Public Interest Centers are formal centers that either oversee a law school's public interest programs or focus on a particular public interest issue, such as poverty law or environmental law. These centers vary greatly in staffing and stature. They may be funded fully by the school or dependent upon outside funding.
The Government Law Center (GLC) - introduces students to methods of policy analysis and to public service. In operation for a quarter of a century, the GLC's programs and publications educate law and policy makers on the growing number of societal challenges they must address. Students are encouraged to participate in all GLC activities, including law-related employment and internship opportunities, and to initiate and develop new and exciting projects. The GLC sponsors programs on a wide range of topics, as well as public service career seminars, a community educational event for seniors, and exclusive opportunities to meet prominent government leaders.
The law school’s groundbreaking initiatives and comprehensive programs make an American University Washington College of Law education a complete experience. Students, faculty, and alumni enrich their legal understanding, broaden their perspectives, specialize in cutting-edge legal fields, and serve others by participating in any one of the innovative programs available at the law school.
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The Center for Human Rights and International Justice at Boston College addresses the increasingly interdisciplinary needs of human rights work. Through multidisciplinary training programs, applied research, and the interaction of scholars with practitioners, the Center aims to nurture a new generation of scholars and practitioners in the United States and abroad who draw upon the strengths of many disciplines, and the wisdom of rigorous ethical training in the attainment of human rights and international justice. The Center is built upon the University's deep religious and ethical tradition of service to others and its broad scholarly reach in graduate programs in Arts & Sciences and professional programs in Law, Business, Education, Social Work, and Nursing.
The Mary Daly Curtin and John J. Curtin Center, "Curtin Center". The Curtin Center is a dedicated space for public interest law student groups on campus. In addition to individual offices for student groups, there is a conference room. The Curtin Center also supports an annual keynote speech and summer stipends for public interest work.
Schooley Mediation Program: Funded by a private endowment of $600,000, the mediation program trains students in mediation skills through courses, workshops, externships and simulation laboratories. Students perform mediations in small claims court, with school truancy programs and juvenile court victim-offender mediations, in landlord-tenant disputes, etc.
The BYU International Center for Law and Religion Studies: Founded in 2000, the Center promotes freedom of religion by studying and disseminating information on the laws, principles, and institutions affecting the interaction of state and religion throughout the world. Director: Professor W. Cole Durham, Jr., [email protected], http://www.iclrs.org/ (801) 422-6842.
The Public Service Programs Office is staffed with a director and part time administrative assistant. The Office counsels students interested in public interest and government work concerning career-related matters such as resume and cover letter writing, interviewing, and developing experience. The Office also develops and coordinates pro bono projects, and sponsors a lunchtime series of speakers, panels and workshops, produces a bi-weekly newsletter with items of interest to the public interest community, offers a program for post-graduate fellowship candidates, and sponsors annual events including a welcome reception and pro bono fair, a pro bono awards ceremony, and the like. The Office also administers one of the school's two Public Interest Fellowship programs, offers workshops on such topics as financial resources for the public interest student, and maintains a website of information and resources relevant to the public interest student. The Public Service Programs Office also provides material, presentations, information or other help to other departments such as Admissions, Financial Aid, External Affairs and Alumni regarding the public service aspects of the School's program.
In addition, Brooklyn Law School Sponsors the Edward V. Sparer Public Interest Fellowship Program, Zaretsky International Business Fellowship program and the Centers for Health, Science and Public Policy, and Law, Language and Cognition.
National Center for Adoption Law & Policy
Center for Dispute Resolution http://law.capital.edu/DisputeResolution/
Social Justice Law Center ( https://case.edu/law/centers-institutes/social-justice-law-center)
The CUNY School of Law is a public interest law center. The mission of the CUNY School of law is to educate students for the practice of law with special emphasis on public service and public interest law.
Center for Constitutional Governance
Center for Gender and Sexuality Law
Center for Institutional and Social Change
Center for the Intersectionality and Social Policy Studies
Center for Law and Philosophy
Center for Public Research and Leadership
Center for the Advancement of Public Integrity
Center for the Study of Law and Culture
Columbia Center on Sustainable Investment
Human Rights Institute
Sabin Center for Climate Change Law
Office of Public Service - Charged with implementing programs and policies that promote the law school's public service programs.
Cornell Legal Information Institute - http://www.law.cornell.edu The Cornell Law School Legal Information Institute (LII) is known internationally as a leading "law-not-com" provider of public legal information. It offers all opinions of the United States Supreme Court handed down since 1992, together with over 600 earlier decisions selected for their historic importance, over a decade of opinions of the New York Court of Appeals, and the full United States Code. LII also publishes important secondary sources: libraries in two important areas (legal ethics and social security) and a series of topical pages that serve as concise explanatory guides and Internet resource listings for roughly 100 areas of law. The Institute is a non-profit activity of Cornell Law School supported by grants, the consulting work of its co-directors, and gifts. No subscription fee limits access to LII services.
Center for Public Interest Law - The Center manages all aspects of the public interest law program, including the Public Interest Honors Scholars program, public interest legal writing, a specialized section of the first-year Legal Analysis, Research & Communications course, the Pro Bono and Community Service Initiative, the Journal for Social Justice, a speakers and mentors program, a Loan Repayment Assistance Program (LRAP), and greatly expanded contacts with the public interest community. Please visit the Center website for more information: https://law.depaul.edu/about/centers-and-institutes/center-for-public-interest-law/Pages/default.aspx
Agricultural Law Center
Constitutional Law Center
Institute for Justice Reform & Innovation
Legislative Practice Center
Middleton Center for Children’s Rights
The Office of Public Interest and Pro Bono - The Office of Public Interest and Pro Bono, along with an over 40-member student board, sponsors numerous programs to encourage public service values and involve students in public interest work. These include the Pro Bono Project; an overnight retreat; recognition events for pro bono and public interest leadership; summer public interest employment; a Faculty Lives in Public Service speaker series; an overnight Public Interest Retreat; and many other initiatives.
Center for the Study of the Public Domain - http://www.law.duke.edu/cspd/
Program in Public Law - http://www.law.duke.edu/publiclaw - The Program in Public Law is dedicated to expanding our understanding of the laws that govern American governments and their officials. Brown bag lunch programs for the law school community are held throughout the year.(Note: The survey only allows for one choice of credit, pay or pro bono. All the Centers listed typically provide all three opportunities.)
The Center for Public Service supports EPIC, oversees the Pro Bono Program as well as the nonacademic volunteer clinics, administers Emory Law’s Loan Repayment Assistance program, offers career services for students interested in public service and government careers, provides public interest programming, and provides support for public interest initiatives throughout the law school.
Florida State University College of Law Public Interest Law Center - Founded in 1991, the Public Interest Law Center, formerly called the Children's Advocacy Center (CAC), trains second- and third-year law students in legal advocacy with an emphasis on intensive one-on-one and small group instruction. The Center, which has approximately 110 on-going cases, is unique among law school clinical programs for providing a broad range of legal services. It consists of two clinics: the Children's Advocacy Law Clinic and the Family Law Clinic. The Center represents children, persons with disabilities, and victims of domestic violence. It also handles special education, Medicaid, foster care, delinquency, criminal, school expulsions, developmental services, and supplemental security income (SSI) cases.
The Public Interest Resource Center (PIRC) - The Law School's hub of all public interest work. PIRC works with students, faculty/staff, centers & institutes, the clinical and externship program and all other departments to coordinate the important and diverse public interest work being done across the school. PIRC houses numerous public interest student-run organizations, most of which provide law- related pro bono service and advocacy.
Center for the Advancement of the Rule of Law in the Americas
Center for Congressional Studies
Center for the Constitution
Center on National Security and the Law
Center on Privacy & Technology
Georgetown Climate Center
Georgetown Environmental Law and Policy Program
Georgetown University Health Justice Alliance
Harrison Institute for Public Law
Human Rights Institute
Institute for the Study of International Migration
Institute for Technology Law and Policy
Office of Public Interest and Community Service
O'Neill Institute for National and Global Health Law
The Georgetown Center on Poverty and Inequality
Voting Rights Institute
Women's Law and Public Policy Fellowship Program
IMBR Initiative
Center for Access to Justice : https://law.gsu.edu/faculty-centers/center-for-access-to-justice/
Center for Law, Health & Society: https://law.gsu.edu/faculty-centers/center-for-law-health-society/
Center for the Comparative Study of Metropolitan Growth https://law.gsu.edu/faculty-centers/center-for-the-comparative-study-of-metropolitan-growth/
Center on Urban Environmental Law: Cities are not located outside the natural environment. Buildings, industry and urban infrastructure consume resources, change landscapes and discharge pollutants into air and waters. Forests, waterfronts and waterways within city limits serve as ecosystems and habitat corridors on which species depend. Where we site factories, freeways, and parkland impacts the health of urban residents and defines the character of urban neighborhoods. The Center on Urban Environmental Law (CUEL) at Golden Gate University School of Law takes the city as a natural starting point to assess how the law shapes environmental conditions.
Environmental Law and Justice Clinic: The Environmental Law and Justice Clinic (ELJC) at GGU School of Law was established in 1994 and is one of the first law clinics in the U.S. to prioritize environmental justice in its work. Our mission is to train GGU law students to be effective and ethical lawyers and to improve environmental conditions for communities of color and low-income people. Our geographic focus is the San Francisco Bay Area and California. ELJC is staffed by two faculty attorneys, one attorney fellow, and our student clinicians. ELJC clinicians are certified under State Bar of California rules to perform many of the tasks of an attorney. Under close faculty supervision, they interview and counsel clients, develop legal strategies, draft legal documents, appear at hearings, and negotiate with opposing parties. The Clinic also has an environmental scientist on staff.
Honors Lawyering Program (Fall Apprenticeship): HLP takes a unique approach to legal education, integrating the theory, skills, and values learned in the classroom with actual work in the legal community — a modern version of the traditional apprenticeship. HLP students attend a regular first-year curriculum, participate in an intensive skills-focused summer session, and work at a full-time fall apprenticeship. In the spring, students return to full-time classes with a new appreciation for the application of law to practice. During their third year, students complete a second apprenticeship and have the option to enroll in additional, practice-based courses. Honors courses meet in small sections that integrate lawyering skills training with the substantive law curriculum. By the third week, students begin representing real clients under the guidance and supervision of the professors, who are themselves practicing attorneys. Students may apprentice in private law firms, companies, courts, government agencies, and public interest organizations.
Katrina and Disaster Law Program: This dynamic program explores a myriad of legal issues arising out of the aftermath of Hurricane Katrina and the subsequent breach of the levees. After studying some of the history of the Gulf Coast and the background leading up to Hurricane Katrina, each student will select a topic to research in depth. During the semester students will present reports to the class on the progress of their research and submit written work that will culminate in a paper of publishable quality. The research topics will focus on legal issues that are of practical use to lawyers and agencies engaged in helping those people who lost family members, homes, jobs, schools, pets, and neighborhoods in the wake of Katrina, and those who are engaged in the clean up and rebuilding efforts. Thus, the course will involve intersections of a number of areas of law, including contracts, insurance, property, race and poverty, employment, immigration, environmental and criminal justice. Students, with the assistance of the professor, will assemble their writings and submit them for publication and will present the results of their research at a symposium for the Golden Gate community.
