What I Learned From Pro Bono

As a law school applicant, I knew that I wanted to prioritize pro bono and specifically targeted schools that would allow me to work on pro bono opportunities as a 1L. I applied to my first pro bono project during the second week of classes, and the projects that I worked on this past year quickly became the most memorable part of 1L for me. During my first year, I logged over 200 pro bono hours with seven organizations, including The Advocates for Human Rights, Catholic Migration Services and Kids in Need of Defense (KIND). Throughout the year, I had the opportunity to draft legal filings for submission to various immigration authorities, conduct legal research on family and immigration law issues, and use my fluency in Spanish to screen potential clients for immigration relief eligibility and gather information from clients for affidavits and applications.

Creating a student-initiated pro bono project with KIND was particularly special and rewarding for me as I had worked as a senior paralegal at KIND before law school. As a 1L, I loved being able to work with some of my previous clients again and using my newly acquired legal research skills to draft memoranda of law for guardianship cases.

The Pro Bono Program has played a critical role in shaping my experience at UVA Law. When I felt overwhelmed or frustrated by some of the theoretical concepts in my doctrinal courses this past year, I always turned to my pro bono projects to ground myself and to remind me of why I came to law school in the first place. I am thrilled to continue working on projects through the Pro Bono Program over the next two years!

I participated in a handful of pro bono projects during my 1L year at UVA Law, and I found the experience to be invaluable. As someone who came to law school to make a career transition from the business world, I viewed pro bono as an incredible opportunity to develop my legal skills, explore my various areas of interest, and make a tangible impact for clients and communities in need. I was able to accomplish each of those objectives with my projects last year.

In terms of legal skills, several of my pro bono projects primarily involved legal research and writing – I was given a legal question that my supervisor wanted me to look into and answer in a research memo. In doing so, I was able to put into practice what I had been concurrently learning in our Legal Research and Writing course, albeit with fewer guardrails and greater practical importance. I also developed a greater familiarity with legal research tools and case databases in the process – not only Westlaw and Lexis, but also the HUDOC database for the European Court of Human Rights (ECHR). Besides legal research and writing, I gained experience in direct client service, enhanced my ability to analyze and synthesize legal documents, and strengthened my time-management skills.

As for my areas of interest, I was able to participate in a diverse set of projects across different legal fields. These included civil rights (researching the First Amendment implications of anti-homelessness ordinances in Florida for Southern Legal Counsel), international human rights law (investigating the ECHR’s procedural requirements for a pending case from the Russian invasion of Ukraine with the UVA Law International Human Rights Law Clinic), immigration law (supporting a special immigrant visa application through the International Refugee Assistance Project), and criminal law (reviewing case submissions for the UVA Law Innocence Project Pro Bono Clinic). Through each of these experiences, I gained a greater understanding of what it would be like to practice in those areas – this has helped me to further clarify my intended career path in public service.

Finally, I loved being able to make a tangible impact on real-world legal issues through my pro bono projects. During my 1L year, I sometimes felt as though what I was learning in the classroom was not necessarily what I came to law school for. However, by participating in pro bono projects, I was able to balance out my 1L doctrinal courses with practical experiences that connected me to causes and communities that I care deeply about. As a result, my pro bono projects truly enriched my 1L experience at UVA Law.

In law school, courses tend to be fixated on appellate practice and settling disputes about questions of law. For that reason, it’s easy to be detached from the law — to feel like it’s something dealt with at a theoretical level. Appreciating the power that legal practice has to help others requires firsthand experience in its use. The Pro Bono Program has allowed me to begin to develop such an understanding.

Until I worked with the Virginia Capital Representation and Resource Center over the course of 1L, I had little appreciation of the practical aspects of habeas corpus practice and of the impact of procedural requirements in determining the dynamics of litigation. Further, in working on multiple projects for the Chesapeake Legal Alliance, I learned about the role of Virginia administrative law in developing the contours of conservation efforts — an area I would have likely never touched if not for the Pro Bono Program.

Now, after the close of my 1L summer, I can say that my experiences through pro bono work have better prepared me as an aspiring attorney by allowing me to practice developing arguments, research novel legal issues, evaluate evidence and communicate with others in furtherance of client goals. Beyond any practical benefits, the Pro Bono Program provides an otherwise rare opportunity during your first year of law school: a way to embrace and honor the reasons many of us chose to pursue a legal career in the first place. Such an opportunity is indescribably valuable and has provided me with experiences I hope to reflect on and draw from throughout my life.
 

