Pro Bono Opportunities: Earle Mack School of Law @ Drexel University

CASA Training The pro bono opportunities offered to law students provide a hands-on learning experience outside of the classroom.

- Drexel Pro Bono Projects
- Student Organization Pro Bono Projects
- Community-Based Legal Services Organizations

For more information, contact:
Karen Pearlman, Esq.
Associate Director for Public Interest Programs
Phone: (215) 571-4722
kpearlman@drexel.edu

Drexel Pro Bono Projects
Some of the following projects have unlimited availability for student participation, while others have caps on the number of students who can participate at a given time. Please contact the Associate Director for Public Interest Programs for more information about these projects.

Adopt-A-Shelter
Drexel students will “adopt” a Homeless Shelter through the Homeless Advocacy Project Adopt-A-Shelter Program. In adopting the shelter, student volunteers will go with the Associate Director for Public Interest Programs to staff an on-site legal clinic once every month at the shelter. HAP attorneys will host a training session for the student volunteers before the first visit to the shelter. Once trained, students will perform intake interviews and then assist clients with legal problems, supervised by the HAP staff attorney.

Chinatown Clinic
Two student volunteers will be trained by CLS attorneys in obtaining access to emergency medical care for recent Mandarin, Cantonese, and Indonesian immigrants. Once trained, student volunteers will work in the Clinic helping immigrant clients navigate the health care system. Under attorney supervision, student volunteers will interview clients at the Clinic, evaluate whether they are eligible for Medicaid, Food Stamps, or other public benefits, and assist them in applying for benefits and in gathering the necessary documentation to prove eligibility. Student volunteers will also follow up with the Department of Public Welfare to ensure that the applications are approved, assist the clients in identifying and choosing health care providers, and advocate on their behalf for language accessible medical services as required by Title VI of the Civil Rights Act of 1964. (Note: One-year commitment required to volunteer at the Chinatown Clinic.)

Court Appointed Special Advocates (CASA)
CASA volunteers are appointed by the Court to advocate for abused and neglected children in out-of-home placement. CASA will hold a training session on campus for student volunteers (Note: 12 hour time commitment for training which will count towards the Pro Bono Requirement). Students must also make an 18 month commitment (average length of time children are in foster care until they reach permanency) to remain active on the case. Once trained, student volunteers complete an extensive investigation of the case and make written recommendations to the court. Student volunteers advocate for safe, permanent, and nurturing homes for abused and neglected children under the protection of the Dependency Court in Philadelphia County.

Family Court Project – Domestic Violence Unit
Student volunteers will work in the Domestic Violence Unit of Family Court helping pro se litigants file for Protection from Abuse Orders. Once trained, students will observe court proceedings, interview victims of domestic violence and prepare petitions under the Protection from Abuse Act for review by a Common Pleas Court judge.

Know Your Rights – Workshop for Women in Shelter
As a joint initiative between Drexel College of Law and Drexel College of Medicine, a team of supervised medical students and law student volunteers will provide a series of workshops for women in shelter covering both their legal rights and their medical rights.

Low Income Tax Clinics Campaign for Working Families
The Campaign for Working Families provides free tax service to low income people in Philadelphia. It seeks to improve the economic well being of low- and moderate-income individuals, families, and communities by building a movement to dramatically increase access to tax credits and benefits and asset-building opportunities. The Campaign for Working Families will hold a training session on tax return preparation for student volunteers. Once trained, students volunteers will have their choice to volunteer at one of the 17 sites around the city where the tax clinics are hosted. The tax clinics are open for tax season, from mid-January to mid-April.
PhillyVIP Migrant Farm Workers Clinic
The Low Income Tax Clinic (LITC) is organized by Philadelphia VIP and serves the local farm worker population in Kennett Square, PA. VIP will hold a training session on tax return preparation for student volunteers. Once trained, students can begin volunteering at the clinic. The clinics are held every Saturday in February and the first two Saturdays in April. Students do not have to attend all clinics but are welcome to attend as many as they want, as there is a great need for volunteers. The clinics are from 10am to 5pm. Breakfast and lunch are provided, and Philadelphia VIP tries to coordinate carpooling out to Kennett Square for the students and volunteers.

Marshall-Brennan Project
The Director of the Marshall-Brennan Constitutional Literacy Project will select and train Drexel Law Fellows (“Fellows”), so they are able to teach Philadelphia high school students about their rights and responsibilities under the Constitution. Teams of two Fellows will go out to their assigned school and teach a weekly, one-hour class from October to May. There will also be approximately two meetings per month where substantive law experts will explain the material used in the high school classrooms. The Project culminates in a Constitutional Law Moot Court Competition in the spring. First, the Fellows will choose students from their classrooms to compete in a local competition to determine the top Philadelphia high school appellate advocates. The top winners will then compete in the National Competition in D.C.

Ombudsman Program – Long Term Care
Ombudsman is a Swedish word, which means citizen representative. Student volunteers serve as advocates for residents of our community that live in long term care settings, such as nursing or personal care homes. Certified staff from the PA Department of Aging will train the volunteers. Student volunteers will have the opportunity to enrich the lives of residents by listening to concerns; bringing them information on their rights as long term care residents and helping them resolve their concerns. Becoming part of this worthwhile program is very rewarding. The Volunteer Ombudsman Program is a statewide initiative funded by the PA Department of Aging through the Delaware County Office of Services for the Aging, (COSA). Be a part of this effort of individuals and communities working together to improve conditions for those who live in long term care.

