Directory
Western Michigan University Thomas M. Cooley Law School
Western Michigan University Thomas M. Cooley Law School
Law School Pro Bono Programs
Contact Information
Karen Poole
Associate Director Career and Professional Development Office
Western Michigan University Thomas M. Cooley Law School
300 S. Capital Ave.
Lansing, MI 48933
(517) 371-5140
[email protected]
Category Type
Formal Voluntary Pro Bono Program with referral system and coordinator.
Description of Programs
Cooley Volunteer Corps (CVC). Opportunities to serve the community through volunteer work or through free legal service (pro bono work) are available through Cooley Volunteer Corps (CVC). CVC is a program that matches organizations with law students who seek substantive volunteer experience. Law students typically volunteer their time in 13 week increments. CVC is designed to foster law student community service and to encourage future lawyers to incorporate public service work into their careers. Any law student who has completed 9 credits, and is in good academic standing is eligible to participate.
Western Michigan University Thomas M. Cooley Law School (WMU-Cooley) currently maintains an ongoing roster of placements that include: 54-B District Court, Lansing, Michigan; Accounting Aid Society, Auburn Hills, Michigan; AIC Bank On Program, Lansing, Michigan; Allegan County Legal Assistance Center, Allegan, Michigan; AppalReD Low-Income Taxpayer Clinic (LITC), Remote, Richmond, Kentucky; Asset Independence Coalition – VITA, Lansing, Michigan; Asset Independence Coalition – Grant Writing, Lansing, Michigan; Bay Area Legal Services, Tampa, Florida; Bay Area Legal Services, Ruskin, Florida; Bay Area Legal Services Family Law Forms Clinic, Tampa, Florida; Brett N. Rodgers Chapter 13 Bankruptcy Trustee, Grand Rapids, Michigan; Council of American Islamic Relations (CAIR)- Florida, Statewide, Florida; CARE House, Pontiac, Michigan; Clean Water Action, Lansing, Michigan; Common Ground, Bloomfield Hills, Michigan; Community Legal Services, Wyoming, Michigan; Cooley Communicates, Riverview, Florida; Court Appointed Special Advocates (CASA) for Kids, Michigan; Dispute Resolution Center – Mount Pleasant, Michigan; Eaton County Prosecutor’s Office – Economic Crimes Unit, Lansing, Michigan; Elder Law of Michigan (Research and Survey), Lansing, Michigan; Elder Law of Michigan Legal Hotline, Lansing, Michigan; End Violent Encounters (EVE), Inc., Lansing, Michigan; Environmental Protection Commission of Hillsborough County, Tampa, Florida; Gulf Coast Legal Services Real ID Clinic, St. Petersburg, Florida; Gulf Coast Legal Services Real ID Clinic, Sarasota, Florida; Gulf Coast Legal Services Real ID Clinic, Tampa, Florida; HAVEN, Bingham Farms, Michigan; Immigration Law Clinic, Lansing, Michigan; Ingham County Circuit Court, Lansing, Michigan; Ingham County Friend of the Court, Lansing, Michigan; Ingham County Probate Court, Lansing, Michigan; Ingham County Prosecutor's Office – Domestic Violence Unit, Lansing, Michigan; Jackson County Probate Court, Jackson, Michigan; Justice for our Neighbors, Grand Rapids, Michigan; Kent County Prosecutor's Office, Grand Rapids, Michigan; Legal Aid and Defender Association (LADA), Detroit, Michigan; Lakeshore Legal Aid, Statewide, Michigan; Legal Assistance Center, Grand Rapids, Michigan; Legal Services of South Central MI, Lansing, Michigan; LiveHelp, Remote from Ann Arbor, Michigan; Michigan Department of Attorney General, Lansing, Michigan; Michigan Environmental Council, Lansing, Michigan; Michigan Poverty Law, Grand Rapids, Michigan; Neighborhood Legal Services, Redford, Michigan; Office of the State Attorney 13th Circuit, Tampa, Florida; Office of Criminal Conflict and Civil Regional Counsel, Second DCA Region, Tampa, Florida; Resolution Services Center of Central Michigan, Lansing, Michigan; Six Rivers, Rochester, Michigan; Southwest Detroit Immigrant and Refugee Center, Pontiac, Michigan; St. Michael’s Legal Center for Women and Children, Riverview, Florida; Sugar Law Center for Economic and Social Justice, Detroit, Michigan; Teen Court, Lansing, Michigan; The Detroit Center for Family Advocacy, Detroit, Michigan; The Hillsborough County Public Defender’s Office, Tampa, Florida; Thirteenth Judicial Circuit, Hillsborough County, Tampa, Florida; United States Middle District of Florida-Judge Honeywell, Tampa, Florida; VITA, Detroit, Michigan; Wayne County Elder and Advocacy Center, Wayne County, Michigan; Wayne County Prosecutor’s Office, Detroit, Michigan; West Florida Center For Trafficking Advocacy, Tarpon Springs, Florida.
