Enhancing legal education through commitment to community
The Pro Bono Program provides students with opportunities to deliver law-related services to community members of limited financial means.
Students are assisted and supported by Pro Bono Program staff with placements in nonprofit organizations, legal aid groups, in-house programs and other organizations. Pro bono work is performed under appropriate supervision. Learn more about student practice certification rules »
Student Involvement
Students can engage in meaningful client service as early as the first semester of law school.
In keeping with the law school's law-in-action tradition, students develop legal and professional skills, gain practical, hands-on experience in real work environments and explore their ethical responsibility to provide pro bono service.
Opportunities
From preparing asylum applications to wills, students have pro bono opportunities in a wide range of practice areas. Pro bono activities must meet the following guidelines:
- Law-related: You must perform pro bono work that is related to the law.
- Uncompensated: You must work in a volunteer capacity and may not receive any compensation, including stipends.
- No Academic Credit: Your work cannot be used to fulfill the requirements of a clinic or a directed study project, or to otherwise obtain academic credit.
- Supervision/Training: You must be trained and supervised by an attorney.
- Eligible Clients: Your pro bono work must serve:
- People of limited financial means, or
- Charitable or not-for-profit organization in matter which are designed primarily to address the needs of persons of limited financial means.
Pro Bono Society
The Pro Bono Society was formed in September 2011 to recognize the outstanding efforts of law students engaged in pro bono during their tenure at UW Law School.
What is Pro Bono?
The term Pro Bono comes from the Latin pro bono publico, which means "for the public good."
The Pro Bono Program provides students with opportunities to deliver law-related services to community members of limited financial means. Students are assisted and supported by Pro Bono Program staff with placements in private and nonprofit law firms, legal aid groups, in-house programs and other organizations, where their pro bono work is performed under appropriate supervision. In keeping with the law school's law-in-action tradition, students develop legal and professional skills, gain practical, hands-on experience in real work environments and explore their ethical responsibility to provide pro bono service.
Students who graduate in 2014 or later and complete a minimum of fifty hours of pro bono services will be inducted into the Pro Bono Society and graduate with pro bono distinction.
History
The Pro Bono Program (formerly the University of Wisconsin Law School Pro Bono Partnership Project) began as a pilot project in 2007. Its basic structure involved pairing law students with local Dane County attorneys to provide legal assistance in civil matters to persons otherwise unable to secure legal representation. These guidelines for UW's Pro Bono Program are adapted from ABA Model Rule 6.1.
Today, our students participate in dozens of different projects and can also create their own project subject to approval by the Pro Bono Program Director.
