Congratulations to Marquette Pro Bono Award Recipients Mindy Nolan and Bryant Park

Congratulations to graduating law students Mindy Nolan and Bryant Park, who were honored this academic year for their pro bono work.  The Wisconsin State Bar awarded Mindy Nolan as Public Interest Law Student of the Year, and the Milwaukee Bar Association awarded Bryant Park as Pro Bono Law Student of the Year.

Mindy NolanPro bono work has been a focus of Mindy Nolan’s time in law school.  Mindy was the recipient of two Public Interest Law Society (PILS) summer fellowships, which enabled her to work for the Public Defender in Rhinelander in 2012 and the Public Defender in Milwaukee in 2013. Her pro bono work centered on the Milwaukee Justice Center’s family help desk.  Angela Schultz, the Pro Bono Director at the Law School, said in her nominating letter to the State Bar:

As a regular supervising attorney of the help desk, I have observed Ms. Nolan’s professionalism, patience, and kindness, along with her high level of competence learning this complex system.  She treats each person accessing the help desk with the same level of respect, infusing into her volunteer work a sense that all members of our community deserve equal access to justice.  When given the opportunity to complete an advanced training in family law forms, she jumped at the chance and as a result has been able to assist with a broader range of issues being presented by community members accessing the help desk.

 

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Pro Bono and Public Interest Legal Work at Marquette

Friday was the 2014 Posner Exchange and Pro Bono Society Induction at the Law School.  The event honors law students who have achieved 50 or more hours of pro bono service while attending law school.  Special recognition is given to students who have achieved 120 or more hours. The Hon. Ramona E. Romero, the general counsel of the United States Department of Agriculture, was the speaker at this year’s event.  Congratulations to the honorees for starting their careers by including pro bono service in their work.

Recently I attended a panel presentation at the Law School on pro bono opportunities available to our law students.  I was so impressed by the opportunities that I am highlighting them here.  To qualify as pro bono, the work must be supervised by a licensed attorney, not for pay or credit, primarily legal in nature, and in the service of underserved populations–those with barriers to equal access to justice, or for an organization whose mission is to serve underserved populations.

Students gain valuable experience in client interviewing skills and accessing and completing forms, two practical skills that are difficult to convey in a classroom setting. Pro bono also gives students exposure to a variety of practice areas and opportunity to work alongside and be mentored by a cadre of more than 250 volunteer attorneys.

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21st Annual Howard B. Eisenberg Do-Gooders’ Auction–An Interview with PILS Fellow Patrick Winter

Patrick WinterThe 21st Annual Howard B. Eisenberg Do-Gooders’ Auction on behalf of the Law School’s Public Interest Law Society (PILS) will be held in the evening on Friday, February 21, 2014 at the Law School.  Proceeds from the event go to support PILS fellowships to enable Marquette law students to do public interest work in the summer.  Patrick Winter, a current law student, shares his experience here as a PILS Fellow.  Besides his work as a PILS Fellow, Patrick is helping to organize this year’s Auction.

You may attend the Auction by purchasing tickets here, or you may purhcase tickets at the door.  This link also provides you with an option to donate to the Auction.

Where did you work as a PILS Fellow?

I worked for the U.S. State Department, at the U.S. Mission to the United Nations in New York.

What kind of work did you do there?

I worked with the U.S. policy negotiation teams for the Middle East and East Africa to forward U.S. policy on issues pertaining to Syria, South Sudan, Somalia, and the Democratic Republic of the Congo. I attended UN Security Council proceedings as well as bilateral and multilateral negotiations with other UNSC Member States, and prepared briefing memorandums for senior U.S. government officers on issues arising in the Council. Much of my work involved operational issues with peacekeeping operations, as well as topics on the protection of women and children in armed conflict zones, and UN mandated country-specific sanctions. I received reports from peacekeeping operations abroad, created diplomatic cables on current progress and setbacks in conflict zones, and prepared reports on legal issues pertaining to regulatory sanctions imposed by the UN and the United States.

Continue Reading21st Annual Howard B. Eisenberg Do-Gooders’ Auction–An Interview with PILS Fellow Patrick Winter