University of California-Hastings
University of California-Hastings
College of the Law
200 McAllister Street
San Francisco, CA 94102
www.uchastings.edu
Law School Pro Bono Programs
Contact Information
Nancy StuartClinical Professor of Law
Director of Externships and Pro Bono Programs
UC Hastings College of the Law
200 McAllister Street
San Francisco, CA 94102
(415) 565-4620
Fax: (415) 565-4836
stuartn@uchastings.edu
Category Type
Formal Voluntary Pro Bono Program Characterized by a Referral System with Coordinators
Description of Program
The delivery of pro bono services is viewed as an integral and intensely satisfying part of a legal education; providing pro bono services also enhances a law student’s development of a professional identity. Hastings fosters and encourages pro bono participation by all members of our community in an effort to improve access to justice for all.
Students are asked to commit to deliver a minimum of 45 hours of pro bono services over the course of their three years at Hastings by signing the Pro Bono Pledge. The hours may be satisfied in a gradually increasing manner (10 hours in first year, 15 in 2nd and 20 in 3rd) or may be satisfied in a single year.
Detailed lists of possible pro bono placements are available and assistance is provided to students interested in locating a pro bono placement which matches their interests.
Location of Program
The Externships and Pro Bono Programs Office is located at Hastings and is readily accessible to students.
Staffing/Management/Oversight
The Director of Externships and Pro Bono Programs is directly responsible for the Pro Bono Program with oversight from the Academic Dean. The administrative needs of the program are supported by a part-time staff person. The Pro Bono Program was developed in collaboration with a Pro Bono Advisory Committee made up of current students from each class. The Advisory Committee reviews policies and procedures, promotes pro bono participation across the Hastings community and makes decisions on pro bono funding applications.
Funding
The Pro Bono Program is funded by Hastings. Student initiated pro bono projects receive technical support and may seek funding for specific efforts.
Student Run Pro Bono Groups/Specialized Law Education Projects
Hastings students, faculty and staff are engaged in a wide variety of pro bono activities with legal services organizations locally, nationally and internationally. Student run pro bono opportunities include:
- General Assistance Advocacy Project (GAAP) - Students assist homeless clients to navigate the public benefits systems including general assistance, social security, unemployment, etc.
- Hastings to Haiti: to help strengthen the rule of law in Haiti, students engage with Haitian law students as well as bringing supplies and materials on human rights issues.
- Hastings Hurricane Relief: an alternative spring break opportunity. Students travel to the Gulf Coast as part of the national law student movement, to provide legal related services.
- Homeless Legal Services Program: law students, supervised by a large local law firm, partner with medical students from UCSF to provide services to residents of a local homeless shelter one evening per week.
- Volunteer Income Tax Assistance (VITA): students provide tax filing assistance to Tenderloin residents one evening a week during tax season.
- Diversity Day
- Day at Law School
- Street Law
Faculty and Administrative Pro Bono
Hastings Faculty and staff engage in a wide variety of pro bono activities . Faculty pro bono activities are featured on the pro bono web pages.
Awards/Recognition
Students meeting the 45 hour goal prior to graduation will be inducted into the Pro Bono Society and recognized in the graduation program. This achievement will also be noted on the student's transcript. Students who meet the aspirational goal set for practicing attorneys and provide 150 hours of pro bono services during their tenure at Hastings will be recognized at graduation and on their transcripts for Outstanding Achievement in Pro Bono.
Community Service
Community service work which is not law-related may be counted. However, only 25% of the total pro bono hours for graduation recognition may be satisfied with community service work.
Law School Public Interest Programs
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Contact Information
Ascanio Piomelli
Professor of Law
Public Interest Law Concentration Advisor
piomelli@uchastings.edu
(415) 581-8925
Certificate/Curriculum Programs
The Public Interest Law Concentration is designed to enable students interested in social-justice lawyering to prepare for public service careers (or pro bono work) by immersing themselves in the theory and practice of social-change lawyering. Reflecting the faculty’s deep commitment to social justice, the concentration’s rich array of more than 75 qualifying classes are taught by over thirty full-time Hastings faculty members and adjunct faculty drawn from many of the Bay Area’s (and the U.S’s) preeminent public interest lawyers.
The minimum number of credit hours required to qualify for Public Interest Law Concentration is 25. The qualifying courses are set forth in the Course Catalog on the Hastings website. In addition, with the permission of the Public Interest Law Concentration Advisor and if consistent with the Academic Regulations, students may receive unit credit toward fulfillment of the concentration for relevant classes taken at another law school or as part of an approved joint degree program. Moreover, with the approval of the faculty advisor, students may receive unit credit toward fulfillment of the concentration requirement for relevant independent studies, law journal writing, and interscholastic moot court competitions sponsored by the College.
The cornerstone of the concentration is its year-long seminar that enables students in their second year to prepare for a career in social-justice lawyering. The seminar deepens students’ understanding of public interest practice and forges supportive ties with peers and faculty who affirm and share a passionate commitment to social-change lawyering.