Law Career Services: Through innovative programs and personalized attention, LCS counselors work closely with students and alumni to meet the demands of today's legal marketplace. Golden Gate's full-time Assistant Director for Public Interest Programs has years of experience working in the public, private and nonprofit sectors and maintains numerous connections with public interest employers (there are over 500 connections on the Director's LinkedIn page). The Director oversees Golden Gate's pro bono program, organizes regular community services opportunities, administers the school's Loan Repayment Assistance Program, organizes countless public service career-related events, and supports student groups in their efforts to organize and raise funds.
Poverty Law Program: The primary objective of this program is to introduce students to the unique legal issues of the poor and how the legal system deals with access to justice and indigency. We will review historical and contemporary challenges facing public interest lawyers, legal problems and policy choices regarding poverty, and effective advocacy strategies. These themes will then be traced through three areas of substantive discussion: government benefit programs, housing law and homelessness, and family law. We will conclude the course with an examination of new trends in legal services.
Sompong Sucharitkul Center for Advanced International Legal Studies: The Sompong Sucharitkul Center hosts the prestigious Annual Fulbright Symposium on Current International Legal Issues and publishes the Annual Survey of International and Comparative Law.
Women's Employment Rights Clinic: The Women's Employment Rights Clinic (WERC) of Golden Gate University School of Law, founded in 1993, believes that every worker has a right to decent wages and equal opportunity. In conjunction with community based organizations, WERC advocates for the rights of low-wage and immigrant workers through direct service, impact litigation and public policy work. WERC also serves the dual purpose of training the next generation of ethical, competent, and socially responsible professionals. WERC is one of a handful of clinical legal programs around the nation providing comprehensive services for workplace problems. WERC operates an intake hotline staffed by law students, under the supervision of the clinic faculty and attorneys. The clinic advises, counsels and represents clients in a variety of employment-related matters including wage and hour violations, discrimination, workplace harassment, unemployment benefits, pregnancy and family/medical leave, and employment rights of the formerly incarcerated.
Gonzaga's Center for Law in Public Service (CLiPS) partners with students; faculty; local, regional and state-wide legal and social service providers; law schools; the voluntary county bar association; and the mandatory state bar association to coordinate pro bono opportunities for the Gonzaga Law School community. CLiPS is a branch of the law school's Center for Professional Development which results in additional career development and support for public interest-oriented students. CLiPS has its own suite of offices on the 3rd floor of the law school, where students collaborate with the CLiPS staff attorney.
The Bernard Koteen Office of Public Interest Advising (OPIA) - http://www.law.harvard.edu/students/opia/
Child Advocacy Program - http://www.law.harvard.edu/academics/cap/
Charles Hamilton Houston Institute for Race and Justice - http://www.charleshamiltonhouston.org
International Center for Criminal Justice - http://www.law.harvard.edu/programs/criminal-justice/
The Center for Children, Family and the Law
The Center for Children, Families and the Law was established in 2001 in response to the urgent need for more effective representation for children and families in crisis. Its unique interdisciplinary program of education, community service and research is designed to encourage professionals from law and mental health to work together for the benefit of children and families involved in the legal system. The Center's community service programs provide direct assistance to New York area children and families in need and serve as models for states across the country. To carry out its mission, the Center partners with the University's Department of Psychology, health and human service agencies and law associations, including the Association of Family and Conciliation Courts (AFCC), the American Bar Association (ABA), and the National Institute for Trial Advocacy (NITA). The core of the Center for Children, Families and the Law is its interdisciplinary training program for Hofstra law students.
The Institute for Health Law and Policy
Hofstra Law School's Institute for Health Law and Policy was designed to meet the need for education and training of attorneys in the rapidly expanding field of health law, provide instruction for health care professionals who are encountering increasingly complicated laws affecting the delivery of health care, and provide a center of excellence for the study and formulation of health care policy. In responding to shortcomings of the U.S. health care system, the federal Congress and state legislatures have passed many complex laws that require careful study and analysis by attorneys and that make health care providers increasingly dependent on lawyers. At the same time, health care providers, including physicians, nurses, hospitals, nursing homes, home health agencies, and insurers, need some training for dealing day to day with the complexities of health care law. The Institute aims to participate in the development and assessment of health care policies that will provide for stabilizing costs while improving the quality of health care for everyone. In striving to effect its goals, the Institute for Health Law and Policy supports the following programs:
The Institute for the Study of Gender, Law and Policy
The mission of the Institute for the Study of Gender, Law, and Public Policy is to facilitate teaching, research, and scholarship concerning gender as it relates to law and public policy. The Institute will also facilitate interdisciplinary exchange within Hofstra University. Through sponsoring courses, conferences, roundtables, and other events and generating publications, it will contribute to the knowledge of the academic community at Hofstra and of the broader community on this issue. The Institute's starting premise is that gender remains a salient category of analysis and that problems of gender inequality in society persist. The Institute will focus on current issues of law and policy relevant to gender equality, including regulation of the family, sexuality, corporations and the professions, the workplace, educational entities, and other institutions of civil society. Governmental and other public initiatives that relate to gender equality will also be examined. Reflecting Law School faculty expertise, the Institute will focus on domestic and global dimensions of gender equality. Because many factors – such as cultural and religious traditions, economics, ethnicity, race, and sexuality – shape individual and societal perceptions of gender, the Institute will invite the insights of disciplinary approaches in addition to law.
The Equal Justice Program oversees the law school's public interest programs and provides opportunities for students to engage in practical experience through volunteer legal and community services experiences.
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The Center for Access to Justice & Technology (CAJT) works to make justice more accessible to the public by promoting the use of the Internet in the teaching, practice, and public access to the law. The Center conducts research, builds software tools, teaches classes and supports faculty, staff and student projects on access to justice and technology. Currently, CAJT manages and promotes the Access to Justice Author (A2J Author), leads the A2J Student Editorial Board (A2J-SEB), and directs the Self-Help Web Center (SHWC). In addition to these activities and initiatives, CAJT also administers the Certificate in Public Interest Law. For more information, please visit: https://www.kentlaw.iit.edu/institutes-centers/center-for-access-to-justice-and-technology
Institute for Science, Law & Technology - The mission of the Institute for Science, Law & Technology is to provide a forum to produce and disseminate knowledge on the implications and applications of science within societal and legal contexts. As part of its mission, the Institute sponsors long-term, multi-disciplinary research, public conferences, judicial training, symposia for journalists, and other programs. Public programming, scholarship and research, and student educational opportunities in the Institute focuses on biotechnology, information technology, environmental science, and cross cutting issues such as products liability, intellectual property, design of legal and market institutions, and use of technology in the courtroom. In addition, Institute staff and faculty draft laws and regulations and develop other programs that guide public policy decisions. For more information, please visit: https://www.kentlaw.iit.edu/institutes-centers/institute-for-science-law-and-technology
Center on the Global Legal Profession: The Center on the Global Legal Profession focuses on the role of lawyers in society, the business of lawyering, and the organizational context housing legal practice. Forces of globalization, politics, and the economy create enormous challenges and opportunities for lawyers, clients, policymakers, law schools and the public. We examine these issues through the lens of empirical research, using original and existing data and utilizing both quantitative and qualitative methodology.
Center for Constitutional Democracy: The Center for Constitutional Democracy studies and promotes constitutional democracy in countries marked by ethnic, religious, linguistic, and other divisions. The CCD works on Burma, Liberia, and Vietnam, training the reform leaders of these countries in constitutionalism, parliamentary process, and legal ordering. The center has a scholarship function (holding conferences and producing books, transcripts, articles, etc.), a teaching function (through our Ph.D. program on Law and Democracy and our J.D. Affiliate program), and an outreach function (training, advising, and consulting with leaders of democratic reform). In short, the center seeks to put the power of ideas to work in the world. It is committed both to understanding constitutionalism as an academic concept and to going out beyond the university to cities, jungles, mountains, and deserts where people are trying to make a better future.
Center for Intellectual Property Research: The Center's mission is to promote the development of a vibrant community of intellectual property law scholars, professionals and students. It strives to achieve this goal by building connections to the national and international intellectual property law community, offering a forum of distinction for the exchange of ideas in intellectual property law and policy. The Center's substantive focal points are two: (1) the intersection between intellectual property law and complex technologies and (2) the global nature of intellectual property policy.
Center for Law, Society, and Culture: The fundamental mission of the Center for Law, Society, and Culture is to promote and disseminate a multidisciplinary understanding of law through scholarship, teaching, and discussion. The Center produces, presents, and coordinates research conducted by exceptional scholars in schools and departments across Indiana University on the subject of law and legal problems. The Center supports research related to the law in a broad sense, including cultural aspects of law expressed through political theory and the humanities, and scientific aspects of law expressed through technological advance in biotechnology, environmental science, and information technology.
Center for Applied Cybersecurity Research: The Center for Applied Cybersecurity Research provides the nation with leadership in applied cybersecurity technology, education, and policy guidance. Fundamental to CACR's mission is to properly balance public needs, homeland security concerns, and individual privacy rights. CACR is distinctive in interweaving technical and policy expertise, and draws on Indiana University's wide range of scholarly expertise in computer science, informatics, accounting and information systems, criminal justice, law, organizational behavior, public policy, and other disciplines, and the extensive practical experience in cybersecurity of its operational units.
The John Marshall Law School Fair Legal Support Center - The primary goal of The John Marshall Law School Fair Housing Legal Support Center is to educate the public about fair housing law and to provide legal assistance to those private or public organizations that seek to eliminate discriminatory housing practices. https://jmls.uic.edu/experiential-education/clinics/fairhousing/
Center for Animal Law Studies: The Center for Animal Law Studies is an academic and scholarly Animal Law program dedicated to: 1) Training future leaders for careers in Animal Law and public policy; 2) Conducting high-quality, independent legal research that advances the field of Animal Law; 3) Developing innovative recommendations and legal strategies relating to Animal Law within administrative, legislative, litigation and other settings; 4) Creating a scholarly environment where students, regardless of particular point of view, feel included and respected; and 5) Ensuring that the interests of animals are always considered as the field develops. The Center is the only legal and academic think tank and training program in the world for students interested in Animal Law. Students are provided with paid and volunteer opportunities through the Center.
National Crime Victim Law Institute: NCVLI seeks to promote a society in which: 1) Every crime victim has comprehensive and meaningful legal rights and can access a knowledgeable attorney for representation in the criminal justice system; 2) Every crime victim's attorney has access to education, training, and technical support from a community of experts; 3) Everyone in the criminal justice system is knowledgeable about and respects the legal rights of crime victims; 4) Every crime victims' rights are routinely enforced to facilitate meaningful participation in the criminal justice system; and 5) Every right of every crime victim is honored in every case. NCVLI offers a clinic and both volunteer and externship opportunities for students.
