunities to learn litigation, legislative advocacy and transactional skills through classroom instruction, simulation and representation of clients under the close supervision of the clinical teachers. For more information, see http://www.law.uchicago.edu/clinics
Externships/Internships
None.
Classes with a Public Service Component
Second and third-year students working in the clinic learn litigation, legislative advocacy, and transactional skills by representing clients while under the close supervision of clinical teachers. Students can work in a wide variety of areas, including
- appellate advocacy;
- civil rights and police accountability;
- criminal and juvenile justice;
- employment discrimination;
- housing;
- mental health;
- exoneration of people wrongfully convicted;
- federal criminal law; and
- advocacy for immigrant children.
Also, the Poverty and Housing Law Seminar exposes students to the practice of poverty law work by giving them the opportunity to work on housing related cases at the Legal Assistance Foundation of Metropolitan Chicago, which provides free legal services to indigent clients in civil matters. Students will spend at least twelve hours per week in one of LAFMC's five neighborhood offices.
Public Interest Journals
Public Interest Career Assistance
The counselors of the University of Chicago Law School’s Office of Career Services -- including a dedicated public interest law advisor -- offer critical assistance to students and alumni pursuing work in the public and nonprofit sectors, including government service, post-graduate fellowships, or international placements.
The Law School offers:- Individual counseling and resources for current students and alumni
- A dedicated public interest counselor to review resumes and cover letters, develop career plans and job search strategies, counsel on public service resources and alternatives, and help guide career-related decision making.
- An extensive public service career resources and publications, and a wealth of online material on its intranet.
- Assistance for student groups, including The Chicago Law Foundation and the Public Interest Law Society Post-graduation fellowship application assistance
- Programming throughout the year on a variety of public service job topics, including fellowships, government careers, and funding
- Institutional membership in Equal Justice Works, providing access to information and programs such as the Equal Justice Works Fellowships, Equal Justice Works Summer Corps, and the Equal Justice Works Annual Conference and Career Fair
- Registration for and travel grants to the Equal Justice Works Annual Conference and Career Fair
- Promotion of and participation in other public service job fairs including The National Black Prosecutors Association Job Fair, Cook County State's Attorney's Office Prosecutorial Opportunities symposium, City of Chicago Legal Job Fair, and the Chicago Bar Association Young Lawyers Section Pro Bono and Community Service Volunteer Fair
- Participation in the Midwest Public Interest Law Career Conference and the Chicago Area Law Schools Consortium's Public Service Employers Reception
- Job postings through Symplicity and on the Public Service ListServ
- Membership with PSLawNet, including an online directory to public interest organizations and job postings
- On-line subscriptions access to the Government Honors and Internships Handbook and Opportunities in Public Affairs
- Debt management and financial planning assistance
Loan Repayment Assistance Programs (LRAP)
The Hormel Public Interest Program is not a traditional loan repayment assistance program. There is not a lengthy time requirement to receive benefits, and benefits are provided regardless of spousal income or potential family contributions. We like to think that the HPIP approach is the best way to support and encourage our graduates. The University of Chicago Law School revising its LRAP program, and will announce new details in early 2011. For current information, please see http://www.law.uchicago.edu/financialaid/HPIP
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Post-Graduate Fellowships/Awards
Law School Funded:
The Law School currently offers Clinical Teaching Fellowships.
Graduate Student Funded:
The Chicago Law Foundation (CLF) is a student-directed, not-for-profit group that awards grants to law students who devote their summers to working in the public interest (see below). In addition, CLF awards bar grants to graduating 3Ls who will be entering the public sector to assist with their expenses connected to the bar exam.
Other Funding Sources:
Post-graduate funding comes from various fellowship and grant sources. In recent years our graduates have obtained fellowships for post-graduate public interest work, including Skadden, Equal Justice Works, the International Justice Mission, Business and Professional People for the Public Interest (BPI), the Southern Poverty Law Center, and the Women’s Law & Public Policy Fellowship.
Term Time Fellowships/Scholarships
Law School Funded:
None.
Graduate Student Funded:
None.
Other Funding Sources:
None.
Summer Fellowships
Law School Funded:
The University of Chicago Law School is committed to supporting a range of summer public interest employment opportunities. To meet this commitment, the Heerey Fellowship Program provides a guaranteed award of $5,000 to first-year students who work in eligible nonprofit or government law positions for at least eight weeks of their first-year summer. Second-year students who work in qualifying public interest law positions are also eligible for a guaranteed summer award of $5,000, available through the Chicago Law Foundation (CLF). With a gift from alumnus Herbert L. Caplan, '57, the Law School has also established paid fellowships for students to work in public interest policy after their second year of law school.