Public Interest Centers
Center for WorkLife Law: http://www.uchastings.edu/?pid=3624
Center for Gender & Refugee Studies: http://cgrs.uchastings.edu/
Center for Negotiation and Dispute Resolution: http://www.uchastings.edu/?pid=132
Public Law Research Institute: http://www.uchastings.edu/?pid=134
Public Interest Clinics
Hastings in-house Civil Justice Clinic, with a full-time faculty of six, offers four different clinical courses, where students have frontline responsibility in representing individuals in specific civil cases, in assisting grass roots organizations and low-income groups on major social policy and community development issues, and in mediating disputes in San Francisco Superior Court.
Civil Justice Clinic offerings include:- Individual Representation Clinic
- Group Advocacy and Systemic Reform Clinic
- Community Economic Development Clinic
- Mediation Clinic
Hastings also offers an in-house Refugee & Human Rights Clinic where students work in partnership with the Center for Gender and Refugee Studies, one of the nation's leading refugee advocacy organizations.
Externships/Internships
Hastings legal externships include outplacement clinics and judicial externships. Faculty members conduct an accompanying seminar for each outplacement clinic that focuses on relevant substantive law, legal skills, and social justice issues.
Outplacement clinics at Hastings:- Criminal Practice Clinic
- Environmental Law Clinic
- Immigrant's Rights Clinic
- Legislation Clinic
- Local Government Law Clinic
- Worker's Rights Clinic
Judicial Externships - Students work with Federal and state court judges at the trial and appellate levels for between 4 to 10 units of credit.
Civil Legal Externships – students may seek permission to receive up to 5 units of academic credit for work with a governmental or non-profit law office which offers an experience that is otherwise unavailable through one of the in-house or out-placement clinic offerings.
Classes with a Public Service Component
Administrative Law
Public Interest Concentration Core Seminar
All In-House and Out Placement Clinical Offerings
Immigration Statutory Class
Current State and Local Government Problems Seminar
Public Health and Homelessness: Intersections of Law and Health Care
Public Interest Journals
Hastings Race and Poverty Law Journal
http://w3.uchastings.edu/hrplj/
Hastings Women's Law Journal
http://w3.uchastings.edu/wlj
Hastings West-Northwest Journal of Environmental Law and Policy
http://w3.uchastings.edu/wnw
Public Interest Career Assistance
Isabelle Mussard
Associate Director for Public Interest, Clerkship, and LL.M. Programs
415.581.8867
mussardi@uchastings.edu
Career counseling and job listings are available through Career Services.
Loan Repayment Assistance Programs (LRAP)
The Public Interest Career Assistance Program (PICAP) is designed to aid and encourage Hastings graduates working in public interest legal organizations or government agencies by assisting with repayment of qualifying, outstanding educational loans. PICAP distributes money to assist in loan repayment to Hastings graduates working in low salary government or public interest jobs.
The College is pleased with its history of graduates who choose to use their skills and talent to serve in the public interest. Recognizing the disparity in salary between corporate employment and public interest the College is committed to supporting PICAP ensuring that its loan repayment assistance is significant and meaningful. This commitment is strengthened each year as the terms of the program and the annual budget are reviewed.
PICAP funding is finite. Awards are dependent on the number of eligible students applying and the established annual budget.
http://www.uchastings.edu/financial-aid/docs/09CompleteInfo121808.pdf
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Post-Graduate Fellowships/Awards
Law School Funded:
Ralph Santiago Abascal Fellowship
http://www.uchastings.edu/careers/students/public-interest/abascal-fellowship.html
Graduate Student Funded:
Hastings students have received state and national public interest fellowships including Equal Justice Works, Skadden, Fulbright, echoing green and others.
Other Funding Sources:
Hastings students have received state and national public interest fellowships including Equal Justice Works, Skadden, Fulbright, echoing green and others.
Term Time Fellowships/Scholarships
Law School Funded:
Numerous Scholarships including the Tony Patino scholarship
Graduate Student Funded:
Other Funding Sources:
Tony Patino scholarship
Summer Fellowships
Law School Funded:
Weinstock Summer Public Interest Fellowships are awarded to students working for public interest organizations.
Graduate Student Funded:
Hastings Public Interest Law Foundation (HPILF) awards multiple summer grants-annually for summer work with a public interest organization.
Other Funding Sources:
EJW summer grants
Extracurricular and Co-Curricular Programs
Lectures, talks and brown bags arranged through a host of organizations and campus departments.
Student Public Interest Groups
Hastings Public Interest Law Foundation
Hastings Race & Poverty Law Journal
Hastings-to-Haiti Partnership
Hastings Environmental Law Society
Hastings Chapter, National Lawyers Guild
Clara Foltz Feminist Association
Hastings Race and Poverty Law Organization
Hastings Post-Katrina Organization
A full list of student organizations can be viewed at:
http://www.uchastings.edu/student-services/student-orgs/index.html