I came to law school desperate to do some good in the world, so I signed up for a pro bono project during the first week of 1L. At first, I thought I’d made a massive mistake. The assignment was an asylum brief for a woman fleeing violence in Central America. As I read her story, I was struck dumb by the feeling that I didn’t know enough about law to do this kind of good. But for all we learn about law as a concept, it’s functionally a tool. And the thing about a tool is, you can’t really know it until you try to use it. Once I started writing, I realized I had what I needed—the abilities I brought to law school, plus resources available through my supervising attorney and the Pro Bono Program. I completed the brief. And it was the most meaningful part of my semester.

Pro bono has given me opportunities to do good while simultaneously growing my skillset. In addition to more asylum-related work, I took on projects within my practice area of environmental law, volunteering with organizations like the Chesapeake Legal Alliance, Advocates for the West and the Southern Environmental Law Center. Each pro bono assignment grounded my understanding of abstract legal doctrine in the realities of practicing law. I stopped thinking so much about outlines and started asking, “Wait, how does this theory actually work?”

Ultimately, for me, pro bono is two things. Pro bono is a lifeline for everyone who comes to law school to do good, then walks out of their first doctrinal class wondering, “Am I in the right place?” You absolutely are, and you can start through the Pro Bono Program. Second, pro bono is a way to tether the cerebral inquiries that make academia fun and stimulating to the real world outside — real people, real work environments and real-world problems that law can address or exacerbate. Whatever you’re trying to be, pro bono can make you better.

Coming to law school, I knew I wanted to pursue a career at the intersection of civil rights and criminal justice work. I also knew that such a career could take many different forms. Jumping into pro bono work during 1L with the Colorado Office of Alternate Defense Counsel helped me start figuring out what type of work would be the best fit. Then, after spending my 1L summer with the U.S. Department of Justice’s Civil Rights Division in the Disability Rights Section, I was eager to get more experience in the division and added a pro bono spring externship with the Criminal Section. While there, I got to see my Criminal Investigations, Adjudication and Law of the Police classes come to life while working on law enforcement excessive force matters.  

Engaging in pro bono projects during law school is a win-win: You have the opportunity to support communities that are important to you and become a better lawyer while doing it. So, I cannot say it enough — enroll in the clinic, take on a volunteer externship, do the pro bono project. Embrace each opportunity during law school to get real experience with real clients in real communities. When interviewing for public service jobs, they probably won’t ask you about what you learned in your Contracts class. However, I am willing to bet that they will ask about your pro bono experiences and that you will be thrilled to tell them all about it. At the end of the day, pro bono projects help remind you of the why: why you came to law school, why this work matters and why becoming a public interest lawyer is an incredible choice.

Before attending UVA Law, I knew I wanted to pursue a career in public service. During my undergraduate career, I completed an internship with a Texas RioGrande Legal Aid. Working with attorneys in housing law cases solidified my desire to one day represent indigent individuals. During my 1L year, I was eager to work with the Pro Bono Program to help some of society’s most vulnerable individuals.

After finishing the fall semester, I dedicated myself to pro bono work. During winter break, I completed a project with the Legal Aid Society of Eastern Virginia, where I assisted with the office’s rent relief application program. I also participated in the [Public Interest Law Association’s] Alternative Spring Break, where I spent a week learning about the criminal justice system with the Culpeper Commonwealth’s Attorney’s Office. Lastly, I volunteered remotely throughout the semester with Public Law Center — a nonprofit legal aid office in California offering free legal services to indigent individuals. There, I wrote memos on tenants’ rights under California law and motions for clients’ cases.

Each of these experiences was unique and special. Being able to apply my limited legal knowledge to make a difference for someone who needed it was a fulfilling feeling and cemented for me that I made the right choice to go to law school. I hope to continue working with the Pro Bono Program during the rest of my time as a law student because I want to continue to try and make a difference for someone who may need it.

Overall, I could not recommend working with the Pro Bono Program enough. Working directly with clients and applying theoretical concepts to practice has reaffirmed for me, time and again, that I made the right career choice by deciding to be a public interest lawyer.

My pro bono projects gave me insight into what it’s like to be an attorney, while also giving me opportunities to support communities that are important to me. From legal research and writing to working with clients, my projects helped concretize the concepts I was learning in class while also developing new skills. My pro bono project with the disAbility Law Center of Virginia, specifically, allowed me to dive into public service work during my first year and explore an area of law outside of the 1L curriculum. It was a great way to reconnect with the reasons I came to law school when most required classes felt removed from my long-term goals. Finally, my pro bono experience made me a stronger candidate for summer jobs in public service that connected my interests of health care and law.

