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UB Law Forum Volume 27 Number 1 Spring 2013 Article 11 4-1-2013 Doing Even More Good: Pro Bono Requirement Will Reinforce and Expand Law School's Public Interest Work UB Law Forum Follow this and additional works at: https://digitalcommons.law.buffalo.edu/ub_law_forum Recommended Citation UB Law Forum (2013) "Doing Even More Good: Pro Bono Requirement Will Reinforce and Expand Law School's Public Interest Work," UB Law Forum: Vol. 27 : No. 1 , Article 11. Available at: https://digitalcommons.law.buffalo.edu/ub_law_forum/vol27/iss1/11 This Article is brought to you for free and open access by the Alumni Publications at Digital Commons @ University at Buffalo School of Law. It has been accepted for inclusion in UB Law Forum by an authorized editor of Digital Commons @ University at Buffalo School of Law. For more information, please contact lawscholar@buffalo.edu. S U N Y  B U F F A L O  L A W  F O R U M  •  S P R I N G  2 0 1 3 13Starting next summer, law stu-dents who want to be admittedto the New York bar will face anew requirement: completionof 50 hours of pro bono legal work. Fordecades, well over half of the studentswho graduated from the SUNY system’sonly law school have already done suchwork and more. Now, plans are in placeto help all SUNY Buffalo Law Schoolstudents meet this new condition.This new mandate, issued by ChiefJudge Jonathan Lippman on Law Day2012, has two purposes: providing fu-ture attorneys solid experience, while si-multaneously giving underresourcedclients access to legal advice.  Accordingto Vice Dean for Student Affairs MelindaSaran, “Students are eager to apply theirlaw school learning through pro bonowork, such as working with veterans inGenesee County and assisting refugeesapplying for asylum.”Dean Makau W. Mutua was the onlylaw school dean to serve on the statewideadvisory committee convened by thechief judge to issue recommendationsfor practicable implementation. “I washonored to serve on Judge Lippman’scommittee,” Mutua says. “I thought itsaid a lot about the value that he placeson SUNY Buffalo Law School as thestate’s public law school.  “The committee was open and re-ceptive to the concerns and ideas of lawschools in implementing the pro bonorule.  I want to commend Judge Lipp-man for being forward-thinking andcreating an opportunity for us to incul-cate in law students the spirit and sub-stance of public service for the under-served.  I hope New York’s becomes themodel for other states.”The requirement will affect the Classof 2014 first, and current second-yearstudents may start accruing pro bonohours now. “This is a requirement forbar applicants, not a mandate on theLaw School,” says Connolly. “But manystudents enroll in our institution hopingto sit for the New York State bar exam, sowe have indirect responsibility for assist-ing in compliance. Fortunately, we havea history of supporting students in com-pleting similar work, so it was easy to rollout a plan to assist all students.”To ensure adequate opportu-nities for all its students tomeet the pro bono require-ment, SUNY Buffalo LawSchool has:• Created a “community partners ad-visory committee” to work directly withtraditional civil legal service providers,such as Neighborhood Legal Services,Legal Aid, Volunteer Lawyers Project, Le-gal Services for the Elderly, and others.• Assessed the school’s roster of ser-vice learning coursework, such as clinics,planning to make more opportunitiesavailable for students. • Added practicum courses thatcount toward the requirement, includ-ing a Criminal Law Practicum, the newHealthy Homes Legal Practicum, andcoming this fall, a practicum dealingwith post-incarceration “re-entry” issuesof released prisoners.• Established a tracking system tohelp students find places to volunteerduring the semester and over the sum-mer and partnered with the ComputerAssisted Legal Instruction organizationto implement innovative approaches. • Arranged with providers of legal re-search services to continue students’ ac-cess to Lexis/Nexis, Westlaw andBloomberg materials post graduation,while they’re working to fulfill the probono requirement.Multiple options in the regulationswill support various pro bono options.For example, Connolly explains that astudent working at a law firm over thesummer can get pro bono credit for as-signed work if the firm is not billing forthe time. Students’ work for judges andthe district attorney also counts towardthe requirement. The basic overall un-derstanding, she says, is that the workmust be both legal in nature (buildinghouses for Habitat for Humanitywouldn’t count, but drafting a legal doc-ument for that non-profit would), andsupervised by licensed attorneys or lawfaculty.And Saran points out the mandatealso opens up for practicing lawyers, in-cluding Law School alumni, opportuni-ties to get support for their pro bono ef-forts by working with students. The LawSchool stands ready to connect practi-tioners with students eager to meet therequirement. For information, visit theLaw School’s pro bono page at www.law.buffalo.edu/current/pro-bono.html. Doing even more goodPro bono requirementwill reinforce and expand Law School’spublic interest workAbove, DianaProske ’03, right,discussesNeighborhoodLegal Services at arecent job fair.2013 Spring Forum 11238_2013  5/20/13  10:16 PM  Page 13

Doing Even More Good: Pro Bono Requirement Will Reinforce and Expand Law School\u27s Public Interest Work

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Doing Even More Good: Pro Bono Requirement Will Reinforce and Expand Law School\u27s Public Interest Work

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