Legal Volunteer Opportunities for Undergraduates
Undergraduate students interested in law have a wealth of opportunities to gain practical experience and contribute to the legal field through volunteering. These experiences can provide invaluable insights into the legal system, develop essential skills, and make a positive impact on the community.
Pro Bono Programs
Pro bono programs offer students experiential learning opportunities through volunteer work with non-profits, government agencies, private firms, and law faculty. These programs often involve a wide range of legal tasks, providing students with hands-on experience in various areas of law.
Duke Law Pro Bono Program
The Pro Bono Program at Duke Law School offers a variety of opportunities for students to engage in pro bono work. Most opportunities are open to all J.D. and LL.M. students. Student Pro Bono Groups are student-run organizations supported by the Office of Public Interest and Pro Bono. These groups offer a broad array of projects serving the Durham community and beyond. Student groups work under the supervision of licensed attorneys with legal skills ranging in scope from brief research to in-depth client interviewing, investigation, and document drafting. Here are some of the projects and initiatives available through Duke Law:
- The Duke Decarceration Project (DDP): An evolution of the former Clemency Project, DDP works to reduce the number of North Carolinians in prisons and jails through advocacy and education. The Project works with incarcerated people across the state to help them be free through clemency petitions, parole advocacy, and other remedies.
- The Duke Law Fair Chance Project: This project helps North Carolinians access better employment and housing opportunities through criminal record expunction and driver's license restoration efforts. The project works to eliminate or minimize the collateral consequences of dismissed and not guilty charges, juvenile, misdemeanor and felony convictions, and suspended or revoked licenses. The project also aims to educate the Duke Law community on how collateral consequences inhibit people with criminal records from accessing opportunities and perpetuate inequities in the criminal justice system. The project partners with nonprofit organizations and local government agencies including Legal Aid of North Carolina, the Durham Expunction & Restoration Program (DEAR), and Triangle Residential Options for Substance Abusers (TROSA).
- The Duke Immigrant and Refugee Project (DIRP): DIRP assists immigrants and refugees in the Triangle Area to gain a sense of security and control over their lives by focusing its efforts on research, resources, and outreach for this target population. DIRP offers a variety of pro bono projects including research assistance on human rights issues or country conditions, client interviewing for asylum applications, preparing legal memoranda for representatives of asylum seekers, and more.
- The Duke Street Law Program: This program at the Durham County Youth Home provides law students the opportunity to volunteer with young people in juvenile detention, serving as teachers, mentors, and friends. Law students prepare and lead fun lessons about civil and constitutional rights, civics, and more. Past lessons have covered the legal system’s role in society, the Supreme Court, music law, contracts, and marriage equality.
- Duke’s Environmental Law Society (ELS): ELS strives to promote student discussion and awareness of environmental issues. It accomplishes these goals by hosting speakers and panels to facilitate discussions, participating in national competitions and conferences, coordinating social and community service events, and fostering a community of students and faculty passionate about sustainability, environmental, and climate issues.
- Health Care Planning Project (HCPP): HCPP students provide legal assistance to cancer patients and other North Carolina residents who are interested - and in need of - advanced care planning. Alongside supervising attorney volunteers, students prepare Power of Attorney, Healthcare Power of Attorney, and Advanced Directive documents.
- If/When/How: The Duke Law chapter of If/When/How seeks to broaden the reproductive justice dialogue in the Duke community through lunch panel talks and social events. The chapter is currently mobilizing to create more community-based reproductive justice-focused pro bono opportunities for Duke Law students to engage in.
- The Duke Law Innocence Project: This is a volunteer student organization that works to exonerate victims of wrongful convictions by investigating claims of actual innocence. The Duke Law Innocence Project looks at wrongful convictions not only on an individual case-by-case basis, but also engages in policy reforms, and outreach to the community in education.