Without a doubt, my pro bono experiences at UVA have been the most consequential part of law school for me. I am grateful that I had the opportunity to jump right into pro bono work from the second week of 1L, when I began volunteering with African Services Committee, an immigration legal aid organization based out of New York City. In between the monotony of doctrinal courses like Civil Procedure and Contracts, I manned ASC’s immigration hotline and supported attorneys on affirmative asylum applications, deepening my dedication to public interest law through direct client service. I was able to volunteer with ASC from August through May, which enabled me to cultivate and develop meaningful relationships with my clients to better support their asylum cases. (And since my clients were French speakers, I could finally put my undergraduate degree in French and francophone studies to use!) 

Beyond ASC, I also joined a Virginia Innocence Project Student Group case, and I filed a few adjustment of status applications for resettled refugee families with the Charlottesville office of the International Rescue Committee. At first, I worried that the time I spent doing pro bono would distract from my coursework, but I quickly realized that these substantive experiences were what gave my semesters meaning — and they also helped me engage with my classes in a way that I might have struggled with otherwise. Pro bono is an important reminder that the law is more than a pile of court decisions and legal theories; it is not created in a vacuum, and it affects — and often harms — real people in tangible ways. Whether with ASC, the Innocence Project or the International Rescue Committee, pro bono work has shaped my critical lens for viewing and engaging with the law. I am now committed, more than ever, to building a career in client-centered advocacy and movement lawyering, and I thank these pro bono projects for pushing me in this direction.

My pro bono work has allowed me to put the skills I acquired in the classroom into practice. As a pro bono intern at the Virginia Beach Commonwealth Attorney’s Office, I drafted memoranda and conducted research that ultimately assisted attorneys in their case research. And as a member of the Innocence Project, I worked closely with classmates to conduct case research and prepare for interviews with clients.

But more importantly, spending my time working with members of the Innocence Project, reviewing cases involving inmates who may have been wrongfully convicted and conducting research pertaining to convoluted statutes are small acts that work to provide a more equitable and just judicial system. I chose to come to law school to learn how to be a voice for the voiceless, and UVA Law’s pro bono opportunities have allowed me to do just that.

When I decided to go to law school, I knew I wanted to engage in meaningful legal work as soon as I could. UVA Law’s Pro Bono Program has allowed me to do just that. The program made it possible for me to participate in multiple projects at a pace that fit with my 1L schedule. In my first semester, I conducted legal research for Gideon’s Promise and drafted memos for the Virginia Innocence Project Pro Bono Clinic. I spent my Alternative Winter Break volunteering for the Louisiana Capital Assistance Center. And in spring semester, I helped draft a motion for compassionate release for a National Council for Incarcerated and Formerly Incarcerated Women & Girls client.

The work I did for the National Council provided me with significant practical experience. Aside from drafting a motion for compassionate release, I learned a lot about the impact of the COVID-19 pandemic in prisons and the injustices inherent in our prison system. I also had the opportunity to participate in calls with our client and learn about her story. But my time with the national council did not end with the conclusion of the spring semester. My pro bono work ultimately turned into a summer internship with the organization. This summer, I contributed to an appeal going before the First Circuit, drafted parts of other motions for compassionate release, wrote portions of reply briefs in response to government opposition and more.

I have gained more practical, substantive legal skills in my first year of law school than I thought possible, and that is due in large part to the Pro Bono Program. I would not change a thing about my pro bono experience, and I would encourage everyone to consider participating. There are many phenomenal organizations available to partner with, and there is truly something for everyone.

I learned more from my year of pro bono with the Virginia Capital Representation Resource Center than from anything else during 1L. I wish every student coming into their first year at Virginia Law knew just how valuable pro bono hours can be — for them, for the organization they work for and for the community. It was really special to be working for a capital office when the news came out that Virginia would abolish the death penalty. The attorneys I worked with inspired me and reminded me each week why I came to law school and what I’ll be able to do with a legal career to help clients stuck in a cruel, unjust system.

Like many of my peers, I came to law school out of a desire to be of service to others. Getting involved in pro bono at UVA has given me the opportunity to help people in need, while also fostering the development of skills that I believe will serve me throughout my career and my life.

Since my first semester of 1L, I have been involved in the Innocence Project at UVA, helping wrongfully imprisoned individuals challenge their convictions and fight for their release. At a time when national attention has turned to the inequities of our criminal justice system, being involved in the Innocence Project was a truly illuminating educational experience, as I saw the mechanics of injustice from an up-close perspective and got to help play a small role in righting very serious wrongs.

During my winter and summer breaks, I also assisted at the Legal Aid Society in my hometown of San Diego, helping low-income individuals involved in landlord-tenant and eviction disputes. This was again a chance to see firsthand how the law works — and oftentimes doesn’t work — for the least privileged in our society. On a personal level, the experience forced me to learn how to be a more empathetic listener and a more effective communicator, as I interacted with hundreds of people from all walks and backgrounds of life.

