AALS Section on Pro Bono

Where we have come from and where we are going…

In 1997, when Deborah Rhode was beginning her presidency with AALS, she created an AALS Commission on Pro Bono & Public Service Opportunities. The Commission made a variety of findings and recommendations and established the AALS Section on Pro Bono & Public Service Opportunities. This summer, we have changed our name to the AALS Section on Pro Bono & Access to Justice. Why the change? In large part, the change is simply because our Section’s charge is more specific than “public service opportunities.” Our focus is on the integration of pro bono legal service and other tools intended to raise awareness about the justice gap. We intend to highlight and develop solutions to fill this incredible gap and the challenges and barriers so many in our society face when navigating legal matters. Maybe in 1997, the phrase “access to justice” wasn’t used as frequently to describe the umbrella under which pro bono legal service fits. Now, in 2022, Access to Justice is more broadly understood as a movement to ensure access to justice for all through numerous avenues, one of which is pro bono service. 

Sue Schechter, 2021 chair of this Section and director of the field placement program at Berkeley Law, shares her thoughts about the new name:

As someone who has known and worked with this Section for a long time, I have always wondered how and why our founders chose ‘Public Service Opportunities.’  Perhaps, when they started the Section, the hope was to support law school staff & faculty to create and highlight opportunities, but as this field has grown and some (but still not enough!) law schools have dedicated professionals focused on highlighting and promoting public interest, public service, and social justice opportunities on law school campuses through their Career Development Offices and beyond, the focus of this Section has evolved to highlight and support Pro Bono as part of the larger movement for Access to Justice.  With the growing field of Access to Justice scholarship and advocacy, this Section seems like a great home to embrace and promote that work.

Greg Zlotnick, the director of pro bono programs at St. Mary’s University School of Law, thinks of the updated name this way:

Law schools serve as catalysts: not only for the development of attorneys committed to the public interest but also for systemic change to make justice accessible to all.  The Section’s new title reflects this critical, dual role that our law schools already serve in advancing the common good.

Tara Casey, the director for pro bono and public service at University of Richmond School of Law has a similar perspective:

The new name reflects more accurately our dual mission: to increase student opportunities in the pro bono space while also advancing access to justice everywhere. It is not enough to engage in direct service; we must also look to systemic change.

Allison Standard Constance, the director of pro bono initiatives at UNC School of Law sums it up nicely: 

Making the change to include Access to Justice in our section name is an important way to capture the true focus of the work that we do and the goals we set for our law schools.

While we move forward with a new name, we still look back with gratitude for and honor our founding leader, Deborah Rhode, whose career revolved around questions of injustice. The Section on Pro Bono & Access to Justice is pleased to partner with three other Sections—Leadership; Professional Responsibility; and Women in Legal Education—to gather nominations for the annual Deborah Rhode Award. Click here for more details about the Deborah Rhode Award. We hope you share the nomination information and submit a nominee yourself.

We are also seeking nominations for outstanding colleagues worthy of recognition for the three awards sponsored solely by our Section:
1) a Lifetime Achievement Award, 
2) an Access to Justice Award, and 
3) an Emerging Leader Award. 

Please read more about our Section awards nomination process here. The deadline to submit nominees for these awards is September 30, 2022. Again, please spread the word and nominate a worthy colleague.

Last year, we rolled out an Education Enrichment Speaker Series. The committee behind that series has been hard at work this year and is hosting an online session on September 20, 2022, entitled Using Experiential Education to Fight Imposter Syndrome. The session will explore law student struggles with belonging and confidence and how experiential education can serve as a remedy. See details about the session, including the Zoom link to join, here.

Additionally, our Section is excited to announce the creation of the AALS Pro Bono Honor Roll. This new Honor Roll has been created to acknowledge and highlight the exceptional work of individuals engaging in, expanding, and/or supporting their law school community in providing pro bono legal services. Law school Deans should have received information about how to submit the name of a staff, faculty, and a student to include on the 2022 Honor Roll for supporting, encouraging, and engaging in pro bono service. The deadline for nominations will be Friday, October 7, 2022.  The names of the awardees will be publicized through AALS, and electronic certificates will be sent for distribution to honorees.  

Looking ahead to the AALS Annual Meeting in San Diego, January 3-7, we hope to see many of you in attendance at our conference session taking place on Thursday, January 5 at 3 PM entitled, “Incorporating Access to Justice & Pro Bono Across the Law School Curriculum.” The session will feature our colleagues whose courses provide students with insight into how lower-income people navigate the legal system and the ways in which that may differ from what we learn in casebooks. We hope you plan to attend the conference and our Section’s session. Conference registration is now open. We look forward to gathering in person once again.

This newsletter is coming to you all at a very busy time of year. I hope this serves as a reminder that you (we) are not alone in your (our) work. We are a strong community here to support each other as we work toward fulfilling the promise of access to justice for all. If you would like to get involved with the Section on a deeper level, please let me know.

