Directory
Stanford Law School
Stanford Law School
Law School Pro Bono Programs
Contact Information
Michael Winn
Director of the Pro Bono and Externship Programs
John and Terry Levin Center for Public Service and Public Interest Law
[email protected]
650-725-7909
Category Type
Formal Voluntary Pro Bono Program Characterized by Administrative Support for Student Group Projects
Description of Programs
Stanford Law School (SLS) is committed to excellence in legal education and views pro bono legal service as integral to that goal. SLS also seeks to advance the ethical standards of the legal profession in the United States, which state that lawyers should aspire to provide significant pro bono publico legal services. Through its voluntary Pro Bono Program, students are encouraged to contribute 50 hours or more of pro bono service during their time at SLS.
Like other programs under the auspices of the Levin Center, the Pro Bono Program is designed to inspire, teach, cultivate the interests and passions of, and provide experiential learning opportunities for law school students.
By doing pro bono work and, hopefully, clinical work in the 2L and 3L years, students learn important skills, such as legal research and writing, client interviewing and the crafting of legal arguments, among others, early in their legal careers. These skills greatly benefit students as they begin their careers in the public interest sector, government or law firms. Doing pro bono work also helps students to contextualize what they are learning in their classes and gives them "real world" experience. Students discover, first-hand, how the ability to navigate the complexities of the law can make a tremendous difference in the lives of the people that they help – whether it is preventing a person's eviction from her home or filing a temporary restraining order against an abusive partner.
Currently, there are 21 pro bono projects covering a wide range of legal areas:
- Alternative Break options that include work at the New Orleans Office of the Public Defender, work with Legal Aid of San Diego, a trip to Miami to assist stranded Haitians with obtaining Temporary Protected Status
- Project ReMADE
- Streetlaw
- Volunteer Attorney Panel Pro Bono
- Guardianship Pro Bono Program
- Housing Pro Bono Program
- Immigration Pro Bono Program
- Language Bank
- International Human Rights
- Low Income Tax Preparation Aid
- International Human Rights
- Deferred Action for Childhood Arrivals
- Naturalization Pro Bono
- Parallel Justice Project
- Justice Bus trips to rural California
- Stanford Law School Social Security Disability Project
- Student Animal Legal Defense Fund
- Pacific Legal Foundation
Additionally, the Pro Bono Program is piloting two new immigrants' rights programs with Bay Area agencies and a First Amendment project with the ACLU.
More information about the Pro Bono Program.
Location of Programs
Stand alone program
Staffing/Management/Oversight
The Director of the Pro Bono and Externship Programs administers the Pro Bono Program with support from the Associate Dean of Public Service and Public Interest Law and the Executive Director of the Levin Center. There is also an in-house pro bono project, the Stanford Law School Social Security Disability Pro Bono Project. The Pro Bono Program is strongly supported by the Public Interest Committee, which is composed of faculty and two student representatives.
Funding
budget. SLS provides office space, computers, and student organization funding to the student groups and in-house projects that do pro bono work. SLS also provides some financial support for pro bono projects. To cite one example, the Levin Center, the Center on Ethics and the Stanford Public Interest Law Foundation helped to defray the expenses of students who traveled to the Gulf Coast over spring break to perform legal services. Faculty members who are engaged in pro bono work that overlaps with their faculty activities may use the resources of SLS to support their efforts.
Faculty and Administrative Pro Bono
Faculty members take on a broad range of pro bono activities ranging from serving on boards of legal nonprofit organizations to drafting amicus briefs for U.S. Supreme Court cases, among others.
Awards/Recognition
Students who undertake 50 hours or more of pro bono service during their three years at the law school will be recognized for their contributions at a reception in their honor, the annual Public Interest Awards ceremony and graduation.
