{"id":22547,"date":"2014-04-28T09:16:00","date_gmt":"2014-04-28T14:16:00","guid":{"rendered":"http:\/\/law.marquette.edu\/facultyblog\/?p=22547"},"modified":"2014-04-28T14:34:30","modified_gmt":"2014-04-28T19:34:30","slug":"pro-bono-and-public-interest-legal-work-at-marquette","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/law.marquette.edu\/facultyblog\/2014\/04\/pro-bono-and-public-interest-legal-work-at-marquette\/","title":{"rendered":"Pro Bono and Public Interest Legal Work at Marquette"},"content":{"rendered":"

Friday was the 2014 Posner Exchange and Pro Bono Society Induction<\/a> at the Law School.\u00a0 The event honors law students who have achieved 50 or more hours of pro bono service while attending law school.\u00a0 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\u2019s event.\u00a0 Congratulations to the honorees for starting their careers by including pro bono service in their work.<\/p>\n

Recently I attended a panel presentation at the Law School on pro bono opportunities<\/a> available to our law students.\u00a0 I was so impressed by the opportunities that I am highlighting them here.\u00a0 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\u00a0service of underserved populations–those with barriers to equal access to justice, or for an organization whose mission is to serve underserved populations.<\/p>\n

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.<\/p>\n

<\/p>\n

The Bankruptcy Pro Se Self Help Desk<\/strong> is offered through the bankruptcy section of the Milwaukee Bar Association.\u00a0 The help desk is housed at the Federal Courthouse and staffed by volunteer attorneys who assist Chapter 7 debtors.\u00a0 Students complete schedules, forms, and other documents.<\/p>\n

The Marquette Volunteer Legal Clinics<\/strong> serve over 3,000 clients annually, and law students assist in offering brief legal advice on civil legal matters.\u00a0 The clinics are held at the Milwaukee County Veteran Services Office, House of Peace, Hillview building of Centro Hispano, Milwaukee Justice Center, and Mobile Legal Clinic.<\/p>\n

The Milwaukee Justice Center Family Law Forms Assistance<\/strong> (\u201cfamily law help desk\u201d) is for individuals involved in family law matters. Law students complete forms and explain courthouse rules and procedures.\u00a0 The help desk is housed at the Milwaukee County Courthouse.<\/p>\n

The Domestic Violence Injunction Hearing Representation<\/strong> (Lawyer for a Day) program partners with Sojourner Family Peace Center and volunteer attorneys from Quarles and Brady.\u00a0 Students interview victims, assess the admissibility of evidence, and prepare a brief report for the attorney.<\/p>\n

The Know-Your-Rights Immigrant Detention Project<\/strong> is held at the Kenosha Detention Center and run by the National Immigrant Justice Center (NIJC).\u00a0 In this program, law students interview detained immigrants to assist the NIJC in determining if the detainees have a legal defense.<\/p>\n

The Milwaukee Metro Foreclosure Mediation Program<\/strong> is coordinated by Metro Milwaukee Mediation Services and the Milwaukee County Clerk of Circuit Courts.\u00a0 Students review cases for mediation, contact participants, and serve as co-mediators with appropriate training or experience.<\/p>\n

The Refugee Help Desk at the Pan African Community Association<\/strong> affords law students the chance to assist refugees with completing legal forms and documents.<\/p>\n

Additionally, law students volunteer to train middle school and high school students in moot court skills as part of Marquette\u2019s Summer Youth Institute <\/strong>(SYI).\u00a0 While not pro bono legal work, law students are serving the community through their teaching.<\/p>\n

Law students interested in more expansive view of public interest law may choose to join the Marquette Law School Public Interest Law Society <\/a>(PILS) and may apply for a PILS fellowship to fund summer public interest work. This year 19 fellows will work at sites ranging from the Milwaukee Justice Center<\/strong> to the American Civil Liberties Union<\/strong> to the Cook County State’s Attorney’s Office<\/strong>.<\/p>\n

About 70% of Marquette law students try pro bono at some point in their law school career and nearly half of Marquette graduates complete 50+ or 120+ pro bono hours, which results in induction into the pro bono honors society and\u00a0the ability to wear\u00a0an honor cord for service at graduation.\u00a0 Angela Schultz is the pro bono director at the Law School.\u00a0 The Gene (L \u201936) and Ruth Posner Foundation support the Law School\u2019s pro bono initiatives.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"