PennCORD
The Pennsylvania Coalition for Representative Democracy (PennCORD) coordinates constitutional law education in inner city schools and is run by the National Constitution Center. Drexel Law students have the opportunity to work with various PennCORD high schools, teaching areas of constitutional law that directly affect the high school students. As an example, law students are currently working with high school students at West Philadelphia High School who are creating a new school newspaper, West. Under supervision, law student volunteers are teaching the West Philadelphia High School students about their constitutional rights to free speech and censorship of student newspapers.

Pennsylvania Bar Association Research and Web-Resource Development PAProBono.net
PA ProBono.net is a website designed to serve as a resource for pro bono attorneys, legal aid attorneys, public defenders, and other legal advocates interested in increasing access to justice. Student volunteers can research topics for the website and, with attorney supervision, assist in drafting content for the website. Student contribution will help enhance the representation offered to indigent persons in need of legal representation in Pennsylvania.
PALawHelp.org
PALawHelp.org is a guide to legal information and free civil legal services for low-income persons and seniors in Pennsylvania. Student volunteers can research topics for the website on a variety of legal issues, as well as information on how to contact programs providing legal assistance in Pennsylvania. With attorney supervision, student volunteers can also assist in drafting content for the website.

Pepper Hamilton – Pro Bono Practice Groups
Eight student volunteers will work within one of Pepper Hamilton’s four pro bono practice groups: The Tangled Title Practice Group, The Homeless Advocacy Practice Group, The Child Advocacy Practice Group, and the Immigrant Domestic Violence Practice Group. Students will attend monthly practice group meetings, assist attorneys with research for cases, and with client consent, go on home visits, and participate in client interviews and meetings.

Philadelphia Volunteer Lawyers for the Arts (PVLA)
PVLA currently hosts a series of artist workshops which focus in areas affecting artists, such as copyright and contract issues. Law student volunteers will be trained to staff an on-site legal clinic at the end of the artist workshop. Once trained, law students will perform intake interviews and then assist clients with legal problems, supervised by volunteer PVLA pro bono attorneys.

Project PEACE
Project PEACE (Peaceful Endings through Attorneys, Children, and Educators) is a joint program of the Pennsylvania Bar Association and Pennsylvania Attorney General Tom Corbett that uses lawyers and law students to teach the skills of peer mediation and conflict resolution to young people. Drexel law students will have the opportunity to help create and support peer mediation programs in local schools, providing hands on technical support that will not only help diffuse potentially violent situations in those schools, but which will teach young people skills they can use back in their neighborhoods.

Refugee Adjustment of Status Intake Clinic
Trained and supervised by a BIA accredited representative at Lutheran Children and Family Services, law students will staff an intake clinic, interviewing refugees for their adjustment of status petitions and assisting them to file their green card applications.

Student Hurricane Network New Orleans Trip
The Student Hurricane Network helps coordinate and place law student volunteers on the Gulf Coast to do post-Katrina legal relief work during winter, spring, and summer breaks. Student volunteers will travel to New Orleans and conduct fact-finding missions, hold interviews, perform data-entry, and research and write in the areas of criminal justice, housing, youth rights, and immigrant rights.
Remote Work
The Student Hurricane Network has paired up with The Pro Bono Project and has opportunities for student volunteers to participate in post-Katrina legal relief work from their home. Student volunteers can work remotely from home on uncontested divorce cases and on succession cases. Student volunteers would receive a set of training materials, a copy of the file, and work on the case from home, with guidance from The Pro Bono Project volunteer attorneys and supervision from the Assistant Director for Public Interest Programs.

Student Organization Pro Bono Projects
These pro bono projects are run through the specified student organization. Please contact the student organization or the Associate Director for Public Interest Programs for more information on these opportunities.

National Lawyer’s Guild ACLU’s Constitutional Law Street Law Program
The NLG will host a Street Law Program that brings basic information about the law to communities in need of legal help, such as at risk urban youth and homeless people. The Street Law Program covers legal issues, such as stop and frisks, student rights and landlord/tenant. Student volunteers have the option to either hit the streets, brining the legal information directly into the community or they can participate in the Street Law Program by researching and drafting curriculum for the legal topics covered.
Legal Observer Program
Students will be trained as Legal Observers to observe and record incidents and the activities of law enforcement in relation to the demonstrators. This includes documenting, for example, any arrest, use of force, intimidating display of force, denial of access to public spaces like parks and sidewalks, and any other behavior on the part of law enforcement that appears to restrict demonstrators’ ability to express their political views.
Women’s Law Society – Domestic Violence Pro Se Litigant Project Students will be trained to assist the pro se litigants in the Domestic Violence Unit of Family Court prepare for filing their PFA, and the subsequent hearing. Students volunteers will provide petitioners with information about the Court process, help them prepare for their hearings, explain how to present evidence, and inform them of additional resources that may be useful. We will play a vital role in helping petitioners along by explaining the law and the legal process and by providing related information about resources and planning.

Community-Based Legal Services Organizations
Research and/or intake opportunities may exist at the following organizations. Please contact the Associate Director for Public Interest Programs to find out about availability.