Northwest Environmental Defense Center: NEDC was established by a group of professors, law students, and attorney alumni at Lewis & Clark Law School in 1969. NEDC is an independent, non-profit organization working to protect the environment and natural resources of the Pacific Northwest. NEDC provides legal support to individuals and grassroots organizations with environmental concerns, and engages in litigation independently or in conjunction with other environmental groups. NEDC also provides valuable hands-on experience for students seeking to enhance their education in environmental law through pro bono work and a paid student clerk position.
Oregon Justice Resource Center: The OJRC assists with trial and appellate litigation on behalf of indigent, prisoner, and low-income clients in federal and state courts on a range of civil liberties and civil rights matters, including but not limited to the death penalty, immigrant rights, and unfair procedural barriers to the courts. OJRC staff work to facilitate meaningful opportunities for students in the areas of criminal justice and immigration. Current work focuses on indigent defense, capital defense, assisting refugees and low-income immigrants, and police accountability. Students work with OJRC as volunteers or externs for credit.
The Liberty Center for Law and Policy (LCLP) is a partnership between the law school and Liberty Counsel, a nonprofit public interest law firm. Established in 1989, Liberty Counsel is a national organization with offices in Orlando, Florida; Lynchburg, Virginia; Dallas, Texas; and Washington, D.C. It also has affiliated attorneys throughout the country. With its emphasis on constitutional and civil rights law, the LCLP provides training, internships, and clerkships for law students.
Volunteer Income Tax Assistance - Students provide free tax return preparation services to low-income foreign students, teachers and researchers. In 2005, LSU won the American Bar Association/Law Student Division's Best Continuing VITA Site award.
Butler Center Legal Clinic - This program was organized in conjunction with the main LSU campus and provided free legal services to low income residents of Old South Baton Rouge. Law students were hired by the legal clinic to perform initial intake and screeing of clients. Law clerks also were able to research and prepare documents for cases under the supervision of legal aid attorneys. The legal clinic focused on successions and donations, estate planning and property law, but also dealt with issues under family law, contract law and disputes and resolutions. The legal clinic was funded through a three year grant and therefore is no longer in operation.
Pugh Institute for Justice - The George W. and Jean H. Pugh Institute for Justice is a tax exempt, charitable organization founded in 1998 to provide support for research, educational, and pro bono activities that will promote justice for individuals in the administration of the criminal and civil justice systems in the State of Louisiana and elsewhere
The Public Interest Law Department
Cancer Legal Resource Center
Center for Conflict Resolution
Center for Juvenile Law and Policy
Center for Restorative Justice
Disability Rights Legal Center
Center for Public Interest Law – 1 attorney
Child Law Center – 6 attorneys and 2 attorney teaching fellows
Education Law and Policy Institute – 4 attorneys
Rodin Center for Social Justice – 1 attorney (also working in and counted in the ChildLaw Center) plus another PT attorney
The Gillis Long Poverty Law Center - The Gillis Long Poverty Law Center, established in 1985, promotes legal research and education about the problems of poor people and assists those providing legal services to those unable to afford representation.
The Office of Public Service was established in 2005 to coordinate Marquette Law School's efforts to provide meaningful pro bono and community service opportunities to faculty and law students, better connect with community agencies, facilitate inter-departmental coordination, and advance the scholarship of the Law School in accordance the mission of Marquette University. The Office of Public Service is coordinated by a full-time assistant dean and director of public service as well as a part-time program assistant and part-time public interest fellow.
Visit https://law.marquette.edu/community/pro-bono-opportunities
Mitchell Hamline has centers and institutes that focus on public interest in specialty areas.
The Dispute Resolution Institute focuses on alternative dispute resolution and social justice.
The Health Law Institute focuses on public health issues and the relationship between law and the social determinants of health.
The Institute to Transform Child Protection focuses on public interest and representation in child welfare law and systems.
The Native American Law and Sovereignty Institute focuses on public interest matters affecting tribes.
Center for Law & Social Responsibility
Office of Public Interest and Community Service (OPICS) sponsors community-wide public service opportunities, administers the Public Service Certificate Program, and serves as an information hub for the public service activities of the Justice Action Center, The Diane Abbey Center for Children and Families, the Lawyering Skills Center, the Office of Career Services, the Office of Student Life and student organizations, as well as public service activities sponsored by other academic centers and organizations at the Law School. Housed in the Office of Professional Development, OPICS is the central source for information about public interest curricular offerings and center affiliations, pro bono and volunteer activities, and public interest career development.
The Justice Action Center – Contact: Professor Richard Marsico, 212-431-2180, [email protected] – The Center is currently involved in a number of projects, including:
The Diane Abbey Center for Children and Families – Contact: Professor Carlin Meyer, 212-431-2194, [email protected]
The Center for New York City Law
International Law Center
Institute for Information Law & Policy
The Center for Professional Values and Practice
Public Interest Law Center (PILC) - In 1992, NYU School of Law founded the Public Interest Law Center (PILC) as the focal point for public service activities at the Law School. Now a national model for the promotion of public service, the Center has become a critical component of public interest education for students. The Center's attorney-counselors offer expert individual guidance on summer and term-time internships, fellowship opportunities, and the post-graduate job search. PILC staff also assists students in navigating the many pro bono opportunities available, so that even first-year students can use their legal education to help others. PILC hosts many educational events throughout the year, such as the Leaders in Public Interest Series, to expand student awareness of public interest law and expose students to the numerous opportunities available to them during and after law school.
PILC administers several programs, including the:
PILC is staffed with an Assistant Dean (who also directs the Root-Tilden-Kern Scholarship program), two Associate Directors, and two administrative assistants. The Assistant Dean and both Associate Directors are available to students for career counseling. For more information, see http://www.law.nyu.edu/publicinterestlawcenter/.
For further information on other Centers and Institutes see http://www.law.nyu.edu/centers/.
The Civil Rights and Restorative Justice (CRRJ) Project addresses harms resulting from the massive breakdown in law enforcement during the civil rights movement, from the 1950s to the early 1970s. The project engages teachers and students across the university and is directed by faculty from the School of Law and the College of Criminal Justice.
CRRJ focuses on these public policy and criminal justice initiatives. It conducts research into the nature and extent of anti-civil rights violence. CRRJ works with members of a diverse community – prosecutors, lawmakers, victims – that is seeking genuine reconciliation through legal proceedings, law reform, and private investigations. CRRJ assists these groups to assess and develop a range of policy approaches, including criminal prosecutions, truth and reconciliation proceedings, and legislative remedies. On the research front, CRRJ's work aims to develop reliable data with which to analyze events of anti-civil rights violence and to support research into the history and current significance of anti-civil rights violence.
Domestic Violence Institute (DVI) - This is an education, service and research organization dedicated to combating partner abuse and sexual assault. It plays a role in providing legal advocacy services to victims of intimate partner violence as well as victims of non-intimate partner sexual assault. It does this by training lawyers and other professionals to meet the unique challenges of working with victims of domestic or sexual violence. It also fosters interdisciplinary relationships and model programs designed to make the legal system better for women seeking assistance.
Integral to the Institute's mission is a commitment to empowering clients and client communities so that they can articulate and advance their own legal strategies and resolutions - both in their individual cases and in the advocating for changes in the legal system that will benefit all victims. We do this by making our faculty, staff and students available to support clients in a wide range of community based advocacy groups and institutions - offering basic abuse prevention services to individual clients, expedited referrals of community group members to cooperating lawyers for legal representation in more complex matters, assistance in securing institutional and financial support and the opportunity to participate in collaborative research and demonstration grants.
NuLawLab - The NuLawLab focuses its attention in two primary areas: taking on client-generated projects for Northeastern, legal educators, lawyers and others seeking to redefine models and processes for how lawyers are prepared and conduct their professional and business activities; and serving as the national hub of discussion, exchange and generation of solutions for some of the most significant problems facing legal education and the profession.
Inspired by NUSL's historical leadership employing a unique curriculum that integrates theory and practice to prepare excellent, ethical lawyers who are ready to serve clients and the public interest now and in the future, the Legal Innovation Lab engages economic, human, technological, cultural and social capital to reimagine and redesign integral components of the lawyers' professional preparation and activity.
Partnering for Prevention – Partnering for Prevention specifically seeks to foster trust and develop relationships between law enforcement and Muslim, Arab, Sikh and South Asian American communities. Through these relationships, communities and law enforcement are better able to collaborate and share information in order to reduce terrorism, protect communities and diminish racial tension.
Public Health Advocacy Institute (PHAI) - PHAI is a legal research center focused on public health law. Its goal is to support and enhance a commitment to public health in individuals and institutes who shape public policy through law. We are committed to research in public health law, public health policy development; to legal technical assistance; and to collaborative work at the intersection of law and public health. Our current areas of work include tobacco control and childhood obesity. It was founded in 2002 by faculty at Northeastern University School of Law and at Tufts Medical School Department of Public Health as an independent research and advocacy institute.
The Law and Obesity Project explores the use of the law in slowing obesity and reversing the epidemic of obesity-related diseases. The project examines the use of litigation, legislation, regulation, and other legal tools in conjunction with public health practitioners and policymakers. PHAI publishes widely in the area, works with policymakers and advocates, and hosts the annual Legal Approaches to the Obesity Epidemic conference. The PHAI annual conference is recognized for bringing together the leading experts and advocates working in law and obesity and testing out cutting-edge strategic ideas.
The Tobacco Control Resource Center continues its ongoing mission of working to improve the public's health by honing legal strategies to reduce tobacco use and exposure to environmental tobacco smoke. Formed in 1979, TCRC has unusual depth and breadth of experience in tobacco control issues generally, as well as longstanding and specific expertise in the legal and policy issues relating to tobacco control. TCRC's Tobacco Products Liability Project has held more than two dozen annual conferences where many of the strategies for holding the tobacco industry legally accountable were first devised. TCRC provides law and policy analysis and technical assistance to domestic and foreign governmental bodies, non-governmental organizations, attorneys involved in tobacco-related litigation and tobacco control advocates. TCRC also promotes public health oriented perspectives in the news media coverage of key law and policy developments affecting tobacco control.
PHAI works closely with the JD/MPH program to provide educational opportunities to students interested in public health and the law. Students may take advanced courses at the law school and participate in the Public Health Law Clinic working closely with PHAI. PHAI also offers independent study opportunities, co-ops and Tufts ALE placement. There are a myriad of opportunities for students to participate in the work of PHAI on current and exciting developments in public health and law.
Program on Human Rights and the Global Economy (PHRGE) - PHRGE is at the center of the School of Law's human rights efforts and works closely with scholars, institutions and advocates nationally and internationally to address issues of human rights and economic development. Reflecting our faculty's interests, PHRGE is particularly engaged with the international movement to promote economic, social and cultural (ESC) rights.
PHRGE is bringing its energy and vision to bear on (1) training the human rights lawyers of the 21st century; (2) encouraging and deepening scholarship on human rights and the global economy; and (3) working to implement human rights norms and sound economic development approaches worldwide.
