University of Toledo College of Law
University of Toledo
College of Law
2801 West Bancroft
MS 507
Toledo, OH 43606
www.utlaw.edu
Law School Pro Bono Programs
Contact Information
Jessica J. Mehl
Assistant Director of Law Career Services and Public Service Coordinator
419-530-4996
jessica.mehl@utoledo.edu
Category Type
Formal Voluntary Pro Bono Program Characterized by a Referral System with a Coordinator
Description of Program
A student may earn a Public Service Commendation for each semester in which he or she performs thirty (30) or more documented hours of unpaid law related public service work as identified by the College of Law Public Service Coordinator.
This Commendation can be listed on resumes and will be posted on the law school web site much like the Dean’s List.
Work performed over the summer will be credited toward earning the Commendation in the subsequent Fall Semester.
The College of Law and PILA will help students find placements with public service agencies, organizations and lawyers engaged in pro bono work. We have a strong partnership with The Toledo Bar Association Pro Bono Legal Services Program, Legal Aid of Western Ohio (LAWO) and Advocates for Basic Legal Equality (ABLE). In addition, you are welcome to secure a placement with an agency of your choice so long as you will be directly supervised by a licensed attorney.
Location of Program
Office of Professional Development, Law Career Services
Staffing/Management/Oversight
The Public Service Coordinator for the program will be Jessica Mehl, J.D. of the Career Development Office. Working with community stakeholders and PILA officers, she will coordinate placements and arrange for supervising attorneys to certify qualifying hours for participating students. Please contact her at jessica.mehl@utoledo.edu or 419-530-4996 for further information and to get involved in the program.
Funding
Law School Budget
Student Run Pro Bono Groups/Specialized Law Education Projects
Public Interest Law Association (PILA): The Public Interest Law Association (PILA) was founded by law students interested in public law careers and experiences. Founding members represent many backgrounds and professions, but share a commitment to serve judicial, legal aid, and public service organizations while in law school and beyond. Members believe that an important part of legal training involves practical experience with judges, lawyers, and clients. Through its activities and programs, PILA supports a lifelong dedication to pro bono and community service contributions. PILA has therefore developed an opportunity database to easily match projects in the community among sponsoring attorneys and law students.
PILA aspires to foster a greater understanding of the role of law in society and openness to non-profit, governmental, and community service careers among law students. PILA accordingly advocates for these goals within the College of Law and provides an important bridge to the Toledo public interest law community.
Faculty and Administrative Pro Bono
Varied by area of interest and expertise.
Awards/Recognition
Community Service
The College of Law encourages students to participate in a variety of community service and public interest activities. Students have opportunities to volunteer in Warm Clothing and Canned Food Drives, the Student Bar Association Pro Bono Committee, Pro Se Clinics through area Bar Associations, Mentoring Programs with middle and high school students, and Summer programs for Minority High School Students in Law. In addition, students receive academic credit for participation in programs providing free legal services through the College of Law Legal Clinic, the Dispute Resolution Clinic, the Criminal Law Practice Program, the Public Service Externship Program, and the Domestic Violence Clinic. Further, students assist faculty who perform public service through their individual volunteer service to the community and the legal profession.
Law School Public Interest Programs
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Contact Information
Maara Fink
Clinical Professor/Externship Director
419-530-4260
maara.fink@utoledo.edu
Certificate/Curriculum Programs
The University of Toledo College of Law offers certificate programs in environmental law, intellectual property, international law, labor and employment law and homeland security.
See http://law.utoledo.edu/students/concentrations.htm for full details.
Public Interest Centers
The Legal Institute of the Great Lakes - Affiliated with the College of Law, the Institute supports research, maintains publications and sponsors conferences on legal, economic and social issues of importance to the Great Lakes Region of the United States and Canada. Since 1993, the Institute has been actively involved in numerous economic, environmental, and social topics, including the Water Quality Guidance for the Great Lakes System, environmental audits, above-ground storage of nuclear fuel, market-based incentives to control air pollution, sustainable development, comparative study of the corporate laws of the Great Lakes states, legal and financial aspects of regional trade agreements, environmental justice in the Great Lakes region, and the impact of Native Americans in the Great Lakes states. The Institute publishes LakeLinks, a regionally distributed newsletter, as well as a multi-disciplinary, peer-reviewed journal and The Toledo Journal of Great Lakes Law, Science and Policy. Law students may enroll in courses taught by Institute faculty, serve as research fellows, and produce the Journal. In pursuing these activities, faculty and students work with practicing attorneys, government officials, other academics, business representatives, and individuals associated with non-profit institutions.
Public Interest Clinics
The College of Law Legal Clinic
The Clinic is a one-semester course in which student interns provide direct legal representation, under the supervision of clinical faculty, to clients within the community who cannot afford to hire private legal counsel. The Legal Clinic combines a structured classroom curriculum with individualized instruction and collaborative learning opportunities to prepare interns to competently represent clients, grapple with complex ethical issues, critically examine the law and legal profession, and advance the social justice mission of the law school.
The Dispute Resolution Clinic
The Clinic is a one-semester course in which students are trained to serve as volunteer mediators in local courts throughout Northwest Ohio. Students mediate a variety of matters including small claims issues and cases involving unruly and delinquent youth. In preparation for their fieldwork, students are required to complete a two-day, 16 hour basic mediation training course which is offered the week prior to the start of each semester.
