Directory
University of Maine School of Law
University of Maine School of Law
Law School Pro Bono Programs
Contact Information
Marcia Levy
Visiting Professor, Director of Field Placement & Pro Bono Services
[email protected]
(207) 228-8063
Category Type
Formal Pro Bono Program Characterized by a Referral System with Coordinator
Description of Programs
Maine Law’s faculty has enacted a voluntary pro bono legal service standard under which every student is strongly encouraged to provide a minimum of 50 hours of pro bono legal service prior to the time of graduation. The Career Services Office publicizes pro bono opportunities available to students and provides a mechanism for students to report their pro bono hours. Students who meet the voluntary standard of 50 hours of public service are recognized at graduation and receive a special notation on their diplomas.
Location of Programs
Field Placement Office in conjunction with the Career Services Office.
Staffing/Management/Oversight
The program is overseen by the Director of Field Placement and Pro Bono Services. Records of student reported pro bono hours are maintained by the Administrative Coordinator for Career Services, Field Placement, and Pro Bono.
Funding
The program is funded by the law school's operating budget.
Faculty and Administrative Pro Bono
Maine Law faculty and administrators are active participants in the area of pro bono and public service. They provide direct service to clients, file amicus briefs, serve on rule-making committees, testify before the legislature, and advise policy organizations.
Awards/Recognition
The names of those students who have met the 50-hour pro bono standard are listed in a special section of the commencement program, and a notation is added to each of their diplomas. Maine State Bar Association Pro Bono Student Award - This award is given to a student whose law-related service to the community, without compensation or academic credit, exemplifies the legal profession's tradition of pro bono service.
Alternative Winter or Spring Break Initiatives
None.
Law School Public Interest Programs
Contact Information
Prof. Kaitlin Caruso
Associate Professor of Law
[email protected]
207-228-8230
Certificate/Curriculum Programs
https://mainelaw.maine.edu/academics/academic-program/certificate-public-interest-social-justice/
Public Interest Centers
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/
Public Interest Clinics Cumberland Legal Aid Clinic - Established in 1970, the Cumberland Legal Aid Clinic was one of the first law school clinical programs in the country. The Clinic provides free legal aid to more than 600 low-income individuals and families every year. It is a defining program of Maine Law, providing practical skills training for students and helping to fulfill the Law School’s commitment to social justice. All legal services are provided by law students who are enrolled in one of four clinical courses: General Practice, Prisoner Assistance, Youth Justice, and Refugee and Human Rights. Students enrolled in each of these courses also participate in the Clinic’s Protection from Abuse program, in which student attorneys assist victims of domestic violence, sexual assault, and stalking seeking civil protection orders. Student attorneys represent real clients in real cases. From intake meetings to filing court documents and standing up before a judge, students handle all aspects of client relations and case management under the close supervision of faculty who are leaders in their fields. https://mainelaw.maine.edu/academics/clinics-and-centers/clac/
General Practice Clinic - Each student in the General Practice Clinic maintains a caseload and represents several low-income individuals in various areas of the law. Student attorneys interview and counsel clients, develop case theories, conduct discovery, negotiate with opposing parties, prepare cases for court, and conduct hearings, trials and appeals. Students regularly brief and argue cases before the Maine Supreme Judicial Court and participate in hundreds of matters before Maine’s federal, state and probate courts, and administrative agencies. Student attorneys take on a wide range of case types in the General Practice Clinic, from criminal defense to family law to consumer law. For criminal cases, students might represent clients charged with crimes such as drug trafficking, assault, or theft. Within the realm of family law, students help solve disputes involving parental rights and responsibilities, divorce, guardianship, protective custody, and other matters. For civil matters, students have the opportunity to represent consumers, victims of financial exploitation, or a family trying to keep their home. The legal issues are very real, and they are life-changing for the clients and also for the graduates of our program. https://mainelaw.maine.edu/academics/clinics-and-centers/clac/general-practice/
Prisoner Assistance Clinic - The Prisoner Assistance Program, part of Maine Law’s Cumberland Legal Aid Clinic, helps inmates at the Maine Correctional Center in Windham in the Men’s, Women’s, and Pre-Release Units. Inside the walls of a prison, our students are able to practice law while still in law school. Third year law students, who have been sworn in as student attorneys, meet with their clients in the prison to assist them with their civil legal matters. The student attorneys manage large caseloads and engage in the same full range of civil legal work as lawyers. The incarcerated are a population often forgotten by society. But we all have rights, responsibilities, and legal needs, whether we are incarcerated or not. Through the vital work of the Prisoner Assistance Clinic, students at Maine Law ensure that the civil justice system remembers those rights and responsibilities. https://mainelaw.maine.edu/academics/clinics-and-centers/clac/prisoner-assistance/