The Public Interest Center provides strategic leadership of key public interest activities on campus and promotes a strong public interest culture – one that encourages all students to develop a public service ethic. Among the Center’s features are financial support for students doing public interest work during and after law school; career programming and counseling; a wide range of pro bono and public service opportunities; and passionate student organization participation and leadership. The Center staff also works closely with faculty involved in the law school’s many public interest course offerings, including those in the Bluhm Legal Clinic, the Center for Externships, and the Law and Social Policy concentration. This collaboration helps ensure that students learn a public interest ethic both inside and outside the classroom. For more information, go to the Public Interest Center webpage at https://www.law.northwestern.edu/academics/public-interest/ .
Center for Civil and Human Rights
The Center focuses on teaching, research, and service dedicated to raising international awareness of important human rights concerns in a way that contributes to their eventual resolution. The Center's programs/curriculum include: (A) LL.M. Program in International Human Rights Law, which affords lawyers the opportunity to engage in specialized study and research in international human rights law; and (b) J.S.D. Program in International Human Rights Law, which is designed especially for persons who teach in the field of international human rights law. For more information, contact Juan Mendez, Director, 574/631-7895 or https://klau.nd.edu/.
The Public Interest Program at Nova Southeastern University Shepard Broad College of Law serves as a focal point for all public interest law activities at the college. The Public Interest Program operates programs designed to encourage students to participate in public interest law while they are in law school and to encourage a commitment to the public for life.
The Center for Interdisciplinary Law and Policy Studies at The Ohio State University's Moritz College of Law is committed to the promotion of interdisciplinary research, teaching, and public outreach designed to shed light on the nature and operation of law and legal institutions, as well as the impacts of law on society and culture.
The Center embodies the conviction that no single disciplinary perspective is adequate for understanding these issues, and that multidisciplinary approaches are essential to address the social opportunities and challenges in which law can play a constructive role.
Center on Alternative Dispute Resolution
The Center on Alternative Dispute Resolution provides coherence and structure for the varied activities of OCU School of Law in the areas of negotiation, mediation, and arbitration. The Center assures that all ADR programs operated under its auspices meet the dual obligations of public service and pedagogy. Research is an integral part of the Center's activities, in order to improve continually the quality of service provided to the justice system.
Specifically, the Center focuses on ethics in ADR and identifying the variables that help courts and practitioners to "match the fuss to the forum."
Center for the Study of State Constitutional Law & Government
The Center for the Study of State Constitutional Law and Government was founded to develop and implement programs dedicated to the improvement of state constitutions and state governance. By sponsoring workshops, scholarly writing, and public lectures, the Center promotes scholarship and discussion on important issues relating to state government.
Native American Legal Resource Center
The Native American Legal Resource Center provides capacity building services to tribal communities and creates opportunities for students, faculty, staff and the broader University Community to utilize knowledge and resources to serve the needs of Indian Country in a culturally appropriate and efficient manner for a maximum positive impact.
Within the Oklahoma City University School of Law, the Native American Legal Resource Center is an academic center that encourages scholarship in the area of Indian Law and Policy. The NALRC also provides various services to the Tribal Governments in the State of Oklahoma, as well as Tribal Governments across the United States.
The NALRC has several successful working relationships and projects that serve various needs in Indian Country. Funding for these initiatives comes from grants and sub-contracts awarded to the NALRC for the provision of specific services.
The PACE ENERGY PROJECT – Founded in 1987 by Dean Emeritus Richard L. Ottinger, a former member of the US House of Representatives, the Energy Project plays a leading role in a national coalition of environmental and consumer advocates who are working to create win-win energy policy solutions for America's economy and environment. The Energy Project has helped create legal tools for promoting economic investments in energy efficiency and renewable resources, in order to abate acid rain, contain global warming, reduce urban smog and other environmental damage associated with the production and delivery of electric energy. The Project leads a broad based public interest coalition in New York, partners with the Mid-Atlantic Energy Project in New Jersey and Pennsylvania, and assists local groups in Michigan and Florida in the pursuit of electric utility regulatory reform. The Project's study, Environmental Costs of Electricity (Oceana Publications, 1990) is the seminal work on valuation of environmental costs to society from electric utility operations and describes ways to incorporate environmental costs in utility resource acquisition. The Project is hosting a national photovoltaic educational project under a grant from the Department of Energy. The Project is also working with the St. Regis Tribe of the Mohawk Nation on a model program to extend the economic and environmental benefits of conservation and renewable resources to Native American communities.
The PACE INVESTOR RIGHTS PROJECT (PIRP) – Is dedicated to the protection of investor rights, specifically the rights of small investors, and the enforcement of broker-dealers' obligations to their customers. Through its three main arms -- Advocacy, Research and Community Education -- PIRP seeks broadly to inform and educate the investing public in New York State about their legal rights and responsibilities.
The PACE WOMEN'S JUSTICE CENTER – Students and their supervisory attorneys represent victims of family violence and abuse, including victims with special needs such as the elderly, women with low income, women who are developmentally disabled or mentally impaired, victims of incest and other sexual assault, and child victims. The Center not only represents hundreds of clients, but also creates and disseminates new techniques for legal intervention; trains dozens of law students and thousands of judges, attorneys, police officers, sexual assault examiners, and others who work to eradicate injustice for women and children; and publishes articles and materials about effective and compassionate representation. It also engages in extensive legislative research and advocacy and has been highly instrumental in the enactment and/or reform of a great deal of New York State legislation during the past decade.
The LAND USE LAW CENTER – Engages law students in understanding and explaining how best to develop and conserve the land. The Center draws on its staff of experts and law students to train local officials in New York State to take an enlightened and balanced approach to shaping land use policies and regulations. Pace Law students work as full-fledged legal associates with responsibility for research projects, publications, outreach, community services, project management and technology.
The EMPIRE JUSTICE CENTER – This branch of the Greater Upstate Law Project was created as an alternative source of free legal services for the poor in the Hudson Valley in 1996, when Congress placed limitations on all federally-funded legal services programs. The EJC is a locus of pro bono service for volunteer law students, a field placement center for our Public Interest/Legal Services Externship, and a collaborator and back-up center for the other programs of the John Jay Legal Services Clinic, where it is located, especially the Immigration Justice Clinic. It is also a lead member of the New York Immigration Coalition and the Westchester Hispanic Coalition. It conducts numerous community education "know your rights" programs for immigrants. Most important, its lawyers can and do provide the full range of legal remedies needed by poor litigants, and can and do serve all poor and disadvantaged people, including immigrants, prisoners, those who would benefit from class actions, and those for whom a winning litigation strategy depends on the ability to seek attorneys' fees as a negotiating tool.
The CENTER FOR ENVIRONMENTAL LEGAL STUDIES – Allows J.D., LL.M., and S.J.D. candidates to work directly with Pace law professors in advanced environmental law research and law reform. Since 1982, the Center has developed sustained programs in Energy Law and in International Environmental Law, as well as undertaking funded research programs in a number of areas. The Center, which is co-directed by Dean Richard L. Ottinger, Professor Nicholas A. Robinson and other environmental law professors at Pace, sponsors periodic colloquia and participates in the International Union for the Conservation of Nature. (see https://law.pace.edu/centers-institutes/global-center-environmental-legal-studies )
The Center for Public Interest Law and Advocacy houses the formal pro bono program as well as the public interest certificate/recognition program. In addition to the Center for Public Interest Law and Advocacy, the Law School supports the Agricultural Law Resource and Reference Center, the Center on Children and the Law, and the Center for Immigrants' Rights.
Nootbaar Institute on Law, Religion, and Ethics (includes the Sudreau Global Justice Institute)
For more information, visit: https://law.pepperdine.edu/nootbaar-institute/
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The Feinstein Center for Pro Bono & Experiential Education - The Center runs the Pro Bono Collaborative (partnering law firms and private attorneys, community organizations, and law students together to work on pro bono projects), several Externship Programs (Environmental and Land Use, Judicial, Government and Prosecution, Public Interest, D.C. Semester in Practice, New York Pro Bono Scholars Program), a Mandatory Pro Bono Experiential Learning Requirement Program (law-related, uncompensated, not-for-credit), an Alternative Spring Break Program, the Public Interest Loan Repayment Assistance Program, and is involved in many community partnerships through our public interest and pro bono programs.
Marine Affairs Institute - RWU Law's Marine Affairs Institute, in partnership with Rhode Island Sea Grant and University of Rhode Island, is a comprehensive clearinghouse for marine law and policy, engaged in preparing the next generation of marine law professionals and convening marine law and policy professional events. As home of the Rhode Island Sea Grant Legal Program, the Institute engages students as Sea Grant Law Fellows to do research and analysis on marine law issues for constituent organizations. Students can also simultaneously earn a masters' degree in marine affairs from URI through the joint degree program. https://law.rwu.edu/academics/marine-affairs-institute
Eric Neisser Public Interest Program: http://law.newark.rutgers.edu/public-service/public-service-rutgers-newark
Building on St. John's Vincentian mission of serving those in need, the Center recognizes the ethical obligation of lawyers to promote social justice. The Center is charged with coordinating and expanding the Law School's Pro Bono Service Project, the Public Interest Auction, the Public Interest Summer Fellowship Program and other pro bono and public interest initiatives. The Center also collaborates with the Public Interest Law Students Association to host programs on public interest law, counsel students on public interest opportunities and generally foster a view of public interest as intrinsic to the study and practice of law.
International Law Center
Health Law Center
The Center for the Study of the Law and the Church – Established in 1987 to serve as an educational resource to churches regarding the relationship of the church with secular law, the Center provides guidance to, and education for, the religious community on secular legal issues that impact churches, including church governance and structure, employment relationships, property rights, tax exemptions and obligations, confidentiality privileges, and general liability issues. The Center is equipped to respond with practical guidance and suggestions to churches, pastors, church personnel and attorneys advising or representing churches regarding legal problems and legal issues faced in a litigious society. The Center has an Advisory Board composed of individuals from both the legal and religious communities and utilizes law students as research assistants to provide churches with comprehensive and current legal advice.
Alabama Center for Law & Civic Education – ACLCE provides area schools with training and resources to educate students on basic issues of the law and how those issues apply to them. Through ACLCE programs like Teen Court and Street Law, law students have the opportunity to go out in the community and present students with legal education geared to their age bracket.
The Center for Social Justice and Public Service provides a locus for public interest and social justice scholarship, skills, and clinical training, summer fellowships and pro bono work. The Center's rich academic and extracurricular offerings allow Santa Clara students to serve community needs for social justice while studying law. The Center's role includes:
The Access to Justice Institute - The work of the Access to Justice Institute reflects the mission of Seattle University School of Law: to lead its students toward lifetime service to justice for all. AtJI connects the law school to the community at large, collaborating with hundreds of attorneys, judges and advocates from every field and drawing more than 300 student volunteers each year. Students volunteering through AtJI have the option to be placed as volunteers in one of 55 community legal service agencies that have formed collaborative partnerships with the Institute, or, they can participate in one of the in-house projects administered by the AtJI staff. In-house projects include: the Community Justice Centers, Immigration Court Project, Hague Convention Project, Unemmployment Insurance for Battered Women Project, Language Bank, Real Change Homeless Newspaper Project and Beagle Aid Newsletter.
