AALS Section on Pro Bono

These mountains that you are carrying,
you were only supposed to climb.

– Najwa Zebian, Lebanese-Canadian activist, author, speaker

Dear Law School Community Friends,

As we honor and mourn the year of living and working remotely, it has really dawned on me the load we are all carrying.  I will make the big leap and assume that everyone who is getting this newsletter is part of the AALS Pro Bono and Public Service Opportunities Section because they care about students, their communities, and the legal profession.  I know more than a few of you have gone beyond the climb and have taken on the burdens of your students, your communities, and the profession to try and ease someone else’s burden and to meet an unmet need.  When I heard Najwa Zabian’s quote a few months into the remote world, I could not let it go – and to say it has supported, strengthened, and comforted me would be an understatement.  Many days over the last year, I have wanted to curl up in a ball, watch another television series, or go out for a long walk with a dog friend, but I have stayed in front of my computer for a student, a supervisor, a meeting, knowing that I was not alone and only by supporting each other would we be able to take get through this time.  We have so, so much work to do in meeting unmet legal needs, in beginning and continuing to raise the issues of racial injustice and the need for racial reckoning, and the critical need for having an earth that we can all live on – from climate change and the worsening of the ‘natural’ (National Geographic, that hotbed of radical theory, recently noted we needed to stop calling these natural disasters and recognize the role that man (sic) has played in these ‘man-made’ disasters. 

For this message, I wanted to call out 3 new endeavors our section is carrying on:

1. Thank you to the Collaboration Committee which held its 2^nd AALS National Law School Pro Bono Call – we had a zoom room full of people sharing ideas and energy – our next one is scheduled for Tuesday, March 30, 11am/pst – thank you Anna Davis (UC Irvine) and Laura Worstek (DePaul)!
2. Thank you to the Educational Enrichment Committee which held its 1st Inaugural Speaker Series with Alissa Rubin Gomez, from University of Houston, talking about her forthcoming article – Demand-Side Justice:  Legal Literacy to Close the Gap – we had over 30 people on the call, including a large handful of legal services practitioners – so great to have all listening and contributing to the conversation.  Thank you to Kelli Neptune (Howard) and Eliza Vorenberg (Roger Williams Univ.)!
3. Thank you to the Membership Committee who are bringing up a resource to welcome new folks to our Section and provide them with some leads on resources, including people to help – thank you Pam Robinson (Univ. of So. Carolina) and Shawna Smith-Thornton (Texas A & M)

Wherever you sit, wherever you are, know you are not alone, know you have colleagues, allies, co-conspirators, and friends all across the country and world who are carrying this load with you….and please, please reach out – we are stronger, and we will have more fun doing this together!

– Sue Schechter

Prioritizing Public Service in Your Role as the Dean: Why it Matters

Join us as an esteemed panel of deans discuss why they prioritize supporting public service, pro bono, and other social justice initiatives at their law schools. The panel will discuss the essential ingredients needed to build a strong culture of service within law schools, and the ways they support, financially and otherwise, the costs of pro bono and public service when budgets are tight. How do service-oriented programs support successful admissions, curricular, career planning, and alumni relations efforts? How can law schools respond meaningfully to the access to justice crisis? This will be an engaging discussion for deans, associate & assistant deans, and pro bono & public service program managers alike.  

By Tali K. Albukerk, National Administrator, ABA Free Legal Answers

ABA Free Legal Answers (ABA FLA) is the first and only national online legal clinic through which income-eligible clients can post civil legal questions to be answered by pro bono attorneys from their jurisdiction. Since its launch in 2016, and increasingly during the pandemic crisis, ABA FLA serves as a valuable and convenient pro bono resource for attorneys, clients and law students as it is entirely virtual and can address many legal questions, both typical and pandemic based, including family, housing, consumer, and employment matters.

In February 2021, ABAFreeLegalAnswers.org (ABA FLA) surpassed 150,000 questions submitted and 9,000 volunteer attorneys registered since launch. To date, 39 jurisdictions, including a federal site addressing immigration and federal veteran matters, are live for client access and an additional six jurisdictions have committed to participate.

As a pro bono opportunity providing legal research and writing experience, ABA FLA has been a popular medium for law schools across the country. For instance, since 2018, the University of Nebraska College of Law has received the ABA Free Legal Answers Pro Bono Leader recognition for its active participation on the site. Under the supervision of clinical associate professor Ryan Sullivan, Nebraska College of Law students assisted in answering 127 total questions in 2020.

“Last year brought challenges that no one expected,” said Professor Sullivan. “Answering questions through the Free Legal Answers Program was one way for the clinic and our students to support our community.” Northwestern Pritzker School of Law utilizes a similar model in which the school’s legal clinic professor works with students on strategies and tips for answering questions, pairs them in Zoom breakout rooms, and then reviews their drafts with them before posting on the answer on her account.