Friday was the 2014 Posner Exchange and Pro Bono Society Induction at the Law School.\u00a0 The event honors law students who have achieved 50 or more hours of pro bono service while attending law school.\u00a0 Special recognition is given to students who have achieved 120 or more hours. The Hon. Ramona E. Romero, the general […]<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":34,"featured_media":0,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"closed","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"ocean_post_layout":"","ocean_both_sidebars_style":"","ocean_both_sidebars_content_width":0,"ocean_both_sidebars_sidebars_width":0,"ocean_sidebar":"","ocean_second_sidebar":"","ocean_disable_margins":"enable","ocean_add_body_class":"","ocean_shortcode_before_top_bar":"","ocean_shortcode_after_top_bar":"","ocean_shortcode_before_header":"","ocean_shortcode_after_header":"","ocean_has_shortcode":"","ocean_shortcode_after_title":"","ocean_shortcode_before_footer_widgets":"","ocean_shortcode_after_footer_widgets":"","ocean_shortcode_before_footer_bottom":"","ocean_shortcode_after_footer_bottom":"","ocean_display_top_bar":"default","ocean_display_header":"default","ocean_header_style":"","ocean_center_header_left_menu":"","ocean_custom_header_template":"","ocean_custom_logo":0,"ocean_custom_retina_logo":0,"ocean_custom_logo_max_width":0,"ocean_custom_logo_tablet_max_width":0,"ocean_custom_logo_mobile_max_width":0,"ocean_custom_logo_max_height":0,"ocean_custom_logo_tablet_max_height":0,"ocean_custom_logo_mobile_max_height":0,"ocean_header_custom_menu":"","ocean_menu_typo_font_family":"","ocean_menu_typo_font_subset":"","ocean_menu_typo_font_size":0,"ocean_menu_typo_font_size_tablet":0,"ocean_menu_typo_font_size_mobile":0,"ocean_menu_typo_font_size_unit":"px","ocean_menu_typo_font_weight":"","ocean_menu_typo_font_weight_tablet":"","ocean_menu_typo_font_weight_mobile":"","ocean_menu_typo_transform":"","ocean_menu_typo_transform_tablet":"","ocean_menu_typo_transform_mobile":"","ocean_menu_typo_line_height":0,"ocean_menu_typo_line_height_tablet":0,"ocean_menu_typo_line_height_mobile":0,"ocean_menu_typo_line_height_unit":"","ocean_menu_typo_spacing":0,"ocean_menu_typo_spacing_tablet":0,"ocean_menu_typo_spacing_mobile":0,"ocean_menu_typo_spacing_unit":"","ocean_menu_link_color":"","ocean_menu_link_color_hover":"","ocean_menu_link_color_active":"","ocean_menu_link_background":"","ocean_menu_link_hover_background":"","ocean_menu_link_active_background":"","ocean_menu_social_links_bg":"","ocean_menu_social_hover_links_bg":"","ocean_menu_social_links_color":"","ocean_menu_social_hover_links_color":"","ocean_disable_title":"default","ocean_disable_heading":"default","ocean_post_title":"","ocean_post_subheading":"","ocean_post_title_style":"","ocean_post_title_background_color":"","ocean_post_title_background":0,"ocean_post_title_bg_image_position":"","ocean_post_title_bg_image_attachment":"","ocean_post_title_bg_image_repeat":"","ocean_post_title_bg_image_size":"","ocean_post_title_height":0,"ocean_post_title_bg_overlay":0.5,"ocean_post_title_bg_overlay_color":"","ocean_disable_breadcrumbs":"default","ocean_breadcrumbs_color":"","ocean_breadcrumbs_separator_color":"","ocean_breadcrumbs_links_color":"","ocean_breadcrumbs_links_hover_color":"","ocean_display_footer_widgets":"default","ocean_display_footer_bottom":"default","ocean_custom_footer_template":"","ocean_post_oembed":"","ocean_post_self_hosted_media":"","ocean_post_video_embed":"","ocean_link_format":"","ocean_link_format_target":"self","ocean_quote_format":"","ocean_quote_format_link":"post","ocean_gallery_link_images":"on","ocean_gallery_id":[],"footnotes":""},"categories":[36,131,48,123,122],"tags":[],"class_list":["post-22547","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","hentry","category-legal-practice","category-legal-profession","category-marquette-law-school","category-pro-bono","category-public","entry"],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/law.marquette.edu\/facultyblog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/22547","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/law.marquette.edu\/facultyblog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/law.marquette.edu\/facultyblog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/law.marquette.edu\/facultyblog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/34"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/law.marquette.edu\/facultyblog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=22547"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/law.marquette.edu\/facultyblog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/22547\/revisions"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/law.marquette.edu\/facultyblog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=22547"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/law.marquette.edu\/facultyblog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=22547"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/law.marquette.edu\/facultyblog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=22547"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}