The Domestic Violence Clinic
The Domestic Violence Clinic is a one semester course in which students provide legal assistance to clients who experience interpersonal violence. Students work under the supervision of clinical faculty and perform all of the traditional functions of a civil attorney, including interviewing and counseling clients, conducting legal research, developing case theories, engaging in discovery and motion practice, negotiating with opposing counsel, drafting pleadings and other legal documents, presenting oral arguments in court, and taking appropriate cases to trial and appeal, if warranted. Readings, classroom lectures, simulations and videos complement live civil practice.
Externships/Internships
The Program
The Public Service Externship Clinic has several purposes: to enhance students' ability to learn from their experiences, to train students in lawyering skills; to give students greater insight into the workings of the legal system; and to foster in students a sense of professional responsibility.
Under the guidance of a supervising attorney or judge, student externs perform a variety of challenging tasks. Feedback from supervisors concerning these tasks creates the ideal environment for developing self-directed learning skills. Externship faculty members regularly meet or correspond with externs, reviewing their work and what they are learning.
The school can arrange a wide variety of placements. At numerous governmental offices, courts, and non-profit agencies, law students can gain practical legal experience in the areas of researching, preparing legal documents, interviewing, counseling, negotiating, and litigating.
Consistently, students find their clinical courses - including externships - to be one of the highlights of their legal education. Some are excited by representing real clients in court and at administrative hearings. Others gain stimulating insights into the legal process from working with trial or appellate judges. Regardless of their placement, all externs find that their experiences enable them to revitalize their formal education and to learn valuable legal skills.
Placements
Various externship placements have been established to meet student interest. The scope of externship opportunities allows students to explore many areas of interest. Most students extern within Lucas County at courts, government agencies and public service organizations.
Some out-of-town externships are available in the summer semester. Students are encouraged to propose out-of-town externship placements.
Qualifications
One externship per student is the norm. To qualify for an externship, students must have completed their first year of law school (two years if part-time student) and must be in good academic standing.
Student-Initiated Externship
Students wishing to extern with a government agency or program not listed as an established placement may contact the agency/office and initiate and externship. After the student obtains the preliminary information regarding the placement, the externship faculty will review the information, meet with the proposed supervising attorney, and approve or deny the proposed placement.
Length of Placement
In the fall and spring semesters students work a minimum of four hours per week per unit of credit for 14 weeks. Students may earn up to four units of credit toward graduation. Students also must attend the bi-weekly Externship Seminar.
In the summer term, students work a minimum of 56 hours per unit of credit over the summer. Students may earn up to five units of credit toward graduation. For example, a student who elected five credit hours would work a total of 280 hours in the field placement over the summer. Students are required to attend the Externship Seminar.
Classes with a Public Service Component
There are several doctrinal course offerings that relate to public interest law and public service, including Gender and the Law, Sexual Orientation and the Law, Civil and Political Rights.
However, the College's social justice mission is most evident in the clinical curriculum. Law students are trained in public interest law in the Public Service Externship Program, the College of Law Legal Clinic, the Domestic Violence Clinic, the Criminal Practice Clinic and the Dispute Resolution Clinic.
Public Interest Journals
The Legal Institute of the Great Lakes publishes a multi-disciplinary, peer-reviewed journal called the Toledo Journal of Great Lakes Law, Science and Policy. In addition, the institute publishes LakeLinks, a regionally distributed newsletter.
Public Interest Career Assistance
The College of Law provides individual public interest career counseling and fellowship support through its Office of Professional Development, Law Career Services. The College of Law is also a member of Equal Justice Works and participates in multiple public interest career fairs, including the Midwest Public Interest Career Conference and the Equal Justice Works Career Fair and Conference. The law school also hosts an annual public interest law forum/job fair. For more information, contact Jessica Mehl, Assistant Director of Career Services and Public Service Coordinator at 419/530-4996 or jessica.mehl@utoledo.edu.
Loan Repayment Assistance Programs (LRAP)
None.
Post-Graduate Fellowships/Awards
Law School Funded:
None.
Graduate Student Funded:
None.
Other Funding Sources:
Graduates of The University of Toledo College of Law have been successful in earning fellowships from both Equal Justice Works and Americorps, among others.
Term Time Fellowships/Scholarships
Law School Funded:
None.
Graduate Student Funded:
None.
Other Funding Sources:
The Reinberger Foundation Honors Prosecutorial Summer Program offers significant financial stipends to outstanding students who work in prosecutor offices throughout the country during the summer.
The Joel A. and Shirley A. Levine Fellowship in Alternative Dispute Resolution provides students with an opportunity to explore the world of Alternative Dispute Resolution through a direct placement in this emergent field.
Summer Fellowships
Law School Funded:
The College of Law awards several public interest fellowships to help support students who work for public interest entities during the summer. These fellowships enable students to provide legal assistance to underprivileged people throughout the country by providing a stipend for students to help with their expenses.
Graduate Student Funded:
None.
Other Funding Sources:
Cooper & Walinski Public Interest Law Fellowship
Bruce Comly French Public Interest Law Fellowship
The Reinberger Foundation Honors Prosecutorial Summer Program offers significant financial stipends to outstanding students who work in prosecutor offices throughout the country during the summer.
The Joel A. and Shirley A. Levine Fellowship in Alternative Dispute Resolutionprovides students with an opportunity to explore the world of Alternative Dispute Resolution through a direct placement in this emergent field.
Extracurricular and Co-Curricular Programs
None.
Student Public Interest Groups
The College of Law supports a number of student public interest groups, including the Public Interest Law Association (PILA), the Student Hurricane Network (SHN), Women Law Student Association (WLSA), OutLaw, and the Environmental Law Society.
