Our Pro Bono Requirement Benefits Legal Organizations

Over 15 years ago Penn Law was the first national law school to identify the importance and need for a mandatory pro bono requirement. Since then, the Toll Public Interest Center promoted the public service ethic to close to nearly 4,000 Penn Law students while providing over 350,000 hours of legal assistance to governmental agencies, public interest and non-profit organizations, and law firms in Philadelphia and nationwide. In 2000, Penn Law was the first law school to be awarded the ABA Pro bono Publico Award in recognition of the Public Service Program - now known as the Toll Public Interest Center.

In meeting 70-hour pro bono requirement for graduation, students gain valuable lawyering skills - while providing critical services to clients who might otherwise not receive legal assistance.

To ensure that law students are ready to work in the real and constantly changing legal world, the Center maintains an ample roster of opportunities from the full spectrum of legal issues, shaped by student and faculty interests as well as from requesting organizations. During each academic year, the Toll Public Interest Center places approximately 600 students at several hundred public interest organizations, governmental agencies, and non-profit organizations - and this list continues to grow as new organizations register to be a part of the Penn Law Toll Public Interest Center.

Students have worked on a wide range of legal projects and issues including:

• Representing clients seeking asylum from political persecution in their home countries with the Nationalities Service Center
  
  
• Providing legal assistance to homeless and low income individuals in West Philadelphia with the Homeless Advocacy Project
  
  
• Providing legal advise to indigent clients with family law issues including divorce, custody, support, and domestic violence
  
  
• Conducting research, document review, and faculty investigation for a high profile class action lawsuit involving prisoner abuse in Abu Ghraib with the Center for Constitutional Rights
  
  
• Creating a nationwide directory of resources of legal issues of senior citizens for the Senior Law Center
  
  
• Conducting research for the Southern Poverty Law Center on a wide range of litigation in prisoners rights, death penalty, and workers' rights
  
  
• Drafting appellate briefs and legislative proposals for the US Department of Justice, Criminal Division Counterterrorism Section
  
  
• Conducting a study on the efficacy of pre-hearing conferences for the Field Center for Children's Policy Practice and Research
  
  
• Developing and teaching a constitutional literacy curriculum in inner-city Philadelphia schools
  
  

These are only several of the exciting projects where students have made a difference.