Directory
Cooley Law School
Western Michigan University Thomas M. Cooley Law School
Law School Pro Bono Programs
Contact Information
Karen Poole
Director Career and Professional Development Office
Category Type
Formal Voluntary Pro Bono Program with referral system and coordinator.
Description of Programs
Opportunities to serve the community through volunteer work or through free legal service (pro bono work) are available. The program matches organizations with law students who seek substantive volunteer experience. The pro bono program 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.
Location of Programs
With the clinical/externship program.
Staffing/Management/Oversight
In addition to pro bono work, the director also has oversight and direction of the career services department.
Funding
Program funding is through individual department, office, and administrative unit budgets. Fundraising events, grants, and individual donations also support projects and programs.
Faculty and Administrative Pro Bono
None.
Awards/Recognition
None.
Alternative Winter or Spring Break Projects
None.
Law School Public Interest Programs
Contact Information
Career and Professional Development Office
Certificate/Curriculum Programs
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.
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)
None.
Fellowships
None.
7/02/2024