Pro Bono Opportunities

  1. Faculty and Scholarship
  2. Centers and Institutes
  3. Public Interest Center
  4. Pro Bono Opportunities

Public Interest Center staff can assist you in finding public interest opportunities, will track any hours you accrue, and will honor such work at its annual Public Interest Awards ceremony in the spring. Those who complete at least 50 hours of volunteer service during their time at Chicago-Kent receive a Certificate of Service; and those who complete at least 250 hours receive the Dean’s Distinguished Public Service Award.

To be eligible to receive either of these awards, you must take the following three steps:

    1. Find
      • Take the Pro Bono Pledge in 12twenty, and we will send volunteer opportunities to you. To take the Pledge: in your 12twenty profile, click on the check box next to the Pro Bono Pledge. In taking the Pledge, you express your intent to complete 50 hours of service during law school. 
      • You can find opportunities in 12twenty, Chicago-Kent’s extensive database of job, internship, and pro bono opportunities. In the OCI and Job Listings tab filter by Type of Job: Pro Bono Limited Time Commitment. You cannot be engaged in for-profit, private sector activities.
      • Pro bono and community service opportunities are included in the Public Interest Center newsletter, sent out to students several times a month. 
      • PIC staff can also assist you in your search.
    2. Volunteer
      Volunteer hours and activities must meet the criteria below in order to count towards these awards:
      • You cannot be receiving any financial compensation or school credit.
      • You cannot be engaged in for-profit, private sector activities.
      • You cannot be engaged in partisan, political campaign activities.
      • Hours at different public service organizations and government agencies may be combined. For example,
        • Hours volunteered at public defender and prosecutor offices are eligible.
        • Hours volunteered in the Gulf Coast for hurricane relief efforts are eligible.
      • Training time required for volunteering may be included in your hours.
      • Hours accrue during the time you are a law student (between your first day of orientation as a first-year law student and your date of graduation, dates inclusive).
      • Generally, time spent on Chicago-Kent student organization activities, for example, preparing for speaker events or bake sales, does NOT qualify. However, volunteering with outside organizations in conjunction with a student organization does qualify, for example, volunteering at the Daley Center Self-Help Web Desk, soup kitchen as a KJF project, or legal observing through NLG.
        If you are uncertain whether your particular volunteer work qualifies, please email us for clarification. 
    3. Submit your volunteer hours
      You can track your hours in 12twenty under the Pro Bono and Community Service Tab.
      • Go to the Pro Bono and Comm. Service Tab.
      • Hit the "new experience” button in the top right. Fill out the information on the place and term. Add in the information to the best of your ability, including the job description and supervisor contact information.
      • Submit so that the opportunity is "in progress" 
      • Go to the hour log, click "add hours" on the top right, fill out the form 
      • Hit submit if you do not plan on volunteering there again, this will finalize and complete the entry. DO NOT HIT SUBMIT IF PLANNING TO RETURN FOR MORE HOURS. 
      • In the future, when returning to the same organization, select it in order to log additional hours.