- Legal Aid of North Carolina: The need for legal assistance to those with limited means far exceeds the capacity of Legal Aid of North Carolina. Legal Aid is providing Duke students the opportunity to take part in this effort. Under the supervision of a Legal Aid attorney, students will provide advice and counsel to Legal Aid clients over the phone. Cases involve four possible areas of law: consumer, employment, expunction and landlord/tenant law. Students will interview clients about the facts of the client's case, then research the issue presented and prepare appropriate advice.
- Veterans Assistance Project (VAP): VAP students work with legal service nonprofits, including Swords to Plowshares and Legal Aid of North Carolina, as well as pro bono attorneys, to assist indigent veterans in two specific areas of veterans law: discharge upgrades and Department of Veterans Affairs benefits claims. This is a great opportunity to interact directly with clients. At a minimum, students conduct client interviews and draft memos to their supervising attorney.
- Individual Pro Bono Projects: These are direct placements with non-profit legal service organizations, government agencies, and private firms engaged in pro bono practice. Students in the past have gained experience in a wide variety of pro bono practice areas including arts and intellectual property, domestic violence, and employment law.
- Semester Break Pro Bono Trips: These trips allow Duke Law students to partner with legal services organizations to provide high-impact legal work to underserved areas of North Carolina and across the United States not usually accessible while classes are in session. The Office of Public Interest & Pro Bono organizes trips during the fall and spring semester breaks and provides funding for student participation.
Opportunities with Legal Aid of North Carolina
Legal Aid of North Carolina offers several avenues for undergraduate students to get involved and gain experience in providing legal assistance to those in need.
Martin Luther King Jr. Internship Program
Legal Aid of North Carolina’s Martin Luther King Jr. Internship Program provides a paid (currently $4,000), 10-week opportunity for talented law students to spend their summer experiencing the real world of legal aid advocacy. MLKs work under the supervision of seasoned Legal Aid attorneys in our offices and projects across the state, bringing legal theory to life by doing substantive work on real cases for real clients. MLKs also have priority when applying for attorney positions at Legal Aid after graduation. Your cover letter must specify up to three (3) offices or projects for which you would like to be considered. Legal Aid of NC can host law students receiving funding from a private law firm or other employer to pursue a summer public interest internship. In your cover letter, please include any logistical requirements of your sponsorship program (required dates, work hours, etc.) as well as offices or projects that you would be open to placement with. Applicants will be accepted on a rolling basis.
Read also: Unlock summer legal internships
Student Legal Services
Volunteers at Student Legal Services are asked to come in once a week during the lunch hour to help with a variety of functions and duties. Duties may include answering phones, screening potential clients, answering questions about Student Legal Services, scheduling appointments, data entry, other general office work, web design, or other outreach projects, depending upon their level of interest and availability. They may also be asked to do mini-projects or research for attorneys as they become more familiar with the program. Volunteer schedules can change each semester, including summer semesters.
Center for Death Penalty Litigation (CDPL)
Volunteering with the Center for Death Penalty Litigation gives you a wonderful opportunity to get hands on legal experience while working with people dedicated to fairness and equity in our criminal justice system. While at CDPL, I traveled around the state looking for evidence at trial, helped standardize a Capital Defense Manual for death penalty defense in North Carolina, and helped organize trial files. I highly recommend CDPL as a place to volunteer, both for the experience and the quality of the people.
Benefits of Volunteering
Volunteering in legal settings offers numerous benefits for undergraduate students:
- Practical Experience: Students gain hands-on experience in legal research, writing, client interaction, and case management.
- Skill Development: Volunteering helps develop critical thinking, problem-solving, communication, and teamwork skills.
- Networking Opportunities: Students can connect with legal professionals, build relationships, and learn about different career paths.
- Community Impact: Volunteering allows students to contribute to their communities by providing legal assistance to those who need it most.
- Career Advancement: Volunteering can enhance a student's resume and make them a more competitive candidate for law school or other legal careers.
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Read also: Navigating Continuing Legal Education
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