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Pro Bono & Public Service

 

The University of California, Berkeley School of Law (Boalt Hall) has a long-standing commitment to serving the community and educating its students about the professional obligation of pro bono service.  Every lawyer has a responsibility to provide legal services to those who are underserved or unable to afford legal services. Providing legal services in this manner can be one of the most powerful learning experiences and one of the most rewarding in the life of a lawyer or law student. The American Bar Association urges all lawyers to provide a minimum of 50 hours of pro bono services annually. The Career Development Office strives to expose law students to high quality pro bono opportunities that will instill a career-long commitment to meeting this important professional obligation.

Pro Bono Pledge

Toward this end, the law school encourages all students to pledge at least 50 hours of law-related volunteer work before they graduate, knowing that most of our students far exceed that challenge during their time at Boalt Hall. Those students who meet or exceed their pledge goal by graduation will receive a notation in the graduation program and a certificate acknowledging their public service. We also host an event each Spring celebrating students undertaking the Pro Bono Pledge. The guidelines below outline what constitutes pro bono volunteer work. Please note that the guideline for completing the Pro Bono Pledge are slightly different than those governing pro bono work for the purpose of Boalt Hall Summer Felowship eligibility. If you have any questions, please contact Linda Maranzana (lmaranzana@law.berkeley.edu) in the Career Development Office.

To make the Pro Bono Pledge, please complete the following form and return it to 290 Simon Hall:

Pro Bono Pledge Form

Boalt Hall Summer Fellowship Program Pro Bono Hours Requirement

In order to qualify for the Boalt Hall Summer Fellowship program, law students must demonstrate public interest/public service involvement. Students who completed and tracked the required 25 hours of pro bono work for Boalt Summer Fellowship funding during the last academic year need not complete an additional 25 hours of pro bono work this year in order to apply for funding for a second summer of public interest work. Pro bono hours must be completed by the Fellowship application deadline: April 1, 2008.

Tracking/Reporting Pro Bono Hours
For purposes of the Boalt Hall Summer Fellowship Application and the Pro Bono Pledge, each law student is individually responsible for tracking his or her hours of pro bono work. Hours tracked will be verified with the reported supervising attorney or a student leader. Below is a link to a form that students must use to track pro bono hours. Always print a copy of each submission for your records.

Pro Bono Hours Tracking Form

How can students satisfy the pro bono requirement?

Pro Bono Pledge hours may be completed through activities described in paragraph A below.

The Boalt Hall Summer Fellowship Pro Bono hours requirement may be completed through activities described in paragraphs A-C below.

  • A. completing at least 25 hours of volunteer (unpaid and not-for-credit) pro bono/public interest service (not including training hours) through:
    1. a Boalt-affiliated clinic, such as Community Legal Outreach offered through East Bay Community Law Center, the Workers' Rights Clinic, and the California Asylum Representation Clinic (as certified by a supervisor of such a program), or
    2. one of the pre-approved external opportunities listed below, or
    3. at a non-profit organization of a student's choosing, subject to prior fellowship committee approval (see link to approval request form below), provided that the public interest/public service work is law-related and attorney-supervised, or
  • B. combining law-related pro bono hours described in the previous paragraph [A(1), (2), or (3)] with hours spent directly assisting the summer public interest fellowship fund-raising efforts of any Boalt student organization (as certified by the organization) for a total of at least 25 hours [examples of hours that can be used in combination with law-related pro bono hours to satisfy the 25 hour requirement include hours spent organizing for or working at the BLF auction, ELQ's Race Judicata, and APALSA's Trivia Bowl.] They would not include hours spent planning or working at symposia or any other non-fundraising hours, even if those hours would otherwise count toward BLF eligibility], or
  • C. being certified as having fulfilled all of the eligibility requirements of the Berkeley Law Foundation (BLF) that would qualify the student to compete for a BLF summer fellowship

To get approval for a pro bono placement that is not on the list of pre-approved placements, please submit the following form to the CDO for review:

Student Initiated Pro Bono Approval Request Form and Information

In order to comply with the Boalt Hall Summer Fellowship requirements, a student-initiated project must be:

  1. Law-related. The project requires knowledge of the law for completion; and
  2. Supervised by an attorney (either directly or indirectly), who will sign off on the final work product; and
  3. In the public interest. Examples include work that helps those who are under-represented, educates the public about the law, improves the legal profession in some way, or deals with an issue of public importance from any side of the political spectrum; and
  4. Uncompensated. Students may not receive any form of financial remuneration (salary, stipend, or grant) or academic credit (writing or other) for their work. If the work is being supervised through a clinic, the petitioner must indicate that s/he is not currently enrolled in the clinic or s/he must attach written confirmation from the Professor that the pro bono project is in addition to the work required to receive academic credit

External Opportunities to Complete Pro Bono Hours:  A Select List of Community Organization Pro Bono Projects

In addition to volunteering with one of the Boalt-related opportunities listed above, students may complete all or part of their 25 hours of pro bono work by doing law-related volunteer work with one or more community organizations during the academic year prior to the Summer Fellowship application process. (No petition is required for placements at these organizations.)

The organizations listed below have identified discrete pro bono projects available to Boalt Hall students. For detailed information about specific projects, click on the organizations' pro bono project request forms below. (Note: Some of the projects listed below may be completed remotely and/or over the course of a semester break.)

Alameda County Superior Court, Family & Children’s Bureau*
Asian Law Caucus*
Asian Pacific Islander Legal Outreach*
Bay Area Legal Aid
California Indian Legal Services*
California Law Revision Commission
East Bay Community Law Center-Tax Clinic
Energy Conservation Finance Institute
Homeless Action Center
Housing and Economic Rights Advocates*
International Institute of the East Bay*
Legal Community Against Violence*
Office of the State Public Defender
San Diego County Department of the Public Defender
The Hawkins Center
U.S. Department of Health and Human Services, Office of the Regional Counsel*
U.S. Department of Labor, Employee Benefits Security Administration
Volunteer Legal Services Program of the Bar Association of California

* These organizations are also on the list of approved field placements.

If you are a legal services organization or government agency employer seeking law students to assist with a pro bono project, please return the Pro Bono Opportunity Form to Linda Maranzana. Please contact her if you have questions.

Please note that the Career Development Office does not provide legal assistance and does not refer individuals and organizations seeking assistance to private attorneys. Law students are not permitted to represent individuals in legal matters unless they are working under the supervision of a licensed attorney. Faculty members make individual decisions about pro bono projects, please contact them directly. Please do not telephone, e-mail or write to the Career Development Office with legal questions or requests for referrals as we are unable to respond to these inquiries. If you believe you need a lawyer, please contact your local bar association at sfbar.org or http://www.acbanet.org/ or contact East Bay Community Law Center.