Since July 2020, DePaul College of Law has been matching students with attorney volunteers to answer questions on the site, answering over 200 questions so far. “Since the onset of the COVID-19 pandemic, I have been seeking ways for our law students to help fill the justice gap through remote service opportunities that could be done safely from home,” said Lauren Worsek, Director of the Pro Bono and Community Service Initiative and Assistant Director of Public Interest Law at DePaul University College of Law.

“[ABA FLA is] a great way for our DePaul community to provide remote pro bono legal services on an ongoing basis. Our volunteers love that the program is flexible, provides the opportunity to work on a variety of legal issues, and allows them to help people throughout the state who otherwise would not have access to an attorney,” said Ms. Worsek.

Similar models can be found at University of Arkansas School of Law, University of South Carolina School of Law, University of Tennessee College of Law and at Marquette University Law School in which law students work on answers to questions and collaborate with professors and local attorneys until well-drafted responses are ready to submit back to the client through the supervising attorney’s account.

“Unlike anything we’re doing in the classroom, this is something that gives students exposure to issues they would not see otherwise,” said Kristen Anderson a former University of Tennessee law student who helped coordinate UT’s pro bono efforts.

“This keeps me sane,” Ms. Anderson said. “These issues are very centered and very real. In class, we’re dealing with big picture, federal issues. But this – this is real life. This is what we’ll face in practice every day, and it’s teaching us what to do to get answers for our clients,” said Kristen Anderson, a former University of Tennessee law student who helped coordinate UT’s pro bono efforts, in a 2019 UT online article.

Suffolk University Law has developed a different model, utilizing ABA FLA with law students in the context of legal practice skills courses. At Suffolk, students were split into small groups to research questions posted on the site and drafted responses for their professors outlining their discoveries.

Law school researchers and their students are also using the data collected from submitted questions as a learning experience, including the Legal Design Lab at Stanford Law School. The Legal Design Lab produced a Digital Legal Needs Analysis based on ABA FLA submitted questions, identifying the types and seasonality of legal problems for advocates to better predict access-to-justice challenges before they occur.

In addition, Stanford is partnering with Baylor Law School to research housing-related questions submitted on ABA FLA to identify which specific problem scenarios are occurring most frequently among the platforms’ users, and also to propose content and automated replies that may be provided to these users for the given scenarios.

“Working on this project allows our students to examine the practical realities of the access to justice gap,” said Stephen Rispoli, Assistant Dean of Student Affairs and Pro Bono Programs at Baylor Law School.  “Although we discuss the issues in law school, by working on this project students get to learn about the real-life hardships that many Americans face and how a lawyer could help them. At the same time, they get to work on a solution by providing assistance with issues that many Americans face. This work, and other projects like it, are critical to closing the justice gap,” said Dean Rispoli.

Whether utilized by law students to gain hands-on experience in a clinic setting, legal practice skills course or research program, ABA FLA is a unique program that provides students with both a taste of pro bono legal service while in school as well as continued pro bono opportunities after graduation, from wherever they are practicing. For more information on ABA Free Legal Answers and how your law school can participate, please contact me at [email protected].

By Sue Schechter, Berkeley Law

The Truths We Hold:  An American Journey, by Kamala Harris, Penguin Books, 2019

Kamala’s Way:  An American Life, by Dan Morain, Simon & Schuster, 2021

Having lived and worked in the SF/Bay Area since 1990, I make no claim to be objective about Vice-President Kamala Harris.  While I never had the good fortune to cross paths or work directly with VP Harris, I have known a good handful of people who have – and she does have loyal friends, fans and colleagues.  And quite honestly, while I always wished she were more progressive on criminal justice issues and did more on the left-side of the spectrum, I realized I knew little about her background, her values, and her motivations before she became our U.S. Senator in 2017.

Having just finished my second book about VP Harris, I can honestly say I am a fan now.  I am guessing we are all realistic enough to understand why she took the path she did to get to where she is now and I know we are all excited to see what she will be able to do to make progress on racial, economic, and criminal justice issues, to name just a few issues we can only hope she will work on.

For my Field Placement Workshop class, we ask the students to pick a biography and this spring. Several students picked her autobiography – The Truths We Hold, and one student picked Kamala’s Way, written by a California-based journalist who covered issues for the LA Times and the Sacramento Bee.  The students use the book as a jumping off point to reflect on the lawyers in their books, the lawyers and legal work in their placements, and themselves.  It has been a fun and revealing exercise to see what books they pick and what they glean and relate to (and not) from the books – and I loved when one student compared their supervisor to Nelson Mandela – you cannot beat that!  (Happy to share on that exercise, if anyone is interested).