The Center on Corporations, Law and Society - The Center on Corporations, Law & Society at Seattle University School of Law conducts and promotes interdisciplinary scholarship and dialogue on issues related to the roles and obligations of corporations in an increasingly privatized and interdependent global society. In addition to serving as a platform for enhanced scholarly inquiry, the Center provides a forum for sustained discussion among academics, legal practitioners, business leaders, activists, policy makers and community members on the complex and important relationships between business enterprises and their many stakeholders.
The Center for Global Justice - This Center for Global Justice was created in January of 2006 to further the mission of the law school by combining a justice-based approach to globalization with a commitment to academic excellence. The Center supports a clinical course in the area of global justice related to international human rights and a global justice summer internship program for students. A student fellows program was developed to provide an opportunity for students to deepen their involvement in global legal issues and provide support to the Center, through maintaining curricular materials, developing and organizing conferences and speakers and undertaking research projects. In addition, the Center has developed curricular materials that allow faculty to incorporate issues of global justice into their classes as well as provided research support for faculty members researching global justice issues. The Center will host an annual conference and speaker series addressing a current topic of global justice, open to students, faculty and practitioners. The Center will also act as the bridge for students and faculty interested in advocacy and research projects to access local, national and international organizations.
Public Interest Office – Serves as the central resource for most public interest programs, including the Summer Public Interest Fellowship Program, the Heyman Fellowship Program, and the LRAP program, as well as sponsoring public interest events. Web site under construction.
Guantanamo Bay Detention Project – Professors Mark Denbeaux and Baher Azmy engaged numerous students in legal representation and advocacy on behalf of prisoners in Guantanamo Bay.
The mission of the John and Terry Levin Center for Public Service and Public Interest Law at Stanford Law School is two-fold. Internally at the law school, the Center provides a rich resource for students who are interested in exploring or already committed to advancing the public good and achieving social justice through the law. Our research agenda is focused externally – to support the development and health of the public interest legal field, with a particular interest within the US in legal services for the indigent, and internationally regarding the interaction of international human rights mechanisms with domestic reform efforts.
Stanford Law School offers an array of classes and clinics that provide students with a solid foundation of theoretical knowledge and practical skills to support the pursuit of careers in public interest. It also supports students pursuing careers in the public interest and public sector through its pro bono program, externships, mentorships, career services, speaker series, and opportunities for financial assistance.
The Center houses public service and career services programs, and coordinates events ranging from skills training to public interest symposia to career panels. It also oversees a variety of public interest funding programs that tangibly support public interest and public sector students and alumni. The Center's research is conducted by its experienced legal staff, working in concert with students and faculty.
Juvenile Justice Center – The JJC's mission is to provide vigorous, high-quality representation for children in the juvenile court system, using a multi-disciplinary approach that includes supportive social services and education advocacy. This approach to delinquency defense increases positive outcomes for court-involved youth. The Center also monitors and actively advocates on state policies that affect how youth are sent to court and the consequences of their court involvement.
Buffalo Human Rights Center - The Center fosters the study and practice of international human rights law. The Center organizes student internships with leading human rights organizations in this country and abroad and organizes conferences and symposia on human rights law.
For more information contact Professor Tara Melish Director, 716/645-2257 or [email protected]. Visit: https://www.law.buffalo.edu/beyond/centers/bhrc.html.
The Buffalo Criminal Law Center - The Buffalo Criminal Law Center pursues three objectives, one legislative, one scholarly, and one pedagogic:
Visit: http://www.law.buffalo.edu/beyond/centers/bclc.html
The Baldy Center for Law and Social Policy- The Center is an internationally recognized institute that supports the interdisciplinary study of law and legal institutions. Research activities of the Baldy Center are organized within five programs: Children, Families and the Law; Community and Identity; Gender, Law and Social Policy; International and Comparative Legal Studies; and Regulation and Public Policy. The Center maintains cooperative ties to other interdisciplinary research centers at UB and co-sponsors a regional network of sociolegal scholars in New York and Canada. For more information, contact Errol Meidinger, Director, 716/645-6692 or [email protected].
Edwin F. Jaeckle Center for State and Local Government Law - The Center provides a forum for expanded inquiry into wide ranges of topics concerning intergovernmental relations and finance, activity oriented and quasi-governmental involvement in providing services, and financial support and the direct delivery of services to the populace. For more information, contact Professor James Gardner, Director, 716/645-2080 or [email protected].
Visit http://www.law.buffalo.edu/beyond/centers/jaeckle.html.
Family Law & Social Policy Center
Center on Property, Citizenship & social Entrepreneurism
Center for Indigenous Law, Governance & Citizenship
Institute for National Security and Counterterrorism
Disability Law & Policy
Burton Blatt Institute
Full listing of all centers: http://law.syr.edu/academics/centers-institutes
Temple has a Public Interest Center. The Center's Director:
Directs the Center, which acts as a resource/support center/clearinghouse for student-driven extra curricular public interest and public service activities;
Oversees activities of Temple-LEAP (Law Education and Participation) a professionally staffed law-related education program funded by private foundation and government grants. For more information, contact Program coordinator Roberta West, 215/204 - 8948 or [email protected]);
Identifies public interest career opportunities, provides career counseling to public interest minded students, identifies summer and post graduate fellowships and assists students with the public interest fellowship process;
Operates Public Interest Experience program wherein law students work in the regions public interest and government organizations; and
Directs Public Interest Scholars program.
For additional information, contact Karen Forman, Esquire, Director at 215/204-2248 or [email protected].
The Kimble Center for Legal Drafting’s mission is to produce and make available—to attorneys and consumers—legal documents that are clear and easily understandable, documents unlike anything that the public is used to seeing from attorneys.
On April 1, 2021, nearly 350 people signed up from around the world for the Kimble Center for Legal Drafting seminar called 30 Tips for Better Legal Drafting and Writing. This virtual event, was the Center's second seminar—free to lawyers, law students, and anyone else interested in improving their professional writing. Presenters included Professors Joseph Kimble (WMU-Cooley), Mark Cooney (WMU-Cooley).
The Law School is in the process of creating a Public Interest Center.
Pro Bono Program - https://law.tulane.edu/pro-bono
Tulane Institute for Environmental Law and Policy– https://law.tulane.edu/centers/environment
Public Interest Institute- www.law.ua.edu/pubinterest/
Contact: Bryan K. Fair, Associate Dean for Special Programs, [email protected], 205-348-7494 or Felecia Linton, Program Assistant, [email protected], 205-348-1592.
The University of California, Irvine School of Law is devoted to the performance of public service work by faculty, students, and graduates. We expect that our students and faculty will be regularly engaged in public service work throughout their careers. One Center that fosters public service work is the Center for Land, Environment, and Natural Resources (CLEANR).
Critical Race Studies Program
Emmett Institute on Climate Change and the Environment
The Williams Institute
The Promise Institute for Human Rights
Resnick Center for Food Law and Policy
Prison Law and Policy Program
Native Nations Law and Policy Center
Criminal Justice Program
Center for Immigration Law and Policy
Center for Reproductive Health Law and Policy
Program on Philanthropy and Nonprofits
The Honorable Thelton E. Henderson Center for Social Justice produces and fosters creative scholarship that examines the law through a lens of social justice, and works in partnership with communities to provide education to the general public. Through multi-method, interdisciplinary and participatory approaches, the Henderson Center engages in research that is accessible, relevant, and responsive to the needs of diverse communities in California and throughout the nation. By providing bridges between academia and the real world and between theory and practice, it teaches students to work collaboratively across disciplines and perspectives and to locate the common ground among people.
The Center's mission is threefold:
The Henderson Center offers a range of programs, including:
For more details please visit the Henderson Center website at http://www.law.berkeley.edu/HendersonCenter.htm or contact Mary Louise Frampton, Faculty Director of the Henderson Center, at 510/642-4474 or [email protected]
Berkeley has a number of additional Centers that address important issues in the public interest:
For more information about these Centers, please visit http://www.law.berkeley.edu/centers.htm
Center for Gender & Refugee Studies: http://cgrs.uchastings.edu
Center for Innovation: https://www.uchastings.edu/academics/centers/center-for-innovation/
Center for Negotiation and Dispute Resolution: http://cndr.uchastings.edu/index.php
Center for Racial and Economic Justice: https://www.uchastings.edu/academics/centers/center-racial-economic-justice
Center for WorkLife Law: http://worklifelaw.org/
Institute for Criminal Justice: https://www.uchastings.edu/academics/centers/institute-for-criminal-justice/
Public Law Research Institute
UCSF/UC Hastings Consortium on Law, Science & Health Policy: https://www.uchastings.edu/academics/centers/consortium
The Lois and Richard Rosenthal Institute for Justice/Ohio Innocence Project
The Urban Morgan Institute for Human Rights
Learn more here.
Center For Energy & Environmental Security (CEES) is an interdisciplinary research and policy center that facilitates progress toward a global sustainable energy future through the innovative use of laws, policies, and technology solutions. The program enables teaching and research into the impact of laws and policies on the scientific, engineering, sociopolitical, and commercial dimensions of sustainable energy. See https://scholar.law.colorado.edu/cees/
Natural Resources Law Center works to improve the governance and management of western natural resources by informing and influencing legal and policy decisions. See http://www.colorado.edu/law/centers/nrlc/
The Office of Career Services is home to the Law School's Public Interest Resource Center. In this regard, the Office maintains extensive public interest/public sector job resources and position postings and organizes various job fairs and programs throughout the academic year dedicated exclusively to public interest and government opportunities. The Office also administers a Pro Bono Program in response to student interest and commitment to public service in the community.
The Law School is home to two major not-for-profit centers, which are intimately connected to student work and the curriculum. They are the Center for Children's Advocacy directed by Martha Stone ([email protected]) and the Connecticut Urban Legal Initiative directed by William Breetz ( [email protected]).
The Office of Social Justice, which is funded by a two-year grant and run by Gabrielle Williamson, oversees the school activities. The Office of Social Justice and the School of Law's Clinic collaborate on projects.
The Public Interest Office administers the Public Service Requirement and provides career, pro bono, and volunteer counseling and opportunities for students. It also maintains the virtual public service portal and works closely with two public sector career advisors within our Office of Career Development and Opportunities to support students and provide relevant programming. The office, along with the CDO, office does extensive outreach with externship supervisors and potential employers in the region and beyond.
Rocky Mountain Land Use Institute is a forum for research, discussion, and debate of critical land use and environmental issues in the Rocky Mountain West. www.law.du.edu/rmlui
The Rocky Mountain Collective on Race, Place and the Law (RPL) is a group of Colorado legal academics working together to identify and address racial inequities in the U.S. and around the globe. They offer a critical lens on the complex dynamics of power, locality, and law, and their impact on subordinated communities and provide support and programming to students interested in this field. http://www.law.du.edu/index.php/rocky-mountain-collective-on-race-place
The Ved Nanda Center for International and Comparative Law (Nanda Center) engages in academic endeavors that: inspire excellence in international law teaching, scholarship and practice among faculty, students, alumni and friends of the University of Denver Sturm College of Law; encourage stimulation, promotion and dissemination of quality writing and research materials in the field of international legal and comparative law studies; promote the importance of international law in public and private international affairs; and provide a vehicle for communication and interaction among the greater Sturm College of Law community, especially among students and alumni.