Youth Justice Clinic - The Youth Justice Clinic provides students the opportunity to address the needs of troubled children in a number of diverse settings. Students in the Youth Justice Clinic frequently collaborate with local agencies to assist clients in meeting educational, mental health, and housing needs. With guidance and instruction from a faculty supervisor, student attorneys meet with clients and their families, attend school meetings, file motions, appear in court, and take the lead in developing programs for their clients designed to avoid both incarceration and recidivism. Students also work with other legal aid attorneys at the collaborative ‘Tuesdays at the Teen Center’ project, which involves weekly meetings with homeless teens at the Preble Street Teen Center to provide free legal advice, resource referrals, and an occasional pizza. The Youth Justice Clinic provides opportunities for some students to pursue broader juvenile justice policy issues. For example, students often work with Maine’s Juvenile Justice Advisory Group and Criminal Law Advisory Committee to research, draft, and edit proposed legislation. Other students may work on ongoing youth advocacy projects in Maine and around the country. https://mainelaw.maine.edu/academics/clinics-and-centers/clac/juvenile-justice/
Refugee and Human Rights Clinic - In the Refugee and Human Rights Clinic, students serve as the attorneys assisting low-income immigrants through a broad range of cases and projects. The course targets a critical gap in access to justice – providing direct legal representation and broader advocacy to immigrants and refugees seeking political asylum and similar protections under federal law, while training future attorneys on how to best serve the legal needs of immigrants. Clients include, for example, asylum applicants who have fled human rights abuses in their home countries and are seeking refuge, immigrant survivors of domestic violence, and abandoned or abused children seeking legal status in the U.S. Under faculty supervision, student attorneys not only develop their substantive knowledge of immigration law and human rights laws and norms, but they also build core legal skills relevant to the general practice of law. Clinical work for students includes: interviewing clients and witnesses and preparing testimony, working with interpreters and translators, conducting factual and legal investigation and marshaling of evidence, analyzing and presenting human rights documentation, developing case strategies, writing legal briefs, and appearing in administrative hearings. Students also have opportunities to collaborate with local nonprofit organizations and community groups on a range of advocacy projects. https://mainelaw.maine.edu/academics/clinics-and-centers/clac/refugee-and-human-rights/
Rural Practice Clinic - In 2023, the Law School’s Clinical Programs launched the Rural Practice Clinic in Aroostook County, Maine’s northernmost county on the Canadian border. Working under the supervision of a licensed attorney, the Rural Practice Clinic has allowed students to earn academic credit for expanding access to justice by providing legal services in an underserved area. https://mainelaw.maine.edu/academics/clinics-and-centers/clac/rural-practice-clinic/
Protection from Abuse Program - Most students enrolled in Clinic courses also participate in the Protection from Abuse Program, where they represent victims of domestic violence, sexual assault, and stalking. Student attorneys attend at least one or two days of the protection from abuse (PFA) docket calls in Lewiston District Court. The Clinic’s work in this program is highly valued by the courts, as the PFA proceedings are often highly contentious and emotional. With the assistance of counsel most cases are settled without a trial. If an agreed resolution of the case cannot be reached through negotiation, the student attorney represents the client at trial. Clinic student attorneys work closely with court advocates from Safe Voices, a non-profit organization based in Lewiston-Auburn. This collaboration ensures that every client not only receives legal representation in the protection order case but also receives the necessary support and resources to escape violence in the long-term. Every Clinic student also receives training on the dynamics of domestic violence and on the legal remedies available to victims.
PI Career Support Center
The Career Services Office provides assistance to all students, including those seeking public interest careers. We offer on-campus recruiting to public interest employers and subscribe to a variety of job search tools focused on public interest careers.
Loan Repayment Assistance Programs (LRAP)
The University of Maine School of Law Loan Repayment Assistance Program (LRAP) supports recent University of Maine School of Law graduates in law-related public interest careers by assisting them in the repayment of their educational debt. The Program is made possible by an endowment fund (“Fund”) established by generous gifts from friends of the Law School. Income from this Fund, together with giving from alumni and friends of the Law School and fundraising by student organizations, provides loan repayment assistance to graduates who practice public interest law. Guideline and Procedures General Description: The goal of the Program is to encourage Maine Law graduates to pursue public interest careers. The Program does so by providing loans that are subject to cancellation if qualifying conditions are met. Recipients are determined by a committee appointed by the Dean (“Committee”). As a condition of the loan repayment assistance award (“LRAP Award”), Program recipients must provide the Law School with a commitment letter and promissory note affirming: The intent to remain in a law-related public interest position for at least a year following the grant of the award; A promise to repay the award should they not remain in a law-related public interest position for a minimum of one year, or if they fail to meet any other conditions of the award for that year, and; That the awards received from the Program will be used solely for the repayment of law school educational debt and for no other purposes. The Committee shall determine annually the award recipients and the amount of each award. These determinations are based on The funds available, The number of qualified applicants, The type of employment, and The relationship of each applicant’s salary to educational debt. Award amounts depend of funds available and on the number of applications received. Expected amounts range from $1,500 to $4,000.
Fellowships
Maine Law offers a variety of fellowships to fund summer opportunities at public interest employers. https://mainelaw.maine.edu/career-services/fellowships/
10/30/2024