Partnering with many state and local entities enables WMU-Cooley to serve the communities in which our campuses are located and those states as a whole. Western Michigan University Thomas M. Cooley Law School has over 21,000 graduates worldwide so pro bono and volunteer opportunities are also available through the vast alumni network.
In addition to the Cooley Volunteer Corps program, Michigan and Florida Cooley students, faculty and staff offer assistance to many programs including:
Michigan: Cristo Rey Community Center, Advent House Ministries, The People's Law School, Loaves and Fishes, Lansing Area AIDS Network, Habitat for Humanity, Lansing Food Bank, Lansing Teen Court, Volunteers of America Homeless Shelter, Open Door Ministries, Dégagé Ministries, Mel Trotter Ministries, Hispanic Center of West Michigan, Ferguson Apartments (residents were once homeless and are living with mental illness), West Michigan Hispanic Chamber of Commerce, the Legal Assistance Center, Oakland County Probate Court, United States Eastern District Court Law Day, Patriot Week, Detroit Bar Association Expungement Clinics, Martin Luther King Day of Service, Access to Justice, Michigan Live Help, and area schools.
Florida: Hillsborough County Bar Association, Are You Safe Annual Charity Golf Tournament, A Kid’s Place, Hillsborough County Bar Association Service Committee Project, Hillsborough County Domestic Violence Assistance Project, Bay Area Legal Services Family Law Clinic, Project H.E.L.P. (Homeless Legal Protection), Feeding Tampa Bay Program, The Spring Gift of Peace, St. Michael’s Legal Center for Women and Children, Mi Familia Vota Naturalization Swearing-In Ceremony, Council on American-Islamic Relations, Martin Luther King Day of Service, 13th Circuit Pro Bono Committee, Everyday Blessings Foster Home, Springs of Tampa Bay.
Location of Programs
Each campus of Western Michigan University Thomas M. Cooley Law School offers equivalent pro bono, volunteer, and public service opportunities to students through the Career and Professional Development Office. Alliance and partnership programs are administered by, and can be accessed through, these on-campus offices.
Lansing Campus
300 S. Capital Ave.
Lansing, MI 48933
(517) 371-5140
Tampa Bay Campus
9445 Camden Field Pkwy
Riverview, FL 33578
(813)-419-5100
Staffing/Management/Oversight
Career and Professional Development Office - Cooley Volunteer Corps (CVC)
Lisa L. Fadler, Assistant Dean of Career and Professional Development
300 S. Capital Ave.
Lansing, MI 48933
[email protected]
(517) 371-5140
Lansing Campus
Karen Poole, Associate Director Career and Professional Development
300 S. Capital Ave.
Lansing, MI 48933
[email protected]
(517) 371-5140
Tampa Bay Campus
Laura Bare Tankel, Associate Director Career and Professional Development
9445 Camden Field Pkwy
Riverview, FL 33578
[email protected]
(813) 419-5100
Funding
Program funding is through individual department, office, and administrative unit budgets. Fundraising events, grants, and individual donations also support projects and programs.
Student Run Pro Bono Groups/Specialized Law Education Projects
Western Michigan University Thomas M. Cooley Law School student organizations, working with faculty and community professionals, coordinate many volunteer, public service, and pro bono projects.
WMU-Cooley students have been the catalysts for introducing elementary and high school peer mediation projects across the state of Michigan. Student groups volunteer to be trained in mediation and conflict resolution skills and then to bring those skills into the classroom.
Faculty and Administrative Pro Bono
Western Michigan University Thomas M. Cooley Law School faculty and administrative staff are encouraged to initiate volunteer, public service, and pro bono activities. In doing so, they are consistent models and mentors to students for becoming involved in the community and for doing public service work.
