Student Placement Comments

Students maintain a log of their pro bono placements in which they document their hours and reflect upon their experiences. Placements are both local and national, with the latter often involving some aspect of research. Below are several excerpts:

PUBLIC INTEREST ORGANIZATIONS

ACLU Pennsylvania

Working at the ACLU of Pennsylvania was a perfect fit for me. The cases that I worked on were important, and the topics they ranged were diverse. I helped perform litigation-focused research and writing that shaped legal briefs on the separation of church and state, prisoners' rights, and racial profiling. It was an exciting place to work, and I hope to continue assisting the efforts there.

Catholic Social Services

This placement was great. People were extremely nice, knowledgeable, helpful, and engaging. It was a great opportunity to actually work one-on-one with clients, dealing mainly with asylum cases as well as other immigration problems. I would recommend it to anyone interested in this type of work.

Center for Constitutional Rights

CCR is an invigorating and exciting place to work. Every case and every attorney is working-passionately-on something important. It was great to see how different a public service legal organization is from the international corporate firm I will be working for. I understand why people choose public service.

Center for Lesbian and Gay Civil Rights

Working at the Center was one of the best parts of my year by far. I was inspired by the dedication and skills of the attorneys there, and they were always helpful and fully invested in the interns' learning process. My main task was answering intake calls from clients, and the calls related to a wide variety of topics, including adoption, name changes, HIV issues, property concerns, discrimination, and employer/ employee concerns. I would get the client's information, and then see what we could do, whether it was sending information, explaining the law, referring them to someone else, or taking them on as a client that the Center would represent in legal proceedings. I learned about all of these various legal issues. I learned about the benefits and frustrations of direct client contact, and I got to see how an organization like this operates.

CASAC (Custody and Support Assistance Clinic)

CASAC as a whole was unbelievable this year. All advocates went above and beyond. The clinic serviced over 720 client files for the indigent in Philadelphia this year alone, not counting summer advocates. Having direct access to practicing attorneys and serving low-income clients first-hand has had an immeasurable impact on my legal education. My supervisors have been selfless with their time and talents.

Consumer Bankruptcy Assistance Program (CBAP)

I thoroughly enjoyed my placement at the Consumer Bankruptcy Assistance Project. From the moment I arrived at the office for training, I felt valued and appreciated for the time I had devoted to CBAP. The training session was very intensive and made me feel confident that I would be able to work with my clients effectively. The amount of control and responsibility that I had at CBAP was the greatest strength of the placement. I interviewed clients, prepared the necessary paperwork, and drafted the final bankruptcy petitions that will be filed in court. My supervisory attorney was always available to answer questions and offer guidance and support.

Penn Advocates

As a first-year student unfamiliar with the law, I was very pleased with my placement on the Homeless Advocacy Project. I enjoyed the placement because many of the issues I dealt with incorporated many of the legal issues addressed in my first-year property class, including landlord/tenant issues, adverse possession, and other matters dealing with eviction proceedings.

Philadelphia Volunteer Lawyers for the Arts

I attribute my "A" in Copyright to working on IP issues with PVLA. The training, experience, and networking I was able to obtain through this organization makes me stand out in class and in my other student organizations. My supervisor started at PVLA as a student intern and is now their first staff attorney!

Regional Housing Legal Services

Regional Housing is a great place to perform the pro bono requirement; I did it there last year as well. It is one of the few places that work in the housing area of the law without having to have an interest in court work. They do transactional work, plenty of real estate, and they may even take you along on closing, etc

Firms

Arnold & Porter

My placement with Arnold & Porter was very rewarding. I was able to walk with NARAL, a women's choice organization, on issues that are personally very important to me. Also, the work that I did will have a direct effect on my life as a woman of this country.

Baldi Cepparulo & Williams, P.C.

I really enjoyed my experience. I learned a lot about mental health law. This is a very specialized area of the law, and I don't know if I would have learned about it otherwise. I think I will pursue mental health advocacy in the future. There is a very large group of underrepresented people with mental health issues, who, if dealt with, would have much more fulfilling and prosperous lives.

Ballard Spahr Andrews & Ingersoll, LLP

This was a fabulous experience! I was part of a three-person team that helped keep a Haitian woman and her two children in the U.S. I was given tremendous responsibility that included significant client contact, research, and writing. Substantively, I learned a great deal about preparing a political asylum case and the workings of the INS System. I will certainly look to take on an asylum case as a pro bono project when I'm practicing at Ballard. Completing my public service at a for-profit organization brought the benefits of financial resources that certainly made the entire process run smoothly.

