Speakers:

  • Jeanne Ortiz-Ortiz: Director, DiMartino/Smith Public Interest Center — St. John’s University School of Law
  • Amy Hsieh: Adjunct Professor of Clinical Law & Executive Director, Public Service Law Center — Brooklyn Law School
  • Gina D’Amico: Deputy Director, Litigation & Case Evaluation, CAVC Practice — The Veterans Consortium Pro Bono Program
  • Aaron J. Irving: Director of Pro Bono 2022 – 2026 — Jacksonville Area Legal Aid

Heading into EJC 2026 was full of anticipation and excitement to see old faces, meet new ones, and the camaraderie amongst the attendees! Connecting in person is one of my favorite parts of conferences, and aligning with others in the pro bono community. As it came time which sessions to attend there was one that stood out to me: Justice Starts in Law School. It was a natural choice, as we at Paladin are just wrapping up our first year with Paladin Opportunities for Law Schools. The panel was amazing and the audience engagement provided awesome insight on how schools can take pro bono to the next level!

Establishing Law School & Legal Aid Partnerships

Well over half of the attendees were familiar and actively engaged with law school and academic partnerships, which added to the context of what the panel was discussing in this session. With a record number of applicants to law school, one of the biggest impacts students get out of law school is putting the theory to work, Legal Aid and University partnerships provide just that! The extensive impact of law students through pro bono is exemplified in this 2025 Association of American Law Schools Pro Bono Hours Report. And when it comes to creating school and legal aid partnerships, Jeanne uses this mantra: “Start small, design intentionally, and build toward sustainability”. Let’s break this down:

  • Start small: it doesn’t need to be grand to make an impact
  • Design intentionally: be specific about the process and the desired outcome
  • Build toward sustainability: create something that can be recreated, scaled, and reused

ABA Free Legal Answers Lunch
St. John’s University has a great model that puts this mantra into practice, plus anything with lunch included is always a great incentive. The goal; bring students and attorneys together to make an impact, and ABA’s Free Legal Answers is a great way to begin. Jeanne reached out to her alumni office to see how many practicing attorneys they could get to attend a lunch to support the students endeavors, it turns out for the first lunch it was 50+, so she got to work recruiting students! During this event’s inaugural partnership lunch they had over 100 participants, where the students and alum assisted 40–50 New Yorkers who otherwise would not have had access to an attorney! Read more about the inaugural event here!

Alternative Spring Break
Another great project that can highlight the theory and practice of law into action is through an alternative spring break. Exemplified by Jacksonville Legal Aid during the session, this is where a legal aid will host a group of students for a week where they contribute to various parts of the legal aid’s interworkings, as well as exposure to on the job experience. Also, with a variety of spring breaks during the month of March the model can be repeated. And a bonus if these students come back the following year and bring a friend!

➡️For even more reading, check out this alternative spring break with St. John’s Law School & Veterans Consortium.

The takeaway from either of these types of projects is getting students started early with pro bono, learning the law and subject matter, hands on experience with cases and clients, and to establish lasting relationships and volunteers.

Adding Value to the Legal Aid Work
Now that the law students are engaged, where can they provide the most value to the legal aids, add to their legal knowledge, and ultimately support the clients? Here are the live results from those in the room:

Do these responses resonate with your LSO or students? Where can you create sustainable repeatable projects to put the students to work? Is there a student already supporting you that could be the group leader and take ownership of said project?

Challenges
While these projects are amazing for engagement and impact, there are still some challenges to address. However, get a few people in a room and I suspect some pretty creative solutions will surface. Here are a few challenges that surfaced from the live poll during the session:

  • Supervision, in a strong first!
  • Logistics
  • Timing
  • Distance between school and LSO
  • Malpractice insurance
  • Professionalism
  • Training requirements
  • Ability to complete the project

During the discussion period of this session there were many creative ideas to address some of these challenges:

  • Supervision: leverage alumni from the university
  • Logistics | Distance: if you are not near a school, create a day-long event to maximize the travel time and get a group of students to carpool
  • Professionalism: set clear expectations and establish a strong relationship with the pro bono / public interest director at the school to relay the importance and impact to the client and to their careers!

What’s Next?

There are many takeaways from this session for students, schools, and LSOs alike:

Students
Get involved with pro bono from the start of school. Real cases and clients will help develop skills, provide job exposure, and perhaps even find an amazing mentor!

Law Schools
What LSOs are in your own back yard? Reach out to them, make a connection, create a partnership. Are you able to create a couple projects to cover a variety of interest areas and skills developed? First stop – reach out and have a conversation this summer and get set up for next school year!

Legal Aid Organizations
What sort of repeatable work can you have modeled for law students? Can you segment larger projects out into bite-sized chunks for students to pick up at an hour of the day, say 1am? Over the summer reach out to your nearest schools and connect with their pro bono and public interest director to brainstorm how to best support community members through the power of law students!

The school and legal aid partnerships serve many involved and is a great way to develop life long pro bono volunteers and connections with mentor attorneys. This is where everyone can make an impact and invest in the future of law. Where can you contribute today?

Melinda Sather

Melinda is passionate about enabling clients to get the most out of technology to support their day-to-day responsibilities. She has worked in client success and experience since 2016 and enjoys supporting the legal industry. Having an extensive background in SaaS technology positions her to be thoughtful and creative when working with each and every client. Melinda is thrilled to be combining her client experience to progress access to justice, as well as Paladin’s values and mission.

More from Melinda