Directory
Santa Clara University School of Law
Santa Clara University School of Law
Law School Pro Bono Programs
Contact Information
Evangeline Abriel
Clinical Professor and Director, Center for Social Justice and Public Service
[email protected]
925-285-9883
Category Type
Formal Voluntary Pro Bono Program Characterized by a Referral System with a Coordinator
Description of Programs
The members of Santa Clara Law’s student organizations provide a variety of pro bono work, including assistance with pro bono clinics; drives for toys, books, and clothing; and others. In addition, the law school organizes some formal pro bono opportunities for students, including the Second Chances Hackathon, the Bridges for Justice advice and referral clinics, the Spring Break Border Service Trip, and an expungement clinic.
Location of Programs
Santa Clara University School of Law
Staffing/Management/Oversight
Law student organizations, with the assistance of their faculty advisors and with support from the Center for Social Justice and Public Service, staff and manage a variety of pro bono activities.
Funding
Funding is provided from law school organization budgets, through law school organization fundraising, and in some cases from the Center for Social Justice and Public Service.
Student Run Pro Bono Groups/Specialized Law Education Projects
The Social Justice Consortium is a law student organization dedicated to social justice, but each of the Law School’s law student organization provides public service.
Faculty and Administrative Pro Bono
Santa Clara Law faculty and staff engage in a variety of pro bono service, both in connection with law student organizations and on their own. The pro bono service includes pro bono representation of underserved communities and advocacy work on social justice causes.
Awards/Recognition
The Center for Social Justice and Public Services recognizes students for their pro bono service, awarding certificates at a special Social Justice Graduation held each spring. In addition, student pro bono work satisfies one of the requirements for a graduation certificate in Social Justice and Public Service. The Center also makes annual awards to faculty and staff who have contributed significantly to social justice.
Community Service
Law student organizations provide a variety of community service activities, including drives for toys, books, clothing, and supplies.
Law School Public Interest Programs
Contact Information
Evangeline Abriel
Clinical Professor and Director, Center for Social Justice and Public Service
[email protected]
925-285-9883
Certificate/Curriculum Programs
The Public Interest and Social Justice Law Certificate Program is available to all Santa Clara law students. Students must complete 15 units of academic coursework in social justice topics, complete 150 hours of supervised practicum work in a public service setting, and provide 50 hours of pro bono work. Student are recognized for their successful achievement of the certificates at an annual Social Justice Graduation ceremony. Students may earn a general certificate or a certificate with an emphasis in one of five areas: consumer law, criminal justice, critical race jurisprudence, health law, or immigration and refugee law.
For certificate requirements, visit: https://law.scu.edu/socialjustice/certificate-and-curriculum/.
Public Interest Centers
The Center for Social Justice and Public Service provides a locus for public interest and social justice scholarship, skills, and clinical training, summer fellowships and pro bono work. The Center's rich academic and extracurricular offerings allow Santa Clara students to serve community needs for social justice while studying law. The Center's role includes:
- Facilitating and promoting the research, teaching and service of faculty.
- Sponsoring extra-curricular events to enhance awareness and advance education about social justice issues.
- Supporting clinical education.
- Administering the Public Interest and Social Justice Law Certificate Program.
- Administering the Public Interest and Social Justice Summer Grant Program.
- Administering the Herman and Edith Wildman Social Justice Writing Award competition.
- Promoting the next generation of social justice practitioners throughout the educational pipeline that leads to law school.
Public Interest Clinics
Santa Clara Law students may participate in five clinical programs. In each clinic, students provide representation to actual clients in real cases, under the supervision of experienced lawyer/professors. The work students do in these clinics include:
- Obtaining exonerations for wrongfully convicted individuals and promoting a just and compassionate criminal justice system, through the Northern California Innocence Project. For more information, visit http://ncip.org
- Representing individuals seeking review of removal orders before the U.S. Court of Appeals for the Ninth Circuit, in the Immigration Appellate Practice Clinic. For more information, visits https://law.scu.edu/experiential/clinics-during-covid/santa-clara-laws-immigration-appellate-clinic-uses-hearts-minds-and-computers-to-serve-clients-during-the-pandemic
- Litigating human rights issues and representing victims of human rights violations both domestically and internationally, through the International Human Rights Clinic. For more information, visit https://law.scu.edu/ihrc/
- Providing important legal services in the areas of immigration, consumer protection and workers' rights, through the Katherine and George Alexander Community Law Center. For more information, visit https://law.scu.edu/kgaclc
- Promoting local community economic growth through representing the local start-up community through the Entrepreneurs Law Clinic. For more information, visit https:/law.scu.edu/elc
Externships/Internships
Externships are also a terrific way to provide very meaningful public service while also gaining practical experience. Students may participate in both domestic and international externships. For more information on domestic externships, visit https://law.scu.edu/externship/. For more information on Santa Clara Law’s international externships, visit https://law.scu.edu/international/.