I think that every student should participate in a pro bono project during their time at UVA. While what we learn in the classroom is interesting, educationally there is no substitute for applying those skills in a real-life setting, serving people who are often ignored or excluded by the legal profession. I believe that my involvement in the pro bono program at UVA has not only prepared me to become a more competent lawyer but a better-rounded and more balanced person.

As the first person in my family to attend law school, I did not know what it meant to be a lawyer. My mother has always instilled in my sisters and me the importance of helping others as much as we can. I knew I wanted to use my degree to help others in some way. Coming to law school as a 1L and getting sucked in to the busy life of a first-semester student, often forgetting the bigger picture, I needed to find something outside of the everyday life of a law student. I discovered the Pro Bono Program and knew I had to get involved. It has become an essential part of my law school experience, and makes me feel that my work does have an impact on someone else’s life. I have been able to help in a meaningful way while also developing my legal research, writing and interpersonal skills.

My experience with the UVA Law Pro Bono Program was undoubtedly the highlight of my 1L year, and it played an important role in shaping my career path. I would advise incoming students not to write off the idea of participating in pro bono projects, even if they are certain that they want to start off in private practice. I knew that I was interested in intellectual property and health care, and it was understandably difficult to find pro bono opportunities at the intersection of patent law and public interest. 

However, with the help of the program directors, I contacted a number of organizations and ended up working on two different pro bono projects over winter break. I worked with the Future of Privacy Forum on a white paper on genetic privacy. I also worked with the Collaboration for Research Integrity and Transparency at Yale Law School, an interdisciplinary organization that seeks to promote data transparency and access. I continued to do pro bono for CRIT over the spring semester, and ended up working with them for the first half of my 1L summer. Through my work with CRIT, I was able to reaffirm my interest in litigation.

Pro bono projects can provide students with invaluable professional work experience before their 1L summer jobs, serve as an interesting point of discussion for job interviews and create helpful networking opportunities. Unique pro bono projects can also be a valuable way to break into a niche area of law, such as public interest IP or health data privacy. Most importantly, pro bono work can serve as a reminder of why we came to law school in the first place: to serve our communities and effect positive change.

I found out I was coming to UVA Law just days after I left Greece, where I had been working in a refugee camp, and heard the first news of the U.S. travel ban from afar. When the women I worked with in the camp asked me what this new policy meant, I felt completely unequipped to answer their questions. But I knew that with a law degree I would be better able to answer and begin to understand the complexities of the U.S. immigration system so that I could advocate for displaced women. Once I got to UVA, I loved many of my 1L classes. But it was the winter and spring pro bono projects that I was a part of that defined my first year of law school.

Over winter break, I volunteered with the Tahirih Justice Center, which provides legal and social services to immigrant women and girls facing violence. On the first day, I was surprised at how quickly they threw me into substantive case work. In only two weeks, I worked on several cases involving the Violence Against Women Act, drafting affidavits and declarations while conducting country conditions research to learn more about women’s stories. I had only been there a couple of days when I stepped back and realized, ‘This is it: This is the work that I want to be doing.’ It didn’t matter how challenging the task was, it was worth it because it meant that women who had experienced horrible acts of violence might be one step closer to safety. My supervisor allowed me to go with her to many events, including a stakeholders meeting at the Arlington Asylum Office in which nongovernmental organizations discussed the huge U.S. Citizenship and Immigration Services backlog with DOS representatives. One of the most memorable parts of the winter break was attending a continuance hearing for minors at immigration court.

I had such a meaningful experience during the winter project that I decided to help lead a spring break pro bono trip to the Bronx Defenders in February. This work was very different from Tahirih because we were working on ‘crim-im’ cases where the client was convicted of a crime that could affect his or her immigration status. I was blown away by the drive and passion of every single attorney I met at Bronx Defenders. You walked into the office, and you immediately felt like you were part of something bigger, something important. What I love about the Defenders is that everyone is placed in groups made up of lawyers, social workers and community grassroots leaders who work together to combat the collateral effects of criminal convictions for immigrant defendants. I was given the chance to work with legal and nonlegal specialists to ensure that clients and their families avoided unintended consequences such as housing eviction or loss of support. I assisted with intake interviews, and the client contact I had during these sessions solidified my long-term commitment to work with and for immigrant communities in New York City.

When I started my summer internship at the International Refugee Assistance Project this May, I was so thankful for the foundation that I had built during my winter and spring break projects. It was because of my exposure to refugee and asylum law earlier this year that I was able to hit the ground running at IRAP. My pro bono experiences during my first year at UVA have not only reinforced, but truly strengthened, my commitment to immigration law.