Center for Governmental Responsibility – https://www.law.ufl.edu/areas-of-study/centers/cg
Center for the Study of Race and Race Relations – http://www.law.ufl.edu/centers/csrrr/
Center on Children and Famlies – https://www.law.ufl.edu/areas-of-study/centers/center-on-children-families
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The Texas Innocence Network - http://law.uh.edu/TIN/
Center for Children, Law & Policy - http://law.uh.edu/center4clp/
Center for Consumer Law
The integrated approach of the University of Illinois College of Law’s public interest and pro bono programs are not restricted to a singular formal public interest/pro bono center. Instead, each of the College of Law departments and programs have ownership and primarily lead over the public interest aspects in their domain as well as collaborative roles with the programs in other areas.
Elder Law Certificate Program - This Certificate Program includes courses in Poverty Law, Administrative Law, and Elder Law, including a live client clinic requirement.
The Tribal Law Certificate Program includes courses in tribal law and process and an internship with a tribal legal department or a private or public interest law firm specializing in Indian Law.
Media, Law and Policy Certificate Program - This Certificate Program includes courses in First Amendment Freedoms, Administrative Law and Public Policy Clinics (Media, Public Policy, Legislative).
JD/MSW Joint Degree Program - This Program allows students with an undergraduate degree in social work to earn a law degree and an MSW in a combined program. Similar joint degree programs are available in the areas of Philosophy, Urban Planning, Health Policy and Management, and Public Administration.
Samuel L. Greenebaum Public Service Program: https://louisville.edu/law/careers/public-service
Maine Center for Youth Policy and Law – The Maine Center for Youth Policy and Law (MCYPAL) supports Youth Justice Clinic students and faculty in their policy work. Through ongoing coordination of and collaboration with partners and stakeholders, the MCJPAL works to advance efforts to reduce harm to and increase positive outcomes for current and former system-involved Maine youth. In this coordinating role, the MCYPAL provides the platform for the practitioner work group, a core group of youth justice professionals and advocates who work to identify and examine youth justice policies, programs, and practices designed to reduce inappropriate detention and confinement and increase fairness in the youth justice system. https://mainelaw.maine.edu/academics/clinics-and-centers/maine-center-juvenile-policy-law/
Center for Oceans and Coastal Law - The Center for Oceans and Coastal Law is a teaching and interdisciplinary research center devoted to law and policy of the oceans. Center activities embrace a broad range of teaching and research, seeking to enhance the skills of lawyers and policy scientists as applied to oceans problems from the Gulf of Maine to the seas of Europe, Africa, and Asia. The Center focuses its work in several areas, including disadvantaged and landlocked states, the International Maritime Labor Convention, humanitarian law of at sea, maritime boundary disputes, marine microplastics, maritime security and counter-piracy, and the United Nations Convention on the Law of Sea. https://mainelaw.maine.edu/academics/clinics-and-centers/center-for-oceans-coastal-law/
http://www.law.umaryland.edu/programs/
Public Interest Law Fellows: Approximately 20%-25% of the members of each incoming class receive the law school's Public Interest Law Fellowship (PILF) scholarship. PILF participants are selected at the time of admission to the law school and receive a waiver of half of all tuition and academic fees. In exchange, PILF participants agree to pursue full-time careers as attorneys in public interest law for at least four years following admission to the bar.
The PILF program offers a comprehensive, integrated program which is designed to train law students for careers in public service. This program provides specialized counseling, frequent exposure to public interest lawyers and policymakers, and numerous opportunities for "hands on" experience in public interest law internships.
Justice Bridge Incubator: The law school opened the doors of Justice Bridge, Massachusetts' first legal incubator, in August 2014 in Boston and in March 2015 in New Bedford. It is fitting that the Commonwealth's only public law school has made a commitment to an access-to-justice incubator that has at its core the fundamental principles of justice, fairness, accessibility and service. UMass Law is committed to improving access to justice in Massachusetts and preparing students to practice as justice-centered lawyers who use their legal education for the greater good.
Since its launch, the fifteen (15) attorneys currently participating in the program are meeting the previously-unmet legal needs of individuals who do not qualify for free legal services but who are also unable to pay market rates for legal services. The Justice Bridge attorneys are exploring ways to serve clients within their budgets, including using limited assistance representation, flat fees, and unbundling. The Assistant Director of Career Services, who has over 20 years of small and solo firm practice and teaches our Law Practice Management course, is actively involved in the attorney selection process to support the substantial number of our graduates who regularly choose to go into solo and small firm practice.
Justice Bridge has a dozen regular mentors who rotate in residence at the Justice Bridge offices and over three dozen on-call mentors with expertise in the areas most common among the clients we are serving: family law, housing, elder law, employment law, immigration law, and consumer law. Justice Bridge provides training in the areas of practice its lawyers are most likely to encounter, in ethics, and in the business of practice. Justice Bridge has developed partnerships with over 20 community organizations in Boston and on the South Coast who have referred over 800 clients to Justice Bridge lawyers in the past year. The goal is to help deliver quality, affordable representation, while reducing the growing number of low and moderate income individuals representing themselves in family, housing and probate courts.
HOPE Public Interest Resource Center: The HOPE Public Interest Resource Center serves as a hub for public interest and pro bono opportunities. HOPE is as a resource and programming center, providing guidance to students/alumni/community agencies dedicated to promoting access to justice. HOPE is a dynamic center with ongoing engagement and advocacy opportunities.
The University of Michigan Law School has long been a leader in public interest law and is dedicated to assisting current students and graduates who are interested in pursuing public interest opportunities.
The Law School's nine research institutes and its program in Law and History provide important scholastic and community opportunities to explore legal application and responsibilities within a range of real-world issues and challenges:
Center of Intellectual Property & Entrepreneurship
The Center for Intellectual Property & Entrepreneurship promotes faculty symposia and scholarship in all areas involving law and innovation and develops curricular and extracurricular programming to prepare law students to participate in entrepreneurial and innovation communities.
The center also supports the law school’s Office of Career Development in identifying externships, summer positions and full-time jobs within the center’s focus area and collaborates with campus and community members to generate resources that will increase and promote innovation and entrepreneurship. The center’s focus resides not just on intellectual property, business and finance, but on the intersection of science, technology, engineering and math (STEM) issues.
Center for the Study of Dispute Resolution
The mission of the Center for the Study of Dispute Resolution is to advance the understanding of the nature and causes of, as well as the methods available for managing and resolving conflict.
The CSDR fosters comprehensive approaches to lawyering and decision-making through the use of the full array of dispute resolution processes including negotiation, mediation, arbitration and litigation.
Michael A. Middleton Center for Race, Citizenship & Justice
The mission of the Michael A. Middleton Center promotes excellence in the multi-disciplinary study of race, citizenship, and justice in the United States. The Middleton Center supports and promotes scholarship and engagement on these issues within and beyond the University of Missouri. It is led by a partnership between the College of Arts and Science and the School of Law.
Campus Mediation Service
The Campus Mediation Service is a program mandated by the University of Missouri system and designed to assist employees to find resolution to their workplace conflicts. Every campus of the UM system has a Campus Mediation Services Program Director. Paul Ladehoff is the Director of the Campus Medication Service within the Center for the Study of Dispute Resolution.
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UNH Social Justice Institute:
The UNH Social Justice Institute (SJI) is committed to training, mentoring, and supporting students interested in pursuing a career in public interest law. Governed by four core values—access, advocacy, affordability, and aptitude—the Social Justice Institute inspires and equips students to use their law degree to advance for and assist underserved and vulnerable populations and empower communities. Under the direction of the Social Justice Institute, UNH Law School students serve these constituencies through pro bono work, community service, and a career dedicated to the public interest.
International Technology Transfer Institute
Helping to establish and strengthen technology transfer offices (TTOs) in developing countries, the UNH Law School International Technology Transfer Institute (ITTI) works to advance social justice by improving access to basic health and nutrition among developing countries. Specifically, the International Technology Transfer Institute promotes access to essential innovations in pharmaceuticals, vaccines and agriculture through forged links with numerous international organizations, including—the World Bank Group in Washington D.C., the Universidad Militar Nueva Granada (UMNG) in Bogota, Columbia, and the International Potato Center (CIP) in Lima, Peru.
Daily, the International Technology Transfer Institute manages projects that contribute to establishing TTOs, either through direct capacity building or by policy, development and/or intellectual property analysis. These projects result in scholarly, peer-reviewed publications along with publications in the University of New Hampshire ITTI blog—a student-professor blog providing analysis, views, and international policy developments in the Technology Transfer field.
The Institute of Public Law - An affiliated non-profit that engages in research, analysis, teaching, training, writing, and publishing to support the development of informed public policy and law. Founded in 1969 as the public service arm of the law school, the IPL provides assistance to federal, state, and local government and undertakes special projects through foundation grants.
UNC Center for Civil Rights - The UNC Center for Civil Rights focuses on education, economic justice, employment, health care, housing and community development and voting rights. The Center hires students for summer internships and offers pro bono projects throughout the year for students.
N.C. Poverty Research Fund - The purpose of the Fund is to explore, document, research, and publish about the immense challenges of economic hardship in North Carolina
Center for Climate, Energy, Environment, and Economics: The UNC School of Law Center for Climate, Energy, Environment and Economics (CE3) exists to provide advanced student education and policy and legal examination of issues surrounding the law of climate, energy, environment, and economic development, with particular attention to the intersection of these issues.
North Carolina Coastal Resources Law, Planning and Policy Center: The North Carolina Coastal Resources Law, Planning and Policy Center is a partnership of North Carolina Sea Grant, UNC School of Law and UNC Department of City and Regional Planning. It serves the citizens of North Carolina by bringing together the resources provided by its partners to address contemporary coastal issues.
UNC Center for Media Law and Policy: The UNC Center for Media Law and Policy is an interdisciplinary research center run jointly out of the UNC School of Law and UNC School of Media and Journalism. The center serves as a forum for study and debate about the broad array of media law and policy issues facing North Carolina, the nation, and the world. The center’s work ranges from the legal and policy issues affecting traditional media organizations to the challenges posed by new communication technologies, including social media, the Internet, and mobile technology, and the impact they are having on governments, on the economy, and on cultural and social values throughout the world.
Public Law & Policy Program – This program serves as an umbrella for a range of Oregon Law’s public interest and public policy programs. Led by a managing director, this program brings together multiple public interest fellowship programs, the pro bono program, the loan repayment assistance program, and a range of signature events related to public interest, public service, and public sector practice.
Oregon Law Commission - Funded by the Oregon Legislature, this independent Commission is housed in the Oregon School of Law building. The Commission is dedicated to the continuous improvement of Oregon statutes. The Commission brings together experts in the field to study critical issues and suggest revisions to Oregon laws.
Appropriate Dispute Resolution Center – With an emphasis on social justice and positive change, Oregon Law’s ADR Center provides student opportunities to learn how to navigate the field of appropriate dispute resolution and manage complex interactions outside the traditional litigation setting through negotiation, mediation, arbitration, and other alternative approaches. Partnered with the ADR Center, the Conflict and Dispute Resolution (CRES) Program offers law students an opportunity to earn a master’s degree and a J.D. in 4 years. The ADR Center also hosts the Oregon Office for Community Dispute Resolution, a state office supporting 16 community dispute resolution centers in 25 Oregon counties.