Formal expectations for faculty pro bono and community service work are addressed through the promotion and tenure requirements and committee oversight. Applicants for promotion and tenure must document significant organizational participation and public service. Every faculty member has engaged in their own service to the community, the School, and the Bar, and with fulltime faculty numbering over 50, those projects are just too numerous to list.
Awards/Recognition
Recent highlights of Faculty and Administrative Staff awards and recognition include:
Amy Bandow, Assistant Professor has been recognized annually by the Supreme Court of Florida for performing at least 20 hours of pro bono in the service years 2012, 2013, 2014, 2015, and 2017.
Laura Bare Tankel, Associate Director Career and Professional Development: Recipient, 13th Judicial Circuit, Florida Pro Bono Recognition Awards 2017, 2018, and 2019.
Daniela Mendez, Director Tampa Bay Campus, was recognized at the 2021 Thirteenth Judicial Circuit Pro Bono Service Award Ceremony for her community service with Crossroad for Florida Kids. Ms. Mendez completed over 100 community service hours for the organization during the 2020-2021 school year.
Community Service
Community service opportunities are plentiful and have been described and identified in other categories.
Law School Public Interest Programs
Contact Information
Career and Professional Development Office
Lisa L. Fadler, Assistant Dean
Lansing Campus
300 S. Capital Ave.
Lansing, MI 48933
[email protected]
(517) 371-5140
Planning, Programs and Assessment
Laura LeDuc, Associate Dean
Lansing Campus
300 S. Capital Ave.
Lansing, MI 48933
[email protected]
(517) 371-5140
Certificate/Curriculum Programs
Western Michigan University Thomas M. Cooley Law School offers nine concentration options including a concentration in public interest and international law. Students who wish to become public interest lawyers can take courses in the areas of civil rights, civil liberties, anti-discrimination law, and advanced constitutional law. Students who elect the concentration are required to take certain core courses and then choose from selected electives in the area. Students receive a certificate of completion on successful completion of the concentration requirements.
Public Interest Centers
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).
Public Interest Clinics
Cooley believes students immersed in a dynamic, hands on learning environment study and understand the law more fully and are better prepared to serve their clients. Cooley requires each student to complete an intense clinical or externship experience. The requirement can be met by participating in an in-house legal clinic or at an approved off campus externship site.
Students may apply for clinic courses once they have accumulated 40 credit hours.
The Cooley Innocence Project is an in-house clinic operating under the Michigan enacted DNA statute. The DNA statute provides post-conviction remedy for those wrongfully convicted incarcerated persons who are innocent of the charged offense and whose innocence can be established by DNA testing of the biological evidence collected at the time of the offense. Operating under the statute, the Innocence Project’s dual mission is to identify, provide legal assistance to, and secure the release of persons who are wrongfully imprisoned for crimes they did not commit and to provide its students with an excellent learning experience. The clinic recently entered into groundbreaking partnerships with county and state-wide conviction integrity units. It is the only such law school clinic in the state of Michigan. Its funding is provided by the law school, as well as federal grants supporting partnerships with area agencies.
The Sixty-Plus, Inc., Elderlaw Clinic (Sixty Plus) is an in-house, live-client clinic serving the indigent and near-indigent clients sixty and older with the preparation of wills, durable power of attorney for finance, medical health directives/designation of patient advocate, and enhanced life estate deeds. Additionally, students in the clinic act as visitors for local probate courts and complete periodic guardianship review reports. Sixty Plus also provides community education on estate planning issues to seniors in the local Area. Its funding is provided by the law school.
In the Washtenaw County Public Defenders Clinic students work with assistant public defenders on a variety of criminal cases (misdemeanors and felonies) in the Washtenaw County District and Circuit Courts and juvenile cases (delinquency, abuse, and neglect) in the Washtenaw County Probate Court, and participate in eight Wednesday evening seminar meetings with the faculty supervisor. Its funding is provided by the law school.