I started with The Truths We Hold and I loved it – I plowed through in a couple of evenings.  Given that it was a political autobiography written by someone who clearly wanted more than a U.S. Senator seat, I thought it was well-written, inspiring, and each chapter addressed a different current issue – immigration, health care, housing/banks, criminal justice and more.  She had some great and strong quotes in there, including (this is just one I picked, but there are many):

“One thing we must do is take on, head-on, the racial bias that operates throughout our criminal justice system.  And that effort starts with our stating clearly and unequivocally that black lives matter – and speaking truth about what that means.” (p. 68/paperback)

While you learn some about her personal background – mostly about her mother and what an amazing strong woman and role model she was – I was eager to learn more.  She does touch on meeting, courting, and marrying her current partner – Doug Emhoff, the Second Gentleman, and other members of her family.  And as if the world were not a small enough place, she talks about mentoring an up and coming criminal justice advocate who was referred to her by a Career Services colleague (when do Law Career Services folks ever get a shout out in a major NY Times bestseller!) – Venus Johnson, and coincidentally and wonderfully, I finished the book the day before she came to one of my law school’s courses to talk about her path and her views on criminal justice to inspire the next generation of law students to pursue public service!

Dan Morain’s book, Kamala’s Way, is arguably more ‘objective,’ and it was helpful to read in conjunction with her autobiography, although I was struck by how many times he quoted VP Harris from her own book.  I guess he thought it was best to use her own words.  Mr. Morain may not have been as impressed as others about VP Harris’ political nature and he seemed to think there were issues she could have been more forceful and less forceful about – but it was clear that even he had a respect for her desire to serve without ever questioning her motivations.  It was interesting to read about something in VP Harris’ autobiography and then to see how Mr. Morain spun it in a different, albeit less personal way. 

Several chapters do weave in stories about her personal life and he makes a point to highlight something she does out of the press’ limelight to recognize or support someone in her circle – and calls it Kamala’s way.  I thought it was certainly worth reading, but I think it is was enhanced because I had just finished her autobiography.  To his credit, Mr. Morain provided some great political and historical context for California politics and the issues that VP Harris has worked on – on a regional, statewide, and in the end national (and even international) level.

I finished both books with a real belief that VP Kamala Harris is a true public servant – motivated solely by her caring for people – and wanting to make the world a better place for children, for families, for communities, and more.  Given what we have just lived through (and continue to live through), these books were a refreshing re-centering of being able to see and hold up government officials who pursue their path to empower and get resources into the hands and feet of those who need them to live their lives.

The American Bar Association hosted a free webinar entitled Remote Supervision of Law Students and Interns on January 11, 2021.

The lack of in-person programming and reliance on remote supervision presents challenges for the supervision of law students and remote interns. Learn strategies and best practices for remote supervision of law students so that you can continue the important work of access to justice during times of uncertainty.

ZOOM RECORDING:

https://americanbar.zoom.us/rec/share/GhMMjcfnlqzoNwypEIkk1g60jhEbSTm3xJD3UKEQov4ZdJv5gKQRVkSHNDgDGiTI.NE8W6dYYbFg4pGjR?startTime=1610388823000

RESOURCES:

Southern Legal Counsel, Orientation Manual for Interns/Clerks

Remote Supervision Midpoint Survey Question Examples

2020 Remote Supervisor Training

Tips for Supervising Remote Externs, Fall 2020

Principles for Working with Students from Historically Marginalized Populations in the Field, June 2020

Supervising Resources

The 2021 Equal Justice Works Conference & Career Fair will take place virtually from October 21-23. Student and law school professional registration will open on August 11. More information will be available on our website in the coming months.

Maha Ayesh, Director of Experiential Learning and Assistant Professor of Law, Lincoln Memorial University Duncan School of Law

Bridget Fuselier, Professor of Law, Baylor University School of Law

Lauren  Lofton, Associate Director for Student Life & Inclusion, University of California, Hastings College of the Law

Jim N. Mayua, SJD, Suffolk University Law School

Vahid  Shahmohammadi, JSD Candidate, Washington University in St. Louis School of Law

Shawna Smith Thornton, Program Coordinator, Texas A&M University School of Law

Lauren Worsek, Assistant Director of Public Interest Law Director of the Pro Bono and Community Service Initiative, DePaul University College of Law

Solmaz Firoz, Legal Practice Skills Visiting Senior Lecturer, University of Pennsylvania Carey Law School

Mark E. Steiner, VP, Associate Dean and Professor of Law, South Texas College of Law Houston

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