The Environmental and Natural Resources Center- For more than fifty years, the University of Oregon School of Law has been a national leader in public interest environmental law. In keeping with this legacy, the nationally ranked Environmental and Natural Resources Law Center (ENR Center) launches research projects to assist our communities and prepares students for leadership in the rapidly changing area of environmental policy. Key programming includes the Environmental Law Clinic, externships, the Journal of Environmental Law and Litigation and Western Environmental Law Update. The annual Public Interest Environmental Law Conference brings together activists, attorneys, students, scientists and concerned citizens from across the globe to share their experience and expertise.
Oregon Child Advocacy Project: Participants in this project work pursuing justice for children. Faculty and students associated with OCAP work on legislative proposals and provide research assistance and consultation to attorneys in cases that advance the project’s goals. In addition, this project organizes a range of dynamic programs and lectures on cutting edge of legal and policy issues that impact children’s rights and their health and wellness.
The Wayne Morse Center for Law and Politics – This independent center housed at Oregon Law organizes programming that brings together students, scholars, activists, policymakers, and communities together to discuss issues affecting Oregon, our nation, and the world. The Center's Advisory Board selects themes of inquiry every two years, and sponsors a range of scholarly
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Law and Development
The Merhige Center for Environmental Studies
The Merhige Center for Environmental Studies at the University of Richmond School of Law engages in research, instruction, and public outreach on energy and environmental issues in the Mid-Atlantic region and beyond. The center hosts conferences, symposia, and speakers on pressing environmental issues, generating dialogue for policy solutions. Drawing on the resources of the law school and the University, the center prepares students to tackle the complex challenges of careers in environmental law. The center honors the work of the late U.S. District Court Judge Robert R. Merhige Jr., whose creativity in settling the Kepone litigation of the 1970's made the center's activities possible.
Institute for Actual Innocence
The Institute for Actual Innocence works to identify and exonerate wrongfully convicted individuals in the Commonwealth of Virginia. Students, faculty, and practicing lawyers collaborate to assist Virginia prisoners in post-conviction relief.
The institute is part of a national community of innocence project committed to improving the administration of justice in the United States. The institute pursues exonerations through post-conviction statutes called "writs of actual innocence."
The mission of the institute is to provide law students with a rich academic and clinical educational experience through which they have a rigorous introduction and immersion into the world of case reinvestigation. The program integrates legal theory with practical legal principles that surround criminal case investigation. Students partner with legal, scientific, and policy leaders in their work.
A core goal of the institute is to expose students to the importance of public service in the life of a lawyer. The institute is devoted to the belief that institutions have a duty to act in a public-spirited way and to connect with individuals at all levels of society–especially individuals at the margins of society.
The Public Service Board (PSB), described above, works independently and with student groups to infuse the law school culture with a commitment to public service by developing non-legal public service opportunities for students, including a Public Service day each semester in which faculty staff, and students are encouraged to participate.
In addition, students have the opportunity to volunteer with the Minnesota Justice Foundation (MJF). An independent nonprofit organization, MJF creates pro bono opportunities for law students. Launched during the 1999-2000 school year, the MJF program enables law students to volunteer with legal services providers, government entities and law firms to help homeless and low-income clients and public interest agencies.
Center for Public Interest Law
Children's Advocacy Institute
Energy Policy Initiatives Center
Center for Law and Global Justice
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USC Gould has offered public interest programs for decades - its first clinical program was established in 1929 and the USC Public Interest Law Foundation (PILF) was one of the earliest such organizations in the country founded in 1987.
The Law School does not have a separate formal center for public law interest. However, the School has initiated a formal Law School committee on pro bono and public interest law, and has created a formal network of faculty advisers dedicated to pro bono and public interest law. They work with individual students and are also charged with designing better systemic support for public interest students through career services and across the institution.
Texas Law has a number of academic centers that bring together faculty, students and outside experts to study public interest issues.
Bech-Laughlin First Amendment Center - https://law.utexas.edu/first-amendment-center/
Bernard and Audre Rapoport Center for Human Rights and Justice - https://law.utexas.edu/humanrights/
Capital Punishment Center - https://law.utexas.edu/capitalpunishment/
William Wayne Justice Center for Public Interest Law - https://law.utexas.edu/publicinterest/
The Capital Center for Government Law and Policy
The Capital Center thrives because of dedicated faculty, a commitment to the public good, and a special relationship with the Capital of California. The close connection with California's government allows students to enhance classroom study with hands-on experience in the nation's largest state. The Capital Center also produces the annual California Initiative Review and McGeorge Law Review "Greensheets" volume. These publications give invaluable examinations of the legislation that affects all Californians and allows students insight into legal development. The reform efforts undertaken by the Capital Center include the multidisciplinary Ethics Across the Profession Initiative, the proactive Institute on Laws of Health and Aging, the Institute for Administrative Justice, and the peer-edited Journal of National Security Law and Policy. The Capital Center also works collaboratively with other departments and programs to foster comprehensive skills that allow Pacific McGeorge students to make a positive difference both locally and globally. Additionally, the Center contributes to Pacific McGeorge's USAID-funded, "Rule of Law in China" program, which aims to train Chinese law professors in advocacy skills, the importance of an independent judiciary, legal education reform, and legislation that is beneficial to both the Chinese people and the Chinese economy.
The Legal Institute of the Great Lakes - The Legal Institute of the Great Lakes (LIGL) is a multi-disciplinary research center within The University of Toledo College of Law. Founded in 1993, the LIGL supports research, maintains publications, and sponsors conferences on legal, economic, and social issues of importance to the Great Lakes region of the United States and Canada.
Important topics of LIGL research and conferences have included harmful algae blooms, water quality, environmental audits, storage of spent nuclear fuel, market-based incentives to control air pollution, sustainable development, a comparative study of corporate laws of the Great Lakes states, regional trade agreements, competition in the electric utility industry, environmental justice, fisheries management, brownfield development, the public trust doctrine, international sales and distribution of products, protecting technology, contaminated sediments, alternative energy sources, beach access, climate change, wetlands, invasive species, and international and interstate agreements regarding management of Great Lakes water resources.
The LIGL sponsors annual Great Lakes Water Conferences each fall on water issues of importance to the Great Lakes region and the nation.
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Program in Law and Public Service - The Program in Law and Public Service is designed to offer a select group of students the opportunity to receive intensive and appropriate training that will prepare them for a career in public service. Each year, up to 20 first-year students will be admitted to the program. Another five slots will be held open for second-year students.
Program participants will be required to take the course "Law and Public Service" in the spring of their first year of law school. (Students admitted to the program in their second year of law school may take the "Law and Public Service" course in the spring of their second years.) They will also be required to take the course on advocacy skills for public interest lawyers in the spring of their second year of law school. Last, they will be required in their third year to participate in a year-long colloquium in which students will present their independent research. Students in the program will be paired with a faculty mentor with expertise in the substantive area of interest to the participant. The faculty mentors will help students map out their courses, serve as sounding boards for summer and permanent employment, and will oversee an independent study.
The Innocence Project Northwest – The Project is a non-profit group of attorneys, professors and students working to free innocent prisoners. For information, visit https://www.law.uw.edu/academics/experiential-learning/clinics/ipnw.
Native American Law Center – The Native American Law Center promotes the development of Indian law, and encourages Native Americans, and others with an interest in Indian law, to attend law school. The Center is a resource to Indian tribes, other governments and individuals in the Pacific Northwest, Alaska and across the country. www.law.washington.edu/IndianLaw
Law Commerce, Technology & the Arts – LTA is an integrated academic unit that delivers education, research, and outreach on the law's role in promoting and regulating innovation in technology and arts. Through its Entrepreneurial Law Clinic it provides free legal counseling to low income entrepreneurs and nonprofits, with a special focus on social entrepreneurship.
Global Health & Justice Project – The Global Health and Justice (GHJ) Project at the School of Law is a multidisciplinary project encompassing academic and educational activities at the Law School, as well as field activities in developing countries in collaboration with the Seattle-based NGO, Uplift International. For more information see, http://www.law.washington.edu/HealthLaw/GHJ.
Center for Patient Partnerships, Martha (Meg) Gaines, Director
Frank J. Remington Center, Meredith Ross, Director
Economic Justice Institute, Marsha Mansfield, Director
Recognizing the critical impact of energy policy on environmental values, Vermont Law School launched America's first law school institute focused on the energy-environment connection in 2005.
Land Use Institute - Vermont Law School established the Land Use Institute to address issues of growth and land stewardship, which are central to planning debates in Vermont and across the nation. Established in 2005, the Institute will examine pressing topics facing communities and municipal administrators, including sprawl, "smart growth," and big box stores, through scholarship and courses, public presentations, and the provision of land use expertise to appropriate agencies.
Environmental Law Center - Vermont Law School's Environmental Law Center offers one of the top environmental law and policy programs in the country. The mission of the Environmental Law Center is to educate for stewardship and an understanding of underlying environmental issues and values. An environmental professional must understand that sound environmental policy is formed at the intersection of politics, law, science, economics, and ethics.
In the Environmental Law program students explore the ethical basis for environmental policy, develop a knowledge of ecological concepts, and consider both international issues, and standards and processes embodied in U.S. environmental law. Students learn political, cultural, institutional, and scientific mechanisms which shape environmental policy, as well as recognize the role and effects of hazard, risk, and uncertainty in policy development.
Vermont Law School's Environmental Law Center produces graduates who serve as policy analysts, environmental managers, lawyers, and community leaders throughout the world.
https://www.vermontlaw.edu/academics/centers-and-programs
The Villanova Law Institute to Address Commercial Sexual Exploitation
The Institute seeks to educate and provide technical assistance to those who respond to commercial sexual exploitation in Pennsylvania and to promote victim-centered, multidisciplinary collaboration.
The Anti-Poverty Law Initiative
The Initiative provides onsite legal and housing aid to Delaware County’s Unhoused Population. Trained lawyers, case managers, doctors, and housing specialists will teach paraprofessionals and law students in these areas. The Initiative will document the ways in which homeless people are denied their rights and the barriers to housing access, and craft anti-poverty policy initiatives.
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The faculty has approved the development of centers for family law, state and local government and advocacy.
The Transnational Law Institute engages in human rights work globally. The Frances Lewis Law Center promotes faculty scholarship that describes or promotes legal change. The Shepherd Program for the Interdisciplinary Study of Poverty and Human Capability works locally and globally.
The Public Service Project - Coordinates much of the public service programming at Washington University School of Law.
The Damon J. Keith Center for Civil Rights addresses the civil rights needs of southeast Michigan and beyond. The Keith Center's mission is to promote the educational, economic and political power of underrepresented communities in urban settings. The Keith Center strives to be a hub for civil rights teaching, research and action, and a place that fuels the next generation of civil rights leaders.
At the Keith Center, stakeholders gather to analyze policy, law students teach a civil rights curriculum to high school students, and leaders dive into the equity issues of the day, such as tax foreclosures, water shutoffs and police-community relations. We welcome the public for lectures by civil rights icons, we support community-based organizations, and we publish scholarship about how the law and social justice impact one another.