Lai & Associates

I initiated this placement. Through researching and preparing memoranda, I gained exposure to a wide range of consumer law issues that I have not studied at law school. I also made use of my language skill in helping to translate legal educational materials into Chinese, which will be distributed to local Chinese communities. I greatly benefit from this public service opportunity both professionally and personally.

Pepper Hamilton

I worked on two distinct and interesting projects this year at Pepper. The first was to advocate for an incapacitated woman's best interest in a conflict between her boyfriend and parents over her guardianship. I learned about the Orphan's Court, guardianship, and the legal rights of unmarried domestic partners. This project encouraged my preexisting interest in estate planning. The second project was to research discrete questions for a habeas petition on behalf of a man on death row in Alabama. The poor quality of the trial lawyer's work was astounding-we argued ineffective assistance of counsel. It felt great to find, after hours of searching, the right cases to support our claim.

GOVERNMENTAL AGENCIES

City of Philadelphia Law Dept. Appeals Unit

The Law Department deals with suits against the city, and the Appeals Unit deals with appeals from trial court decisions. This means many of the issues are very cutting-edge and deal with topics learned in many classes, especially Constitutional Criminal Procedure and Constitutional Litigation. I really enjoyed this placement. The work was challenging, interesting, and informative. The feedback was excellent as well. I feel that I learned a lot in this placement. It successfully augmented my course of study at the Law School, and I got to help the City of Philadelphia.

City of Philadelphia Law Dept. Bankruptcy Unit

This is a terrific placement. My supervisor is very accommodating, respectful, and concerned that his students take something away from their experience. The work is interesting and substantive. It is a good placement not only for those who want to learn something about bankruptcy law, but also for someone who simply wants to enhance their research and writing skills. Students are given a full picture of the issues, and then given the opportunity to work with a person as friendly as my supervisor makes it even better.

City of Philadelphia Law Dept. Major Tax Unit

Working at the Tax Department for the City of Philadelphia provided a glimpse into the world of legal work in the arena of handling cases involving less sophisticated parties than those one might encounter in a major law firm. In this respect, the nature of the projects I faced was one that focused on understanding the issues of ordinary citizens who face tax payment issues in the course of daily demands to balance expense payments with tax payments. I worked briefly on an Economic Development Project that sought to address issues of funding development of housing by providing tax incentives. I also worked on drafting complaints directed at tax delinquents. Overall, I obtained a better grasp of Philadelphia tax laws.

Defender Association of Philadelphia

I did a lot of research concerning an interesting issue-sterilization of a mentally incompetent minor. The research was interesting and I think I produced a helpful ten-page memo. The Defender Association used my memo as a basis for an injunction they filed on behalf of the incompetent child. As part of the research, I interviewed a number of doctors who had written advisory letters regarding our client. This was a worthwhile experience and used real-world legal skills.

Defender Association of Philadelphia Federal Court Division

My service experience was really a continuation of my work with the criminal defense clinic. I spent my time doing intake interviews for criminal defendants. Those interview notes became part of their file and were used to brief the trial attorney. The best part of this placement was the amount of face-to-face interaction with clients. Also, there was a lot of autonomy in conducting the interviews. Finally, I had the opportunity to give advice on many different types of cases.

Internal Revenue Service VITA Program

I think VITA (Volunteer Income Tax Assistance) is an excellent Public Service opportunity. The staffs that serve as our volunteer supervisors are exceptionally patient and understanding. They are also very appreciative of our time and make us feel valued. I think it is important that there be Public Service placements that involve actual contact and direct service to clients.

Pennsylvania Attorney General's Office-Civil Division

I wrote responses to Habeas Corpus petitions filed in federal court by Pennsylvania state prisoners. Most prisoners write the petitions themselves, using models that are passed around the prison. Often incoherent, they nonetheless merit a response from the Attorney General's office. The great majority of the time, we argued that the petitioner had procedurally defaulted, failed to exhaust state remedies, failed to make a federal constitutional claim, or the facts of the case did not meet the standard for a violation of Constitutional rights (e.g. self-incrimination, ex post facto, free speech). The placement is long enough for several responses to be written. I enjoyed interacting with the attorneys in the office. I even had my own office.

Philadelphia DA Homicide Unit

Working at the DA's office in the Homicide Unit was a great experience. I would spend the whole day on Wednesdays observing and assisting a particular trial function: preliminary hearings, discovery, trial, post-trial, pre-trial, etc. Since I am struggling with the decision of going to a law firm or a prosecution unit, I've been able to meet prosecutors and discuss with them the practical considerations of life in public service as well as see first-hand the everyday work performed.