The Debt Relief Clinic (the “Clinic”) is an in-house, live-client, evening clinical program. Students, under the direct supervision of the Clinic Director/Florida licensed attorney, develop lawyering skills and gain substantive legal knowledge by representing indigent clients in the Tampa Bay area primarily in bankruptcy and other potential consumer related civil matters. Pursuant to the local U.S. Bankruptcy Court Rules, students are provided an invaluable opportunity to practice before the Court under the direct supervision of the Clinic Director/Attorney. Moreover, the condensed time frame of Chapter 7 proceedings allows students to conceivably handle a case from the initial client interview and ongoing counseling to filing the bankruptcy action, appearing at judicial and quasi-judicial proceedings, and monitoring the case to the final discharge order. The Clinic also provides community education on debt relief issues to residents in the Tampa Bay Area. The Clinic's funding is provided by the law school.
Externships/Internships
Western Michigan University Thomas M. Cooley Law School offers over 3,000 externship sites around the country, many of them in public interest fields such as disability law, environmental law, family violence, immigration law, Indian law, legal services, and in judicial, legislative, prosecutor, and public defender offices. The heart of an externship is the hands-on experience students receive as they work closely with an experienced lawyer. WMU-Cooley requires each student to complete an intense clinical or externship experience. An extern works at a field placement for a minimum of four hours a week for every hour of credit given for the entire term. Placements average 6.5 credit hours per term, although students may earn up to 10 credits working 40 hours per week. In addition to the valuable relationship between the student and field supervisor, externs work directly with a WMU-Cooley faculty supervisor, who is responsible for monitoring the placement, visiting the site, and facilitating the extern's learning by communicating regularly with the student.
Classes with a Public Service Component
Western Michigan University Thomas M. Cooley Law School offers many classes having a public service component. Required courses include Constitutional Law I and II (instructional) and Professional Responsibility. Cooley Professional Responsibility classes and classes in other subjects frequently adopt class service projects assisting families and non-profit organizations in need. Elective courses having a public service component include Advanced Practice Skills - Mediation Training, Advanced Practice Skills - Family Law Mediation, Advanced Professional Ethics, Alternate Dispute Resolution, Negotiation and Confrontation, Child Abuse and Neglect, Children and the Law, Civil Rights Litigation Seminar, Constitutional Law and Civil Rights Seminar, Consumer Law, Death Penalty Seminar, Defending Battered People, Disabilities Law, Education Law, Environmental Law, Family Violence Practice, Interviewing and Counseling, Immigration and Naturalization Law, International Human Rights Law, and Workplace and Employment Discrimination Law.
Public Interest Journals
Western Michigan University Thomas M. Cooley Law School’s public interest journal is the Homeland and National Security Law Review.
PI Career Support Center
The Career and Professional Development Office, in addition to personalized one on one public interest career assistance, offers lunch time and evening lectures and training programs on topics that focus on public interest. Topics and issues have included, but are not limited to: social justice, the importance of pro bono opportunities, limited scope representation, volunteer guardian ad litem opportunities, domestic violence protection assistance, civil rights, employment rights, wrongful convictions, disability law, and veteran’s treatment court programs.
Loan Repayment Assistance Programs (LRAP)
Post-Graduate Fellowships/Awards
Law School Funded:
Graduate Student Funded:
Other Funding Sources:
Term Time Fellowships/Scholarships
Law School Funded:
Honors Scholarship
Graduate Student Funded
Other Funding Sources:
Summer Fellowships
Law School Funded:
Graduate Student Funded:
Other Funding Sources:
Extracurricular and Co-Curricular Programs
The Career and Professional Development Office, and student organizations offer lunch time and evening lectures and training programs on topics that focus on public interest. Topics and issues have included, but are not limited to: social justice, the importance of pro bono opportunities, limited scope representation, volunteer guardian ad litem opportunities, domestic violence protection assistance, civil rights, employment rights, wrongful convictions, disability law, and veteran’s treatment court programs.
Student Public Interest Groups
Western Michigan University Thomas M. Cooley Law School student organizations having public service initiatives include, the ABA Law Student Division, The Student Bar Association, the American Civil Liberties Union, the American Constitution Society for Law and Policy, the Asian Pacific American Students Association, the Black Law Students Association, the Christian Legal Society, the Federalist Society, the Jewish Law Students Association, the Native American Law Students Association, the St. Thomas More Society, and the Organization of Women Law Students. Students are encouraged to be involved in an area that interests them. If a chartered organization does not exist in a student’s area of interest they are able to initiate one by obtaining a faculty sponsor and organizing.
8/23/2021