The Levin Center at Wayne Law's mission is to strengthen the integrity, transparency, and accountability of public and private institutions by promoting and supporting bipartisan, fact-based oversight; advancing good governance, particularly with respect to the legislative process; and promoting civil discourse on current issues of public policy.
Appalachian Center for Law and Public Service – The West Virginia Bar has a proud tradition of pro bono service. Although law students do not formally undertake obligations to provide pro bono service until admission to the bar, the College of Law established the Appalachian Center for Law in the Public Interest, and charged the Center with the task of developing and administering a public service program for the college. The projects promoted by the Center provide a range of public service opportunities from tax to family law. Oftentimes volunteer studens work directly under the supervision of the Center's director in providing free legal services to indigent clients.
The Appalachian Center for Law and Public Service – The Center is the law school's vehicle for promoting public service at the College of Law. Its goals include the provision of legal services to indigent West Virginians, the development and enhancement of law students' lawyering skills, and the fostering of the ethic of pro bono service to West Virginia communities and their residents. Law students are encouraged to donate up to 25 hours of their time each semester to provide legal services.
Center for Gender and Sexuality Studies. The Center serves as a focal point for work in a broad number of areas relating to gender and sexuality, ranging from civil rights issues affecting women and sexual minorities to feminist and queer theory. The Center works to engage with the legal community, with the University, and with members of the School of Law on core issues of gender and sexuality across a broad spectrum of law, including criminal law, immigration, employment, family law, health law, discrimination, prisoners’ rights, legislation, leadership and business, and international and comparative law. For more information about the Center for Gender and Sexuality Studies, please visit https://www1.wne.edu/law/centers/gender-and-sexuality-studies.cfm
Institute for Legislative and Governmental Affairs. Through participation in the Institute, students engage in the practical application of law by assisting public officials in drafting legislation, exploring the codification and progressive development of laws, and examining recently enacted bills. Students gain further exposure through the Institute's course offerings (including Legislation and Administrative law), independent studies, internships, and externships, which provide a thorough understanding in how to interpret and draft statutes as well as in the intricacies of the legislative process. Additional events offered at the Institute, such as seminars, workshops, and legislative hearings, are open to alumni and the general public. For more information about Institute for Legislative and Governmental Affairs, please visit https://www1.wne.edu/law/centers/institute-for-legislative-and-governmental-affairs.cfm
The Criminal Law Practice Center coordinates criminal law related public interest projects.
The Public Interest Initiative - The Public Interest Initiative(PII) on the Harrisburg campus serves as a centralized source of public interest information for students. PII keeps all students informed of public interest volunteer opportunities, offers information regarding the financing of public interest internships and careers, advises students regarding public interest coursework, and counsels students and alumni who seek public interest legal careers. PII also administers the pro bono recognition program for students on the Harrisburg campus.
The Public Interest Resource Center - The Public Interest Resource Center (PIRC) on the Wilmington campus serves as a centralized source of public interest information for students. PIRC keeps all students informed of public interest volunteer opportunities, offers information regarding the financing of public interest internships and careers, advises students regarding public interest coursework, and counsels students and alumni who seek public interest legal careers. PIRC also administers the pro bono recognition program for students on the Delaware campus, and for faculty on both campuses.
Law and Government Institute - Widener's Law and Government Institute is dedicated to improving law that defines the structure and operation of government and the rights and duties of citizens. It provides a formal concentration of study designed to produce lawyers who are experts in representing government branches and agencies as well as citizens in litigation with government. Its location in Harrisburg, the capital city of one of the most populous states, makes it ideal for these tasks.
In addition to a highly regarded academic component, students are offered extensive opportunities to learn professional legal skills through symposia, seminars and lectures, publication and research opportunities, and service with government and professional associations. For example, the Institute sponsors numerous externships for students with various parts of state government and participants write articles for the Pennsylvania Bar Association Administrative Law Journal, a professional journal for the practicing bar. Institute faculty are active in publishing, lecturing and providing consulting services to state government and bar associations.
More information may be found at: https://commonwealthlaw.widener.edu/academics/parallax-page-3-signature-programs/law-and-government-institute
The Public Interest Resource Center - The Public Interest Resource Center (PIRC) serves as a centralized source of public interest information for students. PIRC keeps all students informed of public interest volunteer opportunities, advises students regarding public interest coursework, and counsels students and alumni who seek public interest legal careers. PIRC also administers the pro bono recognition program for students and faculty.
The Center for Dispute Resolution teaches and explores the theory and practice of negotiation, mediation, arbitration and other appropriate, alternative methods of resolving disputes. The Center for Dispute Resolution, founded at Willamette University College of Law in 1983, was the first of its kind in the western United States and is the model against which similar endeavors are now measured. http://willamette.edu/law/centers/cdr/index.html
The Willamette Center for Constitutional Government was established in 2002 to promote the impartial study and understanding of federal-state and government-citizen relations in the United States. The Center administers a curricular program (see Certificate in Law and Government), conducts symposia and conferences, sponsors programs of training and orientation for public and elected officials, and holds a yearly writing competition. The Center is housed at Willamette University College of Law, located in Salem adjacent to the state Capitol, the Oregon Supreme Court and various state agencies. http://willamette.edu/law/centers/ccg/index.html
The Willamette University Center for Religion, Law and Democracy is an interdisciplinary center devoted to the exploration of the role of religion in law and in public life. The Center draws on Willamette's historic and ongoing strengths as a church-related college committed to academic excellence and public service, as well as its location adjacent to the Oregon State Capitol. The Center involves students and faculty from the College of Liberal Arts and the College of Law who teach, write, and engage in these issues on a continuing basis. As part of its mission, the Center conducts symposia, lectures, scholarly research and curriculum development, funds internships, and serves as a forum for the discussion of these intersecting issues. http://www.willamette.edu/centers/crld/
Information about public interest centers is here.
The Arthur Liman Center for Public Interest Law provides fellowships for graduates to work full-time in the public interest for one year, as well as modest grants to legal service organizations under the auspices of the Liman Fund. It also sponsors a weekly workshop during the fall semester. Finally, student associates of the Liman Center work with current and former Liman Fellows on various research projects arising from the fellows' work. The Liman Center also holds an annual public interest law colloquium during the spring semester. More information can be found here.
The Orville H. Schell J. Center for International Human Rights coordinates a diverse program of human rights activities—from lectures and conferences to the Human Rights Workshop, a weekly gathering of students, scholars, and practitioners in the field of human rights. In addition, the center administers several human rights fellowships for students and recent graduates. The Schell Center is directed by Jim Silk, who can be reached at E-mail. More information can be found here.
The Paul Tsai China Center is the primary home for activities related to China at the Law School. In recent years, the Paul Tsai China Center has expanded its work to issues of U.S.-China relations more generally. The Center seeks to increase understanding of China's legal system outside of China and to support the legal reform process within China. To these ends it carries out research and teaching, promotes academic exchanges with China, and undertakes cooperative projects with legal experts in China on important legal reform issues. The Center's current activities focus on the areas of judicial reform, criminal justice reform, administrative and regulatory reform, constitutional law and public interest law. Project activities include research visits to Yale and to China, workshops and seminars in the United States and China, and publications. Yale Law School students are encouraged to participate in the work of the Center. For information, contact 203-436-0517 or email E-mail. More information can also be found here.
The Gruber Program for Global Justice and Women's Rights is a Yale University Program administered by Yale Law School. It was established in 2011 by philanthropists Peter and Patricia Gruber as part of the Gruber Foundation. The Gruber Program at the Law School consists of three core components: l) the Global Constitutionalism Seminar; 2) the Gruber Distinguished Lectures in Global Justice and Women's Rights; and 3) the Gruber Global Justice and Women's Rights Fellowships. Mindy Jane Roseman is the Director of the Gruber program and can be reached at E-mail. More information can be found here.
The Yale Center for Environmental Law and Policy, a joint undertaking between the Yale School of Forestry & Environmental Studies and the Yale Law School, seeks to incorporate fresh thinking, ethical awareness, and analytically rigorous decision-making tools into environmental law and policy. In addition to its research activities, the Center aims to serve as a locus for connection and collaboration by all members of the Yale University community who are interested in environmental law and policy issues. The Center supports a wide-ranging program of teaching, research, and outreach on local, regional, national, and global pollution control and natural resource management issues. These efforts involve faculty, staff, and student collaboration and are aimed at shaping academic thinking and policymaking in the public, private, and NGO sectors. The Center coordinates an Environmental Protection Clinic that undertakes long-term projects for clients (environmental groups, government agencies, community organizations, and private sector enterprises) and is staffed by interdisciplinary teams of law and environmental studies students. Projects include legislative drafting, litigation, multiparty negotiation, and policy development, and focus on topics including environmental justice, sustainable agriculture, and global warming. More information can be found here
Center for Public Service Law - The Cardozo Center for Public Service Law initiates and coordinates Cardozo activities in the area of public service and public interest law, including panels and symposia, clinics, career opportunities, internships, clerkships, public interest stipends, post-graduate fellowships, and the loan repayment assistance program, along with new and creative initiatives. The Director and the Assistant Director of the Public Service Law Center work closely with the Burns Ethics Center, the Public Service Scholars Program, the Cardozo Public Law, Policy and Ethics Journal, public interest student groups including Public Interest Law Student Association (PILSA) and the National Lawyers Guild (NLG), and members of the faculty. The Center develops programs and outreach to government agencies, federal and state judges and courts, and not-for-profit agencies.
The Program in Holocaust and Human Rights Studies - Established in 2003, the Program in Holocaust and Human Rights Studies is one of the first of its kind at any law school in the United States. Initially funded by a Holocaust claims settlement award, the Program is dedicated to the memory of all victims of the Holocaust, and strives to illuminate the past while acting on behalf of the victims of genocide and other human rights violations wherever they are found. The Program mission is to engage in legal education, scholarly research and publication, and advocacy on issues related to the Holocaust, genocide prevention, and international human rights.
Floersheimer Center for Constitutional Democracy was established in 2000 through a generous gift from Dr. Stephen Floersheimer. Its goal is to better understand, and to assist in improving, the functioning of constitutional democracies, both at home and abroad. The Center supports research by scholars and policymakers, hosts speakers and conferences, issues publications, and provides financial support for visiting scholars as well as student projects. Topics of particular concern include civil liberties in an age of terrorism, the structures of democratic government, and the relationship between church and state.
The Jacobs Burns Center for Ethics in the Practice of Law sponsors courses, programs, and events that provoke dialogue and critical thought on ethical and moral issues of professional responsibility. The Center helps prepare students to face, with integrity, the difficult and important questions that arise in all areas of legal practice.
The Howard M. Squadron Program in Law, Media and Society offers many opportunities for students interested in communications law and policy. With a strong focus on transnational studies and the application of new technologies, the program offers study-abroad opportunities at Oxford, seminars in media law taught by visiting professors from Hungary, and a focus on research involving the impact of the Internet. The Program sponsors symposia and panels of interest to students of media law, art and entertainment law.
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