Classes with a Public Service Component
Santa Clara Law offers many courses that touch on social justice and public service. In addition to the clinical courses listed above, examples of courses with a public service component include the Social Justice Seminar held each spring, the Immigration Law Practicum, and Public Health Law Seminar: Public Health Law and Pandemic.
Public Interest Journals
The Santa Clara Law Review dedicated a symposium to Social Justice: Meeting Human Needs, Examining the Social Safety Net for Working America. This issue can be found at 44 Santa Clara Law Review, Number 4, 2004.
PI Career Support Center
The Law School’s Office of Career Management supports students seeking both summer and permanent employment in social justice and public interest fields. The support includes counselling, special networking events for students interested in public interest or public sector employment, and a special Public Interest/Public Service Career Fair. For more information, visit https://law.scu.edu/careers/.
Loan Repayment Assistance Programs (LRAP)
Post-Graduate Fellowships/Awards
Law School Funded:
Graduate Student Funded:
Other Funding Sources:
Term Time Fellowships/Scholarships
Law School Funded:
The Law School awards Public Interest and Social Justice Law Board Scholarships to entering or currently enrolled students. Criteria used in awarding the scholarships include financial need, demonstrated commitment to public interest and social justice, and professional promise.
Graduate Student Funded
Other Funding Sources:
The Panetta Fellowship: The Panetta Fellowship Program is a joint venture between Santa Clara University School of Law and the Leon & Sylvia Panetta Institute for Public Policy in Monterey, California. The Panetta Fellowship Program was developed to provide an educational opportunity for law students interested in the law and government, political science or public policy to work with Leon and Sylvia Panetta and other professional staff at the Panetta Institute on matters within the Institute’s mission of public service.
Summer Fellowships
Law School Funded:
The Center for Social Justice funds a number of stipends or fellowships for students working in public interest or public sector summer positions. Students apply on one single application, although the stipends may be awarded from a number of endowments, law firm fellowships, and other funds. For more information about the various fellowships and stipends, visit https://law.scu.edu/socialjustice/public-interest-summer-grants-general-information/.
Graduate Student Funded:
Other Funding Sources:
Extracurricular and Co-Curricular Programs
FLY – Fresh Lifelines for Youth. Law students go to local high schools to provide instruction on law-related topics and skills.
Bridges for Justice – advice and referral clinics. Law students, working under the supervision of attorneys, interview clients and, based on the attorneys’ instruction, provide information and referrals.
Spring Break Border Service Trip. Students travel to the Florence Immigrant and Refugee Rights Project in Arizona to assist project attorneys and clients by gathering evidence, conducting legal research, and assisting with preparation of asylum applications.
Second Chances Hackathon. Students from Law, Engineering, and Business collaborate over a weekend event to crafts computer-assisted solutions to barriers facing persons with criminal convictions.
Trina Grillo Public Interest and Social Justice Law Retreat. The Grillo Retreat provides a unique opportunity for public interest and social justice law students, faculty and practitioners to forge an alliance by exchanging viewpoints, exploring career opportunities, and formulating strategies for social justice during this annual weekend retreat. Co-sponsored by Santa Clara Law School and the Society of American Law Teachers (SALT), with other west coast law schools, this retreat honors the memory of Trina Grillo, 1948-96, who was a source of inspiration to many law students, professors, and public interest and social justice lawyers.
Student Public Interest Groups
The Public Interest & Social Justice Coalition (PISJC) is the student arm of the Center for Social Justice and Public Service. The PISJC is a coalition of law students that raises awareness and addresses issues of public interest and social justice. PISJC provides a network for students and unites concerned student organizations engaged in public interest goals and co-sponsors numerous events with other student organizations and the Center
There are a host of other student organizations whose mission includes a commitment to public interest and social justice. For a list of law student organizations, visit https://law.scu.edu/life/student-organizations/.
7/14/2021