- Stanford Law School National Public Service Award
- Stanford Law School Miles L. Rubin Public Interest Award
Alternative Winter or Spring Break Projects
Law School Public Interest Programs
Contact Information
Diane Chin
Associate Dean for Public Service and Public Interest Law, John and Terry Levin Center for Public Service and Public Interest Law
[email protected]
650-725-4192
Anna Wang
Executive Director
John and Terry Levin Center for Public Service and Public Interest Law
[email protected]
650-723-2519
Michael Winn
Director of the Pro Bono and Externship Programs
John and Terry Levin Center for Public Service and Public Interest Law
[email protected]
650-725-7909
Mina "Titi" Liu
Director of International Public Interest Initiatives
John and Terry Levin Center for Public Service and Public Interest Law
[email protected]
650-736-8088
Shafaq Khan
Public Interest Counselor
John and Terry Levin Center for Public Service and Public Interest Law
[email protected]
650-498-9032
Chelsea Jones
Program Manager
John and Terry Levin Center for Public Service and Public Interest Law
[email protected]
650-723-8974
Certificate/Curriculum Programs
While Stanford Law School does not offer a public interest certificate or a formal public interest curriculum track, students are actively encouraged and provided individualized advice and counsel about how to devise a law school plan that serves their public interest career goals.
Public Interest Centers
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.
PI Career Support Center
Stanford Law School offers dedicated public interest career services through the Levin Center, which has five full-time staff members. All five staff provide individualized career counseling for summer and permanent employment and assistance with fellowship applications. The Levin Center also runs a mock interview program with local public interest attorney volunteers, faculty and alumni mentoring programs, and a wide range of panels and workshops featuring public interest attorneys.
With other local law schools, we also co-sponsor the annual Northern California Public Interest/Public Sector Career Fair, which draws over 100 employers each year. Stanford Law School students are also eligible to receive travel stipends to attend the annual Equal Justice Works conference in DC.
Loan Repayment Assistance Programs (LRAP)
The Miles and Nancy Rubin Loan Forgiveness Program - the Law School's loan repayment assistance program (LRAP) - provides financial aid to graduates who pursue public interest or government service careers. In 1987, Stanford Law School was the first law school in the country to launch such a program.
Stanford's commitment to guaranteeing career choices for its graduates is demonstrated by LRAP's success. The program reflects one of the school's key values: that public service is a worthy pursuit and that lawyers have a professional obligation to participate in public service throughout the course of their careers.
The program:
- Ensures that salary will not drive alumni career decisions.
- Helps alumni with excellent skills, motivation, and credentials find public interest jobs in both the United States and abroad.
- Lends funds to eligible applicants to help them meet their monthly educational loan payments. Loans are awarded on an annual basis. If the graduate remains in qualifying public interest employment for the full year, 100% of that annual loan is forgiven at the end of the calendar year.
Graduates can participate in LRAP for up to ten years after they receive their JD.
Fellowships
Deborah L. Rhode, the Ernest W. McFarland Professor of Law, has endowed the Rhode Public Interest award,, which is presented annually to a graduating student (or a team of graduating students) who has made outstanding contributions in work with underrepresented groups, in public interest causes outside the Law School, or in public service at the Law School. To be considered for the $3,000 award, the student must be nominated by faculty or other students.
Stanford Law School and the The Stanford Public Interest Law Foundation (SPILF) jointly sponsor a one-year postgraduate fellowship position for a Stanford Law School alumnus/a to work at a nonprofit that provides legal services to underrepresented communities or otherwise serves the public interest.. SPILF is a nonprofit, tax-exempt foundation established in 1978 by Stanford Law School students and alumni to provide funding for public interest law projects serving groups that have traditionally been denied adequate access to legal representation.
Stanford Law School and the The Stanford Public Interest Law Foundation (SPILF) jointly sponsor a one-year postgraduate fellowship position for a Stanford Law School alumnus/a to work at a nonprofit that provides legal services to underrepresented communities or otherwise serves the public interest. SPILF is a nonprofit, tax-exempt foundation established in 1978 by Stanford Law School students and alumni to provide funding for public interest law projects serving groups that have traditionally been denied adequate access to legal representation.
Stanford students and alumni traditionally have received several post-graduate fellowships each year from national fellowship programs including Skadden, Equal Justice Works, and Echoing Green fellowships as well as the U.S. Department of Justice, Attorney General's Honors Program appointments.
7/17/2024