Best wishes for a terrific fall ahead,

Angela F. Schultz
Chair, Section on Pro Bono & Access to Justice
Assistant Dean for Public Service
Marquette Law School
Assistant Dean for Public Service 

It is our pleasure to share with you a new opportunity to highlight the pro bono work happening at your law school.  The AALS Pro Bono and Access to Justice Section has launched the Inaugural Pro Bono Honor Roll to which you may name one faculty member, one staff member, and one student per school. 

The Pro Bono Honor Roll acknowledges and highlights the exceptional work of individuals engaging in, expanding, and/or supporting their law school community in providing pro bono legal services. For the purposes of this award, pro bono is defined as work that is primarily legal in nature, supervised by a licensed attorney (for law students), not for pay or academic credit, and of service to underserved individuals, groups, or those with barriers to access to justice.  We understand that there are so many deserving people who serve year-in and year-out without acknowledgment.  The Pro Bono Honor Roll is an easy annual way for you to recognize them for their contributions and lift them up for making a difference in our law schools and communities. 

Using this form, you may submit the Pro Bono Honor Roll recipients from your law school.  Recipients will receive an electronic certificate, and their names will be publicized through the AALS electronic newsletter, website, at the annual conference, and in other appropriate ways.

Please note that the AALS Pro Bono and Access to Justice Section also has yearly awards with a separate nomination process.  We encourage you to also nominate members of your community for these awards as well. Learn more about our other Section awards here.

https://drive.google.com/file/d/1_1rXK36nAD-LJ_3r-uFPHyXjg2Ej0uAv/view

By Sue Schechter, Past Chair of AALS PB/ATJ Section

Suzanne Simard is a Professor of Forest Ecology at the University of British Columbia.  I bet that makes you want to read more, right?  Seriously, this past year I decided I needed some hope and inspiration to keep going, so I started with The Book of Joy:  Lasting Happiness in a Changing World by Dalai Lama and Desmond Tutu and Douglas Adams and moved to The Book of Hope:  A Survival Guide in Trying Times by Jane Goodall and Douglas Adams.  Figuring you have all heard of and read or decided not to read The Book of Joy and if not, then The Book of Hope might not have resonated, I found my way to Finding the Mother Tree – a book Goodall and Adams reference in their book. In a moment of not finding much hope in where humans are taking our planet, I decided to see if I could find hope someplace else…and lo and behold, Suzanne Simard’s book presented itself. 

It is a compelling and fascinating read as she talks about her path to realizing how interconnected and important trees are to each other and to the world.  For me, three things are true – I will never look at a tree the same way again, I will do more to acknowledge and embrace the importance of the natural world, and I will stop believing humans are the only species who know everything and can fix/change everything.  If you need some joy, some hope, and are up for learning some forest ecology, I strongly recommend this book.  In addition, years back, it appears scientists did not take her ideas/theories seriously and now she is gaining more momentum and respect for her important work in trying to get us all to wake up and smell the roses, oops, I mean trees!

Confession – I am still working my way through the book.  Reading articles about Professional Identity as I prepare to teach has taken over my life.

Please mark your calendar for our section’s AALS conference session, Thursday, January 5th at 3 pm, entitled: Incorporating Access to Justice & Pro Bono Across the Law School Curriculum.

Critical to the professional development of future lawyers are instilling an ethic of service and understanding how the growing justice gap impacts legal services. Access to justice and pro bono service can be an effective lens through which to explore any law school subject, and yet most law professors do not include them in their syllabi. This session features faculty whose courses provide students with insight into how lower-income people navigate the legal system and the ways in which that may differ from what we learn in casebooks. Attendees will leave with practical and replicable tools to integrate access to justice and pro bono service into the classroom across the law school curriculum.

Panelists include Stacy Butler, Director of the Innovation for Justice Program, at the University of Arizona School of Law; Jim Sandman, President Emeritus of the Legal Services Corporation and Distinguished Lecturer and Senior Consultant to the Future of the Profession Initiative at Penn Law; Lauren Sudeall, Faculty Director of the Center for Access to Justice at GSU Law; and Julia I. Vázquez, Clinical Professor of Law and Director of the Community Lawyering Clinic and the Public Interest concentration at Southwestern Law School. Darcy Meals, Director of Public Interest Programs and Deputy Director of the Center for Access to Justice at Georgia State University College of Law, will moderate the session. Many thanks to the sections on Debtor and Credit’s Rights, Clinical Law, and Leadership for co-sponsoring this panel.

We hope you’ll join us to gather and share ideas!

• Sept. 20, 12:30 p.m. EST: Education Enrichment Session on Zoom
  • Using Experiential Education to Fight Imposter Syndrome
    
• Sept. 30: Award Nominations Deadline
  • Deborah Rhode Award
  • Lifetime Achievement Award
  • Emerging Leader Award
  • Access to Justice Awards
    
• Oct. 7: AALS Pro Bono Honor Roll Submission Deadline
  • Deans will receive information in their emails
    
• Jan. 5 at 3:00 p.m. PST: Conference session at Annual Conference in San Diego
  • Incorporating Access to Justice & Pro Bono Across the Law School Curriculum 
    
• Jan. 6 at 12:00 p.m. PST: Conference session at Annual Conference in San Diego
  • Section Awards Presentation and Annual Business Meeting at Annual Conference in San Diego