Graduate Student Funded:
The Chicago Law Foundation (CLF) is a student-directed, not-for profit group that awards grants to law students who devote their summers to working in the public interest. Because few public interest organizations and government agencies have the money to pay law students for summer employment, CLF assists law students who would not otherwise be able to work for such organizations. Together with support from the Law School, CLF is now able to guarantee summer public interest funding to any second-year law student who works ten weeks in a public interest law position at a nonprofit or government agency.
CLF is non-partisan and funds projects that fall anywhere on the political spectrum. Past CLF grantees have worked for a wide variety of organizations including: the American Civil Liberties Union; the AIDS Legal Council; the Institute for Justice; Public Citizen Litigation Group; Brooklyn Legal Services; the Illinois Migrant Legal Assistance Project; the Center for Individual Rights; the Authors' Guild; the National Wildlife Federation; and a host of federal, state or local governmental agencies. http://www.law.uchicago.edu/studentorgs/clf
Chicago Policy Initiatives: The Chicago Policy Initiatives combine the collective work and experience of faculty and students to address specific social problems with the intent of providing potential solutions. Several of these initiatives have public interest and community-oriented goals.
The Chicago Policy Initiative on Foster Care is a project that unites former foster children, scholars, policy makers, judges, and lawyers in an effort to understand the special problems facing foster youth aging out of the child welfare system and to identify opportunities for legal reform that help make a successful transition to independent adulthood.
The Chicago Project on Animal Treatment Principles is an interdisciplinary initiative in animal rights law that is intended to generate information about animal treatment standards, and disclosure of varying levels of adherence to those standards, which in turn will help inform and educate consumers and investors in making choices in the market. The Project involves faculty and students examining best practices and developing disclosure guidelines for the treatment of animals in various industries.
Regular Panels and Other Programs:
- 1L Options Series: Public Interest & Government Service Positions
- 1L Options Series: International Opportunities, including International Human Rights
- Working for the Federal Government Program
- Department of Justice Informational Session
- Public Interest Employers Networking Reception
- Post-Graduate Fellowship Information Sessions
Other Funding Sources:
Students also receive summer funding from other sources such as the Equal Justice Works Summer Corps program, Equal Justice America, and other grant programs.
Extracurricular and Co-Curricular Programs
Chicago Policy Initiatives: The Chicago Policy Initiatives combine the collective work and experience of faculty and students to address specific social problems with the intent of providing potential solutions. Several of these initiatives have public interest and community-oriented goals. The Chicago Policy Initiative on Foster Care is a project that unites former foster children, scholars, policy makers, judges, and lawyers in an effort to understand the special problems facing foster youth aging out of the child welfare system and to identify opportunities for legal reform that help make a successful transition to independent adulthood.
The Chicago Project on Animal Treatment Principles is an interdisciplinary initiative in animal rights law that is intended to generate information about animal treatment standards, and disclosure of varying levels of adherence to those standards, which in turn will help inform and educate consumers and investors in making choices in the market. The Project involves faculty and students examining best practices and developing disclosure guidelines for the treatment of animals in various industries.
The Parental Leave Project will examine parental leave disparities across professions, industries, and nations in order to make policy recommendations and to determine economic incentives appropriate for a more responsive system.
Regular Panels and Other Programs:
- 1L Options Series: Public Interest & Government Service Positions
- 1L Options Series: International Opportunities, including International Human Rights
- Working for the Federal Government Program
- Department of Justice Informational Session
- Public Interest Employers Networking Reception
- Post-Graduate Fellowship Information Sessions
- Various practitioners from the public sector also speak to students
throughout the academic year
Student Public Interest Groups
PILS: The Public Interest Law Society of the University of Chicago aims to expose students to the wide breadth of public interest law by: fostering clear conceptions of the myriad ways lawyers can serve the public interest; working with fellow organizations to help students explore public interest activities while in law school; and linking law students to career opportunities in the public interest. PILS works with other student organizations and career services to host numerous informational and networking events throughout the year, connecting students to the public interest sphere. http://www.law.uchicago.edu/studentorgs/pils
CLF: The Chicago Law Foundation (CLF) is a student-directed, not-for-profit group that awards grants to law students who devote their summers to working in the public interest and bar study grants